[dhutton]

I’m no rocket scientist but it looks like they used a collision cost tool for your restoration which explains why you got bent over and why you should not have taken it to a collision shop imho...

Did you get the original estimate in writing?

Don

[FLYNLOW]

Originally Posted by MD79TA

I have to ask the question I think a lot of us want to, know , How often were you talking to this shop?How often did you visit and review the work and make payment ? I understand the sticker shock but didn't you know this long before you got the final bill? I and not trying to be a jerk but don't understand how you drop off a car and 2 years later are surprised at cost. You should have know every thing they did step by step and the cost associated with it. Maybe it's me , but yes you got screwed , but unless you were on top of them every step you only got yourself to blame . I am sorry for being blunt but I call it like I see . Best luck Doug

Every month or two i’d drop by or inquire what’s going on. The shop owner is a good acquaintance/friend. No, outside of the original “estimate” of about 12k costs were never discussed again after I dropped it off. I figured I’d end up around 15k or so. It is a collision shop but he does a lot of older cars as well, though the bread and butter is collision work. I figured worst case when the project first started it would be 6 months. When it was dropped off Friday was my big shock. I told him he could load the car back on the trailer and keep the car for 29k. He doesn’t want to jeapordize a friendship over a car and has told me to pay what I think is “fair”. I’m a small business owner/contractor myself and I approach every job with upfront no change orders. If I didn’t see it, I eat it. I know that business isn’t cheap but am just absolutely floored at how this has gone. I guess I trying to determine what “fair” is given how long it took and how incredibly far off we are from where it began.

[JUDGE3]

easy to see shop restoration costs being so high. it is a ton of labor, no way I could even tolerate paying a shops costs. that's partially what motivates me to do it all myself. I can see a shop charging 50 grand for a full tilt restore pretty easily now that iv'e been watching all these threads. my goal on my clone is to be all in just under 20 grand completed. so far i'm nicely on target.

[64speed]

Two quarter panels, trunk pan, one floor pan, wheel houses, trunk extensions and taillight filler panel from a donor car. 8000 and some change from AMD

[JUDGE3]

Originally Posted by 64speed

Two quarter panels, trunk pan, one floor pan, wheel houses, trunk extensions and taillight filler panel from a donor car. 8000 and some change from AMD

is that just the labor?

[68 461 Bird]

Originally Posted by FLYNLOW

Every month or two i’d drop by or inquire what’s going on.

The shop owner is a good acquaintance/friend.


It is a collision shop but he does a lot of older cars as well, though the bread and butter is collision work.

I figured worst case when the project first started it would be 6 months. .

Should have been stopping in every week to check on progress, we require it at our shop and we even require weekly payment. Theres no suprizes this way and we take pictures of everything we do to justify the amount of hours we charge for.

Friends take advantage of friends, looks like he just kept putting your car on back burner.

Never take a car to a collision shop for restoration work. Can't stress this enough.

You figured wrong with 6 months at a collission shop.

So from looking at your pictures and looking at his breakdown of hours, I dont think $29K for all the work they did in CA is bad at all. Actually very fair for all of work done. I see in one picture a shaker hood all ready for primer and then a dual scoop hood being straightened and was actually used. Bodywork is very labor intensive and making "after market" parts fit will take a lot of time. If you never did bodywork before, you will never get it. Those bumpers require a special filler and not knowing the condition of it when you brought it in and looking at his bill, it needed a lot of reshaping.
.
How many times did they prime and block the car before paint? Probably painted the car apart and had to put it all back together, more time. Cut and buff everything. The "Mustang Rally" stripe took time too!

If he is your friend, I would thank him for the work he did and pay his bill. Its not his fault you weren't that involved in the process and only popped in from time to time every month or two.
From the pictures, the car looks really nice. But those are pictures and I am not standing next to it looking at it.

[Chris65LeMans]

For The bay area, that doesn’t sound off base at all. New roof, quarters and rust repair isn’t exactly minor work.

As far as your repairs that you didn’t know were needed - that will always come up when everything gets stripped down.

[FLYNLOW]

The roof swap was subbed and itemized at $1500. Rounding the corners for another 10 hours seems a bit excessive? I painted this car twice before and had stripped it to metal both times by hand. This was a driver before it went in, there was nothing wrong with the mirrors which is why I mentioned it with other items like the rockers. Here’s a pic of the car the day it left for the shop.

[A Schab]

Did he just scuff and shoot the mirrors or pull them apart? You could eat up a few hours pulling them apart, stripping them,sealing,priming,sanding and painting them. Then you still have to cut, buff and put them back together again.

[JUDGE3]

........Are you happy with the results? eases the pain $ if your at least pleased with the results. that's a lot of work as a previous post stated if you haven't done it you don't realize the work involved. specially with the panels you had replaced. didn't realize it was a collision shop, almost always just a busy work side job for them. I would do it if it were a friend though but would expect long term and high $.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

A gallon of DBC base will paint a camaro two times.
Red is most expensive color - in lines that charge by tints.
DBC is about the highest baescoat on the market also.

Just for the knowing .....

A new quarter panel pays about 8-10 hours flat rate on collision, to install.
Just body time , ready to trim out , ready to prep for paint.

I don't really want to go into ALL the "why's" some shops kill people on billings.
But a lot of shet like that boils down to lazy guys not being proficient and having to account for their 8 hours of day every day on one car or another.
At others expense.
They may not have even touched a certain car that day, but need to account for some hours.
Depends how the pay scale for the techs is set up.

There really is no good excuse for charging a higher labor rate on a restore versus repairing a new Cadillac or new Mercedes.
Work is work.
The older cars just need more work / more labor time.

[TAKerry]

Looks like they did a great job. Charged a bit too much in my opinion, but who am I. I understand your sticker shock, dont wanna sound ignorant but, yeah, in hindsight you probably should've kept better check of things as they went along. I too am a contractor and know exactly what your talking about as far as doing a job. I have to give an estimate up front, hope that I dont miss anything and stick to it. If I have an over run on my part I have to eat it. It would be nice If I could do billing like body shops.

[nas t eh]

If your friend did not inform you that the origional agreed price for the work was not going to be enough, then he also made a big mistake, just like you did for not asking along the way.

Three years ago I paid roughly $22,000 for almost exactly the same amount of work to a small shop in Montana. I don’t think I was taken advantage of, rather just paying the going rate for something a little less than a full nut and bolt restoration at a true Pontiac shop. The price went up a couple of times over the 2 yrs he had it as the scope of work changed, my total bill was about 28,000 but included things you didn’t have done.

$29,000 is likely more than the car is worth to anyone as it sits. If the guy is a friend and you want to maintain the friendship. I’d sit down with your fiend and ask why he didn’t warn you along the way the price was going up, Then I’d try to settle on a price I could live with. In my opinion that would be between 20-25,000.

Good luck, I hope it works out for you.

[dataway]

I guess everyone defines friend differently ... but I don't have any friends that would not call and tell me long before my bill went $14,000 over an estimate.

I have acquaintances that might do that, but I'd have an estimate on paper from them and a promise to contract me the moment the project was headed in a direction that would go over the estimate. I can only assume any competent shop would already know when they were at the $10,000 mark that the final price was going to be no where near the estimate.

My machinist would call me up if he had to bill an extra $100 on a $2000 job.

[70GS455]

When my car was done last year, my paint guy says he never quotes by the job (bc of cost overruns), he quotes $45/hr and when its done, it's done. I wish mine was only 29k. i would be fine with that price. My work was similar, but add rear trunk valance r/r, trunk w/s gutter r/r, outer wheelhouse, lower fender patches, lower door patches, 6 coats of clear, and no new roof.

Sent from my SM-T817V using Tapatalk

[dataway]

Jeez, you guys could buy the tools and go to vocational school for two years for that price .... and probably still get it done quicker

[Scarebird]

I would split the difference between quote and final cost and give him that.

[vidguy]

Ian-
I saw on my security cams you came by the house. I was playing guitar, LOUD, and didn't hear you.
I know when we had talked recently about the car you were figuring 15K or so.

If it was me I would have said the same thing. "Keep it and sell it." I suppose I agree with the last comment. Split the difference. But I will say that the car looks fantastic..

[dataway]

Vidguy .... that post confused me as I was an hour ago playing my guitar LOUD and thought I heard someone knock on the door

[dataway]

Originally Posted by Scarebird

I would split the difference between quote and final cost and give him that.

That sounds like a reasonable option. Sounds like the guy left himself plenty of cushion in the price.