EXHIBIT 31.1

CERTIFICATIONS

I, William W. Sherertz, certify that:

  1.  I have  reviewed  this  Annual  Report  on Form 10-K of  Barrett  Business
      Services, Inc.;

  2.  Based on my  knowledge,  this  annual  report  does not contain any untrue
      statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
      make the statements made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such
      statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
      this annual report;

  3.  Based on my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and other  financial
      information included in this annual report, fairly present in all material
      respects the financial condition,  results of operations and cash flows of
      the  Registrant  as of, and for,  the  periods  presented  in this  annual
      report;

  4.  The  Registrant's  other  certifying  officer  and I are  responsible  for
      establishing  and  maintaining  disclosure  controls  and  procedures  (as
      defined in Exchange Act Rules  13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) for the  Registrant
      and we have:

      a.   designed  such  disclosure  controls and  procedures,  or caused such
           disclosure   controls  and   procedures  to  be  designed  under  our
           supervision,  to ensure  that  material  information  relating to the
           Registrant  is  made  known  to  us by  others  within  the  company,
           particularly  during the period in which this annual  report is being
           prepared;

      b.   evaluated the effectiveness of the Registrant's  disclosure  controls
           and  procedures  and presented in this annual report our  conclusions
           about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as
           of the end of the  period  covered  by  this  report,  based  on such
           evaluation;

      c.   disclosed  in this  report  any change in the  Registrant's  internal
           control  over   financial   reporting   that   occurred   during  the
           registrant's  most-recent  fiscal  quarter (the  registrant's  fourth
           fiscal  quarter in the case of an annual  report) that has materially
           affected,   or  is  reasonably  likely  to  materially   affect,  the
           Registrant's internal control over financial reporting;

  5.  The Registrant's other certifying  officer and I have disclosed,  based on
      our most recent  evaluation of internal control over financial  reporting,
      to the  Registrant's  auditors and the audit committee of the Registrant's
      board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

      a.   all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
           operation of internal  control  over  financial  reporting  which are
           reasonably  likely to adversely  affect the  Registrant's  ability to
           record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

      b.   any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
           employees who have a significant  role in the  Registrant's  internal
           control over financial reporting.

Date:  March 29, 2004                     /s/ William W. Sherertz
                                          -----------------------
                                          William W. Sherertz
                                          Chief Executive Officer