Are you saying that's way to cheap??
yes $1,200.00 for an all over paint job is SUPER cheap.
I have this conversation all the time. Follow the cost and ask your self where you want corners cut.
Lets just say in paint time alone ( meaning prep, and paint ) it takes a tech ten hours. ( that is quite lean, but for the sake of conversation... ) Would you want a painter who makes ten dollars an hour or twenty ? You get what you pay for, so lets go with $20.00 ( which is also lean but... ) so right there just his pay rate is $200.00 against the $1,200.00. Keeping in mind an employees "true cost" is not $20.00 per hour between taxes, benefits, training and what not. Lets just add ten dollars on to his $20.00 for true cost. so that takes us to $900.00. Paint materials are SUPER expensive. Good ones at least. A gallon of clear coat at the shop where I work is just under $1,000.00. and its not the best there is. Its up there but its not the best.
So between clear, color and sand paper $500.00 in materials is not beyond imagination.
We are down to $400.00 left for the shop to pay all its bills. Rent, taxes, advertising, heating, electrical, management, E.P.A. fees and what have you. So the shop ends up with about thirty five cents in actual profit.
Cant run a business like that for very long can you?
Ya gotta make money some how. Time to cut corners. A cheaper painter, cheaper materials, less time in the booth or on prep work ( read: short cuts )
Thats just paint!! Add onto that body labor to take the emblems off. Ya gotta remove the door handles so there is no sharp paint edges. The bumpers need to come off so there are no dry spots. All the molding need to be removed. Headlights tail lights, and so on. There can easily be 40+ labor hours just in body work alone. If you want a color change all the doors and hood, and lift gate needs to be removed.
We just got a 1969 Buick in the shop. He wants an all over paint job with a color change, fixing some dents, dings and some tiny rust.
His bill will be just a bit south of $17,000.00.
Here is a 1980 Fiat we just finished. It came in the shop completely disassembled. We removed the doors hood and deck lid. Fixed the dents, painted the jambs and the out side and put it back together as shown.
(lost photo)
A 1980 Fiat is a pretty tiny car. His bill was I believe right around $8,000.00
So yes I think $1,200.00 is way too cheap.
You get what you pay for.
