Scott....
You can take your car to a big resto shop that has everything under one roof and have everything done for one estimated price...usually lowballed to get you in the door.
Long before I was in the business of restoring cars for other people, I was restoring cars for myself and I always searched out the most affordable ways to do things and I quickly found out that a big one-stop shop is not always your best bet.
I get the same results as the big guys and I have the same people doing the work over and over again so it's like one big business, just under several differents roofs
but in the long run it's cheaper and you have people who specialize in each area doing the work.
First up: $1,000.00 - $1,500.00 = Me totally taking the car apart 100% and placing it on a mobile cart.
Next: $1,500.00 - $2,000.00 = Eramossa Autobody for media blasting and epoxy priming the shell and body panels
Then $5,000.00 - $10,000.00 = Keith Sim to do average amount of metal work. (In this case the owner chose my back-up, BootHill Auto and I believe the bill was around $10K.)
Last $10,000.00 - $12,000.00 = Waterdown collision for body work and beautiful paint work. (this car is #14)
So to get from rusted ugly shell to final paint averages about $25K.... I have optional companies for metal work and for paint work, but these listed above are about the cheapest I deal with....
I'm 1000% certain you can find a shop that will do it a lot cheaper, but it won't be done 100% from ground up and it won't be done to this quality.
Please beware, and talk to a lot of people about the cost of metal/body/paint, because a lot of companies will quote you a lot cheaper to get you in the door and then the price rises...
If it sounds to good to be true, it usually is....
