Barrows Paving & Excavating

Barrows Paving & Excavating works out of 16 Norcross Point in Shrewsbury and covers Worcester County and Central Massachusetts. The company describes itself as a small, family-owned operation with the owner on site for every job, and dates its own trading history to 2009. BBB's file, opened in October 2011, records it as a sole proprietorship with Mr. Scott Barrows as owner. The work customers describe splits between asphalt and dirt. Driveways dominate the paving side: in 2024 reviews one homeowner had a difficult driveway paved quickly by Scott and his crew, another had a tiny driveway tripled in size and pitched so water ran off correctly, and a couple building a new home were walked step by step through a specific uphill driveway. On the excavation side, a 2024 reviewer who had used the company several times described stump removal before a pool installation, plus a cement block wall and grading around the new inground pool. A 2023 customer had a crumbling driveway repaved and the concrete walkways redone at an 1898 Victorian two-family, and singled out on-time site meetings, design options matched to the property and budget, quick follow-up quotes, and a clean site at the end of every day. In a December 2025 r/WorcesterMA thread about sewer inspections, a commenter named the company for sewer line replacement, which matches the sewer and water-line side of its own service list. One 2025 review is worth reading before you call: a homeowner asked Scott to quote a suspected leak in an underground water service pipe, and he pulled in a contact at the city and worked out that the leak was not on their property at all, so no work was needed. The one warning on file is serious and nothing in the record answers it. A 2022 one-star review accuses the company of paving over private property without the landowner's consent after being told no more than once, questions its grasp of Massachusetts easement and right-of-way law, and raises the same worry about a 75-year-old neighbour. Google publishes 4.3 stars across 14 ratings, slightly below what the nine readable reviews average on their own, so the ratings without text lean lower than the written ones. Credentials are worth confirming yourself. BBB grades the business A+ while stating plainly that it is not BBB accredited, and its profile lists licence number HE-113205 issued by the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety and Inspections - a directory-reported record BBB does not verify. Separately, the City of Worcester's Department of Public Works lists Barrows Paving & Excavating LLC among its drain layers, which fits the sewer and water-line half of the business. The right call for a Central Massachusetts driveway, parking lot, or sewer, water and drainage job where you want the owner on site. Before signing, confirm the licence directly with the state and get the exact work area and property lines written into the contract.