I work in a body shop so I know a little bit and what costs is the actual labour as when stripped the are stripped properly not jut pulled apart and when refitted again fitted properly spending time to make sure it all goes bk together properly

I don't agree with where it is painted tho cos sometimes we have to paint when we can't get in a booth and they come out just as good it's all in the prep and finishing anything can be flatted and mopped

 

A booth is just an environment to dry the paint quicker and cleaner.Have seen some nice paint jobs out of booth on wetted floor without extraction.
But obviously if you want the best job,it's got to be in a booth done professionally with the best prep,paint scheme and laquer.

 

Ignoring;
The polution aspect.
The annoyance to your neighbours of a compressor running.
The cost of electricity to run the compressor.
The lack of annual insurance inspection on the compressor.
Uncontrolled disposal of waste solvents.
The reliance on good weather and light for spraying in a tent on the back garden, try spraying when it's frosty outside or pitch black.

The difference between spraying your own car or a mates, at home in a tent is massive compared to a Pro job in booth.

If it's your own car you've painted and there's a small blemish you'd accept it.
If you pay a Pro to do it and there's a blemish you'd be straight back demanding a full respray.

A booth paint job can be done all year round, regardless of weather, neighbours and time of day.
A Pro has to be as certain as he / she can be that the paintwork is going to come out to a high standard first time, you can't guarantee that at home.

As with any trade there are good and bad tradesmen /women.
Inspecting work they've done is the most important thing

And no I'm not a Pro painter, but I've painted many cars at home.

 

clears coats must be baked in a booth to 60C, if its not it drops gloss after few weeks, an if they have flatted an polished the paint, the sand marks come true in few weeks aswel,

for a proper paint job drive in a drive out id say 4.5-5k min using mid/top range paints, I have a 5l tin clear that I paid just over 1k for,

 

Another good point, if you are not baking the car you will have to use some kind of accelerator to dry it aswell, these always comprimise the finish and make it shrivel or pinch up after time aswell as the solvent in the paint taking longer to evaporate. Its not just about what it looks like on the day its painted. No telling some people who have been educated by the internet on whats what.

 

Out of interest what sort of clear are you paying a grand for? Never heard of ant that dear

 

As I know my job was spot on and I'll never pay bodyshop prices I'm going to leave my final comment. If there's no money in it why are all bodyshop owners rolling in it?

 

I didnt say there was no money in it, just that its not the gold mine you were making it out to be. Obviously with any trade there will be people who rip everyone off ect. I can only comment from what i do everyday and what other local bodyshops tell us about their business.
If your happy with your car then good for you, the reason i commmented on this thread is that you and others of similar opinion just dont know the truth and facts about the job. Imo if your not a painter or heavily involved in the running of a bodyshop you dont have the eye to know whats what in the same way as a painter who spends many hours each week just looking at paint, if you did you wouldnt of made some of the comments you have made

 

Well said Steve. If people are happy with the finish they achieve then it's all good but as I keep saying, you will not beat a professional job.

People seem to think its a massive rip off and that bodyshops make a fortune but are more than happy to pay £50 plus an hour for servicing costs.

Another point to put into perspective is that I could probably build my own house but the job wouldn't be anywhere near the quality of a professional build and wouldn't stand up to time as well. Paintwork is no different. I'd put money on it that most people who have done home jobs have got lucky and it's turned out ok. When it all goes wrong you wouldn't have a clue.

 

If there was a fortune to be made in painting then everyman and his dog would be at it and the prices would come down.

Market forces rule in all businesses.

The fact the prices are what they are suggests they can't be any lower.

 

I have completed two projects in the last 6years

When I dropped off my 3dr shell new in etch new I asked the bodyshop who had oven/air dryer in air line very good equipment etc asked them to paint under neath car was already as new so a straight forward enough job you would think any how this was August 2007 a year later he had done a rep here a rep there I had just started my own business so no rush anyhow so another year on he completed the car I took it home over the winter of 2010 and during jan/February notice what looked like bubbles in paint called micro blisters so spoke the guy he couldn't understand what had gone wrong as this had never happend befor there.he agreed to sort only the infected areas and upon finishing the shell took it home again and guess what more micro blisters appeared now this had cost me £2000' at this point he wouldn't reason with me I say and know that he had not primerd the car all over so the shell that had been stored for 20 years in etch had not been baked dry then primerd etc any how the blisters were livable with so I built the car up and have lived with it up until 4weeks ago to witch I have stripped the car back to a bare shell and this will need to go back to bare metal all over to put right at a cost of £4-5k...........you get what you pay for

Project 2
bought a escos shell from mt great, done a under resto painted under myself, now for the body found a diff garage obviously after the first saga. guy seemed tidy enough so dropped it off in feb2012 went back and for to keep eye on progress trying not to go down the 3dr route and over 6months he got it done the car looked very very good so when I was stripping the underseal off the 3dr I put a upol body shop sheet over the escos 4weeks ago and when I pulled the sheet off guess what fucken micro blisters all over the car oh yes in the beginning of all this before have the escos done,went to see a bodyshop guy who probably the most expensive one about he does rallying with a mental mk2 escort grp4,so a ford man, he had warned me of this happening again as I had explained the the 3dr story to him at that time he had quoted me £4500 but I went with a £2000 again,didn't learn as above now I have gone back to him and he is now sorting this bloody mess out and it's costing a fortune. Both cars are going back to bare Metal.

I have 2 500+bhp cars that are worthy of top paint jobs that are strong money or are they because when you work out what you pay for a cheap job and you want a top looking car it's a no brainer I am now have such a keen eye for paint you wouldn't believe it,

My advise is save your money and get it done once and done right because we put our hart an soul into these cars I don't care who you are cheap top paint jobs don't exist I know how many hours go into these jobs and I can tell you all to do the job proper expect to pay 5-8k unless you a painter/prepper

Most of the problems with paint is what's underneath these cars are 25+years old now you don't know how many coats of paint or what lies beneath them my escos has during its new bare metal job only 6repair areas as opposed to god knows how much filler was on it and paint the doors had 15 layers of primer/base....

 

Just read through the comments and need to back track a little bit. Basically saying if I had a real decent car with big power probably means I had money, if I had a spare few grand I would pay to have it done.

Saying that my paint job was good and well worth the effort I put in. But my first comment wasnt about body shop prices it was the fact it was a cash job, also that he wasnt in any rush to get it done. In my eyes that should make it very cheap. My mate works in a body shop and I go down and see 1st hand how much equipment they need and the cost of top materials. Don't treat me like an idiot read my comments properly, I was getting at the fact is was a cash job at a vat price imo

 

I had a guy asking how much to polish his bmw, i quoted him £500 and it would take 2 days, he was like what!

He the said that he knows a painter who said he would paint the whole car for £300!

See you later

 

The Supermarket Car wash gangs will do it for £15, whilst he does his shopping.

 

The body shop i work at only do 100% insurance work so luckily we don't get dreamers in asking for £300 resprays.
Although we had a comeback last week from a customer who had front end of his car painted.
Looked mint but he works at luxury motor manufacturer and is in charge of quality control.
He Measured the thickness of the paint on bonnet with special tool
Centre 100% coverage
Edges 84% coverage.
Can't see it by eye but it's back having the bonnet repainted.

 

trust me not all bodyshop owners are rolling in it, i certainley am not thats for sure!
the guy with the blistering problems above thats shit to hear mate but hope it all gets sorted for you now, dont cover up a freshly painted car either even if its been baked its an unnecesary risk let the paint breath a little first!

 

I ALWAYS comment on these threads as I still can't believe folks don't get how much a proper job costs. It's easily £5k for a drive in drive out job with bare metal and the door shuts etc

Any body shop quoting less is either not making any money or cutting a corner somewhere in my experience.

 

My brother in.laws currently getting his escort cosworth done in the bodyshop ive been using for over 10 years, we've agreed a price of £3k for a bare metal job with me stripping it, thats pretty much exactly what I'd expect to.pay, a long resto on.my mk2 escort cost over £4.5k.

 

My first 2 paint jobs were cash!'!!!!!!!!!!!with no vat witch doesn't work when expecting a top job and it being your word against his at the end of the day for cash and as above posts have said garages charge/ £50 an hour no one quibbles paying £50 an hour to a top tuner /engine builder so agreeable that good body shops no rule to the exception and of course there going to make money but if you run a top body shop and employ proper men they cost you 4-500 a week each(not a shop of trainees) + your own wages plus eletri/rates/insurance etc you be looking 10,000 a month to open the doors. if your getting cash jobs your going to do the ones on the books first obviously to cover the costs as cash carnt be put through witch put me/you the cash payer in position of up yours it'll be done when it's done as you Can see it don't work as all the posts on this thread have come to the same conclusion I'm a realist and see both sides and I have been royally shafted for 4k by bodyshops who don't have the love that others have for the cars,at the end of the day were all trying to earn a living I have learned a big lesson with paint on top cars cheap never works especially with the Cosworth in anyway.....

 

Believe me for the work involved there's no money in it, you can make far more on mot repairs with far less hassle than bodywork, there's just so much less to go wrong plus because people need to have it done they accept they have to pay it.

Most folk walking into a bodyshop are doing so for one IMO of these reasons.

1. They are getting it fixed after bumping it themselves, usually "a car hit me in tescos" is the favorite excuse but their coming into you in misery and want you to put your arm round them and say "your ok, we'll fix it for fuck all cos we know it's not your fault.

2. The "eBay salvage purchase".
Always a good one, Johnny knows-fuck-all sees a cheap motor on the bay and after consulting "the internet" taking advice from know-it-all Nigel decides the whole repair can be done with parts for £500. What then transpires is another case of putting your arm round them and making it better when you tell them the "light frontal" they bought has crushed chassis legs, pushed back inner wings, punctured rad packs, missing parts, snapped engine mounts etc and is going to cost over a grand in parts just to get started. This then leads to them "taking it round a few places first" and ending up bringing it back to you arguing that your wrong as "the seller" promised it would only cost £500 so therefore you MUST repair it for that.
The determined ones usually bring it back a few months/years later hobbled together and driving like a crab asking you to do a "quick blow over", whatever that means, the more sensible ones put it back on eBay and hope to pass it into some other mug.

3. The " I want some money back off my insurance" mob.
Usually an old boy, thinks he can have the penny and the bun, get his car fixed after Doris hit him "in tescos" * he wants the car fixed and a drink in his pocket cos he "doesn't care what you charge the insurance" thinking you can magically add £1000 to his bill for a colour coded wing mirror and no-one will question it. When you explain he needs to cover the extra VAT and tax you'll need to pay and therefore his original idea of him seeing £300 and his car repaired is now more like his car repaired and £30 in his hand starts another round of "but it only needs a bit of paint and a 2 minute same down, be all done in five minutes".

4. The classic car owner.
Usually a nice person to deal with but with totally unrealistic expectations of what their MGB requires. The "bit of rust" they describe usually consists of two new inner and outer sills,arches, plates everywhere, impossible to source panels and/or ill fitting Chinese shite they bought 25 years ago that they've stored in their garage in damp conditions for all that time rendering them useless as well.
Never in a "rush" but call down every week for 3 hrs to see "how your getting on". Reasonably realistic about price but usually abandon the project halfway through and after you pushing it in and out for 6 months your glad to see it go and have no idea what its cost to repair and end up getting a drink out of it.

5. Modified car boys.
Always after the best job you can do in the quickest time for the cheapest price.
Three things that don't go together.
Some expect to pay a lot but will bring it back to you every ten minutes as they've noticed under a garage light there's a slight shade difference forgetting the car is a 15 year old saxo vts that's been round more lamposts than a council notice.
Some expect it for fuck all and then bring all their mates down at the same time to get you to quote for stupid things while their never actually going to get any work done.

6. Traders.
Easy to deal with, slow to pay and want it done for fuck all but rarely complain.

7. "Nice car people".
Accept the price but want to see how clean your toilet is before daring to bring their pride and joy into your workshop.
Come back every ten minutes after you've done the job finding something else wrong like an incorrectly torqued bolt or paint missing off a black screw head.

Any bodyshop owner that's minted deserves every penny IMO!!!!

Oh and NEVER go to "tescos".

 

have respray costs really doubled in the last 6 or 7 years?

From this thread it seems the going rate is £4k plus for a decent job yet when i had a couple of resprays about 7 years ago, a reasonable OEM quality exterior plus shuts was about £1500-2000 max. And a inside out job on my puma with painted chequer pattern in 2 colours was £3k including all the labour of masking up the complicated chequer work.


Have prices really doubled or is someone cashing in somewhere????

 

now im a dab hand with a gun if i take my time and have my own lockup well large enough to paint a car in, now my series 1 was a bare shell and i knew the job i wanted could only be done in a booth,hence me doing all the prep,flatting for paint and supplying the paint,
i took it to the local bodyshop ran by a mate and he did final prep till he was happy and painted and flat and polished the car for £500 and its awesome but bare in mind i did majority of it and took everything near ready for paint, mobile resto guys charge 250 a day and 2 days could easily rack into £500 alone on welding

a good job for a bodyshop to do it all will run into few grand easily i would have thought

 

I think it all depends what your expecting for your money,anyone can charge more that's a fact I can get it do for as little as £1500 even less if I tried but if you find the right man with a good facility who is mustard then I have much exp that cheaper doesn't work for A good job sure they look ok for that money but not as I would class right
For example my escos looked lovely but it didn't look real there was that much paint on the car from its life,it had lost its sharp lines it looked almost fake,the new painter explained it to me as when the car was new it didn't come like that did it that's the diff he who you pay more if he's good will make the car look factory which is more the the £2000 paint job who just sands fills and paints over the top again and the looks ok but compare it against a factory car and it's night and day,look at the American TV shows paint jobs they start with filler front to back the cars look like glass when done but not real lines of the car a prime example.

 

Wow, that opend a can of worms! Just to explain the massive price differences, this shell is a bare metal respray as opposed a painted respray. Theres alot of added prep to this.

But to be honest I was expecting you guys to say around 6k mark! So I'm pretty happy with that. I know the guy does a great job because my cousin used to work for him, I just need to convince him to crack on and get it done for summer. I've had the car nearly 3 years now! Been messed about with the welding for 2, so I'm itching to get it built back up

 

I can understand the crispness if youve got a lot of thickness in paint.

But have you seen the standard of OEM painted cars in the last 10 years?? most are orangepeel to fuck. But then most people don't know any better. I certainly wouldnt want to pay £4k and that for an OEM orange peel respray.

 

Prices have gone up because everything we use to to the job has gone up, paint, materials and the costs involved with the building your in have all gone up loads. Not saying prices should double at all but they have to rise when the cost of doing the job becomes more.
Id say 6k is a very healthy budget and you should get an excellent job done for that, with warranty if you do have any issues aswell

 

Brilliant! I've not actually worked in a bodyshop myself but spent enough time in them, worked with enough car people and have mates that do work in bodyshops to know that's bang on!


On another note:
My mate usually charges a flat rate of £8000 for a respray. With no welding or parts supplied, that's purely his prep labour and paint costs. He's very, very good and rarely short of work.

 

Yes agreed escos paint jobs when new weren't perfect but still better than today's new car paint jobs a4k job better be perfect I can yell you or I'm gonna kill someone..............lol

 

thats my point a £4k job should be really good.

So what realistically would a respray on a typical daily drive cost to oem standards?

 

Ive seen recent quotes circa £2-2.5k for that kind of stage. It only gets silly money when its a bare metal jobby!

EDIT: As long as its a same colour of course!

 

Its one of the things that depends a lot on what you want from the job. Atm i am restoring a rare 42 year old bike frame. I can get it blasted and powdered for 40 quid. but a proper stove enameled paint job in the same 2 factory colours is 350 quid from my local restorer.
kind of puts a coupke of grand for a full car into perspective.

as for peope spraying at home being illegal due to isocynates, I was under the impression almost all paint was water based now?

 

Basecoat is water based but you can still buy solvent depending what your using it for!!

Lacquer is all 2k still, you can get wb lacquer but it's shit tbh so no one really uses it and is why company's don't have too!!

 

Well its official, Im on the hunt for a body shop If anyone can recommend in the east mids it would be muchly appreciated! This is what they've got to put up with!

 

unless i find myself flush when the rime comes, i will be painting rusty myself. partly because of cost, but also because i would like to tell my boy when i hand him the keys when hes 18 that i did it all myself. i might fuck it up a few rimes but i will get it right in the end. plus i love learning new shit

that said, i have great respect for any specialist in their trades, bs workers owners included. sounds like alot of you take pride in their work as i do, so fair play to you.