I just wanted to say that that this is an excellent post. I'm sorry you got bent over bulheimer as it sounds like there are some legal ramifications over this.

MARTINSR: Nice to see a confession from an actual body man when it comes to the "paint shop prison" saga. It's funny that you say a good body man don't make good businessmen. That explains a little shop up the road that does restro. work and very little anything else. The cars seem to die either in the shop or even worse are sitting outside waiting to die inside.

Good luck bulheimer.

u were screwed !! i`m the best in the world i could have done 3 cars for that kind of money !! r u sure this guy doesn`t work for the government ???? if it takes someone 1750 hours to prep and paint a car he must not have any arms and legs and he`s sanding the car with his tongue ,,,,

The shop I work for did a 72 a few months ago. We don't usually do resto work. I think the manager said I'd clocked something like 170 hours on the car, and that was just the bodywork. I'm sure there are 100's of people that could have done the work faster. I think he spent somewhere around $8500 and we had the car for about 3 months. I know it's been in a few shows since.

They allways look real clean until you strip all the old paint, filler, rust and vinyl top off. In my experience, the people that will go on and on about how the body and paint people are taking too long are either complete hacks or totally clueless about whats involved with taking an somebodys "project" apart and repairing 30-40 years worth of damage and wear.

the car in the picture looked nice. I'd say if you're happy with it it's money well spent.

I don't think the dispute would be the money spent or the work...the dispute would be that he charged nearly $5000 more than originally quoted. Give me a price and if it changes by that much without letting me know, then there would be a couple of people in court.

EXACTLY

I just want to make it clear, THAT is not what I said. I said "being a good body man does not make you a good businessman", which is a totally different thing. Sure you can be a good bodyman AND a good businessman. I only said that "Being a good body man doesn't AUTOMATICALLY make you a good businessman.

I know plenty of very successful businessmen who started out doing bodywork or even still do it on a daily basis. It is just that a lot of restoration shops are ran by the "artist" who happens to not be a good businessman. That is what I meant.

Oh, I didn't mean for it to sound like that. I realize there are plenty of great body men that are good businessmen too. Personally I feel it takes a lot of drive to operate a successful business of any kind.

My father had his own furniture restoration business which he made very little money from. He was an artist with his work but unfortunately he was also an alcoholic and was half in the bag by 3:00 in the afternoon and hitting the easy chair to sleep it off. He was the best furniture man i knew but he could not keep his head out of the swill and on the job. That to me would be the hardest part of owning any business is staying focused at all times.

No problem Chopper, I just wanted to be sure you and everyone else understood what I said. I am going to add the word "automatically" into my text so that it is more clear.

I am sorry to hear about your dad. That subject is a little touchy with me right now. Not that my dad had a drinking problem but that his funeral was today.

If your pop is still alive, go see him if you can. If he has passed on, God bless his soul.

wow....your not having a good week. first you have to get your teeth drilled and now your dad. sorry to hear that.

Easy boy ............easy boy, easy.
I am sure the dentist gave you some NOS for your teeth,
I just picked up my truck at the end of NOV, after a complete strip, sandblast and paint.
I settled on the price of 5K at the start, this was the going price around these parts, about the middle of the road,
This seemed to work at the time of the deal which was July of 03...............16 mo. later I have all the parts except the hood and two doors. I guess I was not prepared for the time span of this job and I, we did not talk about the time other than the approx. hours to do the job. The truck is Black BC/CC and I do not have it all together but from the pieces I am satisfied with the quality, just took a lot longer than I ever expected

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OK,everyone on the lynch squad reread Sams post.
I paraphrase: "i give a paint shop an ins. check for $4000 and he says right away what i want will cost me more than that, and i say well try to keep it down...."

"he says right away what i want will cost me more than that"

Rockers: $400.00 They cost $90.00/side +/- and labor So $400 isn't out of reach. He MAY have used cost savings measures that would have saved him time, perhaps. Maybe reskinning a door in lieu of pulling dents, if it made more $ sence. Or new front fenders? Without seeing what he had in front of him ,its hard to tell how much the bodyman had to do. I know that my Chevelle is pretty much rock solid. I've had estimates from 6 to 12 grand for a color change. But I told them I wanted a showcar finish. No waves, ripples, sags, overspray, etc. Perfection takes time. Time is money. If I added new glass, it'd be more.
Sam, I don't think he's too far out of line. $45/hour is CHEAP! Maybe you guys had your lines crossed?

Jeff

just thought i would say this is a good post. it must be - because its 6 in the morning and im sitting here reading ....

business first, skill second. i would of slapped the dude upside the head and went to judge judy for my 4k back. EVEN IF HE DID AN AWESOME JOB!!. (of course i may misunderstand the situation)

i have had instances when someone at a shop would spend my money. or conduct my personal business without a power of attorney. how disrespectful. especially when your honest and your like well this is all the money i can get.

i guess thats the whole reason i am willing to learn and work on amnything. even if i have to buy extra tools i think im getting over.

your car looks really nice Bull, looks like a show winner.

r4r

MARTINSR,
My Condolences on your great loss.

Thank you, we were very close.

I guess different places different prices. I know pretty much what it takes to get the body work done and paint as I used to do it. Prices have went up considerably though but when I got my truck wrecked I did all the work myself, had about $1500 in material and parts and the guy that painted it charged $1700. BC/CC with purple pearl over the whole thing.

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