How Barrett & Sons Construction Was Born
In 1998, Tom Barrett was working for a mid-size construction outfit that had lost its way. The company took a deposit from a retired couple in the San Fernando Valley for a room addition, then sent a different crew every week for a month. Nobody on site could answer a straight question. The permit was never pulled. When the inspector finally showed up, the framing had to come down. The couple was out thousands of dollars and had a hole in the back of their house.
Tom watched that happen and couldn’t shake it. The problem wasn’t that the work was hard. It was that nobody wanted to sign their name to anything. The estimate said one thing, the foreman said another, and the bill at the end said a third. Tom decided right then to build a company where the person shaking your hand is the person accountable for the job. He started Barrett & Sons Construction that same year out of Los Angeles, with a simple rule: every permit pulled, every inspection signed, every price change on paper before the work happens. What began as one crew in Southern California has grown into a network of locations across this state, but that rule has never changed at any of them.
Tom Barrett’s Personal Connection to the Construction Trade
Tom didn’t grow up dreaming about spreadsheets or corner offices. He grew up around people who worked with their hands, and he was drawn to the way a building tells you the truth. You can talk all day, but a wall that’s out of plumb is out of plumb. A joint that doesn’t fit is a joint that doesn’t fit. There’s nowhere to hide in construction, and Tom liked that honesty.
His first real taste of the trade came early, working alongside experienced tradesmen who had been framing and finishing long before anyone called it a career. Tom remembers the smell of fresh-cut lumber on a cold morning and the sound of a hammer finding its rhythm. He remembers watching an older carpenter run a level across a long wall, tap a stud half an inch, and run it again without saying a word. That man never rushed, never cut a corner, and never left a mess for somebody else to clean up. Tom carried that example into his own work.
What keeps Tom in the trade after all these years isn’t just the craft. It’s the moment a homeowner walks into a finished room that used to be a problem and sees what it was always supposed to be. That’s personal. If Tom weren’t building, he’d probably be restoring something old, maybe a tired farmhouse out past the city, where the bones are still good and the work just needs somebody patient enough to do it right. His sons grew up around this work too, and today they run crews the same way Tom learned: show up when you say you will, do what you said you’d do, and leave the site cleaner than you found it.
Meet Tom Barrett - The Person Behind Every Job
Tom Barrett is the Owner & Founder of Barrett & Sons Construction. He has spent his entire adult life in the construction trade, starting on the tools and learning framing, finish work, and remodeling from the ground up before ever hiring his first crew member. That path is the difference. Tom is not a franchise manager transferred in from another industry. He’s a builder who still walks job sites and still answers his own phone.
When he’s not on a site, Tom’s usually with his sons, talking about the work or not talking about it at all. He believes a person’s name should mean something, and he’s built this company so that every customer gets the same standard he’d want for his own home. When you hire Barrett & Sons Construction, you’re hiring Tom’s name, and that means everything to him.
Our Promise to Homeowners
Our promise is simple because we write everything down. You get a scope of work in writing. You get allowances in writing. If the price ever changes, you get a change order in writing before the work happens, never a surprise at the end. We don’t ask you to trust us on a handshake alone; we put the whole agreement on paper so there’s nothing to argue about later.
Tom has been the homeowner in the transaction enough times to know what feels bad: the vague estimate, the unanswered call, the “we’ll take care of it” that never comes. That’s why every Barrett & Sons Construction job comes with a workmanship warranty in writing. Ninety days on construction and remodeling work, and one call brings us back. No fine print, no runaround. If we did the work and it’s not right, we make it right.
Our Credentials
Barrett & Sons Construction is a state-licensed contractor, and every pro working under our name is required to hold the license and insurance their state requires. We carry insured and bonded coverage on our work, and we’ve maintained a strong local reputation across California since 1998.
Here’s why that matters when you’re choosing a contractor. A state license means the company has met the minimum standards to operate legally and answer to the state if something goes wrong. Insurance and bonding protect you from being left holding the bag for an accident or unfinished work. And a reputation that’s lasted since 1998 means you’re not dealing with a fly-by-night operation that will disappear next season.
- State-licensed contractor – held to the standards the state sets, and answerable to the state if we fall short.
- Insured & bonded – coverage in place to protect your property and your project.
- Serving California since 1998 – a track record you can verify, not a new name you have to gamble on.
- Strong local reputation – ask around. The best advertising we have is the work we’ve already done.
Rooted in the Communities We Serve
Barrett & Sons Construction started in Los Angeles in 1998, and from that first year we’ve been a California company through and through. Today our locations serve homeowners from San Diego up through Fresno and the east side of the state, and each one operates the way Tom set out to run the business from day one: a local team, a local phone call, and a name you can hold accountable.
We’d rather earn your business for twenty years than win one big job and disappear. When you call (877) 610-1318, you’ll speak with a live coordinator who connects you to the local team that covers your address. We’ll schedule your free estimate, and from there every dollar and every deadline goes in writing.
Written by Tom Barrett, Owner & Founder at Barrett & Sons Construction, serving California homeowners since 1998.