money owed

[byndbad914]

Others have offered suggestions to fix. I am surprised you didn't take payments along the way. Even building an engine I would require half up front just to cover parts. Then after the parts were in I required another payment of half the remainder, so when they show up they only owe me a couple grand at the most.

So for the future, do just that.

When I had my tube chassis built for my car, it was the same deal - the guy that did the work required half up front, another quarter at half finished, and the last quarter to remove it from the shop. Makes a $10K bill a $2500 bill at the most (as he is never potentially out of pocket on the money 'til the end) instead of having $8K dumped into tubing and labor costs and have me not come thru on the whole $10K. He would have "lost" $500 if I didn't pay the final amount, but he would have also had my car.

Then while you hold the car (in my case engine), you have it clearly stated in the original quote that they have 2 weeks to pay after final assembly or you start charging storage. That really tends to motivate people when you start tacking storage fees onto the bill.

Cars are harder than engines since a title is involved... with engines after 6 months I had the quote say I had the right to ebay the engine no reserve and whatever amount was earned above what they owed me I would reimburse to them, up to the amount of the original quote. That meant if I quoted $10K, they paid $7K and didn't come thru at the end, I just needed to sell it for $3K to break even. Did it one time, sold the engine for $6K (which the buyer got a smokin' deal on!!), reimbursed the original guy $3K since I was only owed $3K and told him where he could put that $3K when he started crying. Cost himself $4K to never get the engine.

[tellyv]

When we started he was keeping up, then he left for florida all winter and the checks came but not as often, then you know how it goes I need my car for spring so we dumped all the other projects and 4 of us worked on it for about 2 months straight and him being a big talker we let the car out and here we are. At least I got a big chunk of it today and I sure did learn a lesson.

[Porterbuilt]

I have found it best to take labor deposits. Depending on the scope of the build the deposits may be large or small sums. I make all my customers pay for parts before I order them, and I take anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000 deposits on labor. Once the labor deposit has been used, we get together to go over the progress and then get another deposit. I started doing this after I ended up in your situation once. Never had to wait for another dollar.

Glad to hear you got your money.

[byndbad914]

Originally Posted by tellyv

When we started he was keeping up, then he left for florida all winter and the checks came but not as often, then you know how it goes I need my car for spring so we dumped all the other projects and 4 of us worked on it for about 2 months straight and him being a big talker we let the car out and here we are. At least I got a big chunk of it today and I sure did learn a lesson.

I hear you and BTDT too. Similar story, had this dude talked big about all the money he makes as a partner in a small private equity company (and having an MBA and knowing PE guys - they make BANK when they are on) and he did make money hand over fist apparently and I had considered/talked about working for him.

Then he told my friend he would buy his old late model/SW Tour car to go road racing in NASA. Friend sold it for $6500 to him and he wanted a one year contract to pay it off. Claims he turned close to a million on the year before and wants a contract to pay $6500. He probably had it in his pocket frankly, but he screwed my friend around for the whole year and then some and finally paid him for the car only after mutual friends pressured him to not be an ahole Needless to say I quit talking about working for him - not cuz I couldn't have done well but screw working for someone with ethics like that.

The people with the biggest mouths and bank accounts also seem to be the biggest aholes. And they don't start that way, but man, money has really changed a few of my friends in the past. Weird deal, but I NEVER trust anyone flaunting cash.

[bill amsley]

been there done that! tell your cust you would like to do a little touching up before he pays up , make him feel like your doing him a favor. then you will have the car back ,only to be released after full payment, this time. trust me it works the guy is thinking "i didnt even pay for it and hes going to give me more" a greedy scum bag falls for that every time.

[ironworks]

To some guys it is not about the money it is about the fact that they can boss you around with their money. The guy who bought the 6500 car on terms just wanted to have it over someone. He probabley was over the car before he made the 2nd payment. I have had the customers that just want to big the big shot in my shop and when someone comes in with the bigger and badder project, things go south on their build. But there is nothing more amazing then a great set of customers that work into life long friends and respect you for the work you do and are excited about the car. In my seven years of owning my shop, I have gained some customers that I truly wish had trillions to burn, and I'm sure they also. But I have had guys that I wish would just run out of money and take them and there dumb car home.

I think the key is open communication and do not sugar coat anything. These cars are all expensive. The build is not very motivating at certain points in the project and can be fustrating for the customer, but the devil is in the details. I have learned if the customer does not really care about seeing the build progress, either in pictures or in person. They probably are not to passionate about the build, they just what a car. At that point they should have just bought a car already built. Then I have other customers that you cannot send enough pics to, and that want to come by and see the details and how it is working. They are excited and they make my job fun. I have had customer that was local that just came by ALOT, just to check to see that we were working. That is lack of trust and he should go somewhere where he trusts someone but they get offended when you send them down the road finally.

OK rant over.... For now

Rodger

[comp-spec]

Originally Posted by ironworks

To some guys it is not about the money it is about the fact that they can boss you around with their money. The guy who bought the 6500 car on terms just wanted to have it over someone. He probabley was over the car before he made the 2nd payment. I have had the customers that just want to big the big shot in my shop and when someone comes in with the bigger and badder project, things go south on their build. But there is nothing more amazing then a great set of customers that work into life long friends and respect you for the work you do and are excited about the car. In my seven years of owning my shop, I have gained some customers that I truly wish had trillions to burn, and I'm sure they also. But I have had guys that I wish would just run out of money and take them and there dumb car home.

I think the key is open communication and do not sugar coat anything. These cars are all expensive. The build is not very motivating at certain points in the project and can be fustrating for the customer, but the devil is in the details. I have learned if the customer does not really care about seeing the build progress, either in pictures or in person. They probably are not to passionate about the build, they just what a car. At that point they should have just bought a car already built. Then I have other customers that you cannot send enough pics to, and that want to come by and see the details and how it is working. They are excited and they make my job fun. I have had customer that was local that just came by ALOT, just to check to see that we were working. That is lack of trust and he should go somewhere where he trusts someone but they get offended when you send them down the road finally.

OK rant over.... For now

Rodger

Right on the money Rodger


I ask any new customer to come by the shop check us out see the cars in different stages and see if they feel comfortable with us and our work. If you're not sure after that I don't want you to drop the car off because like Roger said these cars are all expensive. The build is not very motivating at certain points in the project and can be frustrating for the customer, and then there's times they will be extremely happy ( HOPE ALL THE TIME)
Then we talk payments.
We never get to deep in dept with customers. We'll stay up on labor and parts with the big jobs. They get expensive fast
then there's always the COLLECTOR

[ironworks]

I'm a quick learner and when you stand to close to fire you get burned. I have a few scares. But scares build character.

Another thing is every project built in any shop goes over budget. Everyone has grand ideas and short strokes on what it will take and all it takes is just little bit more of this and little bit more of that. If you say that enough times pretty soon you have spent 10 grand.

It amazes me that well over 50% of building hot rods professionally has nothing to do with anything that is done in the shop. If you want to make money building hot rods, go get a real job. If you cannot see your self doing anything else, you must have the passion, but passion does not help you run a business, WELL.