Paint Quote - What is Reasonable?

[chevmn]

From my perspective, I would not even consider hiring a vehicle restored in this day and time for a couple reasons. 1. I could not afford todays shop rates. 2. I have paid shops and been very disappointed in the results. And it is not just the body/paint profession. The same applies to other professions. HVAC, Concrete work, roofing, electrical, you name it......I see it everywhere. Guys go out and go into business, put a pretty wrap on a pickup, and suddenly they profess to be a pro, and expect $50-$100 an hour (or more), and make promises they either cannot keep or won't keep. Once in a while you can find someone who has experience, willing to work, and does the work on time and for a decent price, but those are getting harder and harder to find. Example.....a few years ago I was looking for someone to do a small concrete job. After several calls most never showed to even bid the job, one said it could not be done -- after him not returning my call, and I had to call him back a few weeks later. One would "call me back in a couple days once he got some material prices", and never heard back. I heard about an older gentleman (over 80) still doing concrete work, and gave him a call. He gave me what I considered a good price, and said it would be no problem. He was there when he promised, and if for any reason he was going to be late or one day had a Dr. appointment he called to let me know. The job was a 12x40 slab bridge over a stream on my property. He used fiber reinforcement concrete, provided the materials and labor, and when done the price was just a little over $2500 (yes materials included). Look around - there are still a few skilled, experienced individuals who still work for a fair price. But those are extremely tough to find these days (my concrete guy passed away about a year ago sadly). I did notice that the guy doing my concrete drove a 30 year old beat up rusty F150 vs. the guys in the new $80,000 trucks with the pretty wrap with job prices accordingly and never showed up to even bid the job. The best restored trucks (and cars) I have seen, are not done in pro shops......they are usually out of home shops by guys who do not restore vehicles for a living. You can purchase a lot of tools for 10-20K, especially if you shop around.

[davischevy]

Nobody wants to paint these old vehicles. We don't even ask prices, and We can't get anyone to talk to us, let alone get three quotes.

We have to completely disassemble a rig, blast or strip it and do the body work now to get one painted. Then we have to assemble it.

$12,000 to $20,000 seems to be the norm nowadays, depending on the rust and scope of disassembly, bodywork and reassembly.

My doors have been in the shop 10 months. As soon as I can get another shop built, I am going to start painting my own again.

[Jason Banks]

Originally Posted by chevmn

From my perspective, I would not even consider hiring a vehicle restored in this day and time for a couple reasons. 1. I could not afford todays shop rates. 2. I have paid shops and been very disappointed in the results. And it is not just the body/paint profession. The same applies to other professions. HVAC, Concrete work, roofing, electrical, you name it......I see it everywhere. Guys go out and go into business, put a pretty wrap on a pickup, and suddenly they profess to be a pro, and expect $50-$100 an hour (or more), and make promises they either cannot keep or won't keep. Once in a while you can find someone who has experience, willing to work, and does the work on time and for a decent price, but those are getting harder and harder to find. Example.....a few years ago I was looking for someone to do a small concrete job. After several calls most never showed to even bid the job, one said it could not be done -- after him not returning my call, and I had to call him back a few weeks later. One would "call me back in a couple days once he got some material prices", and never heard back. I heard about an older gentleman (over 80) still doing concrete work, and gave him a call. He gave me what I considered a good price, and said it would be no problem. He was there when he promised, and if for any reason he was going to be late or one day had a Dr. appointment he called to let me know. The job was a 12x40 slab bridge over a stream on my property. He used fiber reinforcement concrete, provided the materials and labor, and when done the price was just a little over $2500 (yes materials included). Look around - there are still a few skilled, experienced individuals who still work for a fair price. But those are extremely tough to find these days (my concrete guy passed away about a year ago sadly). I did notice that the guy doing my concrete drove a 30 year old beat up rusty F150 vs. the guys in the new $80,000 trucks with the pretty wrap with job prices accordingly and never showed up to even bid the job. The best restored trucks (and cars) I have seen, are not done in pro shops......they are usually out of home shops by guys who do not restore vehicles for a living. You can purchase a lot of tools for 10-20K, especially if you shop around.

I was just thinking the other day, I won't hire one of those guys with the really nice wrapped truck, EVER.

Nice truck and no wrap, I'm ok with. Service Van with a wrap, sure. Well worked truck, that's my guy.

[chevmn]

Originally Posted by Yamariv

Well said! I built a custom home a few years back and this was my experience as well. No pride in workmanship and most trades just did the VERY LEAST they could get away with to get paid..just brutal..

The thing that baffles me is having a shop rate of $120 an hour for body work, that's absolutely ridiculous when most shops are probably paying an apprentice $20 an hour to block sand.

I'll be doing my own body work on my truck just like I've done all of my mechanic work for the past decade after being let down repeatedly by "mechanics" who don't give a crap about your car or stuff. If you want it done right, do it yourself is now my motto.

Your $120/hr comment got me started again. My wife often takes her 2020 vehicle to the dealership for basic service. They have her convinced that her warranty is voided if I perform the same service, and rather than argue, I have kept quiet so far. About a week ago she told me she noticed that they neglected to even replace the valve stem caps after a rotation and (I assume pressure check). I offered to put some on, but she insisted she would stop and let them do it to point out the neglect (did I mention the shop rates??). Maybe part of that cost is the nice shuttle service and free snacks and refreshments they offer, but for the prices I have very high expectations of their services. I could go on and on about my experiences at shops, and why I now own a two post overhead lift, diagnostic scanner, and have spent a lot of $$ purchasing countless tools to avoid putting my vehicles in shops that I cannot trust. Things sure have changed. I recall when they guys changing oil, rotating tires, etc barely made enough to make ends meet, and often a shop was either heated with wood, if it had heat at all (never air conditioned), but for the most part the work was done right, and you could actually see and speak with the guy doing the work....usually it was the owner, and he was accountable for his work. Who knows, but this is likely the reason we see so many vehicles in the scrap yard with no obvious signs of a reason.....the owner simply cannot afford to fix them so they scrap them and buy another, then the cycle repeats

[CAMAROBOY68SS]

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.

[KQQL IT]

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

[Johnl48]

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

[LS short box]

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.

[Lee H]

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?

[Accelo]

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.

[Joyridin]

$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.

[tutone]

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.

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by tutone

I am sorry. 20K or 15K sounds completely out of line. I would get references and shop around and look at some people's work.

I agree.

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by leddzepp

I agree.

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 .

[tutone]

Originally Posted by 72c20customcamper

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 .

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.

[leddzepp]

Originally Posted by 72c20customcamper

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 .

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… It took just under 10 months…but it didn’t cost anywhere near $20K.

[72c20customcamper]

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

[LNP]

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.

[kxmotox247]

$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.

[72c20customcamper]

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 .

[Willie Makeit]

$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

[Accelo]

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.

[68 C10 Driver]

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.

[LS short box]

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.

[Grumpy old man]

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...