by Lazarusvan Wed Sep 14, 2016 9:28 amLong story short...
The guy working on my van is moving in two months. He won't finish the work, including paint and body. Most of body work is done, but new paint shop wants to investigate what he has done and is charging me about $2300 more than the original guy had quoted. I hadn't seen him in about 6 months as we hit a snag with the paint work spray out color and a crappy job on the dash area that he and I both agreed was not good, at all. It runed into me letting the van sit as a result until I could regroup.
Paint and body turned out to be a lot more work than original guy had intended. He admits he underquoted it. He blocked most of it, primed most of it, Frenched my licesnse plate at 75% of way and doors are prepped nicely.
On the bad side, they don't like some of the things he did in terms of filling seams that should not be filled, leaving rust bubbles around the window frame, etc, and he has let my van sit out in the elements almost the entire time since he did the motor work. Brand new motor and shiny parts getting exposed and rained on. Doors have been off entire time. I asked him multiple times to cover up my motor and not let my van have rain pour in. (He was supposed to be buffing it all up when we were done.) I didn't realize that the roof had not been primed, so it, along with the interior, all developed surface rust that never existed as a result of exposure. Not to mention letting my engine stay exposed all this time.
There are other details, but the bottom line is he won't finish it because he is moving in two months and wants to spend the last month working on his own project. I pushed him hard to finish and he said it would take 2 months and he had too much other work on his lot.
I have paid for all the motor work, tranny hookup, custom power steering (been rained on for months) brake converstion, new brake line, etc. None of this is tested or proven. I did hear the motor run.
We are wrangling on price that I pay him which is $1500 difference. I am at less than half of his current bill. The new paint work alone gets me to my number when I deduct what I would have paid him had he completed it. He wants more than half but I don't think I should pay for work I can't verify will be good until he is long gone and for which I will have no warranty since he is now leaving town.
He agrees with me on a basic level and is willing to negotiate. But, he wants more than I am willing to pay and is softly holding my doors and parts hostage in the mean time. A large part of that is all the extra time he said he spent for which he didn't charge or discounted the rate. I already had the van towed off.
No drama here as he is a good guy and an honest guy, but curious what the old schoolers think based on past experience. He has a lot of value in my parts, including all of the door seals. Not looking for what I want to hear, just honest info. This is my first time restoring or paying for any custom work.
The guy working on my van is moving in two months. He won't finish the work, including paint and body. Most of body work is done, but new paint shop wants to investigate what he has done and is charging me about $2300 more than the original guy had quoted. I hadn't seen him in about 6 months as we hit a snag with the paint work spray out color and a crappy job on the dash area that he and I both agreed was not good, at all. It runed into me letting the van sit as a result until I could regroup.
Paint and body turned out to be a lot more work than original guy had intended. He admits he underquoted it. He blocked most of it, primed most of it, Frenched my licesnse plate at 75% of way and doors are prepped nicely.
On the bad side, they don't like some of the things he did in terms of filling seams that should not be filled, leaving rust bubbles around the window frame, etc, and he has let my van sit out in the elements almost the entire time since he did the motor work. Brand new motor and shiny parts getting exposed and rained on. Doors have been off entire time. I asked him multiple times to cover up my motor and not let my van have rain pour in. (He was supposed to be buffing it all up when we were done.) I didn't realize that the roof had not been primed, so it, along with the interior, all developed surface rust that never existed as a result of exposure. Not to mention letting my engine stay exposed all this time.
There are other details, but the bottom line is he won't finish it because he is moving in two months and wants to spend the last month working on his own project. I pushed him hard to finish and he said it would take 2 months and he had too much other work on his lot.
I have paid for all the motor work, tranny hookup, custom power steering (been rained on for months) brake converstion, new brake line, etc. None of this is tested or proven. I did hear the motor run.
We are wrangling on price that I pay him which is $1500 difference. I am at less than half of his current bill. The new paint work alone gets me to my number when I deduct what I would have paid him had he completed it. He wants more than half but I don't think I should pay for work I can't verify will be good until he is long gone and for which I will have no warranty since he is now leaving town.
He agrees with me on a basic level and is willing to negotiate. But, he wants more than I am willing to pay and is softly holding my doors and parts hostage in the mean time. A large part of that is all the extra time he said he spent for which he didn't charge or discounted the rate. I already had the van towed off.
No drama here as he is a good guy and an honest guy, but curious what the old schoolers think based on past experience. He has a lot of value in my parts, including all of the door seals. Not looking for what I want to hear, just honest info. This is my first time restoring or paying for any custom work.
