My friend bought a 66 coupe this past summer. It was restored about 20 years ago. The paint has held up very well, exept it started to check between the headlights. He paid $1000 for a painter to come to his garage to paint the checked area, the area under the grill and a small area by the rear window. My friend prepared the spots, taped off the car and bought the laquer paint. I think its a bit high, even though it came out nice. What do you guys think.
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Re: Paint repair: Right or ripoff
I think you need to find out exactly how much time it took the painter to do the job and divide it out to find the hourly rate. If your friend got that as a estimate and was ok with it, then I guess he knew what he was in for. At first glance, it seems like it was outrageously expensive to me, but I have never heard of that before, a "house call" auto painter? He likely had a flate rate travel/setup charge to start with too.
Rich -
Re: Paint repair: Right or ripoff
Let's see...Mix and spray one coat primer; sand primer; mix and spray one coat sealer; mix and spray two coats lacquer; and clean the guns. Plus, I assume the painter buffed it out. Maybe 2.5 manhours total labor divided into $1000, that's $400/hour.
Even at $120/hr, the "house call" fee would be $700...pretty pricey; the painter must have some reputation to charge such a franchise fee. He probably works for a shop, and picked up a little extra cash by moonlighting.
But, if the owner is very pleased with the result...priceless.Comment
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Re: Paint repair: Right or ripoff
I think the real test will be how it holds up, and would he redo it(without charge) if it doesn't. Sounds like he charged an amount that should have included the prep work. Only probably is that usually a painter won't guarantee the work if someone else did the prep. Hopefully he won't have to worry about that.Comment
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Re: Paint repair: Right or ripoff
I think Rob has it right he payed for the repair up front and you need to pay something for a good match.
LyleLyle
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Paint repair: I vote it's reasonable
BJ,
If I could get someone to come to my garage and fix the 3 or 4 bad spots on my '66, in lacquer that matched the shade of my 43-year old rally red paint, I would pay $1,000. If anyone knows someone in the San Jose, CA who can be trusted to do a professional job, please let me know! I know some Silicon Valley computer companies that charge $250 just to come to your business and give you an estimate for fixing some piece of equipment, and that's during weekday hours.
Gary
NCRS Northern California ChapterComment
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Re: Paint repair: Right or ripoff
For $1000.00 he could of bought a air compressor and a reasonably good paint gun and painted it himself and have the equipment to use again. You could then borrow the system and use it. Lacquer is supposed to be the easiest of top coats to paint.Comment
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Re: Paint repair: Right or ripoff
Owner bought the paint. It looks to me like the painter is off the hook whether it matches or not, and he would really be dumb to sign off on recycling the paint back to the supplier himself until it matched perfectly.
As others have said, I think he allowed enough in his estimate to repaint the car three times if he had to and still make a little, and if everything worked the first time, he had "found" money. Allowing others to prep for their paint is also virtually a deal-killer for painters.Comment
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Re: Paint repair: Right or ripoff
I think the painter knew how to mix and blend in the paint and was good at it. He had plenty of work so he said I will do a house call for $1000. thinking that would end the deal. I can tell you their are lots of painters but only a few who are real good. I know shops charge extra to paint Corvettes because the owners want a perfect job so they include some extra time in the price they quote. I would be happy he did the job and I liked it when he was done.
LyleLyle
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