Is $8k a good price for a restoration job in the current climate

[sb001]

I have a body/ paint guy willing to do a paint/ body restoration on my 69 bug. (I don't want to call it a "TOTAL" restoration because that implies a pan off, nut and bolt job which this would not be.) But it does involve removing all fenders, bumpers, glass, doors, hood, deck lid, etc & taking existing paint back to bare metal, correcting some underlying issues there (small dings, a bit of existing filler that wasn't smoothed out all the way on the last job, but there is no rust anywhere.)
I am completely unknowledgeable when it comes to this kind of stuff. So when this guy talks about restoration, does $8k sound like a bad deal, a good deal, or SUCH a good deal that it sounds like he's going to take short cuts?
Thanks
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1969 autostick sedan, family owned since new
1600 SP engine
Solex 30 PICT 3 carburetor
Bosch 113905205AE autostick distributor

[sb001]

To elaborate a bit further, the body (and actually the paint too) is in really good-- but not excellent-- condition, so it doesn't seem to me that there would be an extensive amount of time spent on "fixing" things as much as just the labor of taking it back to bare bones and then prep.
If $8k sounds like a decent deal that might explain that.
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1969 autostick sedan, family owned since new
1600 SP engine
Solex 30 PICT 3 carburetor
Bosch 113905205AE autostick distributor

[Glenn]

You have no idea what's going on under the paint.

Windows out and down to bare metal or just a scuff and respray?

If.its a fixed price then you'll get $8000 worth of work and no more.
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Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
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[sb001]

[67ctbug]

$8000 at $100/hour is only 80 hours of work. Two full weeks. Even at $50 it’s only a month. What is their quality of work? Have you seen their cars? A month seems like a really short time to me to redo a car completely inside and out but I don’t know. Maybe if they put one guy on it. Resto work is normally much more than insurance, it’s a higher standard. Average insurance price where I am is $50-$60 an hour I believe. I think my shop is around that.
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[RLFD213]

As everyone else has said there is a lot of work that goes into this. Striping the paint off is the easiest part. Doing all the body work and getting the car prepped for paint is where the time comes in. How many times does it need to be blocked? How many times does it need to be primered? Once it’s painted who’s putting the car together? Who’s doing the cut, buff and polish on the paint?

[esde]

too good to be true.
8K might get you a nice paint job if the body was already stripped down. But I cannot imagine it gets disassembly and reassembly, let alone much more, unless they guy is really hungry for work, or the work is really half assed.
I work as a fabricator/ welder, and work close with a high end paint and body shop. Money doesn't go very far today, sadly
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[BFB]

I’ve owned a bodyshop for just under 20yrs now. I dont normally post or read in the body/ paint section because .. well just because. But ill tell you that 8k is more than reasonable, I wouldn’t even consider it for anything under 20k and that’s probably questionable. Couple things to consider is, does this guy have a shop ( business ) or is he doing this at home? If its from home that cuts overhead costs considerably and allows him to give you a better deal so you might get the same quality job for 8k that you’d get from another place for 15k but it might also take longer. How long has this guy done body & paint? Have you seen his previous work? Will he stand behind his work and warranty it for any length of time?
Here’s a few pointers; take whatever time frame he gives you and double or triple it and that will give you a more accurate time to expect it done in.
Ask him if you can take progress pics , that way 1. You document it for resale later and 2 your involved in seeing what’s underneath your paint.
Don’t bug the guy though, body guys are assholes well the older ones anyhow and he might just tell you to take your car as is if your too annoying. I’ve done that.. but at the least he’ll do a shitty job if you ride his ass just so its done and you go away.
And, DO NOT PAY UPFRONT , nothing wring with doing “draws” as he makes progress but if you pay a body guy everything he’ll have no motivation to work on it because he’s already been paid.
Good luck!
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[sb001]

Thank you all for the responses.
To answer some of the questions posted above:
The deal is for me to pay for materials only up front, and he will copy invoices for me on everything, with the agreement that if he needed me to pay for more materials down the line it would come off the labor cost, then the rest after the job is done (we did not discuss a pay as he goes type of deal but that might actually benefit us both, as he would be getting money through the project, and it would probably make him more apt to allow me to take photos of the progress as suggested above, although to be honest I don't think that would be a big deal to him.)
He has about 20 years experience as a body/ paint guy, I haven't seen any other restoration projects of his in person (and probably wouldn't know really good quality from outstanding concourse quality) but I did see a photos of a couple of antiques and a muscle car (67 camaro) he did. They looked fantastic to me (the camaro guy drove it 2 hours for him to work on it) and that's another thing- it's almost impossible in my neck of the woods to find someone that will work on older metal body cars- before I met him I had asked 4 or 5 body shops about just taking out a small ding in one of my fenders and to a one they all said no. (Easy work insurance jobs only for them I guess.) This guy DID do an insurance repair job for me on an Outback I owned last year and to me it appeared to be outstanding quality (and others said it looked good too) but that's just to my eye. He used to work for a body shop here in town and owned his own equipment, so when that shop shut down 4-5 years ago he decided to build a shop at his house and work out of there- to answer the question above of being able to offer a lower price due to lower overhead. He is currently building a brand new fully enclosed pant booth - up to this point he has just used a sectioned off part of the shop with the typical PVC frame and dust shield curtains, etc. My car would be one of the first to use the new booth.
The $8k is for me to remove the hood, deck lid, fenders, bumpers, trim, dash pad and seats. Then he would tow it to the shop (for free) and remove the glass and doors, and whatever else needs to be gone. But he said he would be willing to reassemble the body parts and glass after the job- I would only have to worry about the interior.
Hopefully this answers most of the questions above- thanks again all!
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I'm the humblest guy on this board.

1969 autostick sedan, family owned since new
1600 SP engine
Solex 30 PICT 3 carburetor
Bosch 113905205AE autostick distributor

[wheel607]

BFB kinda hit on it without saying it. The shop you are taking it to has TO LIKE YOU. I know how this works. You have to be able and willing to help. Be there when it is impossible to be there. Not too much but enough.....Painters and bodymen have become primadonnas(sp) Really nothing wrong with that if you know that going in. I had a beautiful job done, but I had to stand up there and use my time holding his hand. This is how you get a good job done, but you have to also know when to slam on the brakes. It is not 1960 anymore. You have to do the right dance. This goes for all service industry. You can poo poo it, but it is true. You want the best job....maybe you have to be liked. The bodymen and painter have become human!!

[ghianowbug]

Good paint alone can run 1, 000 easy depending on colour let alone primer and other shop materials . If he is taking out the windows he would need rubber front and rear as most people cut out the rubber or else windows break . No 8 k sounds good given the work if done well.

[sb001]

How was the original paint on these cars? Excellent, good, average? My ultimate goal is to get it back to showroom condition so it would be interesting to know if the same techniques they used back then could be applied today and come out with the same quality.
Anyway regardless, I think I'm going to go for it- it sounds like most agree that $8k is at least decent if not very good deal (yes assuming the guy knows what he's doing.) Thank u all!!
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I'm the humblest guy on this board.

1969 autostick sedan, family owned since new
1600 SP engine
Solex 30 PICT 3 carburetor
Bosch 113905205AE autostick distributor

[67rustavenger]

I've held off posting in this thread.
Steve, please don't take offense to my next statement.
The labor costs, where you live are likely different than here in the PNW.
That said, I think $8k for a garage paint job. Is a really good deal.
As long as the painter takes great care to give you his best work.

A friend on mine had a local garage paint job done on his 65. It came out great.
With the exception of dust inclusions in the finish. Some sanding and polishing. And, unless you knew what you were looking at. You'd have a hard time seeing them.
This 65.

I'm shopping for paint work here and, like you, having a hard time finding a shop willing to do the work.

Post up some progress pics while the car is being worked on.

Good Luck.
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[67ctbug]

[Chickensoup]

8K? NO. If this was a big body 64 impala then thats a different story... but this is no GM boat car
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[sb001]

[67ctbug]

[Chickensoup]

[67ctbug]

[Chickensoup]