A bitchin’ team

Dave has led the field with his unique skills and vision to craft truly one-of-a-kind customs. They say car design is an art form with few real masters, but from concept and design to build and the finished product, what Dave Kindig does is not just restoring these rides. With his concepts and vision, keeping to the classic lines, and the help of his Kindig-it Design team, these rides are built, improved, and modernized to reflect the best version they can be.

When asked what Dave’s favorite build is, his answer is, “The next one.” To Dave, each component of Kindig-it Design, these rides, the process, and getting to know the clients and the attachment they have to these works of art allows him to approach each part of Kindig-it with fresh eyes. To him, this is not just work. He feels fortunate to be able to wake up every day, pursue his dream, and do what he loves with the people he loves. Beside him in pursuing this dream are his wife Charity, daughter Baylee, and son Drew, making this truly a family business. More than that, the team beside him at Kindig-it Design contributes to that family dynamic.

So grab the “Oh Shit” handle and put on your seatbelt as Dave and the crew continue to turn out some of the most Bitchin’ Rides out there.

Whether it’s behind the scenes or in plain view, co-founder of the acclaimed business, wife of Dave Kindig, and mother of the two, Charity Kindig is the glue holding everything together.

Oh, and did we mention she’s a die-hard car girl too? Well, we figured that was a given.

A star in her own right, Charity has been interested in cars since she was a little girl. With a father who was a hot rodder and car club member and a mother who was certainly a fan of classic cars herself, Charity grew up knowing all about the hot rodder passion.

Charity’s first car was her beloved ’67 Chevelle Malibu that she and her father built together. With the coolest car in the parking lot, Charity and her friends enjoyed cruising State Street in the Chevelle and frequenting dance clubs. It was at one of these clubs that she met the love of her life, Dave Kindig.

As a young car enthusiast, Charity delved into the automotive hobby on the work front as well, claiming a parts-runner job at a local automotive shop. Once there, she worked her way up the ranks, eventually becoming a manager and overseeing the warehouse.

After the aftermarket shop, her next automotive job was as co-owner of Kindig-it Design. For years, the thought of opening a custom shop was deeply seeded in Dave Kindig’s mind. He had been working out of the couple’s garage on various projects for family and friends and wanted to take his passion for building and turn it into a full-time job.

Charity was all for it, telling Dave that once their youngest child was born, he could quit his job and build a business of his own. It was just six weeks after the couple’s youngest child, Drew, was born that Dave quit his job, ready for the next adventure.

Charity has taken her role in the company to great heights. Not only is she co-owner of the company, but she’s also the vice president, overseeing just about every part of the company.

Baylee Kindig grew up with and around the shop, so it was a natural progression that at 16 she began working in the shop as a parts runner. She then worked her way to the front office receptionist.

Nowadays she works upstairs with the big girls managing our websites, marketing, and apparel. She also manages the shop’s social media.

She had no previous experience but has bullshitted her way to the top and created a position nobody knew we needed but now cannot live without. She may have winged it, but she does a killer job!

She has dabbled in graphic design, photography, and the wonderful world of Microsoft and Adobe programs. Overall, she is your go-to girl and takes on any job we throw at her.

She dreams of following in her parents’ footsteps and someday creating her own successful business. Baylee has two dogs that are her children, and she is happily married to her husband Kaden!

You can also bet your ass Baylee wrote this bio… told you I manage the website.

Kevin Schiele has worked for Kindig-it Design since 2004 and runs our 27,000 sq ft shop. He has an unparalleled passion for the industry and has spent many long hours in the shop making sure that every build is just right. From the start to the finish of each build, he is there.

Kevin specializes in chassis and suspension but is truly a jack of all trades. He is also Kindig-it Design’s Mother Trucker and can be seen on the highways of America, cruising around in the Kindig-it Rig heading to and from the next big show.

He is a proud member of Severed Ties Truck Club, the Salt Lake Chapter, and has personally built four over-the-top custom sports trucks and is working on number five.

Kevin is 6’2”, enjoys long walks on the beach, boating, and sea turtles.

Will grew up on hot rod magazines and started playing with RC cars at age 11. Will took vocational classes in auto body and mechanics that saved him in high school, and he used that training to work on Abrams tanks in the Army during Operation Desert Storm.

Once out of the Army, Will started at HPC in 1992 where he met Dave Kindig. When Dave said he was opening his own shop and needed help getting his drawings off the wall and into reality, he asked Will to come along.

Starting with the company in 2003, Will is still excited to push the envelope with each new build.

Brandon is originally from West Valley, Utah, and chills up north in Ogden now. His laid-back wife, kick-ass son, beautiful daughter, and two awesome Pitbulls make up the rest of the family.

Brandon’s passion in the auto industry started at a young age. He has been customizing and building rides for many years. Joining the Kindig-it crew back in 2010 as a Body Man gave him a chance to work with longtime friends KevDogg and Dave.

Brandon’s focus is still on bodywork, but he will also regularly step into other roles of the business as needed to keep the builds on track. Every build he has been a part of offers something new and is revered as another accomplishment.

Brandon feels that this is the best shop to work for, and there is no other place he would rather be. In his spare time, you can spot him on his custom Harley or in the garage spending quality time with his rides.

Brandon is a low-key guy with a love of good work and good beer.

Eric grew up in St. George, UT, then moved to SLC in 2006 for a change of pace and to explore new opportunities.

He began his metal fabrication career in various ornamental iron shops and customized motorcycles from home. He has made many art pieces housed in galleries around the country and city.

In 2013, an opportunity arose to join the Kindig-it team as part of the GM Futurliner crew. He specializes in metal shaping, precision welding, and fiberglass.

After work, you will find him working late on his vintage vans and motorcycles with the help of his two dogs and a wonderful girlfriend. Eric loves spending time with the team at Kindig-it, both in and out of the shop.

Jason Pringle has been in the automotive industry for over 20 years. He grew up around hot rods and is completely self-taught.

Jason started his career in the car audio industry and eventually gravitated to custom shop work.

Jason loves working with his hands and has a passion for mini trucks, even building his own. He had worked with Kindig-it Design previously as a subcontractor and is very excited to be back as a full-time member of the Kindig-it Design team.

Jason is passionate about everything custom and says he just wants to build cool stuff.

Greg grew up in Motor City, Detroit, Michigan, where he first acquired an interest in cars.

After moving to Utah in 2005, he began attending the University of Utah and building motorcycles in his free time. After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts, Greg started working as a machinist and fabricator in the hot rod industry.

Greg believes it is incredibly rewarding to build custom things from scratch using traditional tools and techniques. He’s interested in anything fast.

Dave thought Greg had a killer attitude and some bitchin’ skills. He started working in November of 2014 and has been an awesome fit with the rest of the crew.

Brian joined the Kindig-it Design team in July 2014 and specializes in body work.

Brian spent 16 years before Kindig-it Design working as a collision repair technician with various companies. He is what you call a bodywork guru. He loves what he does and has no desire to change his career.

He has been married for 18 years and has two sons who are 12 and 9 years old. He loves to spend time with his family and likes to go fishing whenever he can. He also really likes to play footbag (which is commonly known as hacky sack).

Brian is a key member of our body team and helps make our cars’ curves look sexy.

Javier was born and raised in Mexico. As soon as he moved to the United States, he started working on cars, mainly as a body man for the last 25+ years.

He has been happily married to his wife Marybelle. They have 2 beautiful daughters and 2 wonderful grandkids.

Javier was introduced to Dave through a mutual friend and began helping part-time until he was able to join the Kindig-it family full-time in May 2016. Javier is responsible for the amazing cutting and polishing of our slick paint jobs.

He has loved working at Kindig-it, where everyone treats each other like family. Javier hopes to stay here for many years to come building badass cars!

Fabrication specialist Howard “Mandel” Coliflower grew up in Harrison, Ohio and credits his automotive obsession to his childhood pals. Introduced to the Lowrider and Mini-Truckin’ scenes as a teen, Howard began honing his skills through personal and customer projects, finding his love of all things custom, especially suspensions.

Ultimately deciding to diversify his skill set, he attended Wyotech to learn all facets of the trade and spent the next decade in sunny Florida sharpening his skills in metal fabrication, bodywork, and interior construction.

In August of 2018, Howard was invited to give Kindig-it Design a try by his former Wyotech classmate Jason Lynch. Mandel officially joined the team as a metal fabricator in January of 2019.

Mandel enjoys martial arts, hiking, weaponry, frisbee golf, hanging out with his wife and children, and of course, checking out a car show or two.

Kyler is originally from St. George, Utah and moved to Salt Lake City in 2015. After graduating high school, Kyler developed his passion for fabrication, cars, and motorcycles.

In April of 2019, Kyler started at Kindig-it Design making our door handles. When not slinging out our signature door handles, Kyler enjoys building and customizing motorcycles. Currently, he’s working on rebuilding his ’79 Ford Bronco.

Kyler loves his job, the team, and is excited about his future here at Kindig-it Design.

Hallie is originally from Tehachapi, California. She moved from her sleepy little town in 2015 to follow her husband, Pete, out to Salt Lake City for him to chase his dreams.

Prior to working for Kindig-it Design, she worked in the veterinary industry as a hospital manager for five years. Hallie would always help at the shop, at shows, and on the road in her spare time.

Hallie was officially hired at Kindig-it Design in January of 2020. She has been friends with Dave, Charity, Baylee, and pretty much the entire shop since 2015. With Dave’s schedule getting busier, we figured it was about time to bring on this badass, organized, and efficient ninja of an assistant.

Hallie now gets to combine her passion for cars and education in business to provide a certain type of skill set to the team.

Hallie is happily married to her stud of a husband, Pete Watkins. Together they have their fur-child, Melly the pitbull. When not working, Hallie is drinking wine, red wine, red red wine.

Locally born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Mark started at Kindig-it Design in February of 2021.

Prior to killing it at making our door handles, Mark was laying tile for his cousin’s business. He always had a passion for the artistic side of the automotive industry and fell in love with it at a young age.

Teaching himself about cars and welding, he branched out and became a part of our team. When not making our door handles, Mark enjoys building custom motorcycles and playing the guitar.

Being a Kindig, Drew was pretty much born and raised at the shop. So it was only a matter of time and a rite of passage before Drew joined the team.

From an early age, Drew has been interested in all things metal fabrication. Prior to busting out some Bitchin’ door handles, Drew worked at Boeing building the 787-10 tail wings. How badass is that?! But when he got the chance to work here at the shop, he jumped.

When not slinging out some of our iconic door handles, Drew enjoys spending time and going on adventures with his wife Kara.

Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Chris moved to Salt Lake City for a change of scenery. A friend mentioned we were hiring, and well, the stars aligned! Chris has been with Kindig-it Design since April of 2021 and has loved it ever since.

Before coming to work at Kindig-it, Chris was the Body Shop Manager for a rather large transportation company in Madison. He got his start in the industry when he was just four years old, going to work with his dad, who worked in a body shop.

Chris is proud to be a part of the team here at Kindig-it, but more proud of his accomplishment of being a father to his daughter Marley.

When not sanding, priming, and painting some beautiful rides here, Chris enjoys camping, hiking, off-roading, fishing, and pretty much all the great outdoors has to offer.

Kenny is originally from Herriman, Utah, so when we placed a local ad looking to expand our team, his decision to apply was quite easy. He started with us in July of 2021 with the support of his beautiful wife, Pam, and kids, Ashlee, Brianna, Chelsee, and Brody.

When not killing it in the Assembly area here at Kindig-it Design, Kenny is either exploring the great outdoors with his family, golfing, or shocker, working on cars!

Shannon, being originally from Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, moved out to Salt Lake City, Utah to be closer to his brother and sister-in-law.

When he saw that we had a job opening, he took a leap of faith and applied, joining our team in August of 2021.

Shannon has a background in collision repair and was the head painter at a repair shop for three years prior to coming to Kindig-it Design.

He loves working at Kindig-it Design. He’s able to wake up every day and do what he loves doing, surrounded by coworkers that are like family.

When not working away at his dream job, Shannon enjoys cruising around town, going to car shows, working on his personal builds, hitting some balls at the baseball cages, and spending time with his family.

Ira grew up in the California Central Valley in the rural town of Patterson. Growing up in a small town during the 80s and 90s, classic cars were life. Especially because it’s the area that George Lucas’ iconic movie American Graffiti was based on. As a child, Ira would listen to stories his father would tell of the 1960s custom car scene in Southern California where his dad had an auto upholstery shop.

Ira served his country as an infantryman in the US Army. He was stationed in Baghdad, Iraq during Iraqi Freedom III. After completing his service, Ira threw himself into his welding and fabrication industry work as well as his ultimate passion, Mustangs. He has had many cars come and go but his most prized project was a ‘67 fastback restoration from a rusty barn find to a sleek beauty.

In 2019, Ira’s wife surprised him with a birthday gift of Kindig-it Painting with the Pros class. This is when Ira decided to test for the fabrication department. He relocated his beloved little family of his wife Janell and three sons Anthony, Andrew, and Lucas to join the most amazing crew to make the most Bitchin’ cars. A dream come true!

Born and raised in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, Joseph has always had a passion for cars. One of his earliest memories was sitting in the backseat of his parents’ custom 1960 Ford Starliner going around the Kansas City Speedway Track at a Goodguys show. But Joseph really caught the car bug when he was in middle school.

His parents bought a 2010 Mustang. It all started then. The modifying, the car club, the community. He was instantly smitten.

Joseph comes to us trained in Automotive Technology and Collision Repair from Iowa Tech Community College.

While he was in college, Joseph had the amazing opportunity to build three crazy custom cars for Accele Electronics to display in their booth at SEMA. While at SEMA, Joseph met up with the Kindig-it Design team, applied for an open position, and in April of 2022 was hired on.

Homegrown in the Salt Lake City Valley, Curtis comes to us vetted by his older brother who used to work for us. We’ve known him since he was a tiny tot! Curtis is now all grown up, married, with kids, and employed by yours truly.

He was a metal fabricator building hand railings, staircases, and metal decorative cladding for homes.

Looking for a change and itching to get into the industry, he applied in January of 2023.

Family legacy, automotive passion, and a sprinkle of mad welding skills make Curtis a great addition to the Kindig-it team.

Jake comes to us from just over the hill in Park City, Utah. He’s a Ford truck-loving, panel-beating, welding machine!

Originally, Jake went to school for engineering, but after only one year, he decided to switch it up and go to trade school. Graduating with his associate’s degree in welding and fabrication, he started working at various welding and fabrication shops.

Then in April of 2022, he decided, “Hey, why not apply to the Bitchin’ shop two blocks away from my house,” and well, here he is!

The Midwest called and wants Kyle back. But we ain’t giving him back!

Kyle hails from Streetsboro, Ohio, but comes to us from Des Moines, Iowa, where he worked as a Performance Automotive Technician at Karl Kustoms and a Technical Advisor at Summit Racing before that.

Wanting to get out of the Midwest and live somewhere he could do what he loves for a living while staying close to his favorite activities like mountain biking, hiking, and camping, Kyle decided to apply at Kindig-it Design.

After a trial week, he took the plunge and moved to the great Salt Lake.

Originally from Boise, Idaho, Neil came to us in April of 2023. Like a true car lovin’ guy, he was born to love them. Neil’s dad started to show him how to weld at age four. Yes, he was kept safe and didn’t stare directly into the light. He started out with mini trucks and progressed from there.

Before coming to work for us, Neil dabbled in RVs and worked at parts stores.

When not working, Neil enjoys drifting and desert truck stuff.

Hailing from Salt Lake City, Utah, Jasper discovered his passion for craftsmanship as one of the head fabricators for West High School’s robotics team. This early experience ignited his love for building and problem-solving, setting him on a path toward a career in custom fabrication.

After graduating high school, Jasper spent the summer taking every course offered by the Kindig Academy. By winter, he visited the shop to collect his certificates, where Dave personally offered him the opportunity for a test week—and he earned the job.

Jasper officially joined Kindig-it Design in January 2024. Now, he’s part of the CF1 department, focusing on intricate under-dash components for prefitment, along with fabricating trim and other custom pieces.

Outside of work, Jasper enjoys cars, music, and video games. As for his time at Kindig-it Design? Jasper says, “I love every second!”

Alfie was born in Logan, Utah, and is now settled in Salt Lake City as Kindig-it Design’s cutest employee since July 2020. Alfie specializes in observing the showroom’s operations, naps, and the art of being a good boy.

When asked what his favorite part of working at Kindig-it Design is, he replies, “Woof,” which translates to treats.

Alfie can be seen roaming the front office with Charity and Baylee, barking at every employee, but mostly KevDogg. Unanimously, we are happy to have Alfie as part of the team. Having him here ensures no one has a rough day.