Barry G Wagner

Still a one star — Barry has responded with inaccurate info. The relationship started to sour when we were nearing the year and a half mark with NO plans. The plans came in significantly later than promised and Barry started ducking calls. Barry makes it sound like the permit process took a good portion of this time — it did not. We had permits within days of getting the plans, the City of Oakland was quite helpful in the process and approved the plans promptly. The 17 months were taken up entirely by Barry.
Of note — He indicates that he and the engineer left the site due to the contractor’s actions. This is false. Barry argued with the contractor, the engineer was not present. Barry was FIRED after this incident.
The issue that Barry describes as «Substantial» was the width of the layout — it was two inches shorter in reality than the plan. We were able to go through the plans and found the error — it turned out to be in Barry’s initial «as built» drawings. His measurments of the original house were off by the two inches and this translated into his plans. The contractor was correct in his layout.
We had numerous additional errors (tie-​ins securing the structure going through spots where windows were supposed to go, A window that opened six inches into a stairway, etc…). I will be happy to discuss these details and point them out on the plans for anyone who would like to see them. Barry did shoddy work and was fired for it. His excuses /​explainations are not accurate.

I enjoyed the class on Bungalows taught by Barry at the Berkeley Owner Builder Center. It helped me understand more about my home and the history of similar homes, and I’ll have a more atuned eye for seeing what makes sense for future plans to the house.