Our experience with Pan Man and Todd was a fantastic experience, and we will wholeheartedly both recommend him and/or utilize his services in the future. I have a 2000 Grand Prix with 70k miles which over the years was very well cared for and babied (garaged, never driven long distances, etc). However, the past few years the car has not been garaged and naturally been subjected to all of the weather elements like rain and snow. While doing oil changes, over time I would notice lots of rust under the door frames and in what I thought were precarious locations, such as the wheel axels. Also, the place where it would usually be parked became badly stained with rust. I thought the car was slowly rusting away and after speaking with several of our family mechanics, they suggested that professional "crafty" type welders or steel workers may be able to bring some life back to the frame of my car. I previously had an old Camaro whos frame became so rusted out the car was not safe to drive, and I was forced to sell it. However, that car had 170k miles. Around February, I ran a simple ad in Craigslist seeking out any professional welders who had experience working on or restoring car frames. I was contacted by 3 different people, one of them being Todd from PanMan. While the other 2 people were much closer and the photos they showed me of their work looked great, I mainly kept in touch with Todd because he seemed very knowledgeable and had an actual accredited shop/yard to do the work, whereas these other people wanted to do it out of their own driveways, and I just wasn't keen on leaving my car at somebody else's house if needed. Todd and I kept in touch the past few months until I had the availability and could arrange driving the car out to his shop. Based on some BASIC photos I sent to him, he gave me a rough estimate of about $500 to do some patch work, and the price seemed fair especially if I was going to be able to get a few more years out of the car. Long story short, I took the car out to Todd and he gave the entire bottom of my car a complete inspection, and found that it didn't need any patchwork whatsoever, and most of what I was looking at was simply residual door rust or just general rust which did not affect any aspect of the actual car frame. Some of the rusty areas by the wheel axels I was looking at were just some sway bar brackets - easily replaceable and not at all a danger to general driving. Todd said the car was in too good of shape to even do any patchwork with, and I was only charged a diagnostic fee of $90 (about average any shop charges just to look at your car these days). Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. Todd spent a half hour talking to me, going over every aspect of the frame of my car; actually pointing to things as he was explaining them to me. I was impressed by his honesty and knowledge of things - he could have just as easily done some unnecessary welding or patchwork on benign parts of my car, charged me $500, and I would have never known the difference. I am overly happy with the service Todd and PanMan provided me, and as stated can undoubtedly recommend him if you need any kind of crafty welding or projects done to your big rigs, general trucks or even family cars. He stresses that if you are ever told the car you love is "rusted out" and "needs to be junked", BRING IT TO HIM FIRST so he can at least look at it and tell you how much life actually may be left to it - or - give it a few more years of life if needed. Highly recommended! read more

Pan Man used to be somebody I trusted. I've used his services for over 3 years. He did good work, a bit on the pricey side @ $95 hr plus materials. But, I will pay more for quality work. I've used other welders during my 25 years in business. I don't require a TON of work, but, when something needs to be fabricated a good welder is a must! Until this last go-around, the Pan Man did good work. This time, I needed 2 spare tire holders added to a flatbed semi trailer I bought. The Pan Man said "No problem, I know what to do, bring it over!" When it was finished, he mentioned that one of holders was "tight" getting the tire in place. He knew it still needed to be mounted on a rim and fill with air. He said if it was going to be an issue, bring it back, he'd figure something else out. He marveled at how "cool" the holder was, completely hidden up between the frame rails. But, it wasn't practical and NOT something I asked for. I simply wanted a place to store 2 mounted tires under the trailer. He seemed agitated about me not liking his "creation"...but said he'd fix it, which he never did. STRIKE ONE. The other tire was visible. I could see it had a very cheap looking one inch ratchet strap presumably holding it. I didn't like the looks of that, usually spare tires are held in with a safety chain, but, the Pan Man ASSURED me that the way he fabricated it, the tire would never fall out. He said the strap was there to appease the DOT in case I got pulled over. OK, I thought. 3 weeks later, while going 70 MPH, that tire fell OFF! Thank GOD it went off to the right and out into a farm field, it didn't take a different direction, hurt or kill anybody, but, on the way out, it damaged the spare holder beyond repair and took out 2 air lines which caused one of the tires (a super-single) to lock up on the trailer! Fortunately, I was empty, but, ruined that tire too as well as the lost spare and wheel. STRIKE TWO!!! I told him what happened and that I was upset, this is NOT how I operate! In 25 years, I have never had anything fall off. We were lucky it didn't do any more damage, injure or kill anyone! I was also mad because I had JUST paid for a job and now had NO spare tires on my trailer, but, I kept my cool and just said we need to FIX this ASAP! He told to drop it off the following Thursday. I was in St. Louis on Wed and, rather than getting a paying load out, I purposefully DEADHEADED from there to make it back Wed night. After getting the news of the problem, the Pan Man refused to return my calls...only responded via text messages. The tone of those messages from him got worse as they went on. It was evident he wasn't accepting responsibility for what happened, he acted like I TOLD him to secure the spare with a cheap ratchet...why would I do that? I wanted it done right, not cheap. I implored him to pick up the phone and PLEASE call me back so we could talk about this calmly and rational in person, not via text. He refused to do that. When I was done in St Louis, I called, left a voice mail and sent a text to verify he knew I was on my way to drop the trailer at his shop....his response to me, via text message, was LITERALLY "I don't like your attitude, go F*** yourself!" I called him, left another voice mail and text message imploring him to be rationale and calm, that if he didn't want to do the job, I completely understood, just return my money...I got ZERO response. I assured him I would write this review, as well as with Google and The BBB. He seemingly didn't care. It has now cost me a second spare tire holder, a re-do on the welding job, 2 super-single tires, a super-single rim and repairing the broken air lines. In total, about $2,500. I did manage to find a much better welder, Jerry's Welding in Elgin...I HIGHLY recommend people go there. They charge LESS per hour! The guys at Jerry's said the welds the Pan Man did where good, BUT, he put the holder facing the WRONG way, and, as well, didn't secure the tire properly. They assured me, they are extra cautious when it comes to fabricating things like this knowing what risks are at stake. We (Jerry's and I) both agreed, we don't want to have stuff like this on our conscience or end up in prison due to the fact that someone got killed. The Pan Man seems oblivious to that. The fact the Pan Man invented an argument, turned the tables on me so he could then tell me to go "F***" myself should tell you everything you need to know about him. He is a shyster and a crook, takes people's money but when things go bad, he invents a reason to get mad at you so he doesn't have to stand behind his work. He plays games. He wasn't always like this. I don't know what has happened to him lately, maybe he has inhaled too much welding fumes, but, whatever, thanks to social media, I can share this story and tell you to stay FAR away from his shop! read more