After Bertram obtained the roofer’s address through a local connection, the group went to his home. Despite later rumors claiming that someone had been injured, no violence occurred. Instead, thirty motorcycles gathered outside on a Tuesday evening, with the men quietly waiting. Eventually, Bertram knocked on the door and explained why they had come.
He told the roofer that an eighty-six-year-old widower had been waiting six weeks for his roof to be completed while materials remained scattered around his property. Bertram asked how the roofer intended to resolve the situation. The roofer contacted his crew, who arrived the following morning and completed the neglected roof over two days. A licensed contractor later inspected the work and confirmed that it had passed.
The roofer also returned $11,000 of the $17,400 he had received, representing the amount he could immediately repay. He signed an agreement promising to repay the remaining balance, with the terms formally prepared by the family’s lawyer. When the motorcycles returned down the street, the elderly man watched from the same window where he had spent weeks waiting for the work to be finished.
He later told Bertram that he had served in the Marines and had never needed anyone to fight for him. Bertram explained that nobody had fought; they had simply parked outside. The response made the man laugh for the first time since the roofing problem began. A formal complaint was also submitted to the state contractor board, which opened an investigation. Most importantly, the man had a safe roof before winter and continued to handle his own affairs with the independence that defined him.