I found a guy selling the very welder I want to buy and am going to look at it today. In talking with the guy he asked me if I was a welder and I told him "no, I like to work on old cars" and he got all excited and asked me what kind of stuff I did so I told him that I'd done mostly mechanical stuff up until now and that once I got the welder I'd start doing the body. Turns out he's got a 55 Chevy he's restoring and he offered up the idea of trading the welder for some work. I told him I'd consider it but to be honest I dunno. I've never worked on cars for pay, just my own and my freinds or neighbors. I'd consider myself an average mechanic for a guy who works at home as a hobby. Not sure I want to do this for someone with expectations I may not be able to judge. I plan on being as honest as I can with the guy about what I can do and can't do so he doesn't think I'm some master car restorer. Now I realize there's a bunch of you here that build cars for a living but have any of you "hobby types" done this? What should I do, get a written contract for this or something? Smart comments aside, any advice on to do this is appreciated.
wow this is a tricky one! on one hand you could do the work and as you stated write out a very VERY describtive contract (i do that every time i sell a car so nothing can come back on me), then make two copies where the both of you sign and a witness signs/dates...cause for all you know this guy could be a complete dumbass and do something later that he shouldn't have and then try and sue you saying its your fault...OR... you could do the work, get the welder and trust the guy...hoped that helped a little
happens all the time. for me, though...prolly not so good. it sounds good, in theory...but what if, despite, pulling off whatever job he has you do he still thinks its crap and keeps the welder? that is, what, exactly will constitute an "even trade/barter"? i'm an expert at "worse case" scenerio 'cause its usually what happens. id prolly do the same as you and just be up front/honest about my abilities (which are limited, admittedly). honestly, id prefer to pay for the welder and perhaps agree to help 'em out w/something minor for a small discount on the selling price. that way you're not "locked in" to building the guy a frame or something. i dunno...
Personally, I don't work on any cars that aren't in my lighted, heated, well equipped garage. Working at everybody else's place sucks when I'm using the wrong tool and laying in a poorly lit mud puddle. And then the sh*tty results have my name on em. Having said that, whatever you do, it needs to be explicitly clear up front and written down with very definitive stopping points. If you're working on it in his presence, you also need to be clear how many hours that welder is worth, he may be expecting 20 hours and you may be offering 10. good luck
Don,t do it.....people looking for a deal are generally cheap and out to get as much as they can for very little.They are never satisfied and will bleed you until you cave....I,ve been there.
Just buy the welder.... I deal with this daily as a business... Everything in writing, signed and agreed....then they wonder why it took so long or make changes to the plan and wonder why the budget was blown etc...Jason.
Buy the welder. Forget working on the guys car. Tell him your not "confortable" working on other people's cars. You have no idea what has been butchered up before you got there that the guy expects you to fix. There are so many things that can be so wrong on an old car. Simple repairs seldon exist on old cars. A simple brake shoe replacement turns into replacement brake springs and hardwere, a new brake drum, new wheel bearings, a new wheel cylinder, a new brake hose, new steel lines, a new master cylinder, a new........you get the idea. The guy is thinking "I only wanted new shoes, this clown is ripping me off." Been there, done that. Gene
I tried working on cars as a side job out of my garage. The house I rented had a 6 car garage. I did a clutch job on a 67' Mustang. When it came time to pay, the guy only wanted to cough up half the money. My partner relented and gave the guy his car. I quit after that.
I get it too, with having a wrecking yard.. Guy needs a motor or seats, etc.. The price is X dollars.. Oh I have a scrap car I'll give you for the parts.. Nope..I get dollars from you, and I pick up your car and give you back some of your dollars.. Fuck trading work for stuff. I have always gotten hosed.
AMEN. It never fails...they ALWAYS try to get you to do something above and beyond what was originally agreed upon. Such is the nature of Man.
It never works out where bolth partys are happy.I like to keep it simple,Ill pay you for what you do and you pay me for what i do.This way EVERYBODY thinks they got screwed.
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