- December 15, 2024
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Robbie Barrick and his puppy King stand in front of the 6,000 square-foot plus home he is building in Palm Coast. Photo by Michele Meyers
Robbie Barrick stands in his Ocean St. house in Palm Coast. Photo by Michele Meyers
Robbie Barrick and his sister Stacey Barrick stand in front of the custom build house on Heron Dr. in Palm Coast. Photo by Michele Meyers
Robbie Barrick, owner and CEO of Integrity Homes, and his sister Stacey Barrick stand in front of the custom build house on Heron Dr. in Palm Coast. Photo by Michele Meyers
Robbie Barrick (right), owner and CEO of Integrity Homes, checks out the progress on his custom build house with his sister Stacey Barrick (left). Photo by Michele Meyers
Robbie Barrick, owner and CEO of Integrity Homes, checks out the progress on his custom build house. Photo by Michele Meyers
Stacey Barrick. Photo by Michele Meyers
A construction worker attaches metal plates to the framing at Robbie Barrick's Integrity Homes custom build in Palm Coast. Photo by Michele Meyers
Robbie Barrick, owner of Integrity Homes, talks to the framing crew at his custom build home in Palm Coast. Photo by Michele Meyers
Robbie Barrick, owner and CEO of Integrity Homes, and his sister Stacey Barrick stand by the company's first custom build house on Heron Dr. in Palm Coast. Photo by Michele Meyers
Robbie Barrick, owner and CEO of Integrity Homes, discusses details with a subcontractor at his custom build house on Heron Dr. in Palm Coast. Photo by Michele Meyers
Robbie Barrick, owner and CEO of Integrity Homes, discusses details with a subcontractor at his custom build house on Heron Dr. in Palm Coast. Photo by Michele Meyers
Integrity Homes custom build home on Heron Dr. in Palm Coast Plantation. Photo by Michele Meyers
On July 11, 2015, Robbie Barrick began walking the Granada bridge. For four nights in a row he wrangled with the thought of jumping. He wanted to die.
He had hit rock bottom. He was up to a handle of vodka a day — almost two liters — and could not stop drinking. He had two warrants out for his arrest. His wife left him.
Between 2012 and 2013, he had been diagnosed with liver disease and given a prognosis of approximately one year to live. He slipped into an alcoholic coma. His kids said their goodbyes. After two weeks, he came out of it. He went to rehab in Atlanta for 30 days. But two weeks later, he was drinking again.
He returned to Florida, where he was kicked out of almost every sober living house in the area, he recalled. He bounced between being homeless in Daytona Beach and the occasional sober living house whose staff would take him in — until he proved he could not stay sober.
He got a phone call from his sister Stacey Barrick a few days before he started walking the bridge. She informed him that his ex-wife was taking him to court in 10 days in order to sever his parental rights for his three children.
“Stacey told me I had to be sober for court or we were going to lose the kids,” he said. “My mom was devastated because she thought she was losing her grandkids and would never see them again.”
Stacey said she and Robbie were always close when they were growing up in Orlando, then Norcross, Georgia. But she said it was not a hard decision to be tough on him once she observed how he was affecting their mother.
On a Tuesday night, he stopped at the top of the bridge and prayed.
“I asked God to give me the strength to end it or just to stop drinking — one or the other — I needed help here,” Barrick recalled.
He said the next morning, he woke up with an overwhelming sense of peace. He poured an entire bottle of vodka down the drain and has not had an alcoholic drink since. He has been sober for nine years and a few days short of five months. His official sobriety date is July 15, 2015.
“It came with a lot of hard work after that, but I had so much will,” he recalled. “I was finally willing to do the work—get into a 12-step program. At this point, I was gung ho. I was fired up about getting sober.”
The next day he called Solutions by the Sea, which is a sober living house in Daytona Beach. It was one of the few he had not been kicked out of because they had never let him stay in the first place. He called for three days and begged the admittance person to let him in. On the third day, he called before he went to court. They only had a couch available and he took it.
In court, Barrick stood in front of the judge and said he had no excuses. “I’m an alcoholic and I’m trying to get help,” he admitted.
A couple weeks later, he received a letter stating the judge had given him another chance with his kids.
“That was God saying, ‘OK, you are getting sober, I believe you, I’m not going to take your kids from you,’” he said. “That gave me even more motivation to get better.”
Barrick said “God shot” number two came after he turned himself in for the outstanding warrants. Both the Volusia and St. Johns County judges agreed it would be in his best interest to return to Solutions by the Sea to finish his six-month program instead of going to prison. Their decision was made after Barrick’s probation officer spoke with one of the judges about her son’s progress at the same sober living house.
After graduating from Solutions by the Sea, the director asked Barrick to stay on as a counselor and a manager. He worked their one year as the house manager and counselor before interviewing for the superintendent position with Seagate Homes and ICI Homes.
Both companies offered him a job the same week based on his years of experience in the home building industry dating back to 1998. He decided to go with Seagate, which is based in Palm Coast. It was local for him, which made it possible to take his kids to school, eat lunch at home and pick his kids up after school.
Two years before leaving Seagate, Barrick began studying for his general contractor and roofing contractor licenses. He passed the exams and received his licenses. In 2021, he partnered with two investors and launched RBI Homes and Roofing. In January this year, Barrick was bought out by his investor-partners.
The following month, he immediately opened his own home building business — Integrity Homes. He is currently building two homes in Palm Coast—a million dollar custom home on Heron Drive in Palm Coast Plantation, and a West Indies line of houses with a Bahamas feel on Ocean Street, just north of Mala Compra Park in The Hammock.
“They bought me out and kept everything,” he said. “I started fresh, brand new and 100% on my own with Integrity Homes. Here I am. I’ve got two builds going. I picked myself out of the fire again.”
The new house near Mala Compra is a production house that is customizable. Barrick prides himself on his craft. He said he rounds the corners, has 10-foot ceilings, larger doors and windows. One of his RBI designs has won the Flagler Home Builders Association Parade of Homes the last two years. He will be entering the Ocean Street house this year at a lower price point.
Not only is Barrick busy as the owner-operator of Integrity Homes, he is also the secretary for the Flagler Home Builders Association executive committee. His said he could not do it all without his sister Stacey. She is an integral part in keeping him — and his business — organized and operational.
She said she believes that for Robbie, giving back as much as he does has helped him stay sober.
“Having sponsees, going to meetings all the time and following the steps has helped him stay sober,” Stacey said. “I like watching him mentor people. I think he is very good at that. He is a good example of what you can accomplish with sobriety.”
Barrick said tough love from his family saved his life while the wisdom and caring nature of his mentor Joe C. kept him focused on his sobriety.
“My story, I hope, will inspire other guys who are facing a lot of trouble, a lot of debt and health issues,” Barrick said “I went from homeless to homebuilder in less than 10 years of sobriety. If I can do it, anybody can do it.”
