Potential Dispute with Unfinished Bodyshop Resto

Hi all,
       This is quite a long story, so I’ll cut it short. Left my Mk1 to a bodyshop for a full bare shell restoration as a rolling shell in February 2022. The guy was a one man band and had previously done restos as a sideline while he worked for a large bodyshop chain, but had just left that job to start up on his own properly. Obviously it took a while to find his feet, so I gave him time to get established and the shell was blasted and coated in epoxy primer in June 2022. Jump forward to now and there’s been zero progress since June 2022, so I’ve found someone else to take on the work. I’m supposed to be collecting it all tomorrow but guy wants £800 before car leaves.

My view on this is I should only be covering the cost of the blasting which was done by someone else and his  materials which is about £600 in total. He’s quoting me days of labour to strip the rolling shell components plus the time for prep and epoxy coating which I don’t feel should be my problem since he didn’t complete anywhere near the job he was supposed to.

Is it worth arguing any further or should I just pay the full amount requested and just suck it up. It’s definitely left a really bitter taste in my mouth and I feel like he’s got a right brass neck to start demanding all this for a job not done and over 2 years waiting.

Tricky one.
I take your point that he hasn't completed the job, but he has spent time and money to do what he has done, so I can understand why he would expect to get those costs covered. Unless you have something in writing that is 'full payment on completion of all works' I'm not sure you have much to argue against (other than a matter of principle!). He obviously doesn't care much about reputational damage, if he did he'd want to part on good terms.
Sure it's not what you want to hear, and sadly you probably won't be the last person to be in this position.
J

If he stripped the shell, I'd make very very sure you have all the parts he removed before you part with any cash.

You're right J, and that's exactly what I've done this morning when collecting the shell. Not worth the hassle but yes, out of principle I think he should have swallowed a bit more of the labour costs given the agreement was a full restoration and repaint and I've waited over 2 years and got back a blasted & primed shell that still needs restoration and repaint. 

Anyway, it's settled now and car on its way to new resto shop. I'm sure things will move forward in n 2024.

For the stated amount of work done to date (beside the fact that it took 2 years!), then £800 is about right. I find it difficult to get a pre prepared shell blasted and epoxy primered for less than that figure.