I have a sign that hung in my shop when I was serving the public,, It stated: "The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweet taste of low price is forgotten."
Take the advice, tell him to load it up and get it out of your shop. You don't want your name on any part of that car, and you definitely don't want this chiseling tightwad for a customer.
well , my 2 cents , anyone who is serious is going to know what that costs . seems to me if the guy is trying to grind you now , just wait until he has to start parting with the money . i'm with ebbspeed on this , scare him off , and if he still wants to do it at least you make some money .
Walk away. He's the kind of guy that expects miracle's for pennies, he'll change the game plan on ya in the middle of the work and expect it to not cost any more for him.
If he pays cash up front then do it, respect doesn't pay bills.(I'm sending the above to Oprah) But after 35 years in business having to deal with many who have no respect but have lots of money to me it sounds like he will be a pain in the arse all the way through the job.
Oh, and as far as the customer supplying the parts go, we tell them that if they are going to supp;y the parts, if there is a problem with a part, we will NOT do anything to get it replaced except call the customer so he can handle it. And if that holds up being able to work on the car, we charge storage. If I sell them the parts and there is an issue, then it is my problem and I handle it with the supplier, that is what my profit margin on parts is for. I am not going to lose money making calls and sorting out customer supplied problems.
Although I may be a fastidious customer, I am always both cordial and affable when dealing with hot rod proprietor's...
There is only one way to do this kind of work that is fair for the customer and the shop...................time and material. I've always worked on a weekly basis. I do a weeks worth of work and bill the customer at the end of the week. He has until Wednesday of the next week to pay up. No pay...........work stops until the bill is paid........NO EXCEPTIONS. This way your never more than a week into a project without being paid and the customer is never behind more than a week so he is never into the project so far he can't catch up. Any time during the build either of you can pull the plug without major $$$'s in dispute. If the project is terminated nothing leaves until the bill is paid in full. After two weeks the customer is charged $10.00/day ($50/wk) storage until bill is paid. I have forms printed out with this information spelled out in detail. The customer and I both have a signed (by both of us) copy so there is no misunderstanding if things go off track during the build. After 20+ years and dozens of projects I've only had 1 (ONE!!!!) that came to the point of getting the legal system involved and that one ended up making a lifetime friend that was sending work my way until I closed the shop. Something about getting another shop involved,being charged twice as much and getting less than half the work done for the price makes one really aware of what can happen if both parties are not on the same page throughout the build. Frank
If you do the work charge him time and material,no less than $60 an hour,have everything in writing.Make him show up every Friday with the payment with 1st week in advance and in the paperwork state that if he renigs on the agreement you have a lean on the car until paid. If this guy wants to spend that kinda dough on a 38 Chevy more power to him but finished cars sell for less than the work involved in the job.You are basicly building a car and most people don"t realize the manhours and cost involved when they see a nice car selling for a low price.If hes already bothered with the price you gave him just walk away and have less headaches.If you have a licensed shop where you are doing the work make a contract.If you are taking on this project from your home at any time this guy can call the city report you for doing business from your home and then you are in deep shit.
Funny you mention turning someone in. A guy I worked for in college got a dime dropped on him by an a-hole customer that wanted something for nothing. The dude better be loaded if he wants you to do all that work. My WAG based on seeing some of these guys is he'd think you're ripping him off if you worked for free. Makes good sense not to let him get too far in hock to you or at least get a deposit or something. I like what Groucho said. Seems really fair to me.
do you really want the bullshit , if he already bitching on price ! remember he came to you .......................
Charge him your flat rate (whatever you value your time at) times the number of hours that it takes you to complete the task. Remember if you give him a price, that is what he is going to pay, it doesn't matter how many hours it takes you. So you could make nothing or something per hour.
lots of good answers, only thing i would have to say is we don`t know the customer and perhaps he got a little bit of sticker shock, you`ll have to feel him out a bit and break down the costs for him and see what his attitide is like, i would definitely charge time and materials and charge at a higher rate for parts he supplies, like 70 instead of 60, and get a nice plan and contract with him with all your bases covered..........but really gotta feel him out first....that is alot of work........it would take me several days with the car and my calculator to make a plan for that......
Like said before, focus on first part of the job, get paid. Build a solid chassis before making windows work with fancy parts. You have the right to turn away a potential customer with respect. You will know when the time is right. Not all money is worth the heartache to work for it.
Just sounds like one of those customers that wants a show car quality job but only wants to pay a back yard fix all guy prices . I say he will be nothing but a headache , PITA ! If you gave him a price then stick with it . Once you start dropping prices cheaper to do a job , before long all you will get is the cheap ass people that want it done for nothing . You are in business to turn out quality products and service . Then charging $60 an hour is far from out of the question . If you are doing it under the table on the side , $40 an hour and not a penny less ! Remember when you do the frame welding , front end and brakes , if anything goes wrong down the road those are the first things they look at to see if they were done right . I will bet you he will have a sue happy lawyer with him if that did happen . Then how can you prove what you did and someone else did . I would just nicely tell him that you are backed up at least a year to a 1.5 years of work away before you will be able to get to his project . That's the polite way of telling him you don't want to touch his car for the love of money ! We all have done it at one time or another just because you don't need the headaches from him all the time ! Retro Jim
If this guy is so keen to have you do it then to test his true colours apply the "MUF" rule ! M= Money U= Up F= Front
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