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Any recent experience with Cascade Customs and Design in Bend, OR?

bertschb

Where's my engine????
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I'm getting ready to schedule my paint job and I'm curious if anybody has any recent experience working with Cascade Customs and Design in Bend, Oregon? I've heard good things about them but I do have a concern about their pricing. They give you an estimate to base the deposit on. But, the actual price is whatever they end up saying it is based on actual time and materials. Very open ended. I understand they wouldn't stay in business long if they took advantage of this "loophole" but it makes me nervous nonetheless. And by the way, the reason I'm seriously considering using them to paint my airplane is because they are a ten minute flight from my house.

Anyway, if you had Cascade Customs and Design paint your airplane, any feedback would be much appreciated!
 
Not an answer to your question, but this is one of the few shops in the country that Evoke recommends. Given Evoke’s reputation, I think that’s pretty high praise.

As to the pricing - that is how Evoke works as well. They have no idea when you show up how many hours of prep will be required. They price in a certain amount of labor hours and if you run substantially over that because of poor or incomplete workmanship - you will pay more.

I will say that you can probably find a cheaper place to go. You can pay less, but you will get a lot less. If you want a 10 foot paint job, look elsewhere. If you want something that can take the close up scrutiny of an OSH judge, then Cascade is probably worth it. Evoke absolutely is.
 
Not an answer to your question, but this is one of the few shops in the country that Evoke recommends.
Thank you for this. I had no idea they were recommended by Evoke. After all the work I put into building my airplane, I'm not looking to save money on the paint job. If I can get 80% of an Evoke paint job with Cascade Customs here locally, that's a good compromise for me vs traveling across the country to Evoke.
 
I have a friend from California who used them and they are extremely happy (RV-8 known as “Ruby Vixen”). PM me and I can give you his number. I have seen the plane up close and they did a great job. I have a paint job scheduled at Evoke but I may try to use Cascade Customs. Only because I’m in Washington state, not anything negative at all about Evoke.
 
Cascade did my paint. I dropped the plane off almost exactly a year ago, flew it home on New Year's Eve day ......... after about 10 days of weather delay. I'm happy with the work they did and I don't hesitate to recommend them. And working with Evoke on the paint scheme was pretty easy even though we went back and forth on mods many times (they expect that, they willing work with you until your have the design you want).

I disassembled and reassembled the plane myself. But they'll offer that service, in addition to their paint/prep work, if you want. I wanted to do it myself.

Cascade isn't cheap, but nothing decent, especially in aviation, boats or cars, is cheap.

At the time, their waiting list was a full year long, I suspect it still is (or longer?).

FWIW, I know three others that have used Cascade and the reviews are all the same: Not cheap, but really nice work and easy to work with. And by "not cheap", I suspect they're competitive with other shops in the country that do the full service work with quality materials they use. Quality paint is really, really expensive, and getting more so my the day, it seems.

Also, your comment about getting a ball park price now for a deposit, then the actual job is time & material: all true. But I knew that going in, and I thought the final cost versus the originally quoted price a year earlier, was fair, all things considered. Plus they never know how much fiberglass prep work they're going to need to do. I thought my fiberglass was in pretty good shape and nearly ready to paint, but apparently that wasn't necessarily the case (not up to their standards). So some of that was included in the final T&M cost.

I'm happy with what they did and I get lots of compliments on the paint and color choices. I knew long ago I didn't want to paint it myself.
 
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I used them and have been really happy with the quality of the paint job. Communications with Steven, leading up to dropping off the plane, and throughout the time they had the plane, was good. For weather reasons I dropped it early and then they had a delay getting started, but it was because they were taking care of a problem with a previous customer who had an issue (fuel leak under the new paint job). I figure if these guys are working g overtime to take care of a customer ahead of me I know I’ll get the same service should I need it. It’s ok with me. In the end, it was worth the wait.
My only complaint is the inside of the wings and control surfaces had quite a bit of prep dust inside because they didn’t seal the openings on the ends before sanding. If that matters to you ask them to tape off what they can before they start. The pant job was perfection.
Regarding the final price. They came in higher but very close to their year old estimate. The increase was completely due to the increase in the cost of paint. Given what was happening with prices it wasn’t a surprise.
Bottom line…worth every penny. You won’t be disappointed. DM me if you want to see for yourself. I’m in Aurora OR.
 
Thanks again for the feedback guys. My wife and I stopped by the Cascade Customs hangar a couple days ago and visited with Steven and one of his co-workers. Both of them were really nice and helpful. We put a deposit down for the paint job and I'll start working with Evoke Aircraft Design now for the design. Once the design is final, Evoke sends the "cut files" to Cascade Customs then we wait 12-18 months for the work to begin. My engine won't arrive until next April (3 years after ordering) so I'm used to waiting...
 
Cascade is the best. He did my paint job and I get praise everywhere I go. I even had ATC say "Nice paint job" on final approach. Steve Bird is a class act and I would recommend him. 10/10 stars. Who cares if he's "expensive", tip him a couple thousand bucks. He was actually less expensive than other shops I got estimates from. Aviation is tight margins to begin with, and when you have someone doing great work like that, he deserves it.
 
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