[Revved]

Just another example that when doing business with friends and family it is even more important to out things in writing. Not to beat anyone down over it but to put all of the expectations in writing so that no one "forgets" what the deal was. weeks, months, and sometimes years later everyone has their own version of what was agreed upon and it typically is colored in their direction. Handshake and "buddy" deals will almost alwasy get you screwed... and sometimes it gets expensive.

I'm sure everyone has a horror story along these lines...

When I first started my shop I was using a good friend to do paint and body. He was partners in a body shop and was the best painter I have still known to this day. I would trailer the jobs to his shop several hours away because I knew the quality of work he did. Downside was that he had lost his wife a few years earlier to cancer in her mid 30's and he was sill struggling getting things back together. He was burying himself in his work but not paying attention to the business side.

First car he wanted to deal directly with the client. They talked every other week and I assumed they were talking about the change in price as well so when the bill was $5k more at the end I picked up the car and paid the bill without thinking . When I delivered the car to the client (several states away) he went sideways saying he knew nothing about the price increase. The client strung me out on this bill and another $4k he owed me on the mechanical work just on principle to prove a point. I ended up writing most of it off. Workmanship was top notch and the second car was already in process when this happened so....round #2.

I think I'm smarter this time... I make sure all the estimates are updated and sent to the client in writing after teardown so everyone is on the same page. I talk to my Body shop guy every other week to make sure we are still on target with the estimates and have him send me pics every month. The story is always that we are right on track or even ahead of the quotes. Car gets finished. I drive up with car #3 in the trailer and the client is flying in to inspect the work before it leaves the body shop. The night before the client flies in my Body shop guy hands me the final bill... $13k over the most updated quote. He was keeping track of his hours but hadn't added them up since the project started but he thought he was on track. And of course like all rework projects there were extra things to fix once work started. I was still dealing with the mess over car #1 at this point so I about had a stroke... Told him I couldn't give the customer that bill. Made him mark down the labor and I cut out all of my profit on the job and it was still $5k over. He breaks down crying and proceeds to tell me how his house is being foreclosed on and he is filing bankruptcy again. I've known him too long and too well to know its not a scam... it's not a fluffed bill... The guy is just burying himself in his work to hide from the world and not handling his business.

The client loved the car... he grumbled a little over the bill but he paid it. Body Shop guy and I agreed to part ways business wise and that was the last car he did for me. We had been close friends but after that he stopped returning phone calls and haven't spoken since.

A lot of lessons learned...