Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

I'm finally in a position where I can start restoring my 69 GMC. It's a 36,000 mile beauty with the cleanest body I've ever seen on an unrestored truck.

A few years ago I spent $5000 to have all the rust repaired - cab corners, rockers, door bottoms, and a few other odds and ends. The repairs were well done. The truck is rust-free and VERY straight.

So...I recently had a painter come by for a quote. He's painted for years and is just starting his own shop. I saw his album of work and it is impressive. He was impressed by how clean my truck is. He took a good look at the truck and later that day I got his quote - $20,000 CDN.

Is this the going rate for a simple paint job on a near-perfect truck that's had all the rust repaired? Need some perspective here.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

I can't really tell you if that quote is too far out of line, but... that's over $14k in my neck of the woods. I can do a whole lot of learning for $14k. So far I've put about $1,000 into buying equipment and paint for my truck. It's not where I want it yet, but I don't think I'll get to half that amount before I'm satisfied. And then I have the equipment and experience to paint my other vehicles.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

That's what I've been thinking. I restored an old Goldwing a few years ago and did all the painting myself. I was very happy with the results. Only problem is finding the space.

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That is what I expect my paint job on my 67 will cost me. I'm in saskatchewan, my truck will be 3 colors though. I know the paint ad materials have realy got expensive since covid started. I do residential paint and mine has skyrocketed. The cost is high to have fun with cars and trucks today and I dont see it coming down ay time soon.

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Don't know if it's an option for you but when I had my 68 C10 painted the body shop "let" me do all the block sanding. I took parts up to the shop one at a time. Primed and sanded. Primed and sanded. I can tell you no one at any body shop is standing in line to block sand. We did a skim coat of bondo. A layer of sprayable polyester and then two rounds of regular primer.
With all the materials, shop labor for painting, wet sanding and buffing it was about 6K US.
I stripped all the panels, cab and misc parts to bare metal.
It takes a ton of time to disassemble/reassemble the truck to do a a really top notch paint job.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

My cost was over $13,000 including the paint. That price didn't include some of the add one like the template for the letters and other work that was added in. I stripped the truck myself and most, but no all, of the body repair was completed before they started. I did complete disassemble/reassemble, this saved me a lot of money as LS short box mentioned. This was about 2 years ago and everything has gone up since then. I just purchased a higher stall converter, the price went up $100 on October 1 of 2022. I ordered it just in time to get the old price.
I agree $20K is a lot of money. I'm assuming the paint will be first class. Unlikely a first time painter could turn out a paint job like a professional on his first try. A lot to learn.

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Post a few pictures of what your starting with , Are all the mechanicals done Suspension/ drivetrain ? Are they painting the frame ? interior? installing new glass ? seals/ emblems /trim/ Never pay big bucks for paint until everything else is done . And Never spend $20,000.00 at a brand new shop . :smoke:

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

Sometimes I think places quote high because they don’t want to do a job. Then if the person says ok let’s do this then it becomes worthwhile to do a job they really didn’t want to.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

It's always good to get more than one quote.
It's also super important to get in writing what will be done, what materials will be used, and how long it will take. If they won't put that in writing, walk away.
I got a car painted years ago, it turned out stunning, but the 10 days - 2 week timeline turned into 5 months.
The price of paint jobs is why I'm going DIY.
A. At my age I don't need a trailer queen I'm afraid to drive.
B. I'm a cheap bastard and not paying north of 10 k to have a shiny toy.
C The last paint job I did turned out quite decent. Not pro quality but I've seen some pretty crappy jobs people have paid good money for.
In Saskatoon.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

Probably not to far off the mark if it needs some body work and primer. My two tone 72 was almost 18k usd with me putting in about 350-400 hours of work at body shop on the truck. Had my 94 repainted at another shop about 3 years ago because my painter was not available. Was almost a scuff and shoot, still about 8k. Other estimates were as much as 12k. I did all the tear down. Clear is already failing in several places. One of the main reasons I chose a pricey imported single stage paint on the 72.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

Probably close to a good paint job now days. Things you can do sometimes to reduce cost is remove/replace all the trim yourself. There is a fair amount of man-hours involved in that, especially if you have all the trim like my truck. $$ for man-hours and supplies have gone up significantly in the last year or so. Like others have mentioned, if you can, get more than one quote.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

-
A friend of mine is rebuilding a '57 Chevy. It will be black with a red interior. He just bought a QUART of name brand red paint from Arnold Motor Supply and the cost was $521 and some change. He does his own painting so no cash output for labor but WOW.....

LockDoc

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

I think we still need more info on the scope of the paint job. You mention rust repair on cab corners, rockers, door bottoms, and a few other odds and ends, those areas will all likely need some body work or additional time to perfect. Does it include taking the entire front sheetmetal apart and taking the doors and bed off? Are you painting underhood, inside cab, inside bed? Taking the glass out? Taking weather stripping off?

In the fall of 2020 I painted one of my trucks EVERYWHERE, full dissassembly, painted inside cab, under dash, inside fenders, grill, bottom of hood, I mean EVERYWHERE. For that paintjob I spent at least $5000 on basecoat, clearcoat, primer(epoxy and 2k), body filler, glaze, Featherfill G2, seam sealer, tape, masking paper and plastic, thinner, gun cleaner, reducer, wipes, degreaser. I'm probably missing something, but there are tons of materials needed to do a top notch job, I do have some supplies left over and a shop will benefit some form being able to use leftovers on something else, but not very much.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

Yup, red and yellow cost the most. Just my luck, my truck is orange. :lol:

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

Little confused rust free 36k unrestored truck but you spent 5k on rust repair already ? So it’s a partially restored truck

Is this the same shop that did the rust repair ? If not a lot of shops will be reluctant to even touch it . We wouldn’t paint a vehicle that someone else had prepped. Reason being it’s our reputation that was on the line . That being said the price of paint and the cost of doing business have skyrocketed the past 10 years .

Are they just tapping and shooting or are they disassembling? Single stage or bc/cc there are so many variables it’s hard to say if it’s a fair or high price. I would get other quotes from other shops then you can compare

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

Yeah that price doesnt shock me. the materials to paint my 68 were around 2-3 grand and that was with me reusing stuff from the 71 my grandfather had just built. The labor is very high regardless of what they are doing so that adds up fast.

Also as 72c20customcamper mentioned alot of shops these days dont want to touch projects that scuff and shoot or at minimum stripping a truck to bare metal and going from there. I know shops around me wont touch a classic unless they do the whole process and then your talking $20-30k.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

Guy told me the other day said as high as 40k for a strip to metal paint job.
For 4k truck... so patina it is.

Also, I backed my 73 into shop door. Fix the dinger and repaint was a 6k estimate

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

I'm doing all my own work but if I were to do it for someone with
Epoxy primer, body work, high build primer, block sanding each. Paint, cut and buff I wouldn't do it for under 15k the cost of my paint and materials is up to 3k already and that's ppg shopline

https://www.beamingpix.com/images/20...y_1024x768.jpg

https://www.beamingpix.com/images/20...y_768x1024.jpg

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

If the OP doesn't go with the first shop and looks at other shops and if there are classic car projects in the shop covered with sanding dust just run away.
A person needs to keep in mind most "regular" body shops make their money on late model insurance repairs. Deer hits in the fall. Ice and snow hits in the winter. Hail damage in the summer.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

Need a lot more info. Is it going to be painted disassembled? Who is disassembling, who is reassembling? Engine compartment, inside bed, under bed, interior, top and Botton of floor pan.... Base/clear coat, single stage, water base paint? Are the rust repairs visible? How are they going to remove the current paint, just sand and start the build up or some type of soda blasting?

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

A very limited number of paint suppliers has resulted in gross margins going sky high.
Added to that is when the manufacture ups the price say 5% everyone along the supply chain does the same thing resulting in much higher price hike, to the consumer, than one would expect. My local paint store was getting price increases every month and that was before the pandemic.

Not much we can do.
One could purchasing direct, that helps some;
https://www.southernpolyurethanes.com/
They advertise 100% made in the USA.
My neighbor just purchased from them and for about $800 he purchased base coat and the clear, in RED even!
Cheers.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

$15k - $20k is what I would expect. It is amazing what the price of paint is these days. I just had a car repainted and the paint alone was a bit over $600/gallon. That did not include hardener, clear coat or anything else. Just the paint.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

I am sorry. 20K or 15K sounds completely out of line.
I went to trade school/body shop in the late 70s and early 80s. I opened my shop and painted a guy's Matador red 57 Bel Air in single stage enamel for $1500 bucks. Allowing for infation in today's money, that is $5300 or so.
Ok apples to apples, 1980 a 72 Super could be bought for 3500 in relatively good shape, I know, I bought one. Now by all the same inflation calculation, that would be around 13 K.
But.... The difference is. They don't make 72 Supers any more, so supply and demand takes over.
That being said, they stay up nights making auto paint and as long as people buy it at their inflated price, they will keep selling it.
I will attach a picture of a locally painted 57 from 2013. The body work and all was included. This was a 90% straight car and the total price was 4500 bucks.
I would get references and shop around and look at some people's work.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

I agree.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

I don’t .

Back in the 80s I made 400 a week working in a shop . Today they have to pay a real body man who paints at least 1200 a week . My buddy charges 175 an hour labor at his shop. And I’m sure I’m understating it. I painted my Chevelle for about 1500 total in 1994. Today the base coat of PPG DBU would be that much .

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

Point taken, and I understand overhead, shop costs, and labor.
I've been in business for myself off and on for years. But you and I both know that the paint/ insurance gimmick is a scam.
Who suffers? You and I if we have to farm this out because we cannot do the job. I hear horror stories, as noted of people waiting on a classic for years because it got put on the back burner.
I have a good friend who just sold his 15000 sq ft shop.
If I needed a panel buff, I better catch him in the summer before the deer move. The inflated cost, coupled with the lack of interested shops who estimate with a book, is why the patina/black hot rod look is popular.
I guess I will be humbled myself soon. I will be painting my 1968 Camaro.
And I will keep up with the hours/ materials cost/ and dig this thread up and post it here. It is solid like th OPs truck, and in epoxy primer.
May have to eat my words, but they taste alright. I've done it before.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

I’m going with the limited info the OP gave. The biggest thing he left out was the timeframe. As we all know, time is money.

I paid the same price for the same kind of job tutone described above. The truck was not disassembled. I removed all the trim, emblems, grille, glass, etc. The shop did it as a side job in between other work. They told me it would take a month…:haha: It took just under 10 months…but it didn’t cost anywhere near $20K.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

It’s all relative to where you live also . A friend had his car done in a shop down in Georgia back around 2015 car came out beautifully and it was about half of what it would have cost up here. I know I have around around 4k in materials so far in my truck . It adds up very quickly ,crap a good roll of masking 3m automotive masking tape is 7 bucks . Even the cleaners are expensive I use acetone for most paints it’s up to 25 a gallon :(

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

$15-20k is easy these days. Our shop rate is $90-$120 plus materials. That's like 3 weeks of labor and materials. Roughly since we don't know exact details. I'd be surprised if any quality job was done that quickly.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

$15-$20K is the going rate for complete repaint around here. few shops want to do this type of work anymore as they can make more a lot more money doing collision/insurance work. supply and demand.

and people wonder why the "patina look" is so popular nowadays

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

Time frame makes a difference too. If it’s going in and out in a couple of weeks the shop doesn’t deal with storing your car . We had a separate building for dead cars. Basically either we were to busy to work on it or the owner ran out of cash in this situation only good friends got storage . Just think about it a car stored inside in a heated area . What’s that worth in and of itself .

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

Materials have tripled in price in the last two years.
Because they can!

Getting anyone to take on a complete paint job is unlikely, at least in my area.
I have a relationship with a local shop. I help them out with mechanical stuff and sometimes they will take on my "Projects".
The deal is; it's done on their schedule.
If you go in every week asking "Are you done yet" you will get black listed.
Average turn around time is 3 months.
Much of that is they always find something I didn't know about.
Like rockers I paid to have installed that didn't have enough clearance, on the bottom of the doors, for paint.
I also strip the "project" to bare metal. They are not interested in painting over old anything.
I leaned a long time ago I am not a body man and have no interest in becoming one.
This is what works for me.

$15 to $20K is a lot of money.
So is getting $50K for a nice truck.
Guess it all depends on the usage, budget and one's own talents.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

I do my own work myself saves a ton of money as others have pointed out. I painted cars years ago. What I ran into if you only quoted a repaint in other words a sand mask shoot send it home, then when you found rust or body damage people dont think they should have to pay no more than what you first told them. Over the years workin in garages I learned most people relate certain things as the reason for different issues. They think the venicle that has crappy body work but nice paint is a bad paint job. Loud exhaust obviously a bad muffler, coolant leak gotta be the water pump. Car wont start bad battery. And so on. So some garages especially in the paint and body world price high to cover thier behind with what they find under the paint. I did a quick paint job on my 69 for now and it still cost me bout $2500.00 far cry from 20grand but I havent strip it to bare metal yet. My 70 Challenger I got almost $6000.00 in sheetmetal. So you figure thats not installed, no sealer, no body work, no primer, or paint. It adds up quickly.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

The extremely high cost of getting paint work done is what drove me to learn how to do bodywork and painting. Over the years I have purchased all the equipment to include the latest HTE gun. I use the older siphon gun for primer, and was using my Devilbiss Finishline HPLV gun for the finish work. I will say that I am a single stage paint kind of guy when it comes to classic cars....and I have owned many over the years. I think that the single stage paint gives the most authentic look to a classic auto. Besides, it is easier to work with in my opinion, but I am sure someone who deals in two stage paint will disagree. If you do get a flaw in the paint, you can sand and buff it out. Easy-peasy.

My recent purchase is an inflatable paint booth, I will post pics of that and the results when I get to that point, hopefully next year.

Best of luck on your project, maybe think about doing the paintwork yourself, it will be rewarding. If you are not keen on doing the paint, maybe someone in your local car club will do it for a case of the brew of their choice. I would do all the prep work, so all the designated painter has to do is show up and spray.

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When a local body shop let me do all the sanding they made it quite clear that their shop was not a storage building for parts. We started out with fenders, then the hood and then the doors. One piece at a time and I brought them home to store before paint. Last was the cab and box sides because they take up the most floor space. We did the bigger parts last because I had some experience sanding by then. I really learned a lot.
If you decide to move forward a tip? Once you have cab off the frame make a wheeled dolly so you can move it around. Bolt the dolly to the cab so it doesn't slip off.
Pic of my cab before the first priming.

Re: Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?
 

What is Reasonable? if you don't have the time, dry space , talent and tools to do it all yourself and you want a nice shiny paint job you might consider buying a truck that's already done and $20,000.00 will buy a pretty nice truck that someone else already went thru the headache and heartache of building a 50+ year old truck that they are selling trying to get back some of the hard earned money they spent that they may never get back with todays uncertain economy . I'm a big fan of doing everything yourself but after spending days /weeks/ months of taking a rusty old truck down to bare metal and bringing the finish back up to a sprayable surface not even considering all the metal work , A smart man might consider just going out and buying the best truck he can find and driving it next week with your best girl sitting next to you on the bench seat . For the rest of us , Welcome to the world of PAIN... ;)

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I’m starting to think the same thing. I painted my motorcycle when I restored it and was pleased with the results - with a throw away Harbor Freight paint gun no less.

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Good advice, especially the last line. His work is good, no doubt. But there is a lot more to working with a shop than pics from an album.

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I think you’re right. The amount of labour is the variable I need to understand better. Funny - he was working at the shop where I had the rust repair done before he opened his own place.

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At least he will know what has been done on the truck