$6100 Media blasting bill ,61 hours to blast a small convertible,is that reasonable?
 

Edited for more details:

Had a 55 Porsche 356 Speedster at blasters ,dropped it off around Christmas,every week he came up with new excuse from funeral to compressor to electric issues ,so today he finally calls and says my bill is $6100 :rofl:

your thoughts?



More in-depth details of this whole ordeal:

The said car belongs to a friend/customer that I have known and done business with,he owns a company here in Jacksonville that produces and sells aftermarket parts,

About a year ago he called me asking to take a look at this car and give him an estimate to get this car back in top shape,at that time the car wasn't driveable since the drivetrain was taken out,so I told him to get it on a trailer and bring it by, he thought that I wasn't interested in doing the work.Few months later I ask him about the Porsche,he said that he ended up taking it to another shop,which turns out to be a butcher shop that quoted him $6000 to restore the body,fix all rust,prep and paint,keep in mind that the car came in already fully disasssembled,no glass,interior,drivetrain,suspension all bolt-on body parts were removed.Remember, the original quote to restore the body was $6000,he signed the work order/estimate,but failed to get a copy, few months into it he started not liking the way the work was getting done,so he mentioneed to the shop's owner that he wants to stop the process and pull the car out,the crook puts a 1 in front of the 6 and says that he ows the shop $3500 for the work that has already been done( I'll post a few pics of their work so you all can see metal work you have never seen before ),after few weeks of negotiating he finally paid the bill, I'm not sure what the number was,but atleast he got the car back.

Few days later he trailered the shell to my shop,we got it on rotissery and I cut out all the major rust to get better access to hidden and hard to reach areas before we took it to the blaster,we came to a rough quote and agreed to finalize it once we get it blasted and find as much of the replacement sheetmetal as possible to cut down on time to fabricate rusted out parts.

I have known the blaster for atleast 5-7 years,have sent alot of customers his way and he has done alot of small projects for me and my friends. So once I had all the major rust cut out, I called the blaster to stop by and give me an estimate to blast it. After a week or so of me bugging him, he showed up, we talked for a good while,he convinced me that he can blast a soda can without warping it, I showed him my Cuda,and asked him what he would charge to blast my Cuda inside and out , he said $500-600 and if I wanted a primer coat it'll be another couple hundred bucks, so I figured to blast little Speedster shouldn't be much more, since it's alot smaller car and it's a cabriolet, he told me to blast the Speedster will take about 8-10hours since it had a skim coat of filler all over and undercoating ,which by the way I offered to grind off and scrape off,but he said not to worry,he'll just balst it off and he will cut us a deal since we've known each other for a while,instead of $150 an hour he will charge $100,we chit chatted a bit more, shook hands and I told him to call me when he's ready,I relayed my conversation with the blaster to my friend,the owner of the Porsche and he was relieved that we can get it done localy ,as I have searched for chemical stripping facility in the area and just didn't feel the need to trailer the shell back and forth especially in bare metal. I told the owner that it was his responsibility to deal with the blaster and I'm just going to introduce them to each other,but somehow I still ended up coordinating the flatbed and towing the shell on rotisserie to the blaster.

There was NO paperwork, period,

After a week I called the blaster to see what was the status, he replied that he was very busy and his guy is trying to remove the undercoating,but in few days it should be ready,after about a week I decided to drop by and check out the progress, to my surprize the shell wasn't even touched sitting in the open ,who knows how long it has sat there in the rain and weather.That was a sign for us to get it out.But I kinda felt for him knowing how hard it can be to deal with all theese problems while trying to run a business.So I called the owner and filled him in on the situation, next day the owner came by and the blaster had put a tarp over it,he asked him to put the car out of the weather,I'm not sure ,but sometime later the owner came to check on the car and it still wasn't blasted, but atleast it was inside a building,so that was somewhat of a relief for him, in all this time the blaster is coming up with all sorts of excuses,bondo and undercoating is thick, he never seen filler like that, his wife is sick,his son that works with him has injured his leg or something,then his compressor went out, then he had some electrical issues that burned up some of the wiring, then he got sick and couldn't work for a week, then someone in his family died. Days turned into weeks,weeks turned into months. Yesterday the owner of the car called me and asked if I could go with him and check out the car as it was finally getting close to beeing finished, I agreed. When we arrived at blasters yesterday morning,to my surprize the shell was finally in bare metal, I pointed out a few spots that needed to be touched , the blaster said it'll be ready in few hours,and he will try to arrange with his buddy that owes him a tow to bring the shell back to my shop,later that day blaster's son Gary Jr. called the owner and said the car is ready and the bill came to $6100,owner called me and asked me to go with him again to help and talk some sense into theese clown's heads, we decided to go this afternoon,we show up and just to make sure, they both say yes, the bill is $6100, but if the owner pays in cash, he will take 10% off,LMAO! what a bargain!! After I explained to blaster Gary Sr. that I wasn't born yesterday and it doesn't take alot of brains to figure out alternative way to remove undercoating and thick bondo instead of blasting ,especially when I offered atleast twice to grind down the bondo and scrape off the undercoating, he needs to come up with realistic number , so we can pick the car up and be on our way, so he says $5000,meanwhile his ***** Jr. makes a call to get his buddy cop to show up, so the owner of the car calls cops and one shows up as well, the blaster's buddy cop tells us to ether take up on his offer or in five minutes he will arrest both of us for trespassing, How do you like them beans? So our spineless cop tells us this is civil case and owner needs to go downtown and file some papers at the court house,and to be out of trouble, step outside and back to the car we came on, and this is where we are.Owner called a good attorney ,but it was after 5:30 pm,so he left voicemail. I'm sure I left out some insignificant details, but I forwaded the link to this thread to the owner of the car and he may post better details

time for you to start with the excusues on why your not paying $6100 :thumbsup:

I paid a quarter of that to have a body dipped....:wow:

Sounds crazy expensive......maybe you're get the "Porsche Speedster" price mark-up?

I had my current car done for less than 1/3rd of that. Including jams,underside,floorpans etc..

WHAT???
I had my car media blasted just the shell and doors and trunk lid. which is about the same size as a speedster. It was $750.

Seems like your paying for the new compressor.
61 hours he must think your stupid!!

Sounds high! :mad:

Did this $6100 include anything else? Maybe prime and seal? Or seam sealer or body work? Did they have to do any disassembly or was the car brought to them as a shell?

way too high i would expect 800-1500

Paid $700 to have my 912 done.

I paid $500.00 for exterior only.

What was he using, a spot blaster? Should be closer to $800-$1200

Was he using 24k gold to blast with ?
Engine compartment, body sheel and jambs usually run around $850-$1000 for media.

I just looked up my reciept from 2002 to have my car done...inside, outside, underneath...the whole car! for $850!!!

This guy is trying to get over, big time!

HOLY SMOKES,

keep us posted on this drama

Check your invoice. Did he include the vaseline he's using to bone you or is he just gonna do it dry-hump style?

YOU ARE BEING TAKEN TO THE CLEANERS!!!!

Report this idiot to the BAR!:mad:

John

P.S. Call him and tell him that theirs an error on the invoice. The decimal point is in the wrong place!

61 hours is alot for sure, But these 700-1500 bills can be way low IF......

There is a ton of under coating on the bottom, Undercoating sucks to remove with a blaster and takes FOREVER ( Insert SANDLOT voice ).:D

If there was tons of Bondo, and you had them blast it to be removed instead of grinding it out or just cutting out the panel that obviously needs to be replaced if there is that much MUD.

Surface rust takes the longest to remove of all materials, Rust means you have to go further down to find fresh metal.

If they used a media like soda that is soft and will not hurt chrome and stuff, it takes longer. Sand is quick but creates heat and can warp quicker.

The most I have ever paid is 2000 bucks on a 49 caddy that had 1950's Gm under coating on the bottom, We spent 20 socking the bottom of the car in diesel just to be able to scrape the majority of the coating off. Some of the late 40's early 50's under coating is rock solid and 3/8 of an inch thick in spots.


6100 is insane but it sounds like he has not done any other blasting in a few months with all his equipment issues and has to make some money so It looks like he gave you the "PORSCHA" bill for blasting. Twice as much for a porsche part that fits a VW also.

Just buy your own blaster, That is what I'm doing my guy get 130 bucks an hour.

We normally pay 1500- 2000 for a complete car inc fenders and doors like a camaro. but that is if we deliver it on a rotisseri as well if not it is 2300- 3000 our guy takes about 2 days to do a complete car inside top bottom and not a spec of original paint greese or filler left.

Well ,I just got back with the owner of the car from this scammer's powdercoatin/blasting place, I tried to reason with him and offered $1000, he laughed in our faces, called the cops, they didn't help, there is no paperwork, we didn't sign anything, but cops still say it civil issue, it suck that it's all bare and I'm sure will be sitiing outside till we figure this mess out.

What's funny, the hood, door,deck lid and bumpers are still not blasted, so I would assume he would try to hit us with $8000+ bill:willy:

I'll update on this when we get more info from my lawyer

First rule of thumb in business....

Get it in writing!!

You're going to need to get the BAR involved in this. They will go over and look at the work he has done and determine what the job is actually worth. If there is no paperwork then he will have to show them why he thinks you owe him $6,100.

John

I can get a car dipped for under $3K. You can go to multiple option blasting shops, get estimates or averages and proof to the court he is attempting to commit fraud.

I pay 3000-4000 for a muscle inside and out including all brackets, hinges, wheelwells, core support, and frame
Done prefect

I edited my first post with more detailed info on this whole mess

A whole week and a half of blasting on one little car? Yeah, right... :rolleyes:

the reason we went with him is that he quoted me $500-600 to blast my Cuda,and he assured me that the job will be done right, and yes, the shell looks great, he did a superb job, but I don't see anyone in their right mind spending more than $1200-1500 to blast a car this size, also keep in mind that doors,hood,trunk and bumpers are still untouched, I feel bad for the owner of the car since few months back he had to deal with simillar situation trying to get it out of butcher's shop ,what's ironic, the blaster is within few blocks from that shop

here are some of the pic of the car right before blasting and the fine craftsmanship of metal fabricator of the butcher shop
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...EEDSTER012.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...EEDSTER011.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...EEDSTER029.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...EEDSTER032.jpg

fine metalwork:lol:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...EEDSTER008.jpg
underside of the custom bolted patch
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...EEDSTER010.jpg

That isn't even a big car!! I was quoted $550 to do all the jambs, underside, firewall and other hard to get areas on my car. $6100, tell him to drop a zero.

A COMPLETE '69 Camaro.. all panels... the WHOLE car ran under $1,900 at Best of Show.. that was soda blasting..

$6000 is stupid over priced...

Hey, BOS has one of those little bath tubs being done at their shop right now.. man, parts for that car are expensive!

I own a soda blasting shop in Australia, a car this size would take around 5 hours for the top side and some where around 3-5 hours underneath. The guy is taking the piss out of you. Without any haging panels I would charge about $2000.00 and thats changing the media to remoe the rust.

Greg

I got a quote of almost 5000 for a '69 Camaro. The estimate had a detailed breakdown of hours and everything. I'm no expert but that seemed unusually high. I just looked at the estimate and it was for 28 hours to do everything, knowing the shop it would have been perfect though. I could understand 61 hours if everything was prepped, etc. as well but that doesn't seem to be the case...

In the end I had Best of Show and their guy do it for what Steve described earlier, and the guy did a great job

Matt

Our blaster we use is mobile and comes to MY shop....to soda blast a car on a rotisserie top, bottom and all panels top and bottom it is $1200 for everything....takes 1-2 days max.

This guy is definitly screwing you! If he tries to say its regional pricing I am 8 hours from Jacksonville so it's still the southeast.

Hey Stefan--U sure the "butcher shop guy" and the blaster are not brother-in-laws!!!! Damn thats terrible!!! :wow:

I have had a bunch of Porsche's blasted over the years with different types of media. And I can tell you that when using a street car as a base for a race car, the street cars have heavy undercoating everywhere . I have never paid anywhere near what you were charged for blasting!

In California we have the BAR or Bureau of Automotive Repair. If there is not signed invoice the BAR will go after the service provider with a vengeance. This was created just for the problem you having . The shop could have done 10K worth of work but if they didn;t get a work order signed they have to give the money back and kiss the service or work they did goodbye . So I would check into what state or county governing agency you have

Wow..... I paid a total of about $1100 for my Cuda... thats entire shell, inside and out, doors, trunk valances etc ( spent quite a few hours doing the thick ass undercoating myself), plus separate dash and seat frames. Several areas of my car had alot of filler......


That car is probably half the size of my Cuda.....granted the undercoating can take a long time, but over $6k is ridiculous. 61 hours is way too high.... I could do that with a wire wheel in less than 61 hours. Plus having it on a rotisserie should have saved some hours.....

I probably put 10-12 hours into the undercoating on my car and I did that all by hand. And it was very thick on my car

This is a ransom for the car.....

If there is no paperwork, I.E. no receipt for a deposit, then there is no authorization to work, and therefore I would think you can simply state you did not authorize him to start the job without clarifying the costs.

sandblasting
 

They charge $125.00 per hour here in Minnesota. About $800-$1200 per car depending on undercoating and rust issues. $6100 is WAY wrong !!!!

www.extremepowdercoating.net

The three original quotes I received when starting my project was between 1100-1500.00 here in WI. and a package discount of 200.00 if I did both cars I had with one company. All 3 were reputable places of bus. However I choose to dip my car and e coat along the way. Dip procedure for the car/subframe was 1450.00 (25hrs done twice) and a balance of 600.00 after final e-coat process is done further down the line.
Dave

I think he said the two shops are in the same area. I was wondering if it was some type of good old boy payback going on?

Exactly, Thats the way it works here in Illinois. I learned this the hard way trust me . Every job we do has a signed work order nowa I don't care how small! I did a complete paint on a Caddy and guess what he never signed a work order. So the $6500.00 quote and the fact that he gave me a small deposit meant nothing. He got a free paint job!!! Took me to court and I did'nt have a chance the whole trial lasted 3 minute judge asked for the workorder I did'nt have one so that was it.....Turns out this was'nt the first time this NICE man done this...

We usually pay $800-$1500 depending on how large the car is and that is media blasted. Very smooth and has never destroyed a panel yet. Tell him you will give him $1000 that is a small car inside and out.

Man, that is excessive. Esp. if it was on a rotisirrie (sp) I've never had a car stripped, but 61 hours? No way.

This is very interesting since we stripped, patched panels and painted a 53 Speedster in less time..

I would get every quote from every media blaster you could and take that to the civil case. Maybe even request to see billing statements from previous customers to see if any of them came close to that price.