The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop What can I expect to pay for a paint job!

I plan to prepare the sheetmetal and have a body shop do the paint work. I plan to bring the cab, fender, hood, and related interior parts,...ready to paint. My truck is a flatbed, so I obviously won't need the bed painted. I'll want them to paint the interior and exterior. Will they want to do that work, and what kind of money should I expect to pay? I'd like to have some of your opinions before I start shopping local body shops.

round my neck of the woods it is tough to find a painter that will even give you a quote or is willing to take on the job.
Nowadays 99% of the body shops are collision shops ...they replace panels and spray paint an get em out the door as fast as possible, that is how they make a living.
When I was in your shoes searchin for a painter/body man I tried many places before I got a bite, and here is what I ended up with,the shop owner basically told me he could NOT give me an estimate.he could not estimate what he would run into as far as rust, dents, this an that on a 55 yr. old pc. of iron & it would be $40/hr. labor + paint & materials FLAT RATE.
Now I had all the panels blasted and clean before taking them to his shop,you will find not many painters that will accept "ready to paint" panels, they want to do the prep and filler work themselves, what they put on top of your prep work they cannot gaurantee as most use a paint system and they insist on using the whole system as they have no control over the off brand primer and prep products you may have used and that just causes them problems & headaches.
At first I scoffed at that until I REALLY looked around and found that it was the goin rate, another shop was $2/hr cheaper but they turned out to be onna them 2yrs+ for a paint job shops!
Many here at the Bolt have waited a yr. or better for paint as most shops work on your truck when they have absolutelly NOTHING ELSE to do, you will hear horror stories of projects setting at a paint shop for months/yrs. without being touched!.
KEEP THAT IN MIND & ASK????.
I was super lucky to get mine in and done in a little less than 3 months, my painter worked with me very well and we had a time line established for completion before we agreed that he would do the work and I put down a cash deposit of $2000 to start the work (highely recomend you get a set time frame for the projects completion).
In the end for total repaint on my 52 including needed body work it was just a bit over $5,000
Im sure you will come in a lot lower without a bed to deal with, I hope ya can find a good shop to take on the work.
Tim

You will find most shops reluctant to shoot over your prep work as thier reputation is at stake and to be done right there must be some certainty that compatible products and sound processes were used. In my case the painter knew the technical sales rep I bought all my materials from and with knowledge of who guided me and what was used he agreed to shoot only. I paid $1500 for the paint and $1500 to put it on.

As a painter, I must say how amazed I am at some people's definition of "ready to paint"!

Sometimes. "ready to paint" means "I just want it painted.

Sorry. Ob1quixote. I do not want to argue or make you mad. But in this subject I want a truck to drive and use to throw stuff in the back. If it scratches I don't want it to be repainted. I would like a decent paint job. Automotive paint that has a hardener.

Rustoleum does a nice job and lasts when the truck is not in use. But does not have a hardener and wears off in normal useage. Or normal driving.

Would a painter work with a person so that when they brought it in (with or without) paint in a bucket. They would spray it and never look around? Or do you need to guarantee it to last and look like a showroom quality car/truck?

Just a question. I would like a paint job and do not want to worry about taking my truck out in public since they will bump or scratch the $5,000 paint job. I only paid $400 for the truck.

Thank you

OB1 this would be a great place to hear what a painters definition of "ready to paint" is. I would like to know what you look for in a proper prep job. Not to hijack the thread but it would be easier to deal with the painter if he were to look at what he had to paint and like what he sees.

That $50 Rustoleum paint job is looking pretty good right now.

I guess the toughest thing to get across to a prep DIYer is that any scratch, any dent, any hump will be visible in the final finish. Some folks will then complain about those defects, as if the paint would fix them somehow, when more often than not the paint amplifies the problem.

The trick about body and prep work is in the eye and the hand. When you do it daily, you see and feel the problems. When you dont do it daily...

The comments above about incompatible primer is on the money.

The thing about folks bringing in a bucket of paint is the fact that the painter may not be familiar with the material. This puts the painter at a distinct disadvantage. Bring in the wrong reducer for the temperature/painters style, more problems, and all of them have to be solved on the fly.

Me, I paint modern base/clear on modern cars. Hand me enamel or lacquer, I'm out of my comfort zone.

As far as what a job would cost, that is going to vary widely by location.

OBT, you might check with a MAACO or Earl Sheib paint job. Might even snag a painter to shoot your truck for you "on the side".

Hey thanks for the advise! I guess I need to clarify, "prep work". I will strip the trim and paint. There are no significant areas of damage so if they want to fix them, they are more than welcome. I want a nice long-lasting paint job, not necessarily concours quality. You gusy have great insight, have given me some good questions to ask my body shop.

android what ever you do save any of your paint work for the absolute last thing you do for your truck, i don't think you really would want to invest in an expensive paint job just to scratch it putting in an engine make sure you have all your major frame work and angine work done before that

Patina is free!

if you are not looking for a show quality finish but just a dailt driver type finish try your local vo-tech they would apreciate the experience

Great suggestions..I'm definitely not doing anything soon. The Vo-Tech thing might be a good idea,.. I'm not looking for a concours truck

Android- Sounds as though you're after the same thing I was when I got my truck painted. I ended having a buddy do it for me for $500 for his labor and about $1500 in materials. My truck came to me nearly rust-free, and I live in an area where rust is prevalent.

I bought my truck to use as a truck, so I wasn't after show quality. I wanted it sealed and presentable from a distance. I ended up getting better than that becuase he couldn't leave it alone. It looks pretty good for now.

Devin

Why is everyone so scared to paint? Its really not that hard. get you a good gun (i'm really enjoying my new devilbiss) and make sure your air compressor is dry then have at it. Whats the worst that could happen? runs? orange peel? it will all sand off. and if its bad enough sand the whole thing again and re-do it. chaulk it up to experience.

The last rig that i own that i painted cost me around 1200 dollars in materials alone. Add several hours of my time and i have a really good looking paint job for 1200 dollars. I've got a '69 chevy swb in the shop right now, and i think materials have cost around 800 dollars so far.

What i'll usually do is sandblast the metal, epoxy prime it, do bodywork, blocking primer, blocking primer, blocking primer, blocking primer, sealer, basecoat, clearcoat.

There are thousands of ways to paint, just do a little research. then when someone admires your truck, and asks you who painted it, you can come up with some fancy name for YOUR shop

I have painted in my earlier years and the only parts of it I enjoy are pulling the trigger on the gun and admiring my work. I never really enjoyed the body work, and I seem to enjoy engines and transmissions a lot more.

There are a lot of things I would like to do myself. I do not, however, want to invest more time, money, effort and equipment in "more" projects that I may only do once, and end up not performing to the grandiose expectations that I start with.

So killing three birds (time, effort and equipment) with one stone (money) seems like a fair trade at times. Painting and body work also seems to mess up my garage. :mad:

But, that's just me.

I'm the opposite. I'll take body work over paint any day. I just replaced some rust on my 95 civic with some nicely home made panels. Cutting and welding the stuff in wasn't bad, and the putty application and sanding I could take, but when it came to the paint gun I wanted to scream. My body work looked fine under the paint, but paint job looked like crap I ran it, I had the garage open which blew all kinds of dust on the wet paint. I had to do it three times before it looked decent. My 2 day project took 4 days and I didn't get to work on my truck like I wanted.
I hate painting. but I'll do it my self rather than pay someone else.

I guess I just have too many projects already. I'm trying to cut down on projects. Doing everything myself becomes a burden, so I do more of what I want to do and get rid of (or hire out) the projects I really don't want to do. Too may broken body parts can do that to you.