Careful trading work with friends.

[CamaroAJ]

Sorry, long story. One of my best friends owned a custom bike shop where he did custom paint and such. In an effort to work out a deal that would benefit both of us. The deal was he would do the body and paint work on my car with him buying materials. In exchange for this I did work for his shop that was billable to his customers. I had held up my end of the deal and for a time he was working on my car making good on his end of the deal.

I had done enough work for him to cover a complete paint job material wise top to bottom. In the meantime him and his wife had filed for divorce and he needed a place to stay at the same time his business partner was paying himself and not the shops bills so the shop was closed. Since he was a good friend I let him stay with me in exchange for the labor part of my car. Things were working out good, small parts were getting painted at the new body shop he was working for and body work was getting done to the bottom of the car.

This is where things start falling apart. He took my sub frame, control arms and a box of small parts that needed sand blasted to the blaster. After a few weeks I had asked about the parts and he said they were blasted and sealed he was just working on the body work part of them on his lunch breaks and would be done soon. I have no problem with this as I know he's always been straight with me and parts have always trickled home nicely painted. A few more weeks pass and I ask how things were going and he said the control arms were done and the sub frame and the small parts were getting painted that weekend. Well that weekend came and went with nothing done. I was busy with other things so I didn't have any time to talk with him about the car.

A week or two go by and he comes home early on a Monday and apparently had been fired for texting too much at work and not getting stuff done. So on Tuesday I go help him get his stuff from the shop and take it over to the blaster's house (also good friends of his) to store his stuff. Well to my surprise leaning against the wall was my sub with the rest of the parts I had given him. They sat just as they were when they left my house.

Now while I'm not happy with being lied to he has been working on my car at the house and buying the product that he needed to get the job done so I let it go for now. At this point all the body work is done on the bottom of the car, it has been sealed, mudded, sealed, slick sanded, seam sealed and primed.

A few weeks ago on a Friday I got a text from him that his girlfriend had bought a house and he was going to move in with her after she closed on it (turns out she had already closed on it and he knew he was moving that weekend). He gets home from work and we base and clear the bottom of the car. I had plans to go out of town with some friends that Saturday morning and would be back Sunday morning. When I got home Sunday morning he had taken almost all of his stuff out of the house and garage all while I was out of the house. Actually the only thing he left was a air compressor that takes 3 guys to move and a trailer he doesn't have tags to. Dude doesn't respond to text or phone calls. He pretty much just cut bait and skipped out.

Moral of the story watch yourself when it comes to trade work with your friends. While I'm out thousands of dollars I will have to now spend on materials and paying someone else to do the body work on my car that I didn't plan or budget for I'm also a friend short. Now I'm not sure when the car will get done. The time line I had planed out based off the progress so far had me getting it done by late spring early summer 2013. I'm very disappointed in this whole situation.

[skatinjay27]

that suck big tiem!

2nd moral choose your better friends...

that guy doesnt sound like a friend at all... he sound like a jerk off that took serious advantage of you.

[Ron in SoCal]

That blows. I believe someone who will take you for $50 will also take you for 50k. I hope somehow this was a cheap lesson and he makes it up to you.

Hang in there AJ ...

[cencalc6]

Originally Posted by Ron in SoCal

That blows. I believe someone who will take you for $50 will also take you for 50k. I hope somehow this was a cheap lesson and he makes it up to you.

Hang in there AJ ...

I agree 100%

[Vince@Meanstreets]

yeah, you sound like me. I always get suckered trying to do a good deal. Always finish my end but always get left short. What ever, move on and chauk it up as a loss. With friends like that who needs enema's.

[waynieZ]

Sorry to hear this, I've been in the same boat as you. Think you can trust someone and they're sticking the knife in your back. My wife says I trust too easy but the truth is, I would never do this to someone and expect the same in return. Too bad it doesn't always workk out that way. Good luck!

[MattO]

This is a big reason why whenever someone has done something for me I've done everything I can to make sure that they are taken care of. Even if it's the smallest thing.

When it comes to people who have screwed me or not held up their end, I always remember these words, "Always forgive. Never Forget"

[214Chevy]

Sorry to hear this bro. I know everything will work out in the end. But I must say, while I do have friends I do favors for and some who do favors for me, when money is involved...that's where I draw the line. Short story, I had a friend who wanted to buy a TV and some furniture from me on a payment plan. I've known this guy for about 12 years. I told him no payment plan because I felt that it would only complicate things, lead to trouble and be too much of a hassle with getting my money. What I did was tell him I would hold it for a good while until he came up with money. Guess what, he came up with the money alot faster when I told him no payment plan and he really wanted the furniture as I was giving him a hell of a deal.

[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...

[fleetus macmullitz]

There's a guy on this board who offered to work on my car in exchange for me giving him financial advice.

I turned Weld down.