What would you charge?

AAE

Learner
20180222_120329.jpg

Customer wants me to paint all the chrome on his truck. Barry said it's done every day. I haven't commited to it yet but would like to know what you guys would charge.
 
I just called one of the bigger ones that do this, he said if the customer takes off and installs he would charge $400 if he has to take off and install he adds another Two hours of labor.
 
Thanks Barry! That's for all the pieces I assume. This guy wants bumper, mirrors, and side trim done too.
 
He point blank told me, this ONLY includes the center grill piece and nothing else.
 
Bumpers mirrors and side trim on a Titan, you are looking at a lot more than 2 hours AAE. R&I and prep time minimum 12-14 hours (you gotta mask a lot of that stuff) plus 2 hours minimum paint time and materials. 16 hours is what I'm thinking and that still may be a little low. At our shop rates here I figure around a $1000. (time and materials)
 
AAE, did you talk to Todd? What did he say?
He made a living for years doing stuff like this.
Chris, For a $1000 Id walk away but I never did anything like this before to know.
 
I did. Real nice guy. He repeated what you said. Estimated $500 for the grille, about the same per bumper and a couple hundred for accent pieces. He said he made money when he had multiples to do.

I find it hard to believe these parts can't be found aftermarket. I haven't searched them though.
 
Chris, For a $1000 Id walk away but I never did anything like this before to know.

If he wants everything chrome, painted, $1000 seems pretty reasonable to me. R&I the Grille, Front and Rear Bumpers, Mirrors (gotta pull door panels to get to those) plus all other chrome trim. Prep it all, mask it all, then paint, that's quite a bit of work. Seems a whole lot better deal than $400 to do onyly the Grille and not have to R&I it.
 
Last edited:
I think Barry was saying he would want to get more. These kinds of jobs are hard to bid, imo. I do them on a case-by-case basis, parts need to be disassembled for paint, some things need retaping or new clips, etc. For a whole vehicle with bumpers handles, grille, mirrors, $1000 could be a bit light, especially since the bumpers will need overhauling in most cases. But that's just me, I'll decline to refinish chrome parts if they can't be disassembled for good prep access. Otherwise they can eventually peel near poorly accessible edges.
 
Lol that makes more sense.:) That's why I get in trouble sometimes because I am a terrible estimator of time on stuff like that.
 
The guy Barry directed me to dips his pieces. He also has a dustless blaster. He's set up for it. Without the proper tools, the occasional job would be enough to remind you why you don't want to do it.
 
Back
Top