BARNES CUSTOM ENTERPRISES

The very skilled man who had worked on our floors before, Ariel, did the bathroom. He arrived on time, got the entire job done in one day and left the bathroom spotless. His work was outstanding. We couldn't be happier with the results - already have another painting job scheduled. Laura and Wayne (secretary & crew manager) were both very cooperative and nice to work with as well. They were very patient with me and took the time to listen to everything I wanted to ask and provide me with understandable answers. Everyone at Barnes is excellent. We feel that the job was done very well and the price was reasonable.

This was a rather large (for us) undertaking but it went off like a dream. I was a little shocked at Tony's precise prediction of what would be found beneath the damaged flooring and the appliances where he could not see on his first visit before submitting his bid. We received other bids but for the expertise and the amount of work that was planned, we felt his price was quite well within reasonable range. When work began a couple weeks later (because of our schedule, not Barnes') the workmen and foreman arrived exactly on time two days in a row.

The first day the large appliances were removed and placed in the living room with care that the electrical area used to keep the refrigerator plugged in was not going to be overloaded. Even though we were unable to use the kitchen itself, we still had fresh food and microwave to use during the time that the newly poured floor needed to cure well enough to replace the heavy appliances. The foreman and crew spent a great deal of time thereafter that day constructing a double wall of heavy plastic sheeting protection from ceiling to floor around the entire kitchen entrance and the area between the kitchen and the front door to make sure that no gypcrete dust from the cutting and removal process leaked into any other room of the house from the kitchen. I couldn't even smell it. They did a great job and there was no damage to either ceiling or floor when they were finished.

They laid down plastic sheeting across the carpet from the front door to a small sheeting "anteroom" into the kitchen area, as well as directly to the bathroom to protect our carpeting. They then proceeded to remove all of the existing and badly damaged gypcrete from the kitchen and carefully covered it before moving it outside to be dumped well away from the building in their own movable dumpster that had been brought to the house. This provided not only protection for us in this part of our condo complex, but for our nearby neighbors AND the trash removal company that services our complex from exposure to the gypcrete and it's dangerous dust.

When the gypcrete was removed, the foreman and main workman examined the underlying wood and found it to be in good shape with no rot, water damage, or other loss of original integrity. The gypcrete was mixed outdoors in a large mobile container and brought into the house in batches as two workmen poured it, smoothed it, and leveled it. Other workmen were then freed to work on the bathroom flooring, which only needed an epoxy-based repair substance to fill in several large cracks. After the cracks were filled in the toilet was replaced and all the work was completed. When the kitchen floor was completely poured and smoothed, then the double wall of sheeting protection was removed and we were given clear instruction about when and what we could safely do and not do until the final inspection day. The floor was allowed to cure for 10 days but it could have been shorter if my husband's work schedule had demanded. Altogether this took 2 short days (each day they were completed with the portion for that day around 2:30pm after beginning at 8:00am), and when they left on the first day we were able to use our toilet from that point forward. We did not shower for another 2 days but that was our decision as a little more epoxy was needed to more completely fill in the bathroom floor cracks on the second day and no superficial flooring could be schedule for installation with a different company for 9 days.

In the beginning their price seemed high to me, but when I got bids for significantly LESS WORK over a MUCH SHORTER PERIOD OF TIME that would have been OUT OF CODE from several other construction companies and they submitted bids that were as much as 35% MORE than Barnes, we knew who the BEST company was, and indeed they were well worth it!

Everyone who works for this company is appropriately attired, on time, willing to take as much time to explain as needed, extremely courteous, clean, and skilled. They did a WONDERFUL JOB and we've already scheduled for Barnes to do the next portion of our bathroom makeover that will include repair of ceiling and walls, priming and painting all walls and ceiling, and recaulking the bathtub. I can hardly wait for them to come and feel VERY comfortable with them around. Tony's 30 or so years of experience shows through and shines in every aspect of and phase of his company's work - before, during AND after. We couldn't be happier :-)

They went out right away and called me to tell me that it seemed the water heater in my unit may be leaking. However, as nobody was home at the time they asked me to get a hold of my tenant. I was still trying to contact my tenant, the company called me back. They had taken it upon themselves to go back and had now found the tenant at home. They confirmed that the water heater was indeed leaking. I think they were fairly expensive for only investigating, but I like how they followed through.