Thread: paint shops vs home garage

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Im considering getting my car painted by a individual that has a add in my local newspaper for sandblasting/painting/ and restorations. Im really sick of waiting forever for a bodyshop to return my call, or come over to give me a estimate and then just overall unfreindlyness. I havent seen any of this guys work, but he tells me he has worked on many 1st gen camaro's. I originally called for him to put on a rear quarter which regardless Im gonna have him do but now im considering having him priming, the car since its all in peices but since ive taken it apart it would save time to have it painted at this point and then its done!I will defently want to see his work before I commit to anything. Has anyone here had any expierence with this type of work? What are some things I should look for and ask?

You might ask him for some pics of cars he has done.

Have him give you references to actually see some of his work , and talk to the customers .
If he wont do this and actually give out his customer base , he isnt what he says .
Guys that do quality work will be all to glad to show his work !!

Thats the bad thing about a Body Shop , most are in if for fast turn around not restorations ( unless they specify Restoration in their adds ). Some are small and square footage tied up for long periods of time = no money generated . Plus if its not running and in pieces the interest isnt there either .
What you might have to do is take alot of quality photos of your project and take them to the Body Shop and ask if this is something they would care to tackle , and the final bill/estimate may be higer when done , as unseen Things /Items pop up . So dont be alarmed if this happens , an estimate is what it means an estimate, not a final BILL !

SprayTech

My husband just had his car(65 Biscayne) at this guys garage and the guy asked for more than half up front than when hes done he will get the rest. We paid him $1300 and everytime my husband went up there, the shop was closed. He had his cell shut off and everything. Finally my husband talked to a friend of ours that works for the sherriffs dept and she got his address and everything so my husband and a few others had to go to this guys house to have him go and open the garage. We got the car back that night but we found out later the guy had several claims against him for the same stuff.
MY suggestion would be if they ask for money up front or don't want to tell you about any other clients or people he did cars for dont do it. It will be more heartache than its worth. If you do decide to do it. I would write something up saying what he's got of yours, how long it will take him, the set price ect... When this guy first started working on my husbands car it was only going to cost him 1500 but after he got started he said well if you give me 300 more I will do this and this. Long story short we got screwed because we didnt think about what could happen before it was too late.

If its a company see if he cares insurance just in case something happens.

GOOD LUCK!!!

the problem here is that bodyshops here are so busy with just collision repairs that its just about impossible to have restoration done.
what i did is i went to a local shop asked them what they would be able to do and that i would strip prep repair fill to a point and they would then finish off and high soilds primer the car. i then took the car home and sanded it and took it back for paint. i had taken the car ther a couple of times in between to have them check out my work and give me some pointers. they sold me the material i needed and treated me pretty good.
when i took the car back it was pretty well ready for paint. i spent another day along with 3 of the employees sanding after 1 more coat of primer and then they painted it. it still cost me a good buck 3000.00 canadian cash which included the materials they sold me . the shop did not have to do the grunt work and started with prev preped car. i then took the car back home and put it all together as i took the doors and fenders etc off and all the trim to paint it . job turned out ok and i got a new respect for restoration type work, and know why a lot of shops dont want to do it.

I concur with the previous posts.

1) check out his other customers. anyone with a good rep will have no fear of giving the names out and any satisfied customer will be glad to help out the body shop that made them happy

2) restorations are not stuff and buff operations. it takes time and materials to get it right. depending on how much work needs to be done. A complete custom paint job can easily run into the thousands of dollars depending on how good you want it. or how difficult the paint scheme you lay out is to accomplish.


3) i dabble in paint work myself. not for a living but as a hobby. it is not as easy as it seems. Just last weekend i ruined 40 hrs of work on the firewall of my toy and had to take it all back off and start over . i just shot the primer tonight for round 2.

hint (house of kolor kandies are a major pain to get right.)


anyways good luck with your project.

You need to be concerned with three things:

The level of the guys work. Look at some of his jobs IN PERSON! Pictures can hide things.

His business practices. Talk with other customers, or businesses that he deals with!

Is he full time? Part timers have to hold down the other job first. Expect it to take longer, period!

no offense to the home builders but if you go for the garage deal on weekends your going to get burned one way or another. take your car to someone who does it for a living. NOT a body shop unless you want it to look like your driver. the have neither the time nor interest in this kind of work. they make their money doing collision work. if anyone asks for more than materials up front .......run away . he's broke and wont last long enough to finish the job. theres a reason restorations cost more. it's more work. the wannabes really give us a bad rep. hope this helps.
the porchdog

Shine, I would change one thing you said. Don't choose your painter by how much he needs up front. If he has a good reputation, (and you better check him out good), that will be a pretty good indicator of his reliability.

I am a full time painter, who has been painting for 40 years. I ask for half, to two thirds down, on a job. I'm not broke, and I will last through any job. It's just that I am not willing to wait weeks to be paid anything on jobs that can run hundreds of hours. I also don't care to pay $1000-$2500 for someone else's materials either. I wouldn't ask that of them.

You are absolutely right to question their reliability and also their honesty. Painters are people, and as you know, some people are not great human beings, but don't let the amount of the deposit keep you from hiring the best guy for the job.

Paying up front leads to problems.

Better to see some progress on the car as it goes along and pay some of the bill then.
The painter then has an interest in getting the car done so he can get his money.

C9x, I agree, if you are talking about full payment. I can tell you some horror stories about people who paid in full up front!!!

I wouldn't even accept full payment, (especially since I don't know the exact hours or materials cost in advance), but some jobs are quite lengthy, so I need to receive a decent deposit amount. It ultimately comes down to who you are doing business with.

i gave up years ago trying to figure the right way to do it. i decided it's your car, your paint/parts. i get paid on fridays just like anyone else. i do a weekly billing on time plus any materials or supplies bought.
bottom line is your about to make a huge investment in your car. if you dont do your homework and make sure of what your dealing with it's your fault. i dont go into anything blind. if i cant check references i'll pass. pay attention guys. it's a lot of money and the most important thing of your car.

before someone gets their drawers in a wad , i too did it my garage , in a small barn out back, all the way to 10k sqr ft. i live on the farm now and have a 40x90 shop. i've waited a lifetime for it. so i'm not saying guys doing it on the side are bad. theres snakes in any grass. just be careful. some of the baddest painters i knew never had a shop. just a lot of talent.

I have done a few jobs on the side, and do the best job I can. Doing it at home you tend to get customers that don't have the money to take stuff to a shop and want a lot done for free. I use to have them buy paint and I'd pick up the sandpaper ect and keep the reciepts. After getting cars that had a lot more work then was first seen, and people deciding ohh can you do this too, and this without mentioning any increase in money, and getting tired of buying materials for someone elses car, If I do anymore I would do it different. I would break down the work into so much time and when that is completed I get paid, and if anything extra is found that needed work, they would be called and it would added on to the bill. I wouldn't ask for all the money up front, but would from now on estimate material charges and ask that up front. Its too much hassle the old way I was doing it. Then when all is said and done, if the materials came up less then estimated could give some back or if more then estimated ask for the extra. With no money coming in and doing a lot of extra work for free its hard to stay motivated. Most people also don't realize how time consuming this type of work is to do a good job. Without money coming in and putting in a lot of time and finding extra work on someone elses vehicle you didn't estimate for, it is hard to stay motivated. With collision work, you kind of have an idea of what it will take and estimating guides and can make out. With an old car, or something where you are putting on aftermarket stuff, its harder to figure out what you will run into on the job. I agree they shouldn't be afraid to give you some references. I'll see how billing in time frames goes, If you put in a lot of hours, and don't have much money to show for it, you might as well work on your own stuff. There are also customers that don't pay or show up when its time to pay so it works both ways. I guess some contract between the two parties would be a good idea.