Circle B Barn

We contracted with Circle B barns to build an attached barn. I have a friend who had a barn that they built about 10 years ago and I was very impressed. Other barn builders we looked at were one man operations, and Circle B was much bigger, and seemed to be more stable. They worked with us to design a barn that was really nice, getting it built was another story. There were many, many, many delays, hardly any communication, and pretty shoddy workmanship. The delays started right from the outset. They just didn't show up when they said they would. I get delays, stuff happens, but phone calls and emails from us, just asking for an updated schedule were not returned. When work finally started, one crew would show up for a couple of days, then disappear for a couple of weeks.Phone calls and emails continued to go unanswered. After increasing escalation on our part, some different guys would show up, then they would disappear. One day some guys showed up but they forgot their ladder... and so it went. We had to threaten legal action to get the project finished. The workmanship was really substandard. Door frames were "about" the right size, luckily my husband was building the doors so he could make the necessary adjustments. The vertical frame for the garage doors was "about" vertical, we had to add more trim just to close up the gaps. Window opennings were so crudely cut that the trim wouldn't cover them. We had to insist that the openings be redone. Their accounting system is a mystery to me. We had several change orders as we cancelled bits of the project as it went on (like all the doors), that it was very hard to figure out what we had paid for and what we still owed. Tom, the owner and founder of the company is a truly nice and I believe honest person, and I think, at one point in the past, they had a great company. I wonder if they have just grown so beyond their ability to manage.

The crew was different from day to day and honestly we had our favorite crew members. but they did a great job overall. We are happy with the newly laid foundation for the addition to the barn. We got good advise as to where to put our money, since rehabilitating the entire barn is not in our budget. We met with Tom and he was wonderful. He and his son regularly checked on the progress of things and really helped keep things moving. We had a previous experience that did the job they were hired to do, but what I liked about Circle B is that they showed up when they said they would, they cleaned up after themselves, they made were cost conscious and helped us avoid costly fixes that were possibly not needed, they helped us prioritize, if Tom said he was coming he came. When Tom came out to quote the service he came out almost immediately. The quote was timely. The whole process was very professional. This is not something I can say about most contractors I have dealt with in the past. We are so pleased and cannot wait to have them continue the project when we have more funds.