The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Paint Shop Dilema

I wanted your opinion on a situation I'm in with a paint shop and my beloved 55.2 Chevy Napco. This is rather long, but bear with me.

I live in a small town and there are very few quality paint shops around here. I was referred to a 1-man shop. He came with the highest recommendations from more than two people and I saw some of his work. His shop is a restoration shop, not a collision shop.

I met him and felt that he could handle the job and towed my truck to the shop. That was 3 months ago. The body work was about 85% complete though he found a lot of work that needed to be done.

I go every Saturday to check on progress and it's going very slow. He seems to always be on another project and I am always "up next". He has done most of the blocking on the cab and fenders. He has the interior and dash shot.

Here is my dilema. I feel like this is going to take another 6 months to complete and I'm sick of waiting. Also, I saw a Corvette in the shop and he mentioned it belonged to the owner of the building. He mentioned he was "a couple months behind in rent and is doing some work on the car to make up for it".

Should I pack up and run?

Reasons for keeping the truck with him.
1. Quality work.
2. He lets me work on the truck in his shop.
3. It's half way done.
4. It may end up costing me more to paint the truck by pulling it and moving to another shop. Towing alone is $65 back to my house. I have $3,000 into the project. Expecting a total of $5,000.

Reasons for packing and running.
1. He is on financial thin ice.
2. He is taking way too long.
3. I'm up all night worrying that the truck will never be done or I'll show up and the doors will be locked.

Here's a must read for all restorers'. http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/bodyshop.htm

Great article, and I did read it before hand.
1. There were three cars in the shop, none had dust, but none were complete, just various stages of progress.
2. He has just one stall, so I figured he would go really fast.
3. He came to my house to examine the truck, he ran his hand all over it and found dents that I didn't know about. He said the hood was pretty bad and I should find another. I was impressed.
4. He works from 5:00 am to 3:00 6 days a week. I worked on my truck in his shop installing the A/C, sanding the truck for about a month and noticed he worked most of the time, but talked a lot. Usually complaining about being poor. Pop! Red Flag!
5. I have been paying him as he goes. As a matter of fact he asked for another $500 and I said if the interior of the cab and doors are trimmed out I would give him more cash.
6. Negotiate the time it takes to do each step has been a problem. He says "I'll get the doors trimmed by the end of the week", that was two weeks ago. Red Flag!
7. I do visit a lot and I do have a decent relationship with the guy.

I feel like the Red Flags started popping up after I jumped in the deep end. I think my biggest mistake was going with a 1-man shop rather than a team. I feel prisoner to his schedule. Though he looked good up front, not sure now.

If it were me I'd sit the guy down and be honest about your concerns. I'd tell him you feel the project is taking too long and you need to see more progress being made or you'll be forced to find another shop to finish it. What I'd do next would depend on his answers.

I was thinking the same as Tiny. Maybe a good heart to heart expressing what you said here will clear the air and a decision can be made from that point. I do compliment you on your concern and patience with this fellow.

Having had a problem with a contractor with money problems. I would pack it up and run, the bank may shut him down and it will be very hard to reclaim your car. He will probably over run costs and delay if you keep giving money.You are his CASH COW. Find another shop.
My contractor got me for $3600, and is trying to stay out of the license plate factory, class 3 felony, 6-11 years.

He sounds like every paint/body man I have ever met. My Ford sat in bare metal for months @one place.

the solo guy I use for the fine work and paint is quite similar, always financially stressed and always working hard, but progress on any particular job in fits and starts .... agree with Tiny and Drew, talk it out, you might speed things up a bit, but I wouldn't stress about losing your shirt .... and you might find that "bonuses" in some form would help

Bill

Just a small recomendation. Find out who owns the building and become his best friend. That way if the shop closes (and it probably will)you will have a better chance of getting your truck back.

WELL; I am a 35 year body/paint tec. and I NEVER treated a costamer like I heard about today,I hope a lot of good collision tecs. dont take some of these bad coments to heart because some may be working on your project. I know for a fact that it is hard to find GOOD workers, I have worked with some of the sadest body/paint guys around, they come in and hack work out untill it starts comeing back then pack their tools and move to the next shop and get good money for bad work, its a shame,I never wanted to be around this type of worker , it gives the good ones a bad name.ok Im done. as far as I can tell, you are better off getting the work done that you paid for so far and dont give the man any more money.I know its a tuff one but you will be better off in the long run to remove your truck as soon as you feel he has given you your moneys worth just tell him in a nice manner that its not working out and you will do it yourself or whatever you feel will get you out of that jam your in I have bin in these types of things before and the stress is gonna kill ya.He may be a great guy but he has to much going on at once and needs to pay bills also ,thats why he has so many jobs going on at once, now hes getting in over his head and cant keep up. Plus that job he is doing for for the owner is is gonna be a do my car for rent thing.hes in a spot say ba bye GOOD LUCK

So, I stopped by today at lunch to see what was going on and he had one of my doors trimmed out and promised to have the other one done and back on the truck by Saturday. I think he got the message when I said I was getting frustrated about the timetable last weekend.

Martin, I thought the exact same thing about the owner. He has rental signs on all the his other empty bays so I should just give him a call.

I'm going to wait until Saturday and see how things go. I will talk to him about my concerns and see how he responds. So far, I feel like he has given me what I've paid for but that is like a tug of war.

Update.
I had a discussion with the paint guy about my concerns. I said I was considering pulling the truck out of his shop and he assured me he would get it done within a month. I think he is an honest guy and will follow through...I hope. All I can do is keep dropping in twice a week to check on progress.