Through long experience with the full spectrum of auto body repairs and painting on everything from collisions to customizing to antique restorations, we have come to really appreciate how much hard work it takes to restore an old vehicle back to show room condition. We have found over and over again that old vehicle restorations are meticulous, complex, and intricate projects that consistently test our skills and ingenuity. Customers want their car "done right" with quality workmanship. We as professional automotive repairers take great pride in "doing the job right" but the question was "How can we provide quality restoration services in a businesslike manner?" Real Time Restorations was birthed from our quest to bring the concerns of both parties together into a systematic and practical methodology that specifically addresses the special demands of restoration work.

• True Colours Autobody writes their best estimate for labor, parts, and materials to take the job to completion. This often requires considerable research and deliberation as hard to find parts have to be located and priced and then installation times have to be set. Many repair times for bodywork, rust repairs, and paint preparation can be very difficult to estimate accurately. Repair tasks requiring hand fabrication of unobtainable replacement parts are often impossible to estimate ahead of time. For these we charge "HOURS AS NEEDED" which will be abbreviated on the estimate to "HAN". However, for each task or part of the restoration we try our best to note the labor hours on the estimate thus giving the customer a reasonable estimate if possible.
• After the customer agrees to go ahead with the project they make a down payment of 25% on the total Real Time Estimate labor hours and materials, and pay up front for any parts required.
• True Colours Autobody will then order the parts and commence work on the project as estimated, line by line, task by task.
• The "Real Time" comes in when we invoice. Unlike SGI repairs which are on a flat rated pay scale, Real Time Restorations are invoiced based on the actual time spent on the job. During all the labor hours we will keep careful records of our actual hours worked per task right to the minute on a 10^th per hour scale. Each .1 of an hour equals 6 minutes. So for example if we worked 4.3 hours on a fender, that means we worked 4 hours and 18 minutes on that particular panel.
• After the down payment is worked off at $52.00/ hour + $8.00 for shop materials ($60.00/ hour total), the remaining work is invoiced every 2 weeks. If the customer does not pay the invoice within a reasonable time period, the project is on hold until the invoice is cleared.

Real Time Restorations has evolved as a way to create a win/win situation from what many collision centres "won’t touch with a 10 foot pole" and/ or burned customers of other body shops who feel like they have been taken to the cleaners by shoddy workmanship, unscrupulous business practices, or inability to complete the job in a satisfactory and timely fashion.

Thank you sincerely,

Dave Williams

Owner/ Manager