Paint Quote for My Camaro

:confused: I just spoke with the guy who I wanted to paint my car. He originally told me he could paint it for about 3000 dollars, but now the quote has shot up. I have some rot behind the rear tires that will need to be patched and there is evidence of 3-4 different colors of paint on the car. I just spoke with him tonight and he said it'll probably be around a 7-8 thousand dollar job. Keep in mind the car's not going to be a show car, but I still want a decent job. Does this sound extremely high or right about average. Mind you this is one of my best friends and he's quoting me for probably a real nice paint job.:confused: Thanks for any input you can provide.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 67CamaroProject

:confused: I just spoke with the guy who I wanted to paint my car. He originally told me he could paint it for about 3000 dollars, but now the quote has shot up. I have some rot behind the rear tires that will need to be patched and there is evidence of 3-4 different colors of paint on the car. I just spoke with him tonight and he said it'll probably be around a 7-8 thousand dollar job. Keep in mind the car's not going to be a show car, but I still want a decent job. Does this sound extremely high or right about average. Mind you this is one of my best friends and he's quoting me for probably a real nice paint job.:confused: Thanks for any input you can provide.

---

IMO 7-8000 thousand, it better be "show" quality!

the price of the paint itself has quaddrupled in the last couple years, not to mention with multiple layers of paint you mention. there will have to be some stripping involved. if the film build (layers of paint) is to high it will easily chip and crack. and all the other materials, sanding and masking papers and tape, strippers, blocking labor, primering, more blocking labor, rust repair labor and materials, and paint cost, with buffing and painting labor. its not too far off base for a decent job. everything is costing more and more evryday. a typical shop rate is around 50 bucks an hour these days. my nieghbor does show and magazine cars, he charges 20 to 50 grand for a show car body and paint job. he did a hi boy for a budwiezer distributor, in bud red. built the whole car frame up, 220,000

Wow :eek:

I would think that is a bit high but then again a good paint job done right is alot of work. Is the car already stripped down or is he removing all of the interior, exterior, all prep work etc. It should be a lot less if al he has to do is get all the old paint off and spray. If you add in all the other work plus cutting out the bad metal and welding in new stuff that makes for alot of work. You should get a couple of quotes from other places and see what they say (don't mention your friends price). As far as being a good friend, be careful, 8 grand can spoil a friendship real quick, even if he does a good job, your doubts now could have you regretting and feeling taken advantage of later. Something to think about.

ask this guy how much his paint cost.
http://www.clubhotrod.com/forums/sho...754#post244754

Those numbers really shock me when I hear them, but I guess I shouldn't be. As mentioned, the supplies alone cost a ton of money. I walked out of the paint store with two quarts of paint, hardner, and a few mixing buckets, and the tab was like $ 220. So all the primers, etc to do a car would add up fast.

The other factor is the work involved. Body work, painting is one of the toughest parts of doing a car, IMO. My hat is off to guys like HOTRODPAINT, and others on here who do this stuff day in day out. I hate sanding and prep work.

You also say this guy is one of your best friends, so that should rule out him ripping you off too badly, but maybe he is thinking one level of job and you are on a different page. Might want to talk some more to him and get closer on price.

Don

Paint and materials alone for my '34 cost somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000. Primer-surfacer, sealer, basecoat, clearcoat, thinners, hardeners, solvents, tape, sandpaper, etc., etc., etc. . .

100 hrs @ 65 hr. materials can hit 3 k easily on a complete unless you use 2nd line junk. media blast is 2500 to strip it. plus any and all body work that is under the paint. 6k to 8k is in line for a top quality paint job.

When you subract the materials, then add in stripping and rust repair I don't think it's real far out of line... Hopefully he has a cushion built in that price to cover the "surprises" that will probably show up on the car when the stripping starts!!! I would make sure this includes quality paint under the hood, the inside of the trunk lid, and the door jambs.... As others mentioned, make sure you are both talking the same paint job before any work starts.....

I have low overhead, but insist on quality materials, and the time to do it right. Appearance is equal to a new car.....or better! When It's done, I guarantee the work for as long as you own it.

Depending on condition, difficulty, color, and graphics, I charge from $5K to 10K, and on early models can go higher. Of that amount, $1,000-$2,500 is for good materials.

There are dozens of shops in most towns, and you can always find "cheaper", but you would be unusually lucky to get more than you pay for, so remember that when you find a bargain!

If this guy can produce a very high quality job, he is not outside the normal range.

Thanks you for all of the responses. I'll keep them all in mind. I just thought that the price seemed extreme from his first quote of 2500-3000 and couldn't comprehend the price jump. I'll make sure we're on the same page prior to having the work done, wherever I decide to get it painted. I'll post some pics when it's done. It'll look a lot like my avatar, but will have metallic charcol gray racing stripes.

100 hrs is for paint only. any repairs or bodywork are not included nor is stripping.

my materials alone was $463, for 1 gallon ( custom purple ) and 2 qts of paint ( custom purple and a custom white ), and that was after a 10% discount. this was for PPG Delstar paint, single stage polyurethane Acryllic enamel.

I am currently painting an HHR, which is converted to a panel, and has custom hood, and front and rear pans. The two-tone colors are black over factory charcoal, and it will have mild graphics. These are not pricey colors, and I am using an HVLP gun, which requires less paint. Quality basecoat/clearcoat paint, and body materials, are right at $975.

When I took my 55 belair to an old friend he said he would strip and paint it for 10,000, the second guy said he would do it for 5,800, and the third guy said he did not want to do it because it might make his guys want to quite. Most shops around here are into the insurance fixing, nobody fools with old cars too much around here.

Ended up stripping the whole car my self in one day and etch primming it, took it to another guy I know and the guy that works for him did all the work about 1,000 in labor. He primed it for me and I did a couple hours of bulldozer work for him.

I had a kid email me a few times for about a year about painting his 79 transam. Finally got to look at it this past summer, and quoted him cheap, 3 grand (knowing thats pretty dang cheap for the work and material involved. That would have been stripping to metal, (it had checked lacquer paint) and bodywork, some rust repair, paint black including jambs ect, wetsand and buff. But I have a full time job to pay the bills, and its not so much about making money, like a shop paying huge overhead, insurance, workers, ect.. He never got back to me, ohh well, wonder if he went and seen other quotes were like?
Maybe the first quote he though he could just paint the thing with a fair amount of prep work, then realized what he was in for with multiple layers of paint and rust. Lots of things can be hiding also giving more work. These guys are right, materials today ain't cheap by any means and only continue to rise, and to get a car to the point where its ready for paint is pretty labor intensive, and the prep work is what makes the paint job. Lot depends on color and area. California is one of the more expensive, and could possibly find lower prices just by another area or nearby state. 7,000 surely isn't out of line for that kind of work, but I would expect the work to be done fairly well and look good when done. If you find someone willing to let you do some of the grunt work and willing to work with you, maybe it will cut done on costs a bit. Many painters are squeemish about painting over someone elses work though that their name will be going on. Most have experienced something someone says just needs to be painted and is far from being the case if the job is going to look good. Maybe you can barter for some work like mentioned, or find someone who does it mostly for enjoyment and maybe find a little better price. But check out work and references of any one you don't know you are thinking of doing work, and make sure there is an agreement of what is expected on both sides.

Thanks for all of the replies to my question. As I said before, I don't expect to get a cheap paint job, and expect to get a quality job. But I don't need anything that's going to be show quality. The paint I'm using is single stage and I think the most expensive part is going to be painting the inside dash and door posts. The second concern I have is the following...

He stated that the paint job would be a progressive process and that the car would be at the shop for almost a month. Does that sound right. He said they would prep and paint different parts seperately on different days and that it would be a long process.

As I've mentioned I'm new to the restoring game and have run into many misconceptions on how long things take and how much they cost. I know I'll get a quality job, but initially a quote for 7-8 thousand dollars is hard to swallow for a car that cost me 10k to purchase.

Thanks again for all your insight. I really apprecaite it and learn a lot from all of the posts.

That's one of the reasons it is expensive to get a good job......it takes a lot of hours. The current job I'm doing will take at least 150 hours.

Don't believe what you see on TV shows! For example: Even though they have it scripted in the biker build shows, I've never painted a bike in 3 days in my life...and I've literally done hundreds! The reason I won't do a 3 day job?....because I'm proud of my work, I have to be able to guarantee it, and the customer wants it to look great!

If you want speed, you will sacrifice something in quality. The only thing I would advise is, if you haven't been around this guy to learn how he runs his business, ask to talk to some past customers. See if they had any bad experiences, and ask if they would use him again.

Actually I think a month is kinda short for the job if it is like what I am picturing and you explained. It would probably take me longer, but then again, he may have a few people working on the vehicle. Like hot rod said, It really doesn't take all that much before you have hundreds of hours in an older vehicle. But if a bodyman tells you a time, double it and it might be more accurate. I am just wondering why using single stage on a 7 grand job? Clearcoat gives uv protection to the color, and a little deeper look, as well as being easier to work with(my opinion) and repair in the future. The one exception is black. Many like to paint this in single stage because it is pretty good against uv and many feel black looks better in single stage. And clear when it gets fine scratches, they turn white which can look bad on black(Pretty much the hardest color to get and keep looking good), where as single stage wont show fine scratches as much. But majority are using base clear today. A single stage should be a little less expensive then base clear, because not the added step or cost of clear coat. You are not the first one to get sticker shock at the costs these days. Some people are really in the dark thinking they can get a 500 paint job, after seeing the maaco ads. Sorry to say,in most cases you get what you pay for.

I'd say if he can do the entire car in a month, rust repair, stripping, fixing the surprises, prep, prime, block, and paint he's either got help or he's kidding himself and you.... I doubt he will be working on your car 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I don't know a lot of body shop guys that do....

I got a coupon in the mail today:

Presidential Paint Service for half price....$250!!!

I can bill the customer for $5-10K, and pocket the difference! I wish I had thought of this before I spent tens of thousands of hours on customer toys!

Oh well.....I'm off to buy a house on a Caribbean beach. :-)~

I amazes me how much the cost of materials have gone up.
Rough numbers per QUART or as shown for my '31 roadster:

Epoxy ~ 50 (5) = 250
Activator ~ 40 (5) = 200
Polyester heavy base primer ~ 80 gallon (1) = 80
Rage filler ~ 50 (1) = 50
Icing ~ 21 (1) = 20
BC DuPont ~110 (6) = 660
CC DuPont and SPI ~ 50 (6) = 300
Urethane thinner ~ 20 (2) = 40
Sandpaper/tape ~ 75 (much) = 75
Gun cleaning lacquer ~ 12 (2) = 24

This all totals to conservative 1700 US hard earned dollars just for materials.

I have also purchased 3 new HVLP spray guns (a Devillbiss for primers, a Sharpe - which is for sale and an IWATA), a supplied air system, plumbed my garage for air and added water traps, bought a new buffer but these are tool costs and can be spread over many projects.

I was quoted for 40 to 50 hours work last fall $6 to $8000 JUST TO SPRAY, wet sand and buff the car with me providing ALL the materials, a totally disassembled car and reassembly again by me. If he was to provide the materials, $12 to $15,000 with little or no body work and the same disassembly and reassembly routine. Obviously, I'm doing it myself as I just cannot afford that kind of $$$ output. While my custom painter skill level might not be at his, it will still be at least as good as a first class body shop and I will be able to say that I did it all myself with the exception of the upholstery.

For exactly the same reasons as mentioned by Irelands child, I am going to paint my own T. I don't have that kind of money to lay out, and from "professional paint and body jobs" I have had done in the past, the workmanship is sometimes a lot less than you expected.

And, as he said, the cost of materials is very high. In fact, in a car build if we added in all the sandpaper, sanding discs, thinner, screws, bolts, etc that we purchase $ 50 bucks here, and $ 100 bucks there, it would amaze you.

No question, we haven't chosen the cheapest hobby to participate in........but then again, what hobby is? :D :D (maybe checkers when I get to the old age home)


Don

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

For exactly the same reasons as mentioned by Irelands child, I am going to paint my own T. I don't have that kind of money to lay out, and from "professional paint and body jobs" I have had done in the past, the workmanship is sometimes a lot less than you expected.

And, as he said, the cost of materials is very high. In fact, in a car build if we added in all the sandpaper, sanding discs, thinner, screws, bolts, etc that we purchase $ 50 bucks here, and $ 100 bucks there, it would amaze you.

No question, we haven't chosen the cheapest hobby to participate in........but then again, what hobby is? :D :D (maybe checkers when I get to the old age home)


Don

---

While I have most of my receipts for the rest of the build, beyond the paint items, I haven't gotten 'brave' enough to add them all up. I started an Excel spread sheet when I first started this current build, then abandoned it until my intestinal fortitude increased. For sure all those stainless nuts and bolts holding all non-stressed pieces on do not have receipts tho most of the big items are ready to be added to the list. When I feel I can stand the 'shock and awe':eek: .