Body work price quote??

[METAL BEE 68]

Need some help trying to give good quotes. I've got a full body resto on a 68 coronet. From bear metal to clear coat. Whats a good price to charge for this? Ive been doing a lot of side jobs and Im selling my self short. Im not out to rob people. I absolutely love to help out. But at im braking even. And ive got a list of cars to do, from spot jobs to full restoration. Im looking for my labor, not supplies included.

[anlauto]

To go from bare metal to final paint around here, with NO METAL WORK costs about $15,000.00 to start.

[rhamson]

To go from bare metal to final paint around here, with NO METAL WORK costs about $15,000.00 to start.

$15,000 to $20,000 is about right.

[mopardave]

Really not something you can put a price on Until it is stripped to bare metal. then you can see the naked truth of the car.

if you don't then your Estimated costs could go from 15k to 30k then you have a pissed off customer. We will NOT quote any job until it is media blasted and everything has been gone over in detail.

[73440]

 I think it comes down to everybody wants it to be fair , to the worker and the customer , But remember profit is not a four letter word .  That is what keeps businesses in business .

[rUNCHARGER]

$50/hr and up.

Sheldon

[loco340cuda]

In my opinion you need to let the person know what your hourly rate is up front.  From there you can make assumptions on what work will need to be done and how long it will take to do the work.  At that point you will be able to give a "ball park" estimate but you need to make it clear that the estimate is just that 'an estimate' and that it will change once the car has been taken down to bare metal.  The reason you give an estimate is to allow whoever is going to be paying for the work to get a general idea of what the cost of the work will be and for them to do a reality check to see if they have the funds (and stomach) to see the job thru. 

As has already been mentioned the only way to truly give a real price is to strip the car down to metal so you can see everything that needs to be done.  And as also has been mentioned, I second (or third) the +$15K price range as a starting point

[METAL BEE 68]

Ok, thanks guys

[jimynick]

There's a lot of variables here, which deeply affect the costs. If you mean taking a rusted hulk- and I heard what Alan said- and then repairing/painting it, there's a very grey area. The usual allowance for a complete refinish runs about 25-35 hours and in our area, that's at approx. $90/hr for refinishing and includes material. That's for a straight squirt job and doesn't include any removal/repair time. Having the removal time included in the prior metal work would be plus times. Then you have to figure how much straightening/blocking the car needs on top. Personally, as an old bodyman/painter, $15,000 sounds like way too much to me. I've written hundreds if not thousands of appraisals for paint repairs over the years and the upper average for completes runs around the $6-8000 range, all in. I know what some of the lads pay for this and I'll only say that the work on buddy's Lexus, BMW or Benz is just as fussy as any E body. Let the flames fly, but at the end of the day, YOU know how much time you've got in the job, so using your door rate, where do YOU think it should be? As usual, just my   

[Katfish]

To go from bare metal to final paint around here, with NO METAL WORK costs about $15,000.00 to start.

I sure hope this isn't true, if it is, I guess my car will never be painted.....

[cudamadd]

Hello our prices would roughly be the same from metal and PAINT  ONLY  with a five year written guarantee $20 k to $25 k body work  well that could be any price .You just never know untill you blast Some times i hate to think ,with some of the poor work men ship out there $$$$$$$

[anlauto]

I think Jimynick's estimate of $6-$8K barely covers the cost of materials these days

[750-h2]

I agree with Anlauto. I just priced the material to paint my F8 Challenger. 6L of base 6L of clear 2L of sealer $4,000CDN with tax. This does not count the $4,000 + I already spent on primers, sand paper and fillers. Keep in mine that these are all top of the line products and Canadian prices.

[loco340cuda]

I just had the bodywork and paint done on my 70 Cuda.  For metal work they had to replace the trunk pan, rear lower quarters, driver door skin, as well as straighten out the front fenders (the fenders has some real issues from previous poor bodywork) and get all the body panels straight and ready for paint.  I supplied all the replacement sheet metal (body shop supplied everything else) and by the time is was all said and done with the car fully painted the bill was just north of $18K (not including the ~$700 I supplied in sheet metal).  The shop I took it too does nice work and they were the lowest labor rate shop in my area at $50/hr. 

[anlauto]

I just had the bodywork and paint done on my 70 Cuda.  For metal work they had to replace the trunk pan, rear lower quarters, driver door skin, as well as straighten out the front fenders (the fenders has some real issues from previous poor bodywork) and get all the body panels straight and ready for paint.  I supplied all the replacement sheet metal (body shop supplied everything else) and by the time is was all said and done with the car fully painted the bill was just north of $18K (not including the ~$700 I supplied in sheet metal).  The shop I took it too does nice work and they were the lowest labor rate shop in my area at $50/hr.

Was the car completely stripped to bare metal and painted underneath as well as inside and out ? If so, you got a really good deal !