rates , and pay checks are higher in your area , guys would love to see that around here. in the 80s i used to have quite a few guys whose checks averaged 1500, and that was alot of doe then. now the average is around 1000. poor economy and a flood of bodymen are sure contributors to that im sure. helpers are averaging 450 per week. i have often though of moving to a more lucrative market, but like i said before, i'd probably just open a pizza stand skull
Are you talkin "Collision Shops" gettin $100 I really doubt it. Per CAA (California Auto Body Assoc.) the average for collision shops is $48 state wide. Here in AZ avg is $44 Yeah specialty shops, fab shops, street rod shops will get $100+
Larry, your wit and wisdom has no limits. Thanks for the laugh, my friend! ........and the rest of y'all are punks. F'in PUNKS, I tell ya.
I believe people don't understand the concept.They have no clue on how to do bodywork .They think theres a trick.They have no clue.When I was younger I use to longboard block my panels ,Manually no air tools Until they do a car for there self they will think that we are theives.
Next Question,,, What's the best or most expensive job you've done,,maybe even a pic? I gotta be honest I'm learning new stuff.
i had merecedes repairs in the 40 grand range, i dont recall seeing any more than that on one car......here are a few paint job pics in the range i posted earlier. one is the busonic in 1st base coats, a candy caddy, and a willys coupe. all these jobs exceded 10 gs, some by a spread the 1st pic is the caddy stripped down, we sanded that one. next is done. 3rd is the busonic in early stages. last is a willys we did in hok purple you can visit my albums to see more , and more cars. im gonna try a scan some more next week, got hundreds edit: pics in my next post will expand. skull
You pay for the knowage. If it was easy everyone would do it. What to look for /feel for. What fills ,what covers how much when to spray this or how to mix that. It takes years to really get it right. Plus you have to deal with CUSTOMERS thats worth something.Add it up if you don't like the prices LEARN to DO IT YOURSELF!!
tryin to get the pics a bit larger, this ones a test.................apparently i cant get full size pics to work , lol........ok these will expand , evidently i wsa loading the thumnbnails insteadof the pics
Some shops are at that and some are at 48 body 28 paint materials. It depends on the shop and also there are other issues like storage charges and admin fees when something does total which is happening more since alot of items on the cars now is faster and cheaper to R&R then too todo repair times.
i think the body rate should be right on par with a mechanic's......85-100 materials as per the job.......i hate the hourly materials charge, promotes the use of cheaper materials skull
I worked in body shops from the time I was 16- for about 10 years. I think auto body guys should have their own labor union- but that'll never happen. Who the hell could organize against the Automakers and the insurance industry at the same time.
i know a guy that painted his car with a foam roller several coats of oil base rustoleum (the kind you get from home depot ) once that shit was nice and thick he blocked it brought it down several grits all the way to 1500 then 2000 grit buffed it out the car looked bitchen the paint looked like glass so hey rolling a car can work
true dat................i had it explianed to me many years ago by a smart old guy........if the ama and all its doctors cant take on the insurance co's and get paid what a job is worth, what chance do a bunch of stupid bodymen have? skull
Great thread. A lot of knowledgable comments and thank god,only one Ass hole. We have a glass 34 at the paintshop now and it will be in the 20 24K range. It all depends what your standards are. My boss who owns the car is a previous AMBR and Ridler winner so you know what quality he expects.
O!! I have to reply to this one. After 35 years of Tinbashing and Painting. We have stories and stories and stories of just what your talking about. I've tracked my work for years trying to get a handle on the hours to do things. Everytime I do a car I'm always out on the hours at the end. And this really bothers me. I should be able to quote this by now. Wrong!! to many variables. I've found the average car takes around 1000 hours. A paint job (Remove chrome, strip the paint, Sandblast, Epoxy prime, minor metal work, fill and prep, Paint, Flat & polish, Assemble) 250 hrs. And of yes it only has to be perfect!!. Sometimes a hard sell. Had to learn the word "NO". I also changed my business so I go to the customer, just like a plumber or electrical. I work beside the customer for the day, bill at the end of day and get paid. If it's too much to spend then I don't have to come back. Works well, less Stress, I feed my family. Customer buys the Paint products, I'm not the crook. And GEE it does take that long to do that job!! Please reply The Old Tinbasher
BINGO BIG TIME, skull!! I fought this with Allstate ,AAA & State Farm in the early 80s. The usual unvarnished horseshit I got was that mechanics have thousands tied up in tools and training. What does the average metalman/putty flinger have invested? I'm guessin no one in the insurance industry has ever been aboard a Snap-On truck? I know that at the time, I had over 10K alone in just one of my roll-a-ways! In the eighties, I know that CAA was tryin to get everybody ICAR certed, to have some ammo to hit the insurance industry with, but I don't know how far they got. I closed my collision shop in 1985, up to my eye lids in debt! Doing jobs for Allstate $3-$4 dollars under scale for metal and paint is stupid, doing jobs for friends at overhead costs is lunacy! Swankey Devils C.C. " Humpty Dumpty was pushed !"
When I was a new Snapon guy I was blown away by how little body shops charge. hell when I was a Service Truck Mechanic my truck didnt roll for under $120/hr. And the body guys dont have quite the same amount as mechanics wraped up in tools but they still have a hell of a lot more into their job than some data entry person that makes $15/hr! it is so not right.
winner winner, chicken dinner! But there's no chance for us body guys to "rate up" cause there's always some shadetree who can do all-overs for $300
I always get a kick out of the "for sale" add that says "the hard work is done....all that's left is to paint it". Ya right!
id say most body men i know have as much or more in tools than the average mechanic does these days.. hell, half the work they do really is mechanical. taking the door handles off a new bimmer or lexus can be quite a job for the .7 that the insur co wants to pay. by the time you break a couple clips, and have to retime the windows it can get old. basically now days, you have to really work the estimating software and get all the p-page stuff , or you're working for free. some jobs i might get a full page of them. you almost have to charge for scratching your balls while you listen to the adjusters bullshit to break even, lol with companies like allstate, you have to call in 6 or 7 suppliments to get all the $$, this of course has nothing to do with paint'n old cars, but might be of interest to someone who is considering collision work to fill in on thier custom work empty time skull
Hey,SlowandLow63...I got a 40 ford coupe i want to paint it Maroon Acrylic enamel...But I only got $300 to spend ..you up for the job??? LOL Seriously though..I do all my own paint and bodywork ..Some people are just clueless what go into a good body and paint job
reading this makes me realize it's unlikely that I will see my truck painted before I die. that sucks.
$250??!? Outrageous--what a ripoff! Why rebuild it when you can get a good used on at the junkyard for $100.........?
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