Watkins renovation

Description of Work: "I have dealt with hundreds of businesses and independent contractors both professionally and personally over the years. My experience with Watkins restoration is, by far, the worst experience in over sixty years. |I decided I wanted to have the engine rebuilt (at Portland Engine Rebuilders) and the transmission rebuilt (at TransAction Transmission Inc.) in my 1957 Thunderbird. I would highly recommend Portland Engine Rebuilders and TransAction Transmission - they both did a wonderful job at fair prices. |I was looking for a shop to pull the engine and transmission, clean and paint the engine compartment, paint the engine and reinstall the rebuilt engine and transmission. I checked with a shop that was recommended and does a lot of work on classic cars (Majhor-Murray Ltd.). They estimated it would take 18 hours for the complete job. I checked with a second shop, Watkins Restoration, about the same job. Charlie said he could pull the engine and transmission in ""4 or 5 hours and it would not take him long to put them back in once he got them back from the rebuilders."" I thought I would save time and money by going with Watkins Restoration - big mistake. |I think Charlie takes on more projects than he can effectively deal with. He works on several projects at the same time. He does not like to be asked for project updates and acts like he is doing you a favor to work on your car. The Vintage Thunderbird Club International has an online forum where members can post questions (www.vintagethunderbirdclub.net ). On May 14, 2016 I asked what would be a reasonable number of hours to complete the assembly once the components had been rebuilt and painted. One of the members had the original 1957 Ford Suggested Time Schedule Book that dealers used to calculate warranty timelines for all repairs; dealers also used it to base their repair costs to customers. Ford said the total time to remove and reinstall a refurbished engine was 9.1 hours, including the transfer of all parts (this would not have included time to clean and paint the engine compartment and components). The member, using the manual, said time to do what still needed to be done was 7.4 hours. None of the 149 members viewing the question disagreed; one member cautioned time needed to be allowed for detailing and painting brackets and chasing parts. Charlie told me it would take him another month or more to get my car done. When I referred him to the Forum and told him he needed to do what he agreed to do and put the car back together in a timely manner, he got angry, stopped working on my car and forced me to take it somewhere else. Every shop I contacted was booked through the summer and they were not willing to take on the project in the middle, fearing parts would be missing. I had to pay 165 dollars to have the car towed and filled my pickup with the engine, transmission, and many boxes of parts. After paying Charlie over $4,000 (the cost of parts, engine and transmission rebuilds were different), I was left in the lurch but he could have cared less. Fortunately, some guys in the local Thunderbird Club were disgusted with how I had been treated and were gracious enough to help me put it back together. |He billed me for 48.5 hours for the work to date and told me it would take another month or more for him to finish the project when the Ford Manual specified the total time to remove and reinstall an engine was 9.1 hours (plus a few hours for cleaning, painting and chasing parts). I paid a lot of money (over $4,000) to be left in the lurch. I would advise potential customers to go anywhere else rather than entrust their car to him and his billing practices.

Description of Work: Upstairs bathroom renovation