Paint cost?

Okay, so I included too many details last time. Lemme try again.

A paint shop has agreed to paint my off-frame CJ-5 tub (new steel, in shipping primer), fenders (new, in e-coat), tailgate (new, in primer), dash, grill, roll bar (old, in fair shape but will require hand-work) and hood (badly chalked, will require work) and assorted hinges for $1238, out the door, taxes included. The material will be duPont catalysed paint.

Is this a good price or a bad price?

Reply to
Lee Ayrton
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Sounds a little high to me, how about going to a second shop for a second estimate?

Reply to
Fletcher

Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

It's definitely worth shopping around, but remember this. Even though everything is in primer, especially shipping primer, there is still a lot of prep work before you paint. That whole tub, and the rest of the parts, need to be sanded and reprimed, because very few paints will stick to that shipping primer or e-coat. There is also the issue of tack ragging the whole thing before you prime, fixing any imperfections in the panels (yes new panels have imperfections). So lets say 6 to 8 hours @ $50 per hour to prep everything. Now that it is primed, you can sand the whole thing again before you paint it. Figure another 2-3 hours for that. Now that it is sanded, you can tack rag the whole thing down to get rid of any dust particles, probably another hour or so. Now a coat of sealer is applied, maybe two. Figure an hour for that. Three coats of paint at 30 minutes per coat, at least. Two coats of clear, another 90 minutes or so. Done, right? Nope. Now the whole thing is wetsanded by hand. This is 2-3 hours easily if it is done properly. Now it can be buffed out, figure another 1-2 hours for this. Fudging the numbers a bit, this is 18.5 hours of labor @ $50 per hour or $925. We haven't even figured in paint or materials yet. A gallon of paint will be $150 at minimum, now add reducer, primer, clear, hardener for the clear, sealer, sealer catalyst, sanding materials, tack rags, etc.

Can you get a cheaper paint job? Sure. The paint isn't the expense here as you can see. The prep work is very labor intensive. IMHO, if this guy that quoted $1238 is a reputable bodyman, and you've seen his work and it looks good, that price is in line. Pay less and you probably get less. If you just want a "paint job" I'm sure there are many places that would slap a coat of paint on for you, but if you went thru the expense of all new body panels and a tub, this would seem silly to me.

Chris

Reply to
c

Okay, thanks. I'm not happy about the price but I'd already burped the parts off the rental truck -- so it was going to cost me money either way (to truck it home and later to another shop) so he had hold of a few short hairs. Spend it here, or spend it elsewhere? Oh hell, here.

Anyway, when I thought about it later I guessed about 2 man/days for them to sand, hang (small parts) and paint. Add a round $400 for him to retail the materials to me and that's the $1200 he quoted. He's certainly not losing money on the deal, but with truck rentals and time spent shopping it around I guess I wasn't going to save much by taking it elsewhere.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

Reply to
Lee Ayrton

let us know how it turns out!

Reply to
Joe

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