Cost to paint a truck??

[Lt CHEG]

It is a lot to pay for a 10 yr old truck, but I really like it and plan to keep it for at least 8-10 more years. I just hate the thought of having car payments for 5-6 years again!!! The truck has 170k on it and runs good, hopefully it will hold up for that length of time without having to do major engine work. Already been through the tranny once. It's not my everyday driver, just use it mainly on weekends to hunt and haul my tractor and/or trailer to get lumber, etc....

Picture of truck before painting. Notice the front fender closely, the other side is just as bad.

Will post an after picture when I get it back. Btw, I put a leveling kit on the front end to raise it up about 2 inches. Sits level now (on level ground anyway) and looks much better. Also, the rims came off of a 2002 F150 that had the FX4 package. I always liked the 5 spoke rims better than the teardrop shaped rims that mine originally came with. I will be putting a FX4 badge on it too, after I get it back. I found a graphics person on the big "e" that will make some for me in advantage camo. Having a hard time deciding between the factory red, white, and gray badge or the camo badge.

Looks like a fine ride. If she makes you happy and has treated you right, then by all means treat her right too. To me $2000 seems a little cheap for paint from a good body shop, but if it is someone who doesn't have all the overhead of a normal shop and is happy to make $400 or $500 cash profit then it's probably not too bad. As long as he knows what he is doing I don't think the price is totally out of line. Remember if this is a cash deal, it's not likely that he's claiming taxes on it. Most small businesses are taxed at around 36% federal plus state and local tax. So if he's making $400 profit for doing this work , even if it is 10 hours or so worth of work, it's really like making almost $750 worth of profit if it was being taxed. So it probably isn't all that far off.

 

[RobertN]

Nice looking truck. Should look good when painted, and last you well.

I would have left off the leveling kit personally. I have found that hauling lumber, concrete block, gravel ect levels my truck nicely. If I were to use a leveling kit, then the back would be low whenever I haul stuff.

Will post an after picture when I get it back. Btw, I put a leveling kit on the front end to raise it up about 2 inches. Sits level now (on level ground anyway) and looks much better.

 

[ray66v]

As long as he knows what he is doing

I spent my whole life doing this work, and know exactly what it takes to do this job.

10 hours of work? LOL!

Using your figures, that means you think that someone who "knows what they are doing", will do this dirty job, using dangerous, highly toxic chemicals, not to mention, violating zoning laws, EPA regulations, federal, state, and local tax laws, for $8 to $10 an hour?

And, that rate would be based on doing the very minimum amount of prep and finishing. If you did this job the way it should be done, you can cut those figures in half.

I suspect you don't realize that if they "know what they are doing" they can make $30 an hour, or much more, working in a shop?

More than likely, this guy is going to use budget materials, do the minimum work, and make $1500 profit.

Otherwise, he either does not need money, or is insane for taking the job at that price.

 

[Lt CHEG]

I spent my whole life doing this work, and know exactly what it takes to do this job.

10 hours of work? LOL!

Using your figures, that means you think that someone who "knows what they are doing", will do this dirty job, using dangerous, highly toxic chemicals, not to mention, violating zoning laws, EPA regulations, federal, state, and local tax laws, for $8 to $10 an hour?

And, that rate would be based on doing the very minimum amount of prep and finishing. If you did this job the way it should be done, you can cut those figures in half.

I suspect you don't realize that if they "know what they are doing" they can make $30 an hour, or much more, working in a shop?

More than likely, this guy is going to use budget materials, do the minimum work, and make $1500 profit.

Otherwise, he either does not need money, or is insane for taking the job at that price.

I admit that I don't know much about painting vehicles and my post was not meant to indicate that I expected that the job should only take 10 hours. I was just putting a even number out there to make the math easier. Perhaps 20 hours would be more reasonable? I honestly don't know. If 20 hours is more reasonable and the guy is using $1500 worth of materials then he's making $25 per hour cash, under the table. If 30 hours is more appropriate then he's making $16.67 per hour cash, under the table.

My point is that when people work for cash, they should expect to be compensated at a lower rate than what they make at their "on the books" job where they pay taxes. If the guy is making $30 per hour at a shop where he is paying taxes, etc. then he's really only taking home probably $18 to $20 per hour after taxes, social security, etc, so even at $16.67 per hour and 30 hours worth of labor he's not that far off of what he would be making at his regular job. If he's talking about 20 to 25 hours worth of labor then he's making more money than at his normal job. And as for dealing with toxic chemicals and what not, he's not doing it for any less than he is doing it for at the $30 an hour at the on the books job if he's making $20 per hour cash. And as for violating EPA and zoning regulations, etc. as long as he's not doing this constantly and his neighbors haven't complained then he probably has little to worry about. People break much worse laws than that all the time and no worries ever cross their mind. The likelihood of anyone attracting EPA attention is virtually zero if they're working out of the the 2 car garage at their house. Zoning and code regulations are rarely enforced unless a neighbor complains. And a police car driving by noticing the guy spray painting a car in his garage is going to be worried about a lot more pressing issues than whether or not it is legal for a guy to spray paint a car in his garage.

All I'm getting at is that someone threw out a number of about $1,000 for a starting figure for decent materials in this thread so I based my numbers off of an even higher materials cost for my analysis. I had major accident damage repaired and the entire truck repainted in a week on one of my previous vehicles and the quality was excellent, no evidence of a repair. So I figured that a paint job was probably somewhere between 10 to 20 hours, but apparently my calculations were wrong. I didn't mean to offend anyone, I was just offering an analysis based upon my past experiences.

 

[sweettractors]

Hey, this way too nice a truck to be a fishing,hunting, weekend kinda truck I would wait a few more years before I painted it. Ken Sweet

 

[brin]

Hey, this way too nice a truck to be a fishing,hunting, weekend kinda truck I would wait a few more years before I painted it. Ken Sweet

Everything may just be a whole lot less expensive in a few years....I agree ken..

 

[timswi]

Man, some are taking some serious offense to this. There are very few car restorers left that do it at their homes. If you do this kind of work on your own and are good at it, people hear about it and you'll never be left alone. Most shops don't want to do cosmetic overalls anymore becuase collision woork is less time consuming (generally) and more profitable (generally). If they take the job, the labor investent is huge because that professional will be pulled off of far more productive and profitable work. They charge a premium because of this. I know many in the professional side of this business and the tend to avoid overalls, unless you are in no hurry and are willing to pay. Think months before the vehicle is finished in some cases.

The privateer is generally only working on your vehicle and he wants it out of his garage as badly as you want it back.

I did this for years out of my home shop and enjoyed it for most of that time. Now I just don't want to come home from work and stay in the garage until midnight and 12 hrs on weekends to finish someone elses car. I still take care of mine and my family's fleet though.

Even at $2,000 not a huge profit will be made. Think electricity and other invisable overhead.

As far as entering into the tax/overhead debate:...Ever heard of e-bay stores?

From the looks of the truck, I would hesitate to repaint it.

 

[two_bit_score]

I on't see why he couldn't just reclear the fenders or even the whole front end. Buff the rest. Probably look great overall.

 

[timswi]

QUOTE=two_bit_score;2062591]I on't see why he couldn't just reclear the fenders or even the whole front end. Buff the rest. Probably look great overall.

Maybe repaint the whole front end and blend the doors..Depends on what the paint on the rest of the truck looks like. No way to tell from pictures

It's obvious that the OP is very meticulous about his truck, so only he know best.

 

[kebo]

Maybe repaint the whole front end and blend the doors..Depends on what the paint on the rest of the truck looks like. No way to tell from pictures

It's obvious that the OP is very meticulous about his truck, so only he know best.

The one picture I posted doesn't show the whole story. There is a thin double line pin striping the entire length of the truck. The pin striping is faded, cracked, and peeling by itself. So, if you just repaint the front end, it would include removing the pinstriping. To make things match, you would need to remove ALL the pinstriping. Not sure it could be removed safely without damaging the clearcoat on the rest of the truck. That was part of why I decided to re-paint the whole truck but I'm not putting the pinstriping back on it though. Also, there are some small dings here and there, and a small rust spot on top of the driverside door.