I,ve been working in large bodyshops for 30 years but over the past few years i,ve been getting very disolusioned with the way the trade has gone , your being made to cut corners all the time and do the repair down to a price rather than up to a quality , where i worked they announced redundancys a couple of months ago so after much thought i volunteered for it and got it , i was looking at getting out the trade altogether and trying something different but wasn,t really sure what !

As you all know jobs are scarce and so many of them are minimum wage ! so i was getting a little worried whether i,d done the right thing so i ended up sending my CV out to a few bodyshops and got offered 3 jobs , chose which one i thought would be the best for me and started there last monday , by wednesday i,d realised it was same 5hit different overalls and left . The new type of contracts that some insurance companys are handing out are just plain rediculous , with any car with repairs that come to 5 grand or less they pay the garage a grand , any over 5 grand are payed in full , basically your being told to repair everything to keep parts costs to a minimum so you end up gluing bumpers , grilles , headlights and all sorts back together and repairing panels that should in reallity be replaced , this is not the way it should be done IMHO

Now i,ve always enjoyed modding , fitting kits and painting cars and doing mechanical work as well so i,ve decided to set up my own buisness offering these types of services as well as your usual servicing and repairs :dance:

I,m now on the hunt for a suitable unit and i,ll keep you posted and see about avertising on here once i,m up and running :thumbup:

Sounds like the body shop for me will soon be up and running then!

 

Good on you mate!

 

Best of luck and get some prices up for the usual z jobs soon! :)

Good luck Boldy, hope it works out mate :)

With your skills and knowledge Al, im surprised you didnt do it years ago. I know that working for a company can give stability, but there is nothing like working for yourself and once youve sorted yourself with a Unit and got settled you will wonder why you didnt do it years ago:thumbup:

 

Ive always fancied doing a West coast customs style business, but although the demand might be there, i dont think the money will be.

 

All the best in your new venture and keep us updated :thumbup1:

With your skills and knowledge Al, im surprised you didnt do it years ago. I know that working for a company can give stability, but there is nothing like working for yourself and once youve sorted yourself with a Unit and got settled you will wonder why you didnt do it years ago:thumbup:

 

Ive always fancied doing a West coast customs style business, but although the demand might be there, i dont think the money will be.

 

All the best in your new venture and keep us updated :thumbup1:

 

Ayup Graham , it,s the enthusiasts like us and the dredded boy races who are spending money on their cars , i,ll put kits on saxos if it pays ! lol

Thanks all for the nice comments :thumbup1:

Good luck mate :)

Good for you!

The right desicion to make.

good on you. theres a lack of quality work out there as you say. a friend of mine works for a classic Porsche resortation company and they do some amazing stuff above and beyond what the usual "restores" will do.

See if you can get your car back as a show car?

Good luck mate! I am sure you will do well :)

good on you mate and looking at your last zed and its quality i dont think you need any luck wishes off me:thumbup1:

Sweet might just get a run o the mill zed till you are all up and running and then be your first customer :) good luck bud and if you want to use my Facebook link for your car to drum up business you are more than welcome.

Great news, good luck with it, your old ZX was a testament to your work. I'll have some arches and paint for you to do mate LOL.

Sounds like a good idea Alan, I guess the broader the range of services you offer, the more business you'll get. Everyone on here knows the quality of work you can do, be it mechanical or external, so you need to advertise yourself out to the whole motoring world somehow. Twitter/Facebook are good free ways of drumming up attention.

 

PS. Get yourself over to the FTO owner's club as I know someone who has one and who tells me that he doesn't know of many places around in the Midlands that'll do a decent job for a decent price.

Edited August 19, 201213 yr by EvoluZion3

Cheers fellas , having comments backing you always makes you feel like your making the right step :thumbup1:

I,ve been working in large bodyshops for 30 years but over the past few years i,ve been getting very disolusioned with the way the trade has gone , your being made to cut corners all the time and do the repair down to a price rather than up to a quality , where i worked they announced redundancys a couple of months ago so after much thought i volunteered for it and got it , i was looking at getting out the trade altogether and trying something different but wasn,t really sure what !

As you all know jobs are scarce and so many of them are minimum wage ! so i was getting a little worried whether i,d done the right thing so i ended up sending my CV out to a few bodyshops and got offered 3 jobs , chose which one i thought would be the best for me and started there last monday , by wednesday i,d realised it was same 5hit different overalls and left . The new type of contracts that some insurance companys are handing out are just plain rediculous , with any car with repairs that come to 5 grand or less they pay the garage a grand , any over 5 grand are payed in full , basically your being told to repair everything to keep parts costs to a minimum so you end up gluing bumpers , grilles , headlights and all sorts back together and repairing panels that should in reallity be replaced , this is not the way it should be done IMHO

Now i,ve always enjoyed modding , fitting kits and painting cars and doing mechanical work as well so i,ve decided to set up my own buisness offering these types of services as well as your usual servicing and repairs :dance:

I,m now on the hunt for a suitable unit and i,ll keep you posted and see about avertising on here once i,m up and running :thumbup:

 

 

Best of luck Boldy,:thumbup1:

 

and ill be looking at having a kit on my Zed next year and paint job, hopefully around March so send over details of average cost of paint job and kit fitting (wide arch)

My mate has done the exact same thing. He is finding it hard, but he is getting there !

 

He tends to keep the big full on restos to one at a time and a few wee bread and butter type jobs to keep the money flowing.

He has also found it quite lucrative with plant work. Forklifts, tractors and such like. Mainly farm folk who want it clean looking, quick turnaround and not too fussed by quality ?

As my mate says, its not mentally very rewarding, but it does pay the bills and lets him do the resto stuff he loves.

American car owners as well as the Jap scene are allways on the lookout for places. I am a coachbuilder my self and the trade is dead at the moment.

I have just been 18 weeks with no overtime, all flat weeks ! Pain in the butt.

 

Good luck mate.

Alan........

Alan............

Good luck with it Allan, judging by your car and the nose panel you sent me you will do great once your name gets about. Totally forgot about to thank you for the nose panel, I was away and it was waiting at the depot for a week to be picked up. I love it, cheers:thumbup1:

Good luck mate. Great to hear people who care about quality.

 

Depends on how quick you get set up, I could be your first customer :)

Good luck mate.

Good luck Al :thumbup1: I wish you all the very best mate :)

Best of luck matey :)

Thanks everyone :thumbup1:

Good luck Al......

 

......and if you would like a free plug in our services to members section let me know and I'll sort it for you mate!!

 

http://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/forumdisplay.php?166-Services-to-Members-(by-members)

 

Richard:thumbup1:

Hia matey, My father is in a bodyshop too and he says its exactly the same as you described cutting corners and giving less time for work, its a shame, he is retiring soon so wont have to put up with it much longer, he did my zed fully restored it great work, best of luck with your new venture and with your attention to detail im sure you will do really well

Mate well done. Once sorted you should be a trader on here if you can be. I use to live it when we had pete from PPS.

 

I think it's a brave move to go in to business by yourself and wish you the very best with it. I have to say I love the fact that part ofthe reasons for leaving your roles was the fact you see quality as being of utmost importance. That statement alone would attract business in my opinion.

 

I thing big C mentioned about not taking on too many big jobs at once. I completely agree, just take on what you can handle and manage people expectations and i think you'll do well.

 

People buy people and all that