Frequently Asked Questions

We offer a range of payment methods including cash, cheque, credit card and direct banking transfers. We can also schedule work to coincide with your budgetary requirements. Due to the scale of some projects in the workshop and parts that need to be ordered, we have adopted a weekly billing cycle. This means that regardless of what stage your project is at, all projects will be invoiced weekly for any parts and work that has happened since the previous billing cycle.

Yes, we offer offsite assessments within the Wellington region. Its $250+gst for assessment and we will provide you with a summary and estimate of the work involved in your restoration. Please contact us to arrange an offsite assessment.

In many cases, our clients are not able to bring their vehicle to the workshop or are not local to Wellington. To be able to provide you with an estimate, we would request a selection of photos that highlight rusted areas or damage. From these photos, we can put together a rough but detailed estimate. When you are happy with the estimate, we would organise transportation of the vehicle to our workshop. Once here and before any work has been started, we complete another assessment and update out estimate if anything else becomes apparent from physical viewing. All of which would be discussed with the client before beginning any work.

We do our best to estimate your project with the extent of our teams combined knowledge and experience. But there is always a risk when dealing with old vehicles. It is impossible for us or anyone else to be 100% sure until your vehicle is back to bare steel. Only then is the full extent of the restoration truly known.

How long the project takes, is up to you. If you do not have any budget limitation and would like the work completed as soon as possible, we would discuss and schedule this accordingly. If you do have some budgetary restrictions, we can work with you to find a suitable solution within your proposed timeline. All projects are limited to a minimum of 1 weeks work per month, this means that we can move on and off your project and others in the workshop, keeping the overall project moving forward.

Yes, all projects require an initial estimate to be approved by the owner. At this point, we will discuss available dates to get your project into the workshop.

Our team is there to help you with as much or as little project management, as you require. Some clients like to hunt out and buy parts required themselves, while others are happy to leave it to our team. All of this can be discussed and agreed upon, before any work has begun.

The internet has provided a large field of available options for parts. We discuss whether you want OEM or aftermarket parts. Then we will source parts from either OEM or third-party suppliers. All items purchased will be outlined in detail on the invoices received during your projects restoration.

Many of our clients do not live in Wellington. Each and every one of them is able to keep up to date with their projects progression on a daily basis, via their online project gallery. For more information on this, please go to our Private Online Project Photo Gallery page

We can indeed collect your vehicle from anywhere in New Zealand. We will provide you with a quote for collection and transportation to our workshop. Once agreed upon, we will schedule a date for the collection that works for you.

All aspects of your restoration except for acid dipping and sandblasting will be handled in-house in our workshop. In the rare event we need to outsource something, it will be discussed with you prior for approval.

The Surgery use PPG DG (direct gloss) and PPG Envirobase® High-Performance system as they deliver the best refinishing technology on the market today. Envirobase® High Performance has set a new benchmark for waterborne paint systems. Standout features include cutting-edge pigments for outstanding colour accuracy and first-class opacity for excellent coverage and easy blending.

The team at the Surgery have worked on a wide range of makes and models covering US, European and Japanese manufacturers. We do not limit our work to any specific brand or models, all are welcome at our workshop.

Our workshop caters for two major workflows. Large/full restorations and small maintenance work. This allows us to treat smaller jobs like small patches of rust quickly, while still being able to cater for complete ground-up restoration.

Yes, we do carry out insurance work. Using our workshop needs to be approved by your insurance provider before we are in a position to look at and estimate a job.