If someone has a reproduction hood.....

RosharonRooster

RosharonRooster

Promoted Users
I've painted only 1 car for money, so I'm curious what a professional would charge someone if they brought in a reproduction hood....and did the following process...

Strip ecoat, and epoxy
Filler work, block it, prime it, seal it, base it black, clear it , wet sand it and buff it. Top side and bottom side (bottom side just scuff the ecoat, and no buff). Not installing the hood, they pick it up painted and done.

How many hours would this take and what kind of money should someone making doing this job. ??

One of the reasons I dont paint for money is because I don't know what to charge.

If I had to guess, I would say, 36hrs to 40hrs, and 1500 dollars?? My breakdown

Bare metal and epoxy 2.5 hours
Filler work and blocking 6 hours
Poly primer? Spray and block again 6 hours
2k primer and block 6 hour
2k again and block 6 hours
Seal base and clear it 6 hours
Wet sand and buff 8 hours

Am I way off?? Because that's how long it would take me. Including clean up after
 
RosharonRooster said:
I've painted only 1 car for money, so I'm curious what a professional would charge someone if they brought in a reproduction hood....and did the following process...

Strip ecoat, and epoxy
Filler work, block it, prime it, seal it, base it black, clear it , wet sand it and buff it. Top side and bottom side (bottom side just scuff the ecoat, and no buff). Not installing the hood, they pick it up painted and done.

How many hours would this take and what kind of money should someone making doing this job. ??

One of the reasons I dont paint for money is because I don't know what to charge.

If I had to guess, I would say, 36hrs to 40hrs, and 1500 dollars?? My breakdown

Bare metal and epoxy 2.5 hours
Filler work and blocking 6 hours
Poly primer? Spray and block again 6 hours
2k primer and block 6 hour
2k again and block 6 hours
Seal base and clear it 6 hours
Wet sand and buff 8 hours

Am I way off?? Because that's how long it would take me. Including clean up after
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From another backyard hack (so consider the source,) those steps look excessive for a brand new reproduction hood.
That is what I would expect for a panel with extensive metal work done to it.

You said "Not installing the hood, they pick it up painted and done." Do you know if they have tested the fit?
That is the biggest question in this project, IMO. Even if you do awesome paint for a fair price, if it don't fit, they will be pissed and you will probably be included in that ire.

If they did test, and are happy with the fit, I would skip the poly and 2K.
The reproduction parts that I worked with, if they fit, just had some minor tooling marks or small handling dings that could be dolphin glazed.
But, I have a small sample size that I'm working with. Maybe some new repro parts need extensive work . . .
Have you looked at the panel yet? Does it need a lot of work?

If it doesn't fit right. Triple your price, or run for the hills, it is going to be a lot of work!
 
Dean, thanks.
No he hasn't test fit. Not my problem to worry about, however I can say that the 64 impala repop hoods do fit pretty good, but they do need filler work. Especially around the area where the hinges bolt. It's nuts. It looks "ready for paint" in the ecoat, but once u put an acrylic block with 80 grit on it, it tells you the truth. Today I stripped the ecoat and got it in epoxy, 2 coats. I'm not charging him because he already paid for it when he paid me to paint the car, but I'm just wondering what folks would charge for the work.
 
Your estimated hours seem a bit excessive. When it comes to aftermarket hoods just wet them down, fix the low areas(if any) 2k prime it once, twice at the most, block and prep it down to 400/600(depending on color) seal and shoot. Poly primer should only be used as needed.

Typically with a hood I just have to paint and not fit. I'm usually in the ballpark of $800..

Now if I have to install and fit it that's a different story.
 
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Also I have found lately that if someone wants to install/fit parts instead of having me do it I generally let them, and when it doesn't fit or it gets scratched up on install I usually respond with "oh man that sucks, gotta be careful when doing that"
 
orangejuiced86 said:
Your estimated hours seem a bit excessive. When it comes to aftermarket hoods just wet them down, fix the low areas(if any) 2k prime it once, twice at the most, block and prep it down to 400/600(depending on color) seal and shoot. Poly primer should only be used as needed.

Typically with a hood I just have to paint and not fit. I'm usually in the ballpark of $800..

Now if I have to install and fit it that's a different story.
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Good to know. I forgot to say the hood is like 20 square feet.. I'm going to actually keep track of time on this. So far. To strip the e coat with 80 grit on electric sander, (5inch), wash it. Wax n grease it and epoxy and clean the gun after it was 2.5 hours...that included waiting 30 minutes between the wax n grease remover and spraying it..
 

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orangejuiced86 said:
I forgot to add.....if someone wants to pay $1500 for you to paint a hood, you damn well better paint that hood for $1500!
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Ok so let's do a little deeper. Me and my buddy already painted this guys car. Last year. He didn't have a hood at the time. Container ships were floating off the coast. Still are. Sheet metal is hard to find currently. (For impalas). The hood job was already paid for when he paid us to paint the car. The car is a 64 impala convertible....so let's cut it up unto sections...

Hood
Firewall
Trunk
Doors
Fenders
Quarter panels.
Misc stuff, steering column, dash , nick nacks


So if a professional charges someone 15k to paint a "car" ....then how much should it be to paint it in pieces? There's only 6 categories of stuff to paint....2500 each???
 
Every job is different honestly, hell every part of the car is different. Hard to really just break it down a "one size fits all". End results vary, by that I mean what people expect. Color price will vary, process will vary(candies, tricoats). Amount of bodywork etc.... That where T&M comes into play.

I've gotten to the point where I just charge by the hour and cost of materials and I am very fair on my time spent on a project.

I mean you can quote a job at a standard price, and some you will come out on top and some you will lose.
 
MJM said:
The average vehicle painter in the United States is $21.48 an hour.

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He's working for someone else though. He's not running a business. Wages are for employees.

It's hard to nigh impossible to look at something old and give an estimate. Collision Shops can do it cause they work on late model stuff and they have the labor already broken down for them in their estimating software. Asking us what to charge on something we haven't seen is completely impossible. :)
I have lost big on multiple jobs that I try to estimate. BIG. Cause I'm an idiot and have priced stuff way to low. All I can tell you is if your guy insists on a fixed price try to make it high enough to cover all your bases. Decide what your labor rate is. Break the job down on paper, labor for each step. Then add 25% to that and that may get you close. Don't even try to figure for materials. Tell him you will charge him for what you use.
 
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