Cost of paint finish

[CorseChris]

OK chaps, quick poll if anyone is willing to confess. How much is a typical paint job on one of these things?

To start the ball rolling, I have just been quoted £2300 :eek: to prepare and paint my Corse. Basically, single solid colour with black detailing and metallic grey spoilers. To be fair, a lot of the FG parts are pretty rough in terms of their having been battered and bodged for the past 10 years, so some premium for prep is to be expected.

I just wanted to try and get an idea of whether this price is reasonable or ridiculous.
.


TIA

[roger001]

I paid about £350 first time around, (I supplied the paint) and did most of the preparation. However this was in 1987!!

Second time around (this year)I paid £500 for a respray in the 2 colour scheme seen in the picture gallery, but I was not after a showroom finish, as the car is intended for competiton use.

Prices obviously vary.

[CorseChris]

Thanks Roger.

I should have made it clear that my car is going to be road use and that I was looking for a really nice, long-lasting finish on it. Showroom, as you say.

I'm sure I could get a much cheaper job done if I did the prep myself, but I'm not confident that I can do a good enough job and of course, there is no way that a painter is going to offer any kind of warranty on a finish based on my prep. If I get it wrong, it'll probably end up costing more.

Should also say that the car won't need any panel fit work doing, just surface prep.

I have had a couple of other examples so far. One was £1k about 10 years back, one was £1500 more recently, but that was a 'mate rate' job.

And of course, eveyone seems to know someone that can 'do a really fantastic job for about £500' :rolleyes:

Keep 'em coming....

[AndyH]

Hi,

I've just started to build an HF3000, and spent some time getting quotes for different stuff I though would be high cost.

I went to a local garage specialising in Classic and Race car restoration and had a look at some of the cars he was working on and the paint job etc. (This included an old single seat LOTUS, an E-Type and an Aston Martin).

Paint looked superb and he'd confessed to having paid £1000 to get the E-Type sprayed... This incuded stripping the old paint back to bare metal. Seemed a good deal.

He put me in touch with the chap who does it for him. He basically works out of a small industrial unit, but turns out some greatw work.
I've estimated that not much more than £1000 will get me a good job and paint on both sides of the panels. (although I'm assuming that I'll need to do some of the prep work.)

I have heard about some horrendous prices.. most were big numbers because in theory the fibre-glass body would need to be in the "oven" for a longer time and lower temp and thus prevent other cars being done.

Chap who's quoted for me just parks the car at the back of his garage when he's finished and lets it cure in warm ambient for a longer time and has never had a problem.

I'm learning though, so if this is B_____cks, can someone let me know !

Andrew

[CorseChris]

Mmmm, starting to think the 'please rip me off' sign on my forehead is showing again.......

[vojx]

The paint job on the Stormtrooper cost me 2250 pounds 10 years ago, and although I'd done a lot of prepwork they did more, unnecessarily I think. Finish was close to showroom, pity it didn't stick. For a single colour plus prepwork I'd expect 1250 - 1750 for a really good job.

I'm doing myself this time though.

[chris.richard]

Originally posted by AndyH
Chap who's quoted for me just parks the car at the back of his garage when he's finished and lets it cure in warm ambient for a longer time and has never had a problem.



West Yorkshire?
warm ambient temperature?
Smells of bull to me!:cool:

[chris.richard]

I was quoted £700 from a local sprayer for a Fiat Olio paintjob. I've seen his own tartan rally car, and it's good quality work. He won't take the job though because it would block his shop for a week doing it.

[AndyH]

Scottish Borders....

I was brought up near Langholm, so I know what you're experiencing..... It's positively tropical down here by comparison !

Seriously though.. I simply meant a heater rather than any fancy heating / climate control environment !

Where abouts do you live?.... If you're anywhere near Langholm I'd love to come over and see your car next time I'm up visiting my folks.
Andrew

[mogul_x]

Originally posted by CorseChris
I have just been quoted £2300 :eek: to prepare and paint my Corse.

I just wanted to try and get an idea of whether this price is reasonable or ridiculous.

Chris,

If some of the numbers I've seen on this side of the pond are anything to go by, I'd say that your quoted price isn't unreasonable. It might be a little pricey, but I've seen much more expensive estimates.

I guess it depends on how much of your car is being painted for the price you quoted. Is that exterior only, or all interior and exterior surfaces? Most resprays, even allowing for stripping the body to bare metal, don't account for anything other than exterior surfaces, and sometimes the door jambs. Undersides of bootlids, engine compartments, interiors, and underbodies are almost never re-shot (over here anyway) when a car is repainted. That all costs extra.

When you start prepping and painting the entire body, inside and out, including the underside, you need to compare prices against a frame-off restoration. This sort of work can easily approach five figures to start, and I don't think there's an upper limit.

If it makes you feel any better, a local body shop gave me a ballpark estimate of between $3500 and $5000 to prep and paint my HF. That assumed a single color, inside and out, Grey on the louvers and taillight surrounds, with ALL of the prep work being done by the painter. This also assumes a fair amount of filling and block sanding to ensure straight panels and a smooth finish.

Since the condition of your panels are considerably rougher than mine (no offense) they will probably require a bit more prep work for a good finish, so I don't think your quote is too outlandish.

Still, you might consider a few other estimates, if you want to be certain you're not getting ripped off.

[CorseChris]

Originally posted by chris.richard
I was quoted £700 from a local sprayer for a Fiat Olio paintjob. I've seen his own tartan rally car, and it's good quality work. He won't take the job though because it would block his shop for a week doing it.

That qualifies as one of those 'brilliant jobs for £500' I'm afraid........

...sure there are lots of people who will quote low but not atcually do it for that much.

The variation in prices is not helping me any!!

I had an idea of around £1500 - £1700 given how much surface prep is required. If I had been starting with unmolested panels then I'd expect less. Truth is, most of the panels are over 10 years old and have been well and truly got-at before I ever saw them.

P'raps I'd best just buy some aerosols and get stuck in.....

[CorseChris]

Scott,

The price was for inside & out. All underbody parts in flat black, some satin black detailing on the outside, some body shutz areas, metallic grey spoilers and rear light surrounds, solid green body, lots & lots of blocking and surface prep of old and battered panels. There is no point in me trying to do too much of this at this time of year as all I am likely to do is end up trapping lots of water in the primer I apply. Not a good plan.

I'm starting to think I should just take a deep breath and pay the man. After all, I was happy enough to spend £1500 on wheels and tyres and £1200 for a pair of seats, and I do have an appreciation of just how much work is going to be needed to get a good finish having already spent over 4 solid weeks just getting the bits to fit together somewhere near properly. It took me 2 days to get the bonnet to match the door on one side alone (yeah OK, I confess I am slow.... but you see what I mean)

My hope was that I could get a decent sort of price spread and find that the quote I have is somewhere in the middle-top area. So far, it's looking pretty much OTT but there is always a chance some more of the higher figures will come along. I have little experience of costing this kind of work and feel pretty much at sea at present. Vojx's price is a small ray of hope - that paintjob looked fantastic when I saw it a few years back.

Appreciate the thoughts folks.....

[roger001]

Originally posted by CorseChris


That qualifies as one of those 'brilliant jobs for £500' I'm afraid........



I never said it was brilliant, but it gives you an idea of the range of costs, I would look to spend in the region of £1500 for a good job.

[CorseChris]

Sorry Roger, I should have quoted from Chris' post - it was the price he had received for £700 but the bloke wasn't prepared to actually do it for that because it would block the oven.

Why the guy didn't quote Chris a real price is the mystery!

I understand what you meant with your racing paintjob - not a lot of point in producing a concours queen if some muppet decides to use your car to assist them round a corner really.

Not that I am implying my car will be concours you understand....

[colin artus]

To add to the price spectrum: Back in 87, when I was involved with Transformer, we had our GP4 demo car sprayed in Alitalia colours to a show standard by a firm in Essex called Greenspeed. The price was £2700 and that was a discounted figure for promotional coverage. It was a superb finish and included getting perfect fits on all the panels.
By and large you get what you pay for. If it seems cheap then corners are going to be cut. The more time spent on prep the better the end result and you pay for the time. Go and check on some cars the painter has done.
N.B. Glass panels can be baked prior to final prep and paint to expel air bubbles from the surface so that this doesn't occur when the paint is being baked.

[mogul_x]

Originally posted by CorseChris
The price was for inside & out...

I'm starting to think I should just take a deep breath and pay the man.
Given that your assumptions and prices are generally in line with the quotes I have so far, and seem to fall in the range of some of the other replies, I'd say that the price you got is fair. Maybe not great, but fair.

You could perhaps do better if you shop it around, but there is the "you get what you pay for" axiom to consider. Does the shop that provided the quote offer any kind of warranty of their services?

I've seen lots of low end paint jobs that looked good initially, but started developing problems with paint peeling after a couple of years. I think my Nova's had at least one of those during its lifetime....

[chris.richard]

Originally posted by AndyH

Where abouts do you live?.... If you're anywhere near Langholm I'd love to come over and see your car next time I'm up visiting my folks.


We're just outside St.Boswells, let me know when you're coming!

[chris.richard]

Originally posted by CorseChris
To start the ball rolling, I have just been quoted £2300 :eek: to prepare and paint my Corse. .




To be honest, Chris, I'd mentally primed myself for £2500 - £3000 for the paintwork (Alitalia or Olio Fiat). Steve Struthers reckons on a lot less than that for his, so I was lowering my sights a bit. I think it depends on the get-what-you-pay-for factor as Scott says. I'm sure there's room for leisurely regretting taking a cheap job to save a few sheckles. I'd rather pay a bit more for a good job in the first place, than have to pay it for the redo job a few years later. The paint only costs £20 - £30; the rest is workmanship. We'd all love to save a grand on something though - there that's my pennyworth!

[colin artus]

'The paint only costs £20 - £30;'

There is good paint and bad paint and even bad paint is going to cost more than £30.00. Paint, lacquer etc from Sikkens etc would be more like £200 - £300. You dont want to compromise the quality of materials either.

[Andrew Way]

'The paint only costs £20 - £30;'

The OE PPG is over £50 per litre and you'll need more than 1 litre!!!:eek:

Andrew.

[roger001]

I would second the thoughts on paint quality, I originaly used Sikens two pack in red, a colour which as we all know is prone to sunlight damage.
The original paint held up brilliantly with only minimal dulling with time - nearly 15 yrs, a resprayed front end and off side door, caused by a "blind" peson trying to park after accident dammage was obviously not done with as good a quality and faded badly after 5yrs.
If the car was in its original paint all over I would not have had to do the recent respray.

[rutthenut]

My three-colour paint job was quoted at £2,000 and that was nine years ago. I hadn't done any real work on preparation and they were to do all of that as part of the job.

I was more than happy with the resultant paint job, which including rubber-type undercoat for the panels over the wheelarch, blue spoilers, white base coat, orange sections and blue stripes, plus lacquer on top of it all.

This has lasted well, apart from needing occasional repairs due to contact when racing and (most annoyingly) by a sub-contractor driving the car into a solid object - when they weren't supposed to be driving it at all! :mad:

The paint shop did however over-run on time, but kept to their original price. This was because the design was not so simple to do, and the panels proved to be harder to get right as there are less fixed datum lines than on a 'normal' car (i.e. a saloon with fixed wings, plain bonnet, doors and boot - not with flip-up covers). As well as the complications of the design and panel layout, they did need to tie up the heated paint room for long periods too. They did say that if they realised the amount of work in doing the car, the quote would have been more like £3000.

So I think your figures could well be correct, for a professional finish. Mind you, if the bodywork is all being painted in a single colour (except for spoilers, which are separate items), there is scope to get that price down a bit. I suppose that doing more of the preparation work is another option that might help there. I don't know how inflation has affected the cost of a paint job in the past nine or ten years, but I know that top-class work can cost many thousands these days, even for a simple design.

Finally - I'd be amazed that anyone could do a multi-colour paint scheme for less than £1000 though - I really would not trust that quote, either expecting to get hit with a more sensible bill, or to get a real bodge job with a spray-can finish!

At the end of the day, I'd suggest getting a range of quotes and bearing in mind any recommendations or viewing examples of their work. This is especially important for multi-colour designs.

Cheers,

[SUSIT]

Hi all from wet damp misrable Majorca.
The price i paid for being allowed to buy my Strat.
On the subject of paint jobs the paint to my knowledge is going to cost around 300 with sanding discs another 100 my man is reckoning on 1200 labour for a fair 3 colour scheme. Mine is going to be used and abused so i am not spending huge sums. As the boys say prity aint quicker. Also its part of my accident damage repair although i may have to contribute to the cost.
If you want a really cheap job then i would suggest two tins of International toplac boat paint apply with a brush all done for fifty quid!
Stephen Struthers:D

[CorseChris]

Folks,

I really appreciate all the examples and thoughts. Given what has been said here and that I am happy with the job this painter did on Vickie's Westfield a few years back, I think I have reached the conclusion that I'll pay the man and demand a proper job with some sort of warranty.

It's not like I can trundle the car around to different painters to get other quotes so I'll take the lazy option :)

Out of interest, I was quoted £320 + VAT for paint & materials with labour at £1652 + VAT (I say quoted, it was technically an estimate). This includes a fair amount of body schutz and rubber undercoat in the usual places plus under bonnet areas in matt black, some satin black trim etc etc etc.

Again, thank you all for the advice. Just need to finish getting the car ready for the paint and save the money to pay for it. Looks like it'll be next year now :(


Chris

[Marmott]

do the prep your self and your looking around £500 including paint for an oven job , but that is one colour for the body and a differant colour for the spoilers, visor.
Just done it!
now I need to put it all together, make sure the car is in bits when it goes in, but then if you want stripes you have to pay to alighn body panels.
You can see where all the time goes, :p

[maseratighibli]

Speaking from within the trade I would say that this price is not over the top considering how much prep work is invovlved with a GRP car, in my experience there is a lot of reshaping to be done before you even get to the primer stage assuming this is a first paint job..ie a new kit, that said for the price that you have been quoted I would expect a top notch job. I probably would charge a bit less for such a job but thats mainly because I have the use of the facilities without too many overheads.
The other thing with GRP is that it is very difficult to find anybody that would be willing to give any kind of absolute guarantee on the paintwork due to the nature of the material underneath, indeed if any material is to ever give problems it would be GRP although to be fair it is better now than it has ever been.
I recently painted a Porsche 356 rep that had been prepared by somebody else to a very good standard and it looked superb in its new coat of silver.....as with all things its the old adage....its all in the prep...................

Gareth

[Arthur]

Hi Guys,

Mine was done something like 5 years ago, but I don't think there's been any major change since then.
I used a good guy (local but sound) to do mine during build, cash price, nudge nudge.

Basically, I put the car together, and put all the body lines in with filler and 50-grit. I left final finish to the body shop.

2 ways to go. Either primer and bake it like hell to get rid of the bubble (extent of which depends on the quality of the glass lay-up) which will probably mean 3 or 4 goes with a re-prime between each ovening, or do as my guy did - to prevent too much warping after finish, and find the bulk of the cavities in one go, oven the bugger to hell and gone before finishing the prep. Of course, you then get all the warp in one go.
Then finish the prep, and use low-bake and winter weight two-pack thinners, which keeps bubble to a minimum.

OK, so he ovened it to about 90 degrees to induce the warp and be done with it (this will happen in summer in direct sunlight anyway).
Nice guy, he allowed me to work in his shop, so I got to re-hang the doors etc, and check the post-warp fit and adjust, and also to do electrics removals to my satisfaction prior to him abusing the rest of it.
He then finished the prep.
Then applied a Courtaulds "bond anything" priming 2-pack coat.
Then 2 layers of 2-pack grey primer, ovened to 40 degrees each time, then the 4-plus whatever was left in the can layers of Alpha Rosso top coat, again ovened to 40 degrees.
The lot touched-up buffed off after a couple of months, and hand-blacked all internal glass surfaces.

All up, £1800 (oh yes, plus VAT, probably).

Any subsequent blob repairs done using two-pack with winter weight hardener, which will air-dry fine over about 20 degrees.

CorseChris - this is the finish you saw on the red one at Hugh's that time.

I put the solid red on cos of this advice - "you can have whatever you want, but there are a lot of returns which need overspraying, which will cause havoc with paint density using metallic or opalescent finishes, and cost an arm and a leg to repair should the need arise".
So I kept it simple. There was a lot more "finishing" to get a paintable surface than the guy first estimated, mostly on the flat glass gel-coat panels which I hadn't touched. Loads of cavities appeared; thankfully not too much warping, and it hasn't moved much in the 4+ years since.

Anyone interested, the guy was Frank at Paint Autocraft, Picow Farm Road, Runcorn. He has since expressed an interest in doing kits as a business, build and finish. (no money in the body trade any more).

Arthur.