Cost of a paint job

[myersjeremy]

Looking for ball-park figures on what others have paid to get their trucks painted. Had a guy to give me a phone estimate of anywhere for $5000-$7000. Sounds way out there to me but I don't know alot about painting one......

Jeremy

[75silverstep]

I ha d mine done for about 3500 .I had the hood off the glass out bumpers off pretty much stripped for him though but he did some zylatone in the bed and filled in the gas caps rear bed caps and bed stakes also...took him awhile but i wasnt in a hurry .i told him to do his insurance jobs first ..my body was pretty straight i did alittle body work myself ..always wanted to be a painter body guy..If i only had the right tools haha..

[mySAVIOReigns]

I know for mine, the guy said it would be about a grand for bodywork. Not sure about the paint.

[Bri87swb]

My truck is rust free and straight and the lowest I have been quoted is $7,500 and the highest being $15k. The shops are quoting prices sight unseen, so it might be a little lower once they have seen the truck. Regardless the shops are either very busy right now or $7,500 is the going rate in W. WA. Best of luck!

[wichitawings]

Not sure what kind of paint jobs you guys are talking about but 7500 is ridiculous. I've got an excellent 72 shortbed (all original no rust, not even cab corners or rockers) that's maybe worth anywhere from 5 to 10K, but it needs a paint job. Adding paint it may be worth 3K more. I know you lose money if you hire someone, but like I said 7500 is crazy. I've been out of touch for awhile though.

[superjeer]

I took mine around to four shops and was quoted from 3200 to 6500. Mine's pretty straight with some rust and small dents.

[BJA69C10]

paint itself is expensive...just to prep and paint my buddies '93 cost me close about 600 in supplies, at retail price of course, but still, a decent paint job with a little body work is about 4000 where i worked this summer. it will also depend on how much is being painted...is it going to be the same color? does the interior/jams need to be done? engine pulled?

[77-383 Step]

I think allot of it depends on what you want. A fresh coat, you might get away with $2k- $3.5k. If you want something that makes you weak in the knees, it wouldn't be far fetched to pay $10k - $12k. Alto of times, it boils down to what you can afford. Buy the best paint job that you can, and you will be happier than if you tried to save a few hundred dollars.

[edman87]

If you use a reputable shop, you usually get what you pay for. If you get a pain job for less tha 3k, you can count on very poor or little prep and probably some overspray and not the best quality paint. The labor varies by how good the shop is and where in the country it is. My buddy painted his truck this summer and the red paint was around 1200 and the clear was a little over 1000, that is just plain paint, no pearl/ candy/ bling. Now this was very high quality paint at retail prices, but you get the idea.
The biggest cost with a paint job is the prep. Even if you have a brand new truck, there would be many many hours of prep to do a good paint job. NOW, good is the key wor, you can always get fact-o-flake to shoot it for $300 and it will look good.........for about 3 months..........from 50 feet away.

[bmartin9122]

I just had mine painted for $1500 at the beginning of the month. My 79 had minor surface rust and body work to repair. I got a burnt-orange/copper clear coat metallic paint with inside doors and door opening included. I also received a spray-on bedliner.

before:


after:


and now with the billet grille:


and add the "GMC" grille emblem:

[C10-Driver]

As many people have said, it depends on what you are after. I am going for near show quality... The truck will be completely disassembled (by me) and all panels prep'd and painted separately, reassembled and the exterior painted after everything is back together.

I came across a really solid cab and front clip so bodywork is "minimal" (relatively speaking). My bodyman is a friend of a friend, working on the truck out of his own shop at home and charging me $30/hr (very reasonable IMO for the quality of his work). I'm just getting into it now and the fenders are the first panels to come back. There was some damage to repair on the front of the passenger fender so he spent about 16 hours on them. Time and materials $500.

Here is what I am estimating (and it always ends up costing more for some reason).

Fenders - $500. Doors - $750. Cab - $2000. (which included shaving the firewall). Hood - $500. Boxsides - $2000. Tailgate - $750. Misc - $1000. Total Bodywork - $7500. Final prep and paint. $7500.

Grand Total - $15K

Keep in mind, I am up in Canada and prices / dollar values are a little different so the value may be quite a bit different south of the border. That being said, I have seen guys on the board claim well over $20K for their paint and body.

[Hoods69BadBowTie]

Damn, I know some people with minor dents and a little rust go to some of the more reputable shops here in town and get quoted anywhere from like 2900$-8k$$ just depends alot on how much prep work you do and what kind of paint and quality of work. Thats with you getting some of the prep work started and a couple coats of decent paint. Outstanding show quality and blinged out paint jobs could be anywhere from there up too alot higher but some of the prices quoted above seem kinda high but thats just my .002 cents.

[cliffsta]

I'd suggest finding someone that is either a friend of a friend and/or they'd give you a break if you help with prepwork.

My body/paint man is a friend of the family, he said the less he has to do other than paint the better the deal I get. And what's also saving me money is the cab will be independant (since I'm swapping cabs) AND my bed will be completely disassembled (since its like 90% new) and its likely I'll even pop my front fenders off so they can be hung, too. If he can just prep it and paint it, the job will cost a LOT less. Get him to hang and paint the stuff and you put it all together.

[bigblock73]

I will have around 7K in my paint job. For starters, the paint and clear is expensive because of the color I chose, Yellow. Then you have to add the media blasting and body work I chose to have done...smoothed firewall, shaved cab seam, stake pockets, gas doors, locks...and the prep work that comes after those things. This estimate also includes my assistance in the dis-assembly and re-assembly. I got lucky and found a good painter on word of mouth, he is a little spendier than I was hoping, but after seeing his work, and knowing him as a person, it will be worth every penny.

[6977chev]

i painted my 69 myself. i bought a gallon and a half of martin senour single stage from NAPA for $260 and a sharpe cobalt gun for a $150. i just painted mine in the driveway on a calm day and it turned out great with no dirt or bugs in it.it turned out execellent for an everyday driver and a first time painter. i would post pics if i had a digital camera.

[84 400]

depends on the shop and your location. for a qualit pone around here your lookin g around 7k. sounds nuts but that is quality. paint is a rip off imo at those prices. if you want it cheaper go in the summer when everyone want to be driing and prices go down because people want to be driing and they are not as booked.

[C10-Driver]

First of all, I am up here in the Great White North. A 7K paint job in the USA is, dollar for dollar, close to a 10K paint job up here (factoring in exchange, etc.) Secondly, because of the larger market, you guys down south seem to get a much better deal than we do up here, especially on parts.

The prices I included in the $15K estimate are my own. I haven't been quoted a firm price. The bodyman I have working on the truck is going to charge me by the hour depending on what it takes. As I mentioned, the one fender had some damage so I expect over half the time he spent on the fenders was on the damaged area. My doors have been media blasted and they are in better shape and do not have any damage. I may get them back with a bill that is less than half of what I estimated but it may not be.

I have estimated high because, like I said before, it always seems to cost more than you think.

[bmartin9122]

Originally Posted by C10-Driver

First of all, I am up here in the Great White North. A 7K paint job in the USA is, dollar for dollar, close to a 10K paint job up here (factoring in exchange, etc.) Secondly, because of the larger market, you guys down south seem to get a much better deal than we do up here, especially on parts.

The prices I included in the $15K estimate are my own. I haven't been quoted a firm price. The bodyman I have working on the truck is going to charge me by the hour depending on what it takes. As I mentioned, the one fender had some damage so I expect over half the time he spent on the fenders was on the damaged area. My doors have been media blasted and they are in better shape and do not have any damage. I may get them back with a bill that is less than half of what I estimated but it may not be.

I have estimated high because, like I said before, it always seems to cost more than you think.

You make a good point about the quality of the final product. My truck will never be a show queen. It is a work apparatus first. The paint job was done to preserve the truck, improve the appearance, and reduce maintenance for me. If you get too close, then the money I spent (or lack thereof) shows. You can do anything from a case of aeresol Krylon to a complete tear-down and rebuild - like C-10 Driver is doing.

Your range: $200 - $20,000

How far do you want to go?

[N2TRUX]

Well there you have it, it will cost anywhere from 1500.00 to 15000.00. The first step in deciding how much your paint job will cost is decidinng what kind of paint job you want.
Is this a low budget deal that you can live with flaws?
Do I want driver quality or show quality?
Are you looking to save the sheetmetal and have it all one color once again? Do you want to change colors?
Do you want the interior sheet metal painted too?
What about door jambs, and the inside of the bed?
Will it be a solid color, two tone, or tri-tone?
Will it be metalliac, or red?
How long do I expect the paint to last?



This is just a short list of the many things that have a huge impact on the cost of a paint job. Every man hour spent prepping will ad to the cost. Prep work is "the key" to a good paint job.

Any paint job regardless of the quality of the materials is simply a reflection of the metal underneath it. If the metal and materials on top of it are smooth, then the top coat that you see will be as well. If the metal and materials on top of it resemble a bag of marbles, then the top coat will resemble a shiny bag of marbles.

You have to consider the quality of the materials as well. If you use cheap quality materials you may save money up front, but don't expect the paint to last long. Premium quality materials will cost 3-5 times more than budget brands, but the end result will look good for many years.

Notice I haven't even mentioned body work. That's entire different topic...

[tom coop]

C10-DRIVER, sounds like your buddy is charging you quite a bit of money for body work. 16 hours on fenders is unreal. unless hes shaving everything and its going to be an absolute trailer queen, your getting charged waay too much.the labor rate here in the south is about 40 an hour give or take and that includes materials and the shops cut. the body man ends up with about 15 an hour. but i digress, you are going to get exactly what you pay for in a paint job. your best bet is to find someone (like me for example) who works at a shop thats slow, and who can do side work. i can get the materials at cost and the shop wont get a cut off the labor. you save big that way. ive done many 3-7'000 dollar paint jobs for half of that. painting parts off the vehicle is always easier and they always turn out cleaner, however depending on the color you choose you cant always do it. high metallic colors or anything with pearl iin it needs to be sprayed with the vehicle in tact.

[C10-Driver]

Autobody shop rates in my neck of the woods vary from $65 - $80 an hour. It is a whole different world up here.

I also forgot to mention before, the cab and front clip I bought had all the factory trim holes which I am having filled. There was damage on the passenger fender which was in an ugly location right in the bottom corner at the front of the fender. It also looks like the bumper had punched the fender so the lines where the grill fits onto the fender had to be re-worked. He took the front of the fender apart, properly repaired the damage and re-welded all the seams back together. This repair is now almost unnoticable from the inside. Because I do not have a proper shop to do any painting, I have also asked him to seal everything which takes some time.

I think his time to repair the fenders was reasonable. I am expecting the doors back anyday. We will soon see how much they end up costing and figure things out from there.

[49studebaker]

Here is a picture of the truck I hadn't painted a few years back. I paid $1500 for the job. A guy that was between jobs had a little shop where he did it for a hobby. It's not the best job in the world, but for a daily driver I am happy with it. I'm sure he used cheaper paint and it's starting to show, it's been 6 or seven years since he did it. I got my stepsons Mustang painted at Maaco for about $1200, it was the $299 special, the other $900 was some bodywork, painting door jams, surface rust removal, etc. I would suggest to be patient and find a person that does it as a side job, spare time, hobby. etc. Paint and materials can easily cost $600, and that's for the cheaper line of paints, which I don't think are all that bad. Labor around Northern Nevada is easily $70 to $80 per hour but then the body shops make a killing on collision repair and then the insurance company pays for that. It seems more cost effective to buy a new fender for $159 for example rather than pay someone $80/hour to spend four or five hours straightening out your original fender. Unless your made of money( there are probably a few on this board) but most of us do 90% of the work ourselves because otherwise, this would be a hobby I couldn't afford. But then, I have a few good friends that I enjoy spending time with, drinking a few beers and doing the work ourselves. The information you have gotten on the above posts , I believe is very good but I want you to know there are options depending on where you set concerning friends, knowledge level and a place to do it yourself. I have about 80 hours of work in my sons S-10 pickup, and another $400-500 in paint, a friend of mine sprayed it and three years later, being parked in a college parking lot, it still looks really good.

[SSC's76]

Around here a good paint job will cost from 2-10K all depending on how much body work needs to be done. I personally dabble with it as a hobby and can say if you can replace body parts rather then repair them you will be far better off in the long run. This is especially true with fenders and doors since quality aftermarket parts are very avalible ready to paint and near perfect out of the box.

[SulphurDave]

I went from this...



to this...



for $3500. That included a whole new bed w/ welded roll pan, shaved & smoothed tailgate skin w/ reverse handle relocator, shaved stake pockets, shaved gas door, shaved mirrors, cowl hood, billet grille, painted inside the cab and the engine bay as well.

[Billla]

As everyone's noted, it's the prep more than the paint that kills you. Much of the cost of the work is what it takes it to get ready to paint...and how high your and their standards are