Body Shop owners, need your help

I am in the process of getting screwed by a shop in work hours that I am being billed for. Please make sense of this:

align door * for new hinges * 8 hours
align other door * for new hinges * 8 hours

There is plenty more but this seems extreem to me, that it took 8 hours to hang 1 door. The vehicle is a AD chevy pickup. BRAND new hinges were purchased. ​

 

Could those be man hours ? Maybe it took two guys 4 hours to do a door ?

Don

 

What about the old screws??? They can be a bear to remove....

 

Not sure. I have a whole list of stuff I was charged for that just say "bodywork" etc. Does not indicate man hours, specific work, etc.. Long story short. This has been going on 4 years. I pulled the truck after nothing being done for over 2 years. Like a fool I paid them up front for work to be done, because the guy was a "friend" of mine. Like Paint and Body amongst other crap. I pulled the truck out and there is a good deal of work that still needs to be done to paint and body and they are telling me its not there problem. Given a set price for the job and the job is not complete.

 

I just think its a bit steep.

 

If you have ever tried to remove the old screws and hinges it would give you some insight on how much work it can turn into.Lining up the gaps to look right takes some time as well.New hinges don't awlways fit right either.Quotes are just an estimate.When I get stuff done I try to get an not to exceed price instead so no big suprise.No matter if its a friend or not.

 

not a pro but it took wife and I two full days (about 30 manhours) to remove and install/align the doors on a 40 coupe--takes a while to get lines right--shimming hinges,moving strikers,etc etc and we have done a few of these old fords.

 

"align for new hinges" is a little vague.....
Flat rate R&I on about any door is in the range of 1-1.5hrs. Hinge replacement(bolt on) runs from .3 to 1.0 each, depending on the vehicle. Keep in mind, flat rate is for undamaged parts...rusty/broken bolts take more time. Also a consideration is AD truck doors rarely fit well anyway, so they *could* have spent a lot of time making them fit--the question is, do they fit? About all you can do is ask for a more detailed breakdown of what they did to each door(Slot holes, shim the cowl or cab mount, cut/weld the skin, etc)
I'm not takin' sides here....just throwing out possibilities

 

Man, I am here to tell you that new doesn't mean good.

I just did a 51 Chevy truck with NEW Dynacorn hinges and doors. What a freaking disaster. We had at least a full day in each to get them to align. So what you are being billed for may be fair market.

Better than bitching to us about it, ask the owner to walk you through what it took to get your doors to fit...

 

Exsesive hours depends on shop rate. If the rate charged is $30hr then $240 to hang & align a big and heavy OLD door is not bad. I they charged you at $100hr I would make sure and demand that everthing be perfect.

Freinds go out to dinner, good freinds will pick up the check. Anything that involves work through a business should be treated as business on both sides of the table.

 

6 bolts on each hinge. Hex heads break off you just have to drill out the threads and retap. Countersunk phillips or Clutch head. you have to drill the head off then the threads. Each broken bolt can be a half hour. New hinges sometomes need to be tweeked to match your 60 year old body. Yes, it can take a day on each one. It can take more than a day too. Nobody complaines when you eat some time because you feel it just took too damn long. Some things just take tine to do right.

As far as those flat rate times... did you ever work in or hear the horror stories about working ina flat rate shop?

 

I have been working on one of these and the doors are a pita to get right.So 8 hours a door doesnt sound that far off to me.

 

You'll never know till you do one yourself. Every time I work on my old cars it takes longer than I would have expected. Also now when I have someone else do work for me I'm usually pleasantly surprised.

 

Easily could take that long or even longer. You want it nice, expect to pay big $$$ or just do it yourself. Hope you end up with a real good result for your project.

 

if it is 8 hours and the gaps are perfect not steep, if they are still just slapped in then I would have a talk with the shop.

 

I spent the last 3 days putting my hood on and grill after I took it apart to paint it and nothing fits now the way it did before I painted it ! Been doing this a long time ! and it takes times to make it right, Not taking sides ! If it so easy why don't everbody do it !

 

This is why i don't like working on any one elses car. You can suck up time on a old car and show little progress and now the fight is on. All you get is bullshit rants and gossip in the coffee shops about how you got ripped. Do it yourself the traditional way. That's what separates the men from the boys.

 

i've done seven of these trucks over the years and the doors are far from the easiest to align..especially considering the factory never cared one way or the other about nice even gaps back then. It was work truck and the fit was far less than what is typically expected today.

Getting the door off, removing rusted and stuck clutch head screws restoring threads, etc, etc, can be pretty time consuming. also, as mentioned already, new by no means is the same as bolt on and slam the door.

Eight hours per door Might be high or it might not be.. depending on the above conditions plus the condition of the doors and cab those hours can be used up pretty quickly.
Eight hours is one day...I've spent considerably more than that aligning sheet metal.

I'm not making excuses here...I have no idea what the shop did or didn't do. Just tossing out an observation from 45 years of doing body work, much of it old cars.

I'd have a conversation with them....they should be able to explain what they did for the hours they bill.

 

I'm retired and don't work on other peoples projects anymore but when I did I photographed every step of every operation. I also kept an accurate work log, all of which was offered to the customer upon completion of the job. any questions about what and how during the build/work were quickly answered with accurate documentation.

 

I can easily see that taking 16 hours. Do the doors fit right?
I am working on a 62 Vette for a customer right now. I spent almost a week lining up doors and door glass till everything worked correctly. (It did involve fiberglass work, bearclaw latches and new door handles)Lucky for me the customer was happy and is willing to pay without arguing or complaining.
If you think it took too long, why didn't you do it yourself?

 

I do my own work and it never ceases to amaze me the hours involved to complete what seems to be a simple procedure. New hinges does not help if the door frame is out of alignment..Wife and I spent over 8 hours trying to align a hood on my 41 IHC, shim this, twist that, lift fender,,,,,FRIGGIN' thing! why you think so many guys drive around with no fenders?

 

I agree that after market parts might look the same but seldom fit like the O.E.M stuff. NOTHING just bolts on, it all needs tweeking. I had four hours in a set of repop radiator brackets recently just bending,bumping and grinding to get em' close. I don't even like to order the parts anymore. I have the owner order and pay when I can. That way I don't feel so responsible for the extra time involved. Not bitchin' about the quality of the parts, most times you have to be happy that ANYTHING that's close is available.

 

times 2 what he said

 

As stated do the doors fit? The new hindges do not make the doors fit and yes removing hindge bolts can be a S.O.B. it all takes time. Everybody thinks body work is easy, well now you have the chance, have at it then lets here how easy it was. To do the work you have to be a craftsman and artist. Good Luck!!! Retired Body Man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

This seems like a reasonable amount of time.

 

I'm having a real tough time keeping my trap shut,rolling my eyes,and turning the page. I don't know the OP nor have I seen the end result of the body shop, but generally listening to a complaint in this matter gets my dander in a wad. Its real easy to be an armchair craftsman in a world of walmart shoppers. I've been a tool and die maker for more than 30 years and come from a long line of tradesmen in our family and everthing we did (and still do) is a "one off" situation. If you feel as if you been ripped off, give it a try on your own. It takes very few purchased tools. If you can accomplish the required results in less time I'm sure they will apologise and refund you some monies. I could continue but the stoning should begin shortly. Looking forward to your changes Ryan and I promise not to let my feathers get ruffled again.Cheers.

 

Right on!

 

Before this gets closed ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Save yourself the grief of feeling like someone is ripping you off and just buy someone's finished or close to being finished project. Maybe throw on some paint and wheels and make it yours. If you hire out the build, expect to have 2-3 times more money in it than you could likely buy someone's project that they're tired of spending money on. Sorry this sort of turned into a bash. I'm sure its not what you wanted to hear.

 

When someone starts off with getting screwed, ripped off, cheated etc. it usually ends up that the screw-e is as much at fault as the other party. Those who have been doing this very long have heard the paid a lot up front and its been there for ever and I had to get it uncompleted and no one is happy.
Body shops, hot rod shops and restoration shops are just like every other business, some are managed well and some are not and too many got into business because they built a couple of nice cars and people start asking them to do work for them and all of a sudden they are in business and should not be.
I think all that have done this for a while have made the error of not doing our homework or trusting friends and not paying attention to those red flags(like no progress being made on a project when a lot of money has been turned over) hard lessons learned.
As to doors, after 35 plus years I still hate fitting doors and it can easily take a day to fit a door. I do early VW beetles also and I figure a full day to fit and put together each door. Every once in a while a door on something just fits right up, but seldom.
Hope you have a better experience with whoever you choose to finish up so you can get on the road soon.

 

When someone starts off with getting screwed, ripped off, cheated etc. it usually ends up that the screw-e is as much at fault as the other party. Those who have been doing this very long have heard the paid a lot up front and its been there for ever and I had to get it uncompleted and no one is happy.
Body shops, hot rod shops and restoration shops are just like every other business, some are managed well and some are not and too many got into business because they built a couple of nice cars and people start asking them to do work for them and all of a sudden they are in business and should not be.
I think all that have done this for a while have made the error of not doing our homework or trusting friends and not paying attention to those red flags(like no progress being made on a project when a lot of money has been turned over) hard lessons learned.
As to doors, after 35 plus years I still hate fitting doors and it can easily take a day to fit a door. I do early VW beetles also and I figure a full day to fit and put together each door. Every once in a while a door on something just fits right up, but seldom.
Hope you have a better experience with whoever you choose to finish up so you can get on the road soon.