Can't get my body guy to finish

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johnparts

johnparts

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SO I have been waiting for my body guy to finish off my rear end/quarter panels even though we slowed down here at work. I don't know if it's cause it's hard to do or if he is just being lazy. He owes me work considering I have done a TON of work to his truck and his daughters car yet he acts as if he's done enough work for me by doing my doors and fenders. How should I approach him and be nice about it cause I want my car in primer by next month?
 
You are learning a lesson,

Was told it would take a few weeks.

Body guys are unreliable (most not all) my dart started at one guys place, then after I couldn't get him to do anything

So after 8.5 years took it elsewhere

Have heard this story over and over. Buddy has a 67 R/T that was in good condition. But after the last several years he is probably going to have to take it somewhere else if he wants to get it back together.

Most of us are trusting, get verbal agreement. This is not good enough, you need a written est. and detail what will be done and a time line.


Good luck
 
Is there any good body men left.2 1/2 years and 3 body men not counting the other years and body men.The only good about this is I got his engine and he wants to go test and tune.Not until my car is done. Mark
 
Worst part is he works at my shop. I see him everyday. Lately I see him leaning on his box with nothing to do and I say hey wanna get some work knocked out on the scamp since there's nothing going on. He says nah I'll have work in a couple hours.
 
johnparts said:
Worst part is he works at my shop. I see him everyday. Lately I see him leaning on his box with nothing to do and I say hey wanna get some work knocked out on the scamp since there's nothing going on. He says nah I'll have work in a couple hours.
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You should tell him that's a couple of hours that he could be working on your car.............
 
Just get your car back.....buy a compressor, buy a DA, ...buy a pnuematic long board...some sand paper, and bondo..and some paint stripper and get after it...go to BigLots and buy a HVLP paint gun, and a gallon of your Color....prep it and shoot the color....you'll be done before you thought your other guy would be.

And the quality will be much better.

Ask me HOW I KNOW......
 
Prine said:
Just get your car back.....buy a compressor, buy a DA, ...buy a pnuematic long board...some sand paper, and bondo..and some paint stripper and get after it...go to BigLots and buy a HVLP paint gun, and a gallon of your Color....prep it and shoot the color....you'll be done before you thought your other guy would be.

And the quality will be much better.

Ask me HOW I KNOW......
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Car never left my hands. It's sitting in my shop. I started doing it myself and I just do not have the patients for body work
 
doing body work is a tough gig.....it can get old easy and its easy to lose interest. i have painted a few cars for other ppl and its not a good idea. its best to work on your own if you can .....but since a lot of ppl cant they need good body technicians (i say technicians bcoz im not a man) or body repair person. LOL

since your already mid-stream with this guy then i would suggest just shootin the breeze with him and see whats going on with him, he is prolly like most in that once he gets started it will go real fast ....but getting started is not always the easiest thing ......i been there done that.

you dont want to come off too rough, but just ask straight foward what his goals are regarding that car.

communication, supprort and understanding will get him rolling and i bet he does a nice job ....best wishes for a good outcome
 
I do autobody for a living, owner operator, I will not take restorations on because I keep busy with insurance work. I get approached non stop to do them but won't because they would never get done. I rather leave the extra room for my own projects.8)
 
Do you own the shop? Does this guy get paid by the hour or the job? You could offer to pay him for the work and when he ask you to work on his kids car tell him he will have to.
 
johnparts said:
Worst part is he works at my shop. I see him everyday. Lately I see him leaning on his box with nothing to do and I say hey wanna get some work knocked out on the scamp since there's nothing going on. He says nah I'll have work in a couple hours.
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john you needed to put a value on your ton of work you did from the start. and your body man just the same. all to often a given estimate is for what is seen. with bodywork there is always something that was hidden in the initial evaluation of the work. until you remove paint ,trim, interior or even old bodywork. no one really knows the extent of the work involved. you know this by working in a shop with insurance work. usually a preliminary estimate is written, and you find all the hidden damage and broken pieces after the job is tore down and started. then you have to call the insurance company to send some one out to re adjust the cost of the work. i'm not saying this is the case with your body man. but again there is no written book on custom bodywork or fabrication usually a lot of thought and time and of course trial and error. he may feel he's done more than enough you don't know unless you ask. i have customers all of the time who come in and bring in a part or say they want this done or want to change something. bottom line is it wasn't in the original agreement. anything from your original agreement an extra movement, a change, an additional part is extra but hurt feelings and or misunderstandings need to be confronted. just pull him aside and see whats on his mind it may be an easy solution. good luck
 
I've offered to pay him. He is a full commission tech so if he's not working he's not getting paid. I told him work up a number and let's make it happen. He almost seems to have the attitude like I'm never going to finish my car so why should he hurry. The other guys won't touch the car since he started it and I've even roughed everything out he just needs to do final skim coats and final sanding. Then prime it. He said we will work something out. He flew through my doors and fenders in a matter of hours and did awesome work.
 
This is my son's Dart, Iv'e been working on it a month so far. 1 Month ago it was drivin into the garage. The work has been done in the evenings and weekends. The roof is done now and the trunk floor. If you get in the mind set to get it done then its a breeze. A few before pictures when it was white.
 

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the worse part is any of the law is n his side i paid a shop to build my motor he blew it up first time he started it it took me 2 years of court and he filed bankruptsy on me out 5700.00 + court file fees and u cant get your car back till they are satisfied it cost me 700.00 to get my car off his lot to take to a nissan dealership to put a new motor in it
lucky for me theres this thing called carrma he opend up a shop 2 towns over and 3 months later people found he was a fraud and he lost his *** so he started a pile of raggs on fire in his own shop burned it to the ground got nailed on arson and insurance fraud and now i APPLAUDE HIS DUMB AZZ FOR BEING SO STUPID while he does his 5 years HAHAHA HAHAHA BRUSE U DUM FOCKER BENDOVER
 
oh sorry to hear about your car but bows are alot quieter than gunz hopn karma be on your side
 
4404spd - That looks awesome! I like the white wheels too:cheers:
C
 
clhyer said:
4404spd - That looks awesome! I like the white wheels too:cheers:
C
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Thats before, Its going to be Plum Crazy with a white interior and a white stripe, I thought it looked like a taxi cab all white...lol
 
Thats before, Its going to be Plum Crazy with a white interior and a white stripe, I thought it looked like a taxi cab all white...lol

My bad, she still looked good though!
C
 
I am a bodyman and painter by trade...been one for almost 30 years now. There really is no magic to it...you said you roughed it out already, why don't you try to finish it? Do the plastic work, guide coat it, then prime it, then guide coat it again. You can prime and block it as many times as you want to. With my showcars, I will do it 5 or 6 times, my street cars I do it once or twice. Once you master it, you can start doing it for other people and make money on the side.
 
340john said:
I am a bodyman and painter by trade...been one for almost 30 years now. There really is no magic to it...you said you roughed it out already, why don't you try to finish it? Do the plastic work, guide coat it, then prime it, then guide coat it again. You can prime and block it as many times as you want to. With my showcars, I will do it 5 or 6 times, my street cars I do it once or twice. Once you master it, you can start doing it for other people and make money on the side.
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I started to cramp up after an hour of sanding. I'm in the beginning stages of carpal tunnel and doing the finish work is hell on my wrists. I don't have the "feel" for highs/lows and that is apparent in the stuff I roughed in since I had to do it 4/5 times to get it shaped right.
 
Also there is some hammer/dolly work that needs to be done on my quarters that I don't even want to think of attempting myself.
 
Just bring it to my shop. Thats all we do is work on pre72 cars/ trucks we do everything in house. check out my shop on our Facebook page it's in my signature. If your interested in talking just give me a shout.
Tim
 
prrc said:
Just bring it to my shop. Thats all we do is work on pre72 cars/ trucks we do everything in house. check out my shop on our Facebook page it's in my signature. If your interested in talking just give me a shout.
Tim
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I really can't afford a regular shop Tim unless you can work on it for $20/hr or you wanna trade work for work.
 
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