The crappy thing is that this was the first time I had to hire anyone's help on this project...kinda scared to take it anywhere now...but it still needs paint, headliner installed and back seat recovered....they aren't all flakes...are they??
A few weeks ago, Bouncer and I visited AutoKraft which is only a few hours from us. I really liked what I saw, and Kurt and company only deal with building cars, not doing insurance claims. As said above, working with a shop that deals specifically with restorations and custom cars may be more expensive up front, but it will be worth it in the long run.
See, that's proof that I may actually finish my car someday.
Not at all. Plenty of great shops out there. Funny thing is, the quality guys frequently have no b.s. personalities that might rub you the wrong way at first. But now, it's the "super nice guys" that make me leary. You know, that guy who practically offers to polish your pepperoni and promises you the moon.
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Steve Chryssos
the quality guys frequently have no b.s. personalities that might rub you the wrong way at first. But now, it's the "super nice guys" that make me leary. You know, that guy who practically offers to polish your pepperoni and promises you the moon.
That's funny cause the two other painters I recently had look at the car(highly recomended by the way) were all about business and didn't really want to just hang out...they had places to be. They looked at the car and shot me a price...plane and simple. The first guy who wasted my time and money on the other hand, just wanted to hang out and be more of a friend.
Interesting topic. Just 2 weeks ago I was all in my interior guy's face about being 3 days late on Bill's GTO. Star Jones telling the shop don't touch that Hyundai. Ask Bill if I wasn't ready to push a Volkswagen out of my upholstery mans shop! Basically I explained he was not touching anything else until my car (Bill's car) was done, and I would personally push the car out of the way. It's real damn simple. Do what you promise, and everything will be just fine!
We have a renewed understanding now, and he spends a lot of time trying to kiss and make up.
A suggestion for all of you. Ask a shop how long they need, offer them an additional 25% more time, but tell them you want a penalty clause if they run behind. $50 a day is what we do. Baring natural disasters or disablement of a key person, like me or Mike.
If the shop is not willing to commit to a penalty clause with a 25% added time to his best schedule estimate, he is lying or not confident. Nether would justify leaving your car there.
Which reminds me, I have 17 days to finish a 55 Chevy I took in 73 days. Gotta go now!
And oh yeah, that collision shop advice is well spoken.
Last edited by ProdigyCustoms; 09-13-2005 at 02:35 PM.
Would that turn around to bite you though? Once the shop runs into its penalty phase, wouldn't it either rush it to get it out and throw craftsmanship out the window, or else back out on the deal? I know they wouldn't if they were a good shop, but then a good shop would likely not get into that predicament to begin with.
No one says you have to pay until you are satisfied. We always take our money in draws that leave a substantial chunk at the end. Makes it easy to want to finish it.
I know one thing, that 55 will be done on October 1!
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