Sub-Contracting work out of my lane...

[Donny]

I'm done dealing with a local bozo whom I've sent a few jobs to, mainly b/c I don't have time to prime anymore, and, he's a very good painter! However, his work ethics and patterns need a LOT to be desired! I sent my buddy there for a repaint of the hood and quarter panel, and adjustments to the front fascia on his BMW 840i, he (the sub-contractor) never is there, works crazy hours, promises my buddy 3 days and it'll be done, and its now 2 weeks later! Another job I sent him, a hood for a kid's car his dad brought to me to blast, this was a replacement hood for hail damages, it came from a boneyard, wrong color. So, I blasted it, owner asks me about priming it, I send him to my sub contractor (he's Mexican BTW) and two weeks later the hood is barely in primer!

I'm looking at this like what are these customers saying about ME in referring them to this bozo? Asking myself this question, and going down this road with this bozo about 2 months ago (this is the same asshat that couldn't/didn't pay me for a Media Blasting job) I am now telling him (Told him today) that I can't and won't refer people to him anymore b/c of his business practices!

Another tid bit; the Cuda I blasted 6 weeks ago, bozo primed it for the customer, when customer came to pay, he (bozo) said "Nah, that's alright, I will need you to press bushings into the Barracuda upper control arms when I'm ready". My customer looked at him like ok, no problem! I looked at Bozo like WTF are you doing? Are you a business or are you a hobby shop looking to be 'the good guy'? I've been telling this asshat that Good Guys Finish LAST in this world! Charge what you need to charge, but ALWAYS do a good job, and charge accordingly is and remains my advise for this nitwit.

Well, all this added together, with my buddy asking me what's the deal on his BMW, I call him up and he says he had a bad week...I was beside myself! I am not going to try to change him one bit, but, here's my 'announcement' I made to my facebook business page, I think this hits the subject squarely where it need be.

"Just so you all know, if I'm going to recommend a sub-contractor for services after I finish my lane, they must meet the level of service, workmanship, value, etc., meaning would I send my own stuff there? All facets must be met, or I'll retain ownership of sub-contractor's work and I'll deal with the inept situation so you don't have to."

What this means is I am not sending a customer to this bozo ever again. I'll hire him to paint, pay him, then bill the customer. Taking this non-businessman out of the equation makes sense. He actually needs to close up his shop, and come work for me, I'll give him a time to be there, and time to leave and tasks to do, pay him a flat rate, keep him from Bull Shitting his way around -- did I mention he is full of Bull ****, talks a HUGE game, etc?

Do you all think my new process for dealing with Bozo is cogent? I do. And, I told him long ago, any media blasting jobs he sends me I get payed 100% cash in full up front before I do **** for him, he's burned me on that Barracuda with a rubber check, then on his 69 Chevy truck he payed me the deposit I requested, then, when it came time to pay in full the balance, he said "I don't have it". Trust me, I was more pissed at myself. He's now paying me back in body work on the Dodge truck I'm restoring, and he's also doing the paint on it.

Yeah, and he always comes over to borrow tools when he just pawned his big tool cabinet off, and his Avalanche he no longer drives, he says his wife has it...like BS, you need a truck, your wife can drive a car. Should I get a security system at my shop so this mexican POS don't steal me blind?

 

[RustyRatRod]

Sounds like maybe you need to expand into the paint and body work business.

 

[Donny]

And, my buddy's 840i has a sunroof that is broken, won't shut all the way. We've had nothing but rain the past 2 days, asshat left the car (in primer) outside in the rain, and didn't tape the sunroof up like he told my buddy he would. Well, in the rain, I went out there to check on it, nope, no tape! I told my buddy this and he came down here this morning to inspect, and there WAS tape on the roof (asshat had to put it on last night AFTER the rain was done), but, inside, it was all wet! Bozo didn't say anything about it when I confronted him! My buddy is not one to engage in conflict, but I AM! I love it! I told my buddy to take pictures, confront the mexican, tell him to fix it, or he's making a claim against his business insurance, if he even has business insurance! Leather seats, all wet, wet THRU the newspapers that were sitting on the seats, not looking good!

I apologized to my buddy for sending him to Bozo! I am certainly not doing this again! Oh yeah, when me and my buddy talked about it today, he said Bozo told him it would be $750.00, which we both knew was way too low. There was NO contract made, and, when I told Bozo to make a contract with my buddy Steve, he did finally, and Steve said he would give bozo 200 bucks towards this bill. I asked Steve if he got a copy of this 'contract', NOPE! Then, Steve said Bozo texted him (imagine that, texting, how impersonal and unprofessional) that it would be another 250 bucks. I said how can this be quantified? Meaning, why not $311.49 cents more, how about $193.21 more, how can you just reach a number of $250.00 dollars? There's no quantification of work done! When I blast, most of the time I bill by the minute, or, have a window of time for a specific item; a fender is about 50 minutes, if it takes longer than that, its either too rusty, too much filler, which case I will give 10 minutes to the customer, more than that he already understands and has authorized me to proceed with is signature, costing him more than 50 minutes! Often, I'm down to the penny in my invoicing, this shooting from the hip like I'm illustrating just screams rookie, hobbyist, unprofessional, etc. Even the name of this business is ghetto! I mean what kind of a word is 'Lay'N _______' anyways? (I don't want to spill his name or his (cough cough 'business name' here, b/c that makes ME look unprofessional! Steve just wants his BMW back, and have it done right and good. More venting.......

 

[YY1]

The last thing you need is someone else doing damage to your reputation.....with your blessing.

 

[Bruzilla]

I'm surprised you would let a walking piece of litigation into your shop in the first place. Even if he is a good painter, there must be some other guys you could use.

 

[MarPar]

(he's Mexican BTW) --- mexican POS

well, there's your answer....

been dealing with those people for 25+ years, and while there are the rare good ones, by and large they'll back stab you and everybody else. you know why there's no contract?? so he can jack the price up like he did. they wont be painted into a corner with a contract or anything like that, so they can weasel out of work or charge more.

 

['67Satellite]

Jeese guys, everyone's entitled to an opinion. And i'm not saying i disagree with what's been said. But i'm not sure it's smart of us to broadcast our blatantly racist opinions.

 

[MarPar]

not a racist opinion, 67, just a fact. there are shitbags from all walks of life, and mexicans are no different. and i am just agreeing with Donny on this particular subject. that's all.

dont get me wrong, im not pissed at you or anything, or trying to start a fire storm, but it is what it is. when a spade is a spade, we must call it as such.

 

['67Satellite]

Well there's no disagreement there Mar. Just didn't want the PC police coming down on all of us.

 

[MarPar]

i hear ya...67. thanks

 

[Budnicks]

I wouldn't give a **** what the guys nationality is, has no bearing on how they should perform a job... Personally I wouldn't give him the "time of day", lend him any tools or let alone, give him any work, after what you've been thru, as a business man, you should know better... screw me once, shame on you, screw me twice, "I get fucken' even"...LOL... I say just find another damn "reliable, reputable painter" or expand your shop & hire your own, that way you can keep on top of the quality, production & pricing, especially if it's only priming, then no outside vendor/contractor "flake" issues, like your dealing with now, sounds pretty logical to me... I'm sure there is a good painter, out of work, with all the unemployment & people out of work in this country, you should have someone, somewhere in your area, even another reputable paint vendor/contractor, or teach a young person, your way how to do the job right... I'm sure you know or I would hope you would know that a, bad reputations, spreads like wildfire, that's the last thing you need in business, big or small, 1 bad issue with the wrong customer & your freaken' done... IMHO anyway... Good luck with the looser Mexican painter...

 

[Donny]

Its unfortunate for Mexicans in general when a bozo does eff up like this! A good part about this guy is he's a stand up dude, he came over today begging for forgiveness and is trying to do it the right way. I told him I will not send another person to do face time with him, if I need something painted, I'll hire him if the price, time, and situation is right, and I will hold him to my standard. As far as tool borrowing goes, I got all my stuff back, and told him he needs to build or buy a rotisserie, a floor jack, dolly's, etc. I also told him I am not loaning him propane, rattle can primer, bc he returns them empty; shame on me, I know, but no more! Cutting my contact with him down to bare minimum.

 

[Budnicks]

Smart move Donny...