Need opinions on cost of a two tone paint job.

It's on a '76 vette that has poor aftermarket white paint on it now. It will need to be de rigged and stripped down to the factory primer, if it still exists, because of poor prep work on previous paint job. Also the car has a Front air dam, side ground effects and tail spoiler that need refitting and re installing. It has an after market hood and needs custom fabrication to allow new vents to be installed. No visible structural damage noticed on first inspection.

The new paint willconsist of high build primer, sealer,Base clear,Arctic White with Jet Black custom accents covering about 10% of the car with flex agent added to all. The paint is PPG Deltron 2000, their best (in the cheapest color mix,black and white), and just that alone is $1226.60, (Holy cat **** Batman!!!). That does not include any other materials like thinner, tape, masking paper, sand paper, etc. Icalculate around $6-800.00 more for these items. That brings the material costs to @ $2000.00.

I figured @ 14-21 days at 10-12 hrs per,to do it.

The total price for all materials and labor is $4500.00 ...reasonable???

What do y'all think...too much??... or too cheap?? I have lost tooling work in the past because of being too cheap on the price but who knows. People judge by the "you get what you pay for" adage. I'm not sure if I'm over or under charging for what's involved.
If it was my car I would expect to pay more but that's just me.

I don't think any body shop would use premium paint for less than 6 or 7 k, let alone under 5k.....Just thinkin' out loud here, LOL!

This will be Stanton's custom rods "First" official project andI don't want to rob the guy but I also don't want to cut myself short either.

Let me know what y'all think. Thanks

Cheers, George

 

It's pretty hard to estimate what your gonna' find under the existing finish as you know. Do you normally give a firm quote and stick with it or have you done "time and material" jobs. Like you said, you don't want to scare prospects off by over or under pricing. For the work involved I'd say your a little low.

 

Hi George...I'm not much of a painter but I did do my headlight cover. It looks pretty good in the day time and its down. I know you know what you are doing and money will depend on your area. As Buckshot stated don't cut yourself short. I want to wish you all the luck with Stanton,s custom rods. let us know how you are doing.
Good Luck George
Ric W.

 

Now I'm not a real brain when it comes to the work you're talkin' about, but I'm seein' around 140+ hrs. Ya might kick that up to around 3500 forlabor. I think you're lowballin' your work at 2500. Think about it Bro, I think your time is well worth 25+ an hour. You're only hittin' a little over 17. After all, you're no amature in this game.
5500 for all you're talkin' about doin', is a real bargain. Heck, you wouldn't be out of line if ya went as high 7.
Well, you did ask for opinions,......that's mine. [&:]

BTW, I can't get your Stanton Custom Rods site to come up. [&o]

 

Hi bluesharkand "Congratulations" on going into business. I just talked to a guy with a 53 Chevy pickup and he got two estimates of $4500. to $5000. to do his truck by "Good" shops here in Charlotte, so your in the ball park.
There have also been posts from Vette owners who are waiting months to get there cars back, if you can do it in three weeks I'd go to you rather than wait. PG.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Sounds like I'm pretty close. I Believe I'm "fair" to "low" myself. This guys wife had her '77 painted by a local shop and it was around 9K for straight yellow witha fair amount oflife like air brushed flames and they had it for a year. geeeesh!. According to her they didn't have to take it down as far as this one. She also thought it was "over priced".

Like they say "this ain't my first rodeo" LOL! I allowed for "unforeseen repairs" with a clause in the proposal just to cover my butt. The owner is about five miles away so I can have him come and look if I find any "unforeseen repairs".

The average"Shop" rate for body work and paint around here is $35.00 per hr(I just did a custom hood for a '66 fairlane in the top shop here and pickedd their brains, hehehe!). I would really like to do the job, it will be fun so I did kinda lowball myself. I've always painted my own cars so I have no experience with body shop quotes. It seems to me that a lot of them really over charge, but then again I know what's involved.I read on here of paint jobs from 5K to 30K for some average paint work. I have seen some in my area from 5k to 20k that I wouldn't have paid 10 bucks for. I don't want to do that to a fellow enthusiast just because every other shop does it.

If it was a boat I would know exactly what to charge, LOL! I just want it to be a win-win situation, not a I win you got screwed. Ive painted quite a few vehicles for myself and friends but always did them for the friendship and fun of doing it.

Over the years I have sprayed, if I remember from when I figured it out, about 180K gallons of all different types of paint. Probably more than some of the busiest body shops, The averagepaint jobcan bedone with a gallon kit, maybe 1-2 gallons total after mixed. 180K gallons is aaaaaa loooooootttt of cars LOL! LOL!
I know what it will take to do it as far as materials and actual physical labor goes, I'm just not sure of value of the work.

Ivaluey'all's opinions here and appreciateany and allinput about what to charge from both side of the coin. Like I said it really needs to be "win-win" and benefit both parties. What's a fair hourly wage for top quality work????
Plus this guy belongs to a classic car and a vette club so maybe word of mouth work as well. Do a great job for a reasonable cost and maybe get a lot more work. ???? I want to do it but I want to be able to pay my bills as well. I'm still debating.

So any one else is welcome to give there opinions. keep em coming.

Thanks again and Cheers