Customer told me my filler work was too thick and he was right

Had a guy bring back a fender I did six months ago. The filler had cracked right along the edge where I laid it on too thick. He just looked at me and said 'you know you're supposed to feather that out in thin layers, right?' Made me go back and redo the whole thing. Now I never go over 1/8 inch on any single pass and let each layer cure fully. Has anyone else had a customer call them out on a bad habit they were blind to?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryand2625d ago

Man, that's tough but honestly good on that customer for calling it out. I used to think thicker layers saved time and no one would notice, but this post changed my mind completely. You can't argue with results when the work fails six months later. Now I take the extra few minutes to do thin coats and wait between them. It's annoying at first but way better than having to redo a whole piece.

parker_patel8424d agoMost Upvoted

A buddy of mine from trade school had a similar wake up call years ago. He did a whole garage floor with thick coats trying to cut corners, thought he was being smart. About eight months later the customer called him back because the finish was peeling up in patches. He ended up having to grind it all down and start over for free, plus buy materials again out of his own pocket. That one job probably cost him double what he would have made if he just did thin coats right the first time. Ever since then he swears by taking the extra time, and I've never seen him rush a job since.