rags Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 I'm usually not one to complain about prices but this last bill got under my skin. As I posted here last week, I pulled the LS and T56 to freshen up the engine compartment with a spray and wire tuck. Well After stripping the engine compartment of all hardware, I got lazy and figured I'd have the bodyshop farm out the sand blasting of the engine compartment. How does $500 sound to sand blast the engine compartment??? The part that kills me the most is I know better and realize that 90% of the time I pay someone to do something, the job doesn't come back to my satisfaction. I have yet to see the results but even if it is perfect, I could have bought a ton of sand for $500 and used my sand blaster, SMH. Just a little venting. Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAndyAndTheSea Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Yeah, that's no fun. 500 bucks goes a long way somewhere else on the car....But, being a body guy, that price doesn't surprise me. That being said, I definitely would have just bought a Harbor Freight sand blaster kit for 10 bucks and a ton of media and gone to town. Spend maybe 4 hours and about 30 bucks. I'm with you though, when it comes to paint and body work, anything short of perfection is unacceptable. Lets hope you get the car back and the bay looks like a million bucks! (or at least hopefully 500... haha) Hope all goes well! Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01vincer6 Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 I had 2 69 Camaros blasted at $400 each in Missouri. Doors, roof, inside, quarters, rockers, tailligh panel and underneath. Alos I had my 240z blasted recently but partial soda blasted. They did the engine bay, interior and rockers in sand and soda blasted the roof, quarters and taillight panel. This was $750 since soda blasting is double the cost of sand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skirkland1980 Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 By NE are you referring to northeast?...because of the hurricane right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaparral2f Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 In Oregon, I had my tube chassis blasted and it cost $100. It seems to me that you were really over charged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rags Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 Yes the northeast and it's not because of the hurricane. Unfortunately this is the norm around here. Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Everything here in our area cost x3......price we pay living in the the tri-state (nyc) area and why most of us do as much as we can on our Z cars ourself because it cost to have anything done. Joe is lucky because most shops around here won't even paint a Z car! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Its all about how much money a shop can make doing "X" over and over again. Once you get the process down the margin on doing "X" increases and its the big money maker. The more people in your shop that are doing "X", the more money the shop will make. If you have to take someone off doing "X" and have them do "Y", the margin on that person drops significantly. The only time you want to take a person off "X" and put them on "Y" is if there isn't enough "X" for that person to do. Your bid of $500 tells me that they don't want to media blast your engine compartment without actually telling you that. The shop figured that if they have to pull a person off "X" for 4 hours then the margin on your media blast needs to be greatrer then their margin if that person was kept on doing "X". Make perfect business sense to me. You're never, ever going to be happy with the job they do because you feel they are ripping you off. They are not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rags Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 John, There is a lot in your post that I do not agree with. My experience here is a shop would rather sit around idle than reduce their price for anything which makes zero business sense to me. Everyone seems to be waiting to make the big killing. For example, I had a house painter come over the house yesterday to paint my interior first floor (yes, I'm lazy and don't want to do it). After looking at rooms he tells me he will go out to his van and write up the estimate. He then tells me he things he can keep the price under 10k. I told him he didn't have to come back in. 10k??? Was he kidding me? So although what you say about business sense is true, I can assure that is not what is happening here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Joe, I will come paint for some beer and garage space!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rags Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 Don't you already owe me painting? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sito Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 At least you can find a place that does it. Most people around here don't want to even deal with my car... I think I don't have any other choice but to go to harbor freight pickup a spray gun, compressor, media and go to town on my own this winter. The bad part is I have no idea what I'm doing lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slammed_s30 Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 ... I definitely would have just bought a Harbor Freight sand blaster kit for 10 bucks and a ton of media and gone to town.... This is what I did, Im on a tight budget, so hired help isnt an option, I used the HF sand baster and dried out play sand from menards. Stuffs cheap but needs to be filtered because its got some pebbles in it that clog the blaster. My results weren't perfect but I can get the remainder of paint off with a wire wheel, and sand paper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Well... my post was about an idealized business that works efficiently and wants to make money. I agree that most businesses don't work that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rags Posted November 28, 2012 Author Share Posted November 28, 2012 I really have to laugh. The price went up a hundred because of all of the intricacies he had to deal with. And he blasted the top of the anodized spring hats on the camber plates. You can't make this **** up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilC Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 THEY ALL SUCK! And yes we will be paiting the floor in the Spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 My 2 cents. The biggest problem I have is getting a quality job. Literally every time I hire someone to do something, I could have done a better job myself. Price is normally secondary to quality for me. I ended up assisting/building my basement with my contractor, because his workers didn't show up. Concrete waits for no man!! I could go on.......and on........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAndyAndTheSea Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Yep, I once paid a dude a couple hundred bucks to watch me pull an old boiler out of my basement with my tractor... Hired him to do the job. Ideally so I didn't have to...But......He didn't even bring a crowbar....... And that sucks about your spring hats... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 (edited) "Hazardous Materials Disposal +30%" (possible lead based paint, possible heavy-metal contamination from rustproofing removed in blasting process) 20# @ $25/# via Evergreen Environmental: $500 Blasting of Engine Bay: 4 Hours @ 65/hr $260 State Tax 10.3%: $78.28 City/County Tax 8.25%: $62.70 Total: $900.98 What was that again? Blasting the engine bay was $260... All the rest was...uh... Edited November 30, 2012 by Tony D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wickiewicked240z Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 I had all my suspension parts media blasted for under $100 here in southern california. I would think doing the engine bay would be around the same price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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