I get what you are saying, and a part of my thought process is if I sell the truck in the next year or so, could I come close to breaking even? If all the quotes would have been 3-4k, I would have found the time to do it myself because I know I could do it. What I like about this is once the truck is home next weekend, it only needs tires/stereo to be 'done', and I only will have $3400 into it. I have no idea what it's worth, but I set out to find a short box truck in decent shape and spend less then 6k, and I settled on this because I couldn't find anything that will look half as nice as this does in that price range.

Time was my motivating factor. I run a small biz and it really eats up most of my time. My wife has a list of things she wants done on the house by the holidays as we are hosting her family from all over the country, and that's going to be my free time.

While I fully expect to paint something on my own at some point, it's going to be when I have the time to do it right. At this point, I'd rather focus on the house. She didn't care that I bought the truck, her only concern was that it would take away too much free time that should be going into remodeling work...something I would never pay anyone to do for me since I enjoy it.

 

Paint job done yet ???

 

Nope. Stopped in last week Wed. to check on progress, and the shop was empty outside of the owner, who sounded like @#$@#. Flu hit his shop, so instead of the normal 4-5 guys, nobody. At that point they hadn't done much of anything, started to chip off some of the undercoating, but it wasn't going well. He said it would have to come off with a razor blade, and that was work for his 'grunts'.

I'm not in a hurry to drive the truck so I don't care if it sits there for an extra week or two. I had told him if other jobs came in that were more pressing he could let mine sit as long as I got a good paint job in the end.

 

I dont ever tell people that anymore. Most times, the person gets lazy 1/2 way through and moves on to a new project because your not in a hurry.

 

I'm not worried about it in this instance. His grunts are doing the prep work he's going to spray it. He's slow and I'm sure he needs the remaining 50% for cash flow. He gets a lot of work from the used car lots but they are dead until taxes really start coming back in, has an old Mustang/Vette that are winter projects, so he's lean right now.

I tend to be more understanding with small biz owners because I am one, and know the challenges of having a small number of employees. We had the flu bug hit us around Thanksgiving and it screwed up our schedules for the first half of December.

Not sure that I mentioned it on this thread, but bought the truck for something to drive more in the spring/summer when I'm working on the house. Even if it would have been done last week, probably would have sat in the garage until April. I drive my work vehicle all week and we usually use her car on the weekends, so the truck will be lucky to have a thousand miles put on it this year. Just want to get paint/tires situated before I want to really use it.

 

Well i'm looking forward to several pics

 

I'll get some up within a day of getting it home. The day after I pick it up it's headed in for new tires so will probably snap shots after that. Won't be 'finished' because I can't locate replacement frames for the factory running boards, and mine were rotted out and gone.

 

Telling a shop ....don't worry about time restraint is not good. I also hope that it is done in a reasonable time as you would do in your business for someone else.
I was a large company owner and time was money. Most shops use jobe like yours as fill-ins. I am happy you are happy. I am glad you look at the cost and what you have in your truck and know you could sell it and not be losing big-time.
I try to make money on all my vehicles. I know today it is tough......but you have a good head on your shoulders....it sounds like!!!!

 

I don't expect to make anything significant on the truck if I sell it, just wanted to make sure I didn't drive it for a year and lose 2k on it. I've been looking at used tires, but I'm getting tired of it, so going to put new ones on this weekend. I'll have $4200 into it with new 31x1050 bfg all terrains, probably another couple hundred in getting the running board brackets bought or fab'd up. Figure I should be able to get damn near all of that back to sell it if I decide too. Hoping I don't need to sell it, and the only reason I would is if the company grows to the point where i need the garage space for another business vehicle. Also, don't really care if I lose a few hundred on it if I can use it for the summer on my remod. Invaluable to have a truck during that process.

Regarding the time restraint/shop...I went into this process thinking a paint job would cost 3k plus and at that point, would have seriously considered doing it myself because I have the possibility exists that I might sell it in the next 12 months and I don't want to have too much into it. Thought I would hit a few shops and offer them the job as a 'fill in' project for a better price, so the fact that it's getting pushed back now doesn't bother me. I don't plan on getting back into my remodeling until April, so really don't care if the truck is here or not before then.

I'm in commercial construction, and all my deadlines are asap. I would kill to have a fill in job...lol

 

Just an update.

Stopped at the shop tonight to check on progress, and it's getting there. Guy was working on it and they have all the undercoating off, 90% of the bolt ons removed. Going to give him an extra $100 to fab up some brackets for the factory steps because the others were shot, so that will be done.

Will post a full update on this once I get the truck back, but had a bit of a red flag today and I'm not happy about it. Just going to wait to see the finished product for deciding what's next.

Will say this, kid that had the truck screwed it up bad. Amazing how clean the lower doors/rockers and cab are. Fenders were in a lot better shape then I thought as well. Expecting a nice looking truck in the end because everything is getting stripped down properly for a quality paint job.

 

Update of the week.

Stopped in yesterday to check on the progress, was annoyed to find their was none. I was so disgusted I just turned around and walked back out. Went back today...here's the status.



I'll say this, I don't regret taking it in for a paint job, because after seeing the truck partially disassembled, I was seriously underestimating how much time it would take to do the work. I wouldn't have had the time to do it this summer. However, starting to regret I chose this shop to do the work, not because of the timeliness, but a lack of communication on their part. I did tell them from the start I didn't mind if it got bumped back, but to keep me in the loop. In the latter, they've failed miserably.

To recap. Week 1, little done. I was told the truck would be done on a Friday, stopped in on the preceding Thursday to check status and found it wasn't even close. I had been told when I dropped it off a week earlier the new fenders would be installed within a day or so. They weren't on site. Owner of the shop said end of next (last) week.

Week 2. Again no phone contact. Walked in on a Thursday night again the day before the truck was to be finished. Instantly realized this was going to get ugly. While the truck was actually being worked on at the time, and undercoating had been removed, the front fenders were stripped down. Part of the written contract was for new fenders, so in my eyes, NO work should have been touched on the fenders outside of removing them.

Owner of the shop came out and went into prevent mode on the fenders. Stated the fenders were savable, he'd weld in metal, and it would save me a couple hundred, which he was going to end up charging extra because of the difficulty in removing the undercoating. (he did tell me when I got the initial quote that the undercoating might be a pain, and might end up being an extra couple hundred). So, the extra couple hundred didn't bother me if it would have been charged, but I feel I should have been given a phone call stating ''going to run a bit extra because of the undercoating, here's what i'm thinking on the fenders".

I was on his 'next to call list'...sure, but what really made me disregard that comment was the fact that he went on to say 'I had the new fenders here, but realized these were worth saving so sent them back....they were actually in the shop last week when you were here'. A line of b.s. because he told me they would be in the next day the previous week.

So today...week 3, go back in and see nothing has been done to the truck. Again, no phone call on the status this week. Every time I've been into his shop, it's full of different vehicles, so I know my truck has been pushed to the back of the line weekly. As I stated earlier, I didn't have a timeline involved, but only with good communication from the body shop of its intentions. I've not gotten that in my opinion, and believe I've caught them trying to screw me.

This person had a decent reputation, but I now hear he's in the middle of a nasty break up, and it's obviously affecting other areas of his life. Snapped some pics tonight because I do have a contract/quote spelling out what was to be done, and expect this to be ugly. I now specified I want the truck back by the end of the month.

Decided not to fight for the fenders, want to see the finished product and take it from there.

 

I feel your pain. Been there, done that. A two week job promised by a reputable shop that has painted quite a few vehicles for Barret-Jackson, turned into nine months. I've followed your thread from the beginning. It's just a shame a man's word is not worth anything anymore. When I finally got mine back, the paint cracked within two months, they repaired and it cracked again in two weeks. I at least have unlimited time and swore never again. I can screw it up just as bad and a whole lot cheaper. Hope you get it back in an acceptable period and it turns out well.

 

That's all I'm hoping for at this point. I don't second guess the decision to have it done this time for a minute, but I don't believe I'll ever use a body shop again.

What's awesome, the fact that he was trying to make racist jokes with his workers....not only did he not know the punchline, but he also didn't realize I'm about to marry a black woman.

 

I made me a garage well its a cheap one expect for the 6x6's but I took 4 6x6 took some 6mil plastic and nailed it up ran 4 sheets all the way around and on top it was neat i did a good paint job..

 

Garage wasn't the issue, I have a 20x20 that's empty in the spring, it was time. Wasn't cost either, if the guy had done a good job I was going to work to promote his biz because I want good people to succeed in business.