How much to budget for a complete repaint..?, A tough question I know but I got to ask... Options

[ellisor3]

One of the biggest variables in the cost will be the amount of repairs that will be needed. My job was about $12k, but the quote started at about $6k. My 73 looked great with no apparent flaws, UNTIL IT WAS SANDED. You can see my thread below. We found lots of areas that were repaired before and were in need of repair again. My painter would not even paint the car unless the areas were completely redone, nor would I want him to.

Depending on who you hire, most will give you a price of the paint and supplies, but will charge you hourly for the repairs since most damage will be hidden under the paint. I had to have both doors and the from trunk go all the way back to metal even though they looked good from the outside. My advise would be to hire someone with a reputation for restorations, not just painting, and be visible in their shop to stay abreast of the progress. When ever someone is charging by the hour, it is easy to make up numbers.

[PRS914-6]

but will charge you hourly for the repairs since most damage will be hidden under the paint.

Most of you know that I am a huge advocate of stripping a car before painting. I prefer a qualified media blaster. That said any good painter is going to quote you high if they don't know what's under the paint. I would. My next project car is a 911 for my daughter. The painter would not give me a quote at all until it was blasted and he could see what lurked below. After it was blasted even I was shocked to see what was there. However, when starting from that point everyone knows what they are dealing with and a set price is easy. The painter wanted to charge "time and materials" and I refused. I wanted a set price. It's too easy to "stretch the hours" and get gouged when things don't go right and in my opinion a flat price is the way to go and fair IF EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT'S THERE. Once your car is in process, you are at the mercy of the shop if a surprise comes up. At that stage what are you going to do?....you'll pay! I avoid this situation at all cost as I get burned EVERY time. In my case we agreed that I would buy the materials but a flat rate for labor was charged and paid in "stages"

Even my 914 ran into some gouging. At the end I wanted my top painted (perfect condition). He quoted me $1000.00 and I already had the materials. I was furious (and complained) but allowed the work and shut my mouth. At each stage I had given VERY generous tips, he deserved them and I wanted to be fair. I had planned on giving him an additional $500.00 tip for finishing my car so nice, he deserved it. When the top was finished I gave him the $1000.00 for the top and final payment and told him that due to the high cost of the top that no money was left for any more tips. He had screwed himself and he would have actually gotten more if he didn't gouge me.

The moral of the story is when it comes to business.....get everything up front in writing! Pay in stages and nothing more than what is complete. Paying more upfront to "motivate" a painter doesn't work, it does the opposite.

That's the rest of the story.......

[mepstein]

One of the biggest variables in the cost will be the amount of repairs that will be needed. My job was about $12k, but the quote started at about $6k. My 73 looked great with no apparent flaws, UNTIL IT WAS SANDED. You can see my thread below. We found lots of areas that were repaired before and were in need of repair again. My painter would not even paint the car unless the areas were completely redone, nor would I want him to.

Depending on who you hire, most will give you a price of the paint and supplies, but will charge you hourly for the repairs since most damage will be hidden under the paint. I had to have both doors and the from trunk go all the way back to metal even though they looked good from the outside. My advise would be to hire someone with a reputation for restorations, not just painting, and be visible in their shop to stay abreast of the progress. When ever someone is charging by the hour, it is easy to make up numbers.

Paint and bondo covering up all kinds of tomfoolery - Amen!

[scotty b]

There is alot of talk about gouging and TIPS. First off I have never heard of a body shop being given a monetary tip, thank you for letting me know this is a custom. I wil now have higher expectations of my customers (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

Gouging is kinda of like when my doctor asked me how much pain I was in. Pain is subjective as is the claim of gouging. There is nothing easy about rust repair, body work, or paint, and as some have stated, if I have an issue, I have to eat it. I have put twice the time into some cars than I am getting paid for, just to make it a little nicer, or because there was an unforseen issue. Jim McCloeds car for example, I had to completely reshoot the whole car on my dime. Paint and time, due to not having enough base to cover fully. I didn't realize this until I hung the removable panels and saw they were a different shade than the rest of the car (IMG:style_emoticons/default/headbang.gif) This meant the whole car had to be dissassembled, sanded, reshot, re-wetsanded, rebuffed and re-assembled. Nothing at all to do with the car, or Jim. I simply couldn't tell that the removable panels were thin due to the way the light hit them in the booth.

I realize I am in a business historically dominated by unethical snakes. That is why my door is always open to my customers. I also photodocument every step of my jobs and burn the pics on a cd for the customer. That way they can see what has been found, what has been done, and what they got for their money in the end. Anyone that takes a car to a shop for restoration work should ask for this to be done. If the shop refuses to, or whines about do so, should be walked away form IMO. You are paying a fair amount of money for services that you don't see performed day in and day out. It is very easy for a shop to tell you they are using high dollar materials, and put cheap paint on. How would you know the difference ? I can make Nason at 120.00/gallon look just as good as Spies at 350.00/gallon, but there is a huge difference in the paint and it's longevity.

Also when you go in to have your car worked on, sit down with the owner and or manager, and go through COMLETELY what your expectations are in the end. What work you expect them to do, and at what quality level. I and most other restoration shops, can do anything from a cheapo patch and paint up to a full blown show car. The price difference in the 2 is astronomical. So if you have an 8000.00 budget, don't start flaming when there is a ripple in the body work, orange peel in the paint, or a less than perfect gap somewhere. Put things into a perspective you can understand. If you are a lawyer, are you going to represent a client with a 10,000.00 budget as well as you would a client with a 100,000.00 budget ? Of course not.