Quote:
Originally Posted by BRIAN
I haven't read all the posts but I assume this guy is no longer in business. i do have to say having been in the auto body Industry this is not uncommon work. There are Benz dealerships doing those exact repairs to new $100k cars and owners accepting it.
A quality job is what the owner perceives to be quality. There is always a better way to do something. I have to say although probably not the majority view, this is the difference between a job that say cost $8k and one that costs $16k. If the original shop charged this guy what Bruning? would charge a walk in customer you should go after him legally. Everybody thinks they can weld up some panels and save some cash with body work. Not that this happened here but there are tons of pics posted of work with 50 great replies that make me cringe. You can't judge work by a picture on the internet.
I am not defending anyone but sometimes for a shop it is hard to turn away the quick mig them up jobs and ship it out the door with a nice profit. Not everyone can afford a true metal finished job. Not every build is a $100k car with a $25k sheetmetal and paint bill.
By the looks of the work and what they feel is bad you are in good hands.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by patriotformula
Looking good thanks to the Bruning guys... In reply to what ^ he said, there is a difference between say what Bruning charges someone and what a cheaper job costs. However, there is no excuse for those piss poor welds and craftsmanship. Someone would have to be completely blind to get wool pulled over their eyes on that one... If someone is that incapable they should have admitted it and given up instead of wasting these fellas time and energy.
Anyways, can't wait to see more and more pictures as this goes on. Gotta love them E-bodys!  |
We charge time and materials, which is very common in this industry. That said, our shop rate is VERY competitive. Cutting corners and doing a piss poor job doesn't make the job get done any sooner in my opinion. Race Rodz probably spent more time lap welding panels and filling voids with layer after layer of weld (inner fenders for example) than if he would have took the time to fit the panel correctly in the first place.
I doubt Mercedes owners take their cars to the dealer to have wheel tubs, spoiler, tunnel, shaved body panels, inner fenders, etc custom fabricated for their 80k car. Collision repair is completely different than custom sheet metal work and I'm sure there are a lot of body shops out there that cut corners by adding more filler. Many areas on Ned's car couldn't be fixed with filler alone...
Also, experience and skill level are a huge factor in terms of the amount of time required to the job right. We looked at pictures of Ned's car and came up with rough time estimates for each area. We then looked at the car in person before bringing the car up North. We're doing everything possible to make things right with respect to Ned's allowable budget, which is exactly what we do for every other customer. I don't know what Ned agreed to pay RR, but I do know that Ned would have been better off if nothing had been done and he only lost the money. The time required to fix all the issues is more than it would have cost to do it right in the first place.
So, please don't assume that we're more expensive because other shops cut corners and rip people off. There is more to it than that. Knowing your strengths and being honest with the customer is key. For instance, we talked to Rob (Demon build) about header options. While I would have liked for us to build a custom set of headers, we couldn't compete (price, not quality) with some of the production headers on the market. Custom headers were lower on Rob's priority list (determined by his budget) than suspension and body mods. What we do on Ned's car is no different.
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
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