Cost of restoration

[Bennydog]

i am just wondering if anybody here has gotten a frame off restoration on their truck... I have been getting some prices and wondering what the cost was and in what condition the truck started in thanks!!

[Musclerodz]

anywhere from very little to sky is the limit. Major expense will be labor if you have someone else do the work

[1Bad62Pro/Street]

Yep.... That's right!
Had mine since 1994! Have $15,000 or more invested in it!
Still working on the dag gum thing! And it's not even close to being done!

[jason65]

You could have a new old truck or a new new truck for the same price. If you do a lot of the work yourself.

[72BlckButy]

If money might be a concern for your future project consider this... with the economy the way it is, finished projects are popping up everyday at great prices. You can locate a vehicle that is primarily complete (paint/body work/interior/etc) and then put your finishing touch on it. Not that this would happen to you, but I've seen a ton of posts and CL ads where people have started projects and lost interest or funding to complete the project.

Sticker shock can be a big one but if you were to price a complete rebuild with a reputable builder, and even when locating a complete truck, but it depends on how much labor you can put into the project vs. a paid builder.

[MacAttack]

I can attest to the major costs involved and mine was just a straight power-train rebuild.

It shocked me how quickly the expenses accelerated, but, again, I refused to do anything half-way because I'm planning on keeping this rig for the duration.

The point about being able to buy vehicles at choice prices at the present time is dead on, and I see it at Saturday car shows on a regular basis. Folks are hurting and the lined-through prices on 'for sale' signs is evidence of that.

[jonzcustomshop]

I would start at 20K and go up from there

[198plus]

I agree with the 20K plus..........Specially if you deal with a few crooks along the way

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

I would start at 20K and go up from there

[LILRED66]

One thing I find very important, is communicating, in writing, what your expectations are and the scope of services you want from the shop. By doing so, you have a firm grasp on what will be done and this opens the door to the dialog, that will explain the processes and costs of doing your project.

I am in the very beginning stages of two frame-off restorations, one is a '66 Chevy K10 and one is a '66 Chevy K20, from two different customers. One customer has been through the process before and is infinitely more knowledgeable about the process, thus knows the "order of magnitude" of the costs to do a project like this. The other customer has never been involved in the process, therefore, I took the responsibility of outlining, in writing, the processes, costs and schedule, to undertake a project of this magnitude.

My background is in the commercial construction industry, so I am keenly aware of providing a detailed scope of services, accompanied with a price and schedule. Many times, the expectations are not clearly identified, therefore the parties involved are tracking in two different directions. I try to wear the customer's hat, that doesn't do this type of thing everyday. I speak at their level, but not down to them, by providing the gory details of the process, so they understand the time and materials involved in pulling off a project of this complexity.

I have hired out this type of work in the past and if the shop will not provide a detailed cost estimate, I move on. Many shops prefer to work with a customer with an "open checkbook", but not all customers have this luxury, so a detailed cost estimate and schedule is necessary and helpful. Some customers fit a shop's criteria and some customers do not, conversely some shops fit a customer's needs and some shops do not.

Your simple question requires a complex answer, if the shop is taking the time to explain the services they will be providing and you will be paying for, they make the first cut. If they are reluctant to do so, you can expect to be surprised at the end result and may, very well, end up in body shop pergatory, like many of the stories we all hear about.

In closing, we did a "better than factory" build on a '66 Chevy K10 almost 2 years ago, that was under $20K. We were able to do so, by finding good quality, used OEM sheet metal, in lieu of doing a lot of patch panel repairs. That alone is a huge part of the overall costs of a build, so search wisely for your sheet metal and be committed to providing a detailed scope of services to your prospective shops and you will get a good "order of magnitude" estimate of the costs to do your project. One thing I tell my perspective customers is, "a loose scope of services = equals loose pricing and a tight scope of services = a tight estimate".

Good luck in your pursuit of a trustworthy shop to do you project. The relationship with your shop, through this process is a marriage, not a one night stand.

[198plus]

Yea they love those open Checkbooks

Originally Posted by LILRED66

I have hired out this type of work in the past and if the shop will not provide a detailed cost estimate, I move on. Many shops prefer to work with a customer with an "open checkbook", but not all customers have this luxury, so a detailed cost estimate and schedule is necessary and helpful.

[MacAttack]

Originally Posted by LILRED66

The relationship with your shop, through this process is a marriage, not a one night stand.

That's it, Tony. Dead-on.

[Clyde65]

Wouldnt everyone like to do a " money is no object" restoration or rodsteration? I know I would.

I agree with Tony, I know some people in the restoration and paint and body field and the successful ones do it like Tony said, the ones who dont, well dont get any repeat or reference business. The good ones, might not get a huge amount of that kind of business because of sticker shock, but they are being honest and upfront.

I wish you the best,

Clyde65

[Bennydog]

Thanks everyone Esp. LILRED for the good advise!

[heymoe]

I am currently in the process of locating a shop to assist me in my rebuild. The problem I am coming across is getting a realistic estimates on hours to make welded repairs such as rockers, cab corners etc. I am comfortable cutting and welding on just about anything but when I have not witnessed or assisted someone in doing that type of repair than I shy away only because the cost to redo a mistake out weighs the cost to hire someone who has done it before. I look at this work and think it could be done in a 2 day time frame or 16 hrs. However most places are saying 40 hrs or more. So how do you keep an honest shop honest?

[harold64]

i got real lucky with my truck,the insurance man mine would rate an 8 a 10 being original with 100 miles. i only paid $8000 for mine but i was really lucky!

[steverino66]

I visited with a guy at a local car show recently with a really beautiful '65 - he paid a shop $50/hour (which is pretty cheap) to do most of his work, said he had nearly $30k invested.
If you don't do the work yourself, better plan to keep it forever

[shortbed70]

If I went $50 an hour shop rate mine would be at $2500 just in labor on the cab and fenders and then parts another $1500 in parts and haven't started the bed or frame yet.

[Alan's Classic]

I agree with Tony. I work in a body shop and I here the stories and people bad mouthing body shops in general from time-to-time. I want to restore the trust so when I do work for someone I document with pics and email daily what got done, how much time was spent, what I ran into (if anything) and what parts are needed. The amount of discussion really depends like Tony said the level of understanding of the customer. Referrals are great, but still go look at some of their finished products.

I can give a ball park estimate, but to me that's asking how much a 3 bedroom house is, there are too many variables involved. Each trucks repair history will be different. Once things start getting cut apart the true story will be right in front of you. You can pretty much see everything on a truck as long as someone hasn't covered something up with filler, pop rivot patch panels, aluminum foil, screen, newspaper or anything else might be hiding somewhere.

I'm sure your aware of how labor intensive body work is. Ad up how many man hours go into the TV show "Overhauling". Just figure 50 people (body, paint, engine, stereo, upolestry etc) working 40 hours a week. ( I know they work more than 40, this is just an example) That = 2000 man hours to complete a complete restoration. Just say the rate is $40/hr that=$80,000. Then you have parts and materials on top of that.

[markeb01]

I also agree with Tony’s analysis. If possible ask for references and check some of their work with previous customers.

If you choose to do a portion or most of a frame off yourself, calculate every imaginable expense for both parts, and any labor that might have to be farmed out. When you arrive at a final figure - double it. That should be somewhere just shy of what the real number actually turns out to be. It's almost inevitable, there's always something unforeseen that comes up, or other improvements that become a priority. I gave up counting years ago but probably have $20k in mine, and have done 98% myself. The only professional labor needed was on rear axle gear setup and some minor welding.

[scotts62]

Yeah agree with everyone else too. Depends on how deep your pockets go..
but if there is a will there is a way to do whatever on your project. It seems when you buy stuff even the small stuff its a $100 every time, hundred here hundred there, you get the idea

[leddzepp]

Hey neighbor! I live in Riverside. I do not know of any good restoration shops around here. Let me know if you find one. Good luck!

[jonzcustomshop]

the body man I used to work for said that for the most part a restoration would cost at least 20K
that is where I got the figure from..
he wass famous for underbidding jobs to "get" them, then people would be upset when he ran into cost over runs.
he quoted $2500 for a paint job for my dad (this was 15 years ago), my dad knew how he operated , and pulled out $3500, that was about what it cost.
the basic thing is everybody wants a shiny/perfect car or truck. it costs a lot of money and time to get the job done right, and most people would like to get the job done for half what it would cost (myself included).
Alan alluded to chicken wire , newspaper, poprivets, and inch thick bondo... you can get the job done cheap, but you do pay for what you get.

[markeb01]

Originally Posted by LILRED66

One thing I find very important, is communicating, in writing, what your expectations are and the scope of services you want from the shop. By doing so, you have a firm grasp on what will be done and this opens the door to the dialog, that will explain the processes and costs of doing your project.

Some customers fit a shop's criteria and some customers do not, conversely some shops fit a customer's needs and some shops do not.

The relationship with your shop, through this process is a marriage, not a one night stand

I feel compelled to revisit Tony's comments. For anyone that truly wants a full restoration at a professional shop, what he offers is the answer. Most of us have a body shop horror story or know someone who has been shafted, but if the above advice was followed many of the ones I'm familiar with could have been avoided.

A few years back I needed NOS rockers installed and went to two different places. My first choice did mostly full Packard and Rolls Royce restoration, and I thought the estimate they provided was meant to put me off. The place I ultimately had do the work gave me a price closer to what I felt was reasonable. In the end, they trashed my truck to the point I almost got rid of it. In my case it would have been much cheaper to have believed the first guys that were actually being very truthful and I didn't see it at the time.

[LILRED66]

Originally Posted by heymoe

I am currently in the process of locating a shop to assist me in my rebuild. The problem I am coming across is getting a realistic estimates on hours to make welded repairs such as rockers, cab corners etc. I am comfortable cutting and welding on just about anything but when I have not witnessed or assisted someone in doing that type of repair than I shy away only because the cost to redo a mistake out weighs the cost to hire someone who has done it before. I look at this work and think it could be done in a 2 day time frame or 16 hrs. However most places are saying 40 hrs or more. So how do you keep an honest shop honest?

My suggestion to you is to tackle the project yourself and you will see, first hand, that "properly" replacing rocker panels, inner rocker panels, cab corners, floor boards and kick panels, is not a 16 man hour project. I just completed the above work for a fellow board member, with a helper and I, we racked up 24 hours, between us, or 48 man hours. My aggregate shop rate, for the two of us, is $57.00/hour. Keep in mind, I don't do this for a living, so I don't have the high overhead, that many shops do, so I try to keep my rate, as low as possible. There are many shops out there that will "yard" the panels in and charge 1/2 price and some will do shoddy work and charge you a premium, for lesser quality work.

The answer to your question is 40 man hours is a pretty honest guesstimate of the time required to do this work.

[LILRED66]

I just finished a punch list on a '64 Chevy C20 lwb fleetside truck, that the owner took to a "hack-master" masquerading as a restoration shop. It ended up at my shop after several months of broken promises and the help of the local Sheriffs Department, because the shop owner would not surrender the truck to the rightful owner, even though the owner was willing to accept the truck with many of the items, that were paid for in advance, were not complete. After much wrangling with the owner, I suggested the owner of the truck contact the Sheriff Department to assist him in recovering the truck. With title, proof of insurance and many photos of the truck, to show rightful ownership, the owner of the truck met the Sheriff at the shop and firmly suggested that the shop owner surrender the truck to it's rightful owner.

Long story short, here are a few items that made the punch list the truck owner hired me to complete or correct:

1. The new ceramic-coated headers were cut off at the collectors and the exhaust pipe was friction fit over the 4 small tubes. The hangers were #4 rebar welded directly to the frame rails and the exhaust pipe, where ever convenient.

2. In order to tuck the exhaust, the C20 cab mounts were torched, to allow the mufflers to clear. One was completely distroyed and the other had a scallop torched out of it.

3. The fuel tank straps were not installed.

4. There was overspray on every piece of rubber, the brightwork and glass.

I did a list consisting of over 50 minor detail items, that any good, reputable restoration shop, worth their salt, would have completed before taking the owner's money or releasing the truck to the owner.

In closing, if the shop is a mess, there are several half-cooked projects sitting around collection dust, it is a good indication that your prized possession will become part of the herd. Additionally, if a shop insists on a percentage of the total cost down, prior to commencing work, grab you keys and run. This shop is paying last months rent with your money, that is supposed to be used to purchase supplies for your truck.