I BROUGHT my old car to local "builder" to accomplish some things that I need done .. What would you think a fair charge would be to take out stock seats its a 1946 take out stock radio / heater patch 2 holes in flloor 6" x 6" had to make couple bends , nothing fancy patch trunk floor 20" x 12" roughly same, couple bends, basic stuff how man hours would you think it would take and how much should he charge ??
too many variables... patching a nice clean steel floor with no carpet or anything is a much quicker job than scraping off glued on shag rug from the 70's and grinding off a bunch of rust and residue, 'couple of bends" ... patched the lower corner in the trunk of a 52 chevy once. had a "couple of bends" .. took me a good 5 hours by the time I was done. did it with one peice of flat sheetmetal. a lesser man couldn't have done it at all. when I do this kind of work I charge 30 bucks an hour. but I have no overhead. it's all cash in my pocket. my buddy around the corner charges $120.00 an hour, but he's certified to weld on airplanes and has $100,000 worth of metalworking equipment in his shop. not to mention the expense of being a real business
I agree as to varibles but looking at your post i think in the 10 hour area total give or take ... at say 40 to 50 bucks an hour and material is fair ....
I've been doing a little patch work on a newer Ford truck this week. A few patch pannels, a little bending, a few extra patches. into it 24 hours at this point and I still have another 8 or so to go! On your car, without looking (which I never do.) 1)Take out the stock seats, can you even see the bolts? You know they are probably going to break. 2-3 hours. 2) Take out the stock radio and heater. Is there coolent that needs to be drained & reinstalled? Cutting the hoses? Probably 2 hours on the heater. Radio, How much stuff needs to be taken out to remove the radio? At least 1 hour. 3) Two patches 6" x 6" on the floor. You removing the very old interior and cleaning to the bare steel or am I? 2-3 hours to remove the interior. Sure a 6 x 6 will fix the hole? Are there support pieces under the holes that are shot? Presuming the 6" x 6" patches will fix the problem, your looking at 1 hour each. A couple of bends scare the hell out of me. If there are structure parts under the holes that need to be repaired, see above. 4) trunk pan. Where is the gas tank? Will it need to be removed? Undercoating that will burn? Bad structure? Couple of bends? Is the 20" x 12" going to cover all the bad area? Figure 2 hours to clean up the surounding metal and weld in a 20' x 12" patch if that is all that needs done. BTW, who's buying the steel? Do I have to put everything back together? I come up with 9 hours mim, and could add up to a lot more real quick. My shop rate is $40/hour. Your looking at mimumium $360.00 but past experance tells me that isn't going to get the job done. Too many variables. Gene
I tell my customers- "I charge $50 an hour, every hour I work. However long it takes times $50. Now, how much do YOU think this is going to cost you? " Most of the time they think it will cost about half what I think it will. So then I ask them "ok, now you know what you think it will cost, and what I think it will cost- at what dollar amount do you want me to stop spending your money, project done or not?" This way there is no confusion. If I can't bid the job close enough for their, or my, satisfaction, I tell them so. They bring me the car because, for whatever reason, they can't do the work themselves, so I have no issues with charging for my time. I have HUGE issues with crybabies whining about the cost of the bill after the work is done.
I totally agree with Gene but to many variables to give a clear estimate . I would plan on five bill's if he is a pro.
Tough to pricisely estimate, as different folks work at different paces-- i think a guy focused and skilled could complete this work in one work day (8 hours,) but at a easy pace i'd think about 14 hours In your area, for this caliber work i'd think you wouldn't be charged more than $50 per hour max. Therefore, if I was in your shoes i'd think that anything above about $700 bucks MAX would be insane.... and that number looks way too expensive for me. Better yet, just take that money, buy some new tools and do it yourself -scott noteboom
for that he better have to make more than a "couple bends", cuz i dont think that the seat bolts could be THAT rusty! .
Serious I could of done everything he did in less than 10 hours easy-- I am just too busy and need to have work progress while I'm out on the road making $$ He said it took 5.5 days , he charges 300 per day .. so , 2 days to take seats out and 3.5 to make 3 floor pieces I guess ? Out of his ever loving --
Well look at it this way. Now you know where not to take it from now on. Sounds like he's related to a guy by me. Charged 2700 for a valve job on a 70's sbf truck. Best part was he had a kid he doesn't pay do all the work, right down to grinding the valves.
"Local builder" as you say would put him real close to Fort Worth wouldn't it? Was he recommended to you? Have you seen his work before? If he came with good recommendations & you've seen good work out of his shop I'd guess there was more to it that originally met the eye... ...or he just screwed you over. JH
I work at a small shop. recently did a 69 camaro. rust around the fenderwells and lower rear quarters, a complete trunk floor, 2 6x6 patches in one door, one rocker panel, had to completely hand fabricate a big patch for each side of the lower cowl with multiple angles and curves, where the rear shocks go into the floor was gone, lots of structural reinforcement there... also the inner fenderwells in the rear needed quite a bit of patching. I had over 90 hours into this. if your guy had "5 days" into what he did to your car I'd have a serious talk with him.
yah he is by fw,tx --close to my house --I vistited him before , we TALKED about his rate but I guess I never expected him to work like a turtle and milk the job out like that .. I am too busy to work on it .. He knows I'm upset, maybe he will do the right thing -- maybe If not I'll inform everyone that does not know Yah, he has a "hot rod" shop --At least he has a sign anyway --Ha!!
I was not rust repair , it was to fix a hole created by cutting out spare tire well --Floor is solid in car I would go over there but I'm 1000 miles north of it right now Hoping to be home by Tuesday Oh he is trying or is f#@ing me , no doubt about it -- Just though I'd ask, get other opinions to ease my mind that I WAS not wrong Tuesday I'll be home--I'll go get my car
He said he would charge $1500 a week ..and He would be able to get everything I wanted done in 2 weeks (3 grand?) I wanted brakes done on it mostly ..never even did that yet I gave him $2000 said I'd be back in couple weeks I emailed him he told me he had taken seats out, heater out, radio out (those items were never discussed) but he was afraid to weld on it and patched two holes in floor where my 4 bar hit and patched/ took out spare tire well and it took 5.5 days $1650.00 Nothing else is done -- I TOLD HIM VIA e mail that he was not to work on car roll it out side
The price does seem steep but then again we don't know exactly how bad it was or the person doing the jobs expertise in that area. Not trying to ride you but there is a convenience factor that comes into play here as well. I worked in a shop for a while doing mostly imports. This Teg came in with a fried main wiring harness that needed replacement. My boss put me on the job of stripping the old harness and putting in the new one. Being my first time it took me about 8 hours to finish the job correctly and fire the car up. I had no help from my lazy boss and in fact he rode me on the job while he sat on his ass doing nothing. The owner of the car came in to see what the holdup was and I explained the entire deal with him and how it was my first time etc. He understood and took me out for lunch as a tip and said he would only do business through me when dealing with our shop. Now why tell this stupid story? Simple...if he was doing for the first time the work you mentioned and took longer than expected you should not be charged for his learning on your rig. If he knew what he was doing and it was "routine work" then you have a legit complaint in the matter of him eating at your wallet. Before you go the distance and potentially slander this person, add up what the job is worth in your eyes, add a small convenience charge and try to work the deal out that way so it avoids a big fiasco in the end.
Okay, well when you get back, have him give you a breakdown of all that he did do, and go from there. And ask him, of that which was done, where did it stand from the original estimate. I do think however, that you were smart in having him halt work until you get back. Best, Ralph
seats I could see... but how the heck is your 4 bar mounted so the heater and radio interfere with a repair in that area?
I hope when you see him again you get a big kiss 'cause he sure seems to have bent you over and doin' you good. Sounds kinda like a hot Vicks and ground glass enema
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