didnt know where else to put this, so if its in the wrong forum please move it.

had a shop custom make a down pipe for me, i provided the hardware (gaskets, piping, flanges). anyway they got it done after a few days and they're saying it took them about 12 hours at $65 an hour. does that sound right, or does it sound like they tacked on a few extra "hours" for a bit more $$? dont want to name the shop or anything because i dont want to bash if this is the norm. i did get my whole catback custom made somewhere else for about half of that, so thats why im wondering.
if it does sound fishy, anything i can do about it? cant really walk in and say "only giving you this much now gimme my keys back!" ya know?

 

that sounds pretty high to me. aren't you kind of suppose to get a ball park quote on time before any work is even done. 12hrs for a downpipe seems ridiculous.

 

said they couldnt give me one cause they had no clue how long it would take. guess i shoulda just taken it oewhere else when they said that.

 

theyre either completely retarded at making downpipes, or theyre screwing you. that dp better be gold plated.

 

um it take's me only a few hours to make a custom dp. and if it is a simple setup a lot less.

 

really man. sorry to hear it. Im not a professional welder by any means . as in i dont do work for other people but I can weld pretty well. a simple down pipe would take me maybe 4hrs or so. complicated I can see 6 and up, but 12 . sorry man no vaseline. i might be going on a limb here but Id say some fabricators in here can weld up a whole manifold and a dp in that time.a simple manifold at least.

 

they had to cut, weld, and shape a pipe to fit a t28 flange.
so what can i do about it since i ddint get an estimate first? get a few other estimates from a few other shops and contact my credit card company pretty much?

 

Depending on the car I would have done the intercooler piping, downpipe and a 10% off discount for that price... That place is screwing you bad.

 

These threads pop up often. Find a very reputable shop in the area that does similar work. Tell them the situation. Competitors like hearing that you aren't happy with one shop because they see it as a chance to gain business. Ask them to give you a basic quote for the work done. Repeat this process a couple of times.

Now walk into said shop you had the work done and say you are simply shocked by how many hours they are suggesting this took. You never expected to pay nearly $800 in labor for a simple downpipe, especially since you supplied all the materials. Start off stating that you can get a downpipe done from various manufacturers for significantly less, and that includes material cost. Tell them you figured it was going to be about 4 man hours, not the 12 suggested. It is important to be very calm and clear at this point. Do not point fingers, get pissed, start yelling and screaming. You won't get anywhere. If they are defensive or argumentative, tell them you got quotes from local shops and they were all significantly less than what they are charging. Hopefully the shop will realize they are jerking you off and give you will be able to come to terms.

Otherwise, the easiest method is pay via credit card and do a charge back. Since you paid for all the materials, the guy will be out at most $200 in labor cost. Not the best way to handle the situation, but it typically works out. Next time make sure you get a quote.

 

gonna bring it up with them tomorrow. i mean it is a really tight fit in the engine bay and they did manage to do a 3" dp while being able to keep AC so i dont doubt it being a pain in the ***. honestly id be happy if i could talk em down a hundred bux.

 

I can understand a a/c compatable 3" dp being hard to build. But no shop can expect someone to pay for there inability to complete a job in a resonable amount of time.

 

just post up who they are and i'm sure they will drop the price quickly to save from losing other business. or maybe not, because they probably don't care about losing business when they charge upwards of $1000 for a downpipe (if they provided material).

 

Damn maybe we need to start charging more. An Average cost for a downpipe is between $400-650 depending on size and difficulty. I normal downpipe should take between 2-4 hours tops. Even the tighter fit ones should only take a max of 6 hours. They must work really slow or are just billing out for additional time for the hell of it.

 

Dang, and I thought I charge too much ($350 including mandrel bends) for a down pipe.

 

spoolin' performance quoted me $350 shipped to my door.
3" stainless steel Ac compatible dp with flex section. I would not have to supply a single thing except for telling them what turbo and manifold I have and what motor it's for. You got charged double that. Something is wrong for sure.

 

I have heard that some non-performance oriented shops around here will do work like that, but charge a ton for it. Basically they don't want to do it, but if it's going to pay some ridiculous amount of money, they'll bang it out. What's the chassis/engine setup? I can't imagine any Honda setup that would be difficult enough to warrant 12 hours of labour!

 

maybe its titanium?

 

post up some pics so we can see what they did and the quality of it.

 

holly molly batman!!!

dame u got took bro that is way to much. just for a down pipe alone/ that is a 3 hour job. 4 at best. unless they got alot of cut angels that are tig welded. then i can see it takign some time. but mig welded is still 6 hours at best & that is milking the job.

i would tell them i will pay 8 houres at best. dosent take 12 houres to make a 3 ft piece of pipe unless they rolled it themselves

 

Should have called these guys, they are right in santa ana and do amazing work for really good prices, and have a mandrel bender just in case.

www.s2metalwerks.com

 

it resolved itself without me having to say anything actually. one of those "sorry for the delays, it was a real b****, but were not gonna charge you past this amount (which was actually a pretty fair price)". tig welded, lot of bends, beautiful work. and my car feels amazing with it, the rattle i had from the stock DP is gone and the turbo spools fast.
i contacted spoolin a while ago for my set up, they only had one that wasnt ac compatable.
ill post pics of it tomorrow, its pretty kick *** for how much they ended up charging me.
lol maybe i can draft this one out in autocad and sell it to spoolin.

 

What they end up charging? I know everyone is curious since the original price was nearly $800

 

fyi cant build you a downpipe for something we dont have on hand. downpipes arent made out of thin air we ONLY make downpipes for setups we have on hand and can use for mock up.

 

600. still a little steep but if i can keep ac and reach my HP goals with a greddy turbo kit (airming for 350) then its money well spent.

 

No way in hell would I ever pay 600 for a downpipe. It's better than 800 but man did they see you coming from a mile away. I mean think about it for a second. People are selling top mount and ram horn manifolds for that price.