Well I'm dropping my car off tomorrow for paint. The guy is family with ppl my mom works for, thats how I found out about him. We have agreed upon a price and the work to be done. I am giving him half of the money up front as a deposit and to cover materials with the rest upon completion.

I assume this work will be "under the table" as far as he is concerned, cash payments and I was going to just go ahead in good faith by a verbal contract. However I saw a post the other day of someone getting screwed over by a friend and didn't have a paper contract of some sort to declare agreed upon work to be done.

I don't want to cause the guy a hassle but at the same time is there a simple way to protect myself? Can I just type up a simple document stating something like:

I "xNamex" agree to pay "$xAmountx" to "xNamex" for the following service. And then list all the agreed upon work and have both of us sign it?

Again, I was just going to go ahead in good faith without anything on paper, but even my buddy I work with said I should get something on paper. Any advice would be great.

Thanks,
Dave

 

My car was shot "on the side" also, i had him give me a list of people who he'd done work for and contacted all of them and looked at the work before he got the car, i contacted the company he worked for since he painted show bikes, i gave half up front but gave him a cashiers check so i had a receipt for the payment then the rest after same way. we verbally agreed to the work and he was aware that if at any time i wasnt happy with the work i could take the car with a refund of what hadnt been done yet. My only problem was he had a few spots that he burned through with the buffer and was going to touch up this spring and he moved to texas, i have to call him to see if i cna get the rest of the base coat if he still has it but all the spots are in out of site areas and really dont bother me.

Some of the best paint jobs in colorado have come out of garages doen by the owner or a friend of a friend, i am definately happy with mine and on a plus was able to go over everyday and look at the work being done, good luck

 

IMO you cant go wrong by writing it down. If he is an honest guy, he should have no problem signing a piece of paper stating the work to be performed.

 

You should definately protect yourself. The painter should also want to protect himself. Case in point, I was asked to remove dents from a silver Z28 in Atlanta this weekend at G9, I did the work and the guy was never to be seen again. He went to dinner while I was working on the car and found a way to avoid me the rest of the weekend until he left for home. From now on, I will be charging 1/2 down and the rest at completion. Cash only at special events! I was lucky that the members of GCFBA.org didn't agree with silverzz28's (http://www.geocities.com/silvercamarozz28/) practices and they paid me for the work. Tell the painter that the contract will benefit both of you!!

 

I went and got a certified check, which I had written out to him for body and paint service. So I have a carbon copy of it. I've seen his work so I'm not worried about anything like that. Hopefully everything goes smoothly.

 

i was gonna get my grand national painted "on the side" from a guy i know- but there are so many problems that you hear about- even guys being best friends and it breaking their friendship apart. i would just rather have somone i dont know- but have seen their work- pay the money- if somthings wrong then i can legally do somthing about it

 

Well I just dropped the car off. I'm not worried about it, I've seen the guys work and hes good. Plus hes owned and painted several 3rd gens before. If all goes well I'll have my car back in 3 weeks looking