Thread: whats a good price on a paint job

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Originally Posted by shine

it cost 60 dollars an hour to get a lawnmower worked on .

People must have plenty of money in Texas! I don't pay them that much at the car dealer!

Originally Posted by Southernboss84

well the reason i asked you guys about the paint job is cause i called macco and the guy i talked to said 2000$ and he would cut everything in and paint the inside of the cab but i dont want no b/s paint job i want something that is going to be nice and falshy and something that everyone is going to want or be jelus of like i say i dont want a show truck or i would be scared to drive it i dont mind spending the money as long as i get a good quality job

Perhaps you spoke to a sales person (there job is to sell), now go take the truck down and speak with an owner, let him go over the truck with you up close and in person. That is the only way I do estimates, no baloney with talking about a price over the phone with a vehicle owner too damn lazy to get his butt in the seat and drive down to my shop.........Oh, and by the way, I own a MAACO and do custom show work all the way down to those $300 single stage enamel jobs.....

Cars currently in my shop

1974 VW Thing (don't laugh)
1968 RS Camaro Convertible
1939 Dodge Longbed Pickup (10 foot bed from the factory, 1 of 18 known in the country)
1959 MGA Coupe
1966 Fairlane race car
2-Cobra replicas (do you know how anal Cobra owners are about their paint jobs)
and of course my own 1969 GT500 Shelby fastback

Of course that is not to mention the usual dealer wholesale work, rust repair work, and collision work. Don't discount a MAACO shop as some of us are far more knowledgeable than your typical local body shop who wants to only dealer with insurance work......


Bill S.

I asked a guy to just shoot my car - no body work, no materials - just gun-in-hand and his quote in 2006 was, minimum, $6000 - no cut and buff, no reassembly. Yes, he possibly/probably would have done the last wet sand. I then decided in 2008 that since I was now retired and had less (no!) income and lots of time, to do my own. I used DuPont and SPI. The paint then was $600+/gallon, bought two but have over a quart left. Primers, fillers, paper, etc - at least another $1000. My time - phew!! Even with all new parts, lots of dings, gouges and deep metal scratches which a pro could probably fix in 2-3 days but took me weeks. Is my car as good as what HOTRODPAINT or shine can do? Nope, but it still is decent and better then much of the local so called body shop work I've seen. Even the guy that quoted shooting - gotta say, a couple of his jobs that I've seen, including his personal street rod, aren't so great.

What I'm saying is that MAACO can do a decent budget job, but you too can do a decent job yourself, but you will need a compressor, at least a mid level gun, a good mask and some time (along with other prep materials). Yeah, you WILL make some mistakes, but the satisfaction when someone asks who did it, you point to yourself.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

rates at dealerships are 100+ . it cost 1-- for them to diagnose a problem .
one big difference is i do it for a living. i cant spend hundreds of hours on one for free. i have done this long enough to know exactly how long each phase will take once body work is finished. i can usually come within 20 hours on bodywork . since most every car is going to take close to the same hours no matter what.
my work comes from all over the country. i do little to none for locals. after the 56 210 is done i'm pretty much done with working for the public. i may do some vette work for some but mostly will just build to sell from now on.

i'll tell you this much. you put your car in a body shop you best visit weekly.first time it has not been worked on go home and get your trailer. using it for fill work is bullshit. if you take the job , do the job. i see them all the time that have sat in shops for years.

well thanks for the info guys i was going to dissassimble the truck like take the glass out and the door panels off and the seat and carpet out and the dash and the gages and i was going to take the doors off and the front clip and have it ready to have it all cut in and same goes for the bed how much would it run if i did the same color that was on the truck instead of a color change

Originally Posted by shine

....i'll tell you this much. you put your car in a body shop you best visit weekly.first time it has not been worked on go home and get your trailer. using it for fill work is bullshit. if you take the job , do the job. i see them all the time that have sat in shops for years.

Same goes for interior work. Got a friend that went to a local guy who's built a name for himself, seen in some of the auto mags from time to time, and drawing more work as a result. My friend made the mistake of paying him a bunch of money up front with a verbal that his work would be done by a certain date, in order to "lock him in". The date came, no product and the excuse was that he had "...got busy" with other jobs that "...had to be done fast." Bottom line, he figures that he's got a captive job that my friend cannot pull back, because he's already been paid so why not take other work and use him for fill? He's still waiting, nine months later....

if they don't have capital to work with they will never finish the job. i just went through the interior shop from hell. 8 months - shitty work - not finished - bunch of poor me excuses . if i ever do another i will visit daily. if i have to i will take a stool and set by the car. the next interior guy who tries to screw me is going to have a serious problem.
unfortunately the good ones i know are many hours away.

I'm on the other side of the spectrum.. I just wanted to do it myself.. Had most of the tools/equipment so why not. Then the state changed the rules on registrations so I rushed to get it done and submitted so I ended up with a rush job and it shows. But, I'll just have to re-do the areas and live with it.

In some respects I'm glad it is far from perfect, when I had my Mustang I fretted over any dirt / dust and hated to drive it. Now - I don't care as I have to re-do it anyway and just really enjoy it more right now!!

I don't have but +/- 1,000 in paint & clear / fillers.
Sandpapers and some sanding tools maybe another 500..
Maybe another 500 for some other tools..

But the experience??? PRICELESS!!!

I also wanted to do the interior, so I bought a book & read it. Then I met a guy, experienced and willing to offer some advice, and help, whenever I got in over my head, he helped bail me out on things like the headliner..

Did it in cloth from LaBarron Bonney and I feel it's nice, presentable for sure as when others see it they have favorable comments. I still have to recover the seats but that'll be over the winter.

So, if you've got the ambition, and a place to do it...try doing it yourself! It's a laborious task but not outside a basic skill set if you don't need a bunch of bodywork.

Originally Posted by Southernboss84

well thanks for the info guys i was going to dissassimble the truck like take the glass out and the door panels off and the seat and carpet out and the dash and the gages and i was going to take the doors off and the front clip and have it ready to have it all cut in and same goes for the bed how much would it run if i did the same color that was on the truck instead of a color change

Boss,
No disrespect intended, but you don't seem to be seeing the main comment here. Any "quote" you get here is totally meaningless. The only way you'll know a price, or even a range for the price is to take your truck to the guy(s) you choose to paint it, talk through the process in detail - what you'll do, what you expect them to do, etc - and get a written quote. Painting the same color should save some money, as jambs, under hood, etc likely won't be sprayed unless you're wanting that done for a better, more consistent color match. Bill, who runs a shop, said it pretty clearly:

That is the only way I do estimates, no baloney with talking about a price over the phone with a vehicle owner too damn lazy to get his butt in the seat and drive down to my shop.......

Again, no disrespect meant, but you've already got pricing ranging from $2000 to $25000 from this discussion.

You guys are a lot nicer then me!!! I don't do quotes estimates...mainly because I don't have a "real" body shop and I don't care if I ever see another customer car... I go strictly on time and materials, my only estimate is that it's going to take quite awhile and cost a lot!!!!

Ain't retirement great????

At the last car show here locally, a guy had a 57 Chevy 2 door in twotone green. He took it to Maaco and provided his own paint. They did a beautiful job and color sanded followed by clear coating. He said it was about 3500.00 Mind you he did all the prep and provided the paint. He said there was still a bit to do for around 1500.00 more. I think the comment of going to the cheap fast paced centers is valid. They may use cheap product, but they do know how to paint! For me I'll never pay 10k for paint, because I have way to many things that need to be done that I can't afford that for a weekend driver. But I can tell you summit is selling paint and clear coat, etc. that one of the hotrod magazines featured a few years ago. The paint isn't expensive, and it's suppose to be good quality. One of the guys at the Nevada store, showed me his car, that he painted with it. It looked fantastic to me. I bought their paint for when I paint my truck, but meanwhile the air quality laws changed in this part of California, to where it would be illegal to spray here. 45 minutes north of here it is still leagal! So I guess when the time comes, I'll go to a Maaco far enough north to get it sprayed!
I'm not advocating buying cheap stuff, or low quality, because in the end you will get what you pay for, but it depends on what you can afford and living within your means. Do the best you can with what you can. Many people on here have built some fine cars for reasonable budgets. Will they be featured in GOODGUYS, probably not, but who cares. As long as your happy with it, then it's good enough. In this economy it's a miracle people have 20k for a paintjob!

Originally Posted by stovens

At the last car show here locally, a guy had a 57 Chevy 2 door in twotone green. He took it to Maaco and provided his own paint. They did a beautiful job and color sanded followed by clear coating. He said it was about 3500.00 Mind you he did all the prep and provided the paint. He said there was still a bit to do for around 1500.00 more. I think the comment of going to the cheap fast paced centers is valid. They may use cheap product, but they do know how to paint! For me I'll never pay 10k for paint, because I have way to many things that need to be done that I can't afford that for a weekend driver. But I can tell you summit is selling paint and clear coat, etc. that one of the hotrod magazines featured a few years ago. The paint isn't expensive, and it's suppose to be good quality. One of the guys at the Nevada store, showed me his car, that he painted with it. It looked fantastic to me. I bought their paint for when I paint my truck, but meanwhile the air quality laws changed in this part of California, to where it would be illegal to spray here. 45 minutes north of here it is still leagal! So I guess when the time comes, I'll go to a Maaco far enough north to get it sprayed!
I'm not advocating buying cheap stuff, or low quality, because in the end you will get what you pay for, but it depends on what you can afford and living within your means. Do the best you can with what you can. Many people on here have built some fine cars for reasonable budgets. Will they be featured in GOODGUYS, probably not, but who cares. As long as your happy with it, then it's good enough. In this economy it's a miracle people have 20k for a paintjob!

This misconception of "cheap paint shop" is that all paint shops are different, in my area I have a top quality HotRod shop that turns out outstanding paint jobs, funny part is, they use the same high line products that I do and there are times where we swap inventory back and forth if one of us is in a pinch. At the same time, I do offer a lower paint line (same manufacturer) for my single stage paint jobs. Two separate racks mixing roughly 68-100+ different toners, binders, etc for each one. Walk into a shop and ask to see what they use for their high end base/clear paint jobs. if they show you Nason, Dimension, or or some no name that you have never heard, walk away. As for PPG vs Dupont, vs Sherwin Williams, I'll let you in on a little secret, there are only two major manufacturing plants for paints sold in the US, one is owned by SW, the other is owned by Dupont.......Think about that one for a while........

Also, look at what the shop is equipped with in regards to spray guns, ask what the painter prefers in regards to this. if you see a pressure pot sitting on the floor with an old Devilbuss paint gun attached, again, walk away. if you see a nice Iwata or Sata gun (actually multiple guns), then perhaps it is worth the time to stick around and ask more questions.........



Bill S.

i need proof on that one. going to be hard to believe ppg is relabeled shrink and wrinkle . i know that barry does his own at spi .

Originally Posted by shine

i need proof on that one. going to be hard to believe ppg is relabeled shrink and wrinkle . i know that barry does his own at spi .

PPG shows that they have manufacturing facilities in 60 countries. Pretty sure that Valspar makes all of their own coatings, which is the House of Kolor line.

shrink and wrinkle does not make all the paint . nor does dupont mfgr for anyone else. and i know damn well ppg makes their own. every company buys resins and makes their own.

and for the record summit sells kirker paint. another brand i would not use.