Zak,
Thanks for the honest input. I have been sitting on the side monitoring
the paint posts and have to point to the issues Zak brought up.
Premium grade materials will cost anywhere from $1200-1500. You would be
foolish to paint something as big as a motorhome with a lesser paint, you
DO want to paint it only once.
The big expense in painting is the surface prep., R&R of the accessories &
body work. Another labor gobbler, as was pointed out, is taping. You will
go through 3-4 rolls of blue fine line not to mention mask tape and paper
to line out a 2 color job. It takes a full day working hard to do all the
taping.
I'm religous enough and all of that but I do have to live in modern America
so I have to get more than everyone is talking Topeka gets for labor. A
good job will take 100 hours of labor from start to finish at a minimum,
and there are few short cuts that will not sacrafice quality!
I did the interior on a coach that was painted there, the customer was
pleased with the paint job and it didn't look to bad. They did, however,
have to spend over $400 with me to fill in the water leaks missed in prep.
and the insides of the doors were not painted. The paint was free of trash
though and there were no runs, their shooter is good.
Look, there are many grades of paint finishes and you will always pay for
what you get. I have a 63 split window vette in the shop now. The owner
started out wanting a cheap "cave & pave" squirt on cheap stuff job. After
pointing out that he will devalue his car with such work he understood that
putting the time in to do a good job would be his best bet and I have to
say you should look at a GMC in the same light. I am not knocking a $1500
paint job but unless the laborers are being subsidised by the salvation
army I can't understand how they figure the 100 hours in labor.
I get about $4500 (materials & labor)as a base for a first rate GMC paint
job and I can tell you there are many easier ways to make a living than
doing this! I will guarantee you though that it will be a good job with
everything done right!
Add value to your coach, not just color. Spend the time to do a good job.
Jim Bounds
- -------------------------
>Richard,
>
>Considering our paint job, which we did ourselves, cost about $2000 in
>supplies (paint, sand paper, primer, etc), I can see how the price can be
>high. It really depends what materials are used and on the time spent in
>preparation. Spraying paint/primer is the easiest and least time consuming
>part of the job. Masking, taping, surface prep, etc are very time
>consuming to do correctly.
>
>The best paint job would strip the entire coach down to bare aluminum and
>fiberglass/plastic. This takes quite a bit of time, so I would be
>surprised if either of these companies do this. The aluminum sections
>should be primed with an expensive self etching acid primer (like
>Variprime) for maximum adhesion. The fiberglass should be primed with an
>almost as expensive filler primer (like Featherfill). Taping and masking
>are also a big time killer. We probably put in about 20 hours work (might
>even be more) just taping our GMC's major lines (top and bottom of black
>and top of gray all the way around).
>
>A paint job is something that should only need to be done once. It is also
>the job that, IMO, will get you the most comments on your GMC. Once we
>painted our GMC, we started getting comments all the time. People in gas
>stations, people in line at Motor Vehicle inspection, toll booth
>collectors, etc all started asking about it. Everyone thought it was brand
>new and wanted to know where they could get one like it. We had gotten
>comments before the paint, but the response we got afterwards was amazing.
>
>
>In the end, it really all depends on what is important to the individual
>GMCer and how that compares with what is done by the different shops.
>Every shop will do things a little differently. Comparing paint jobs (and
>their prices) done by the different shops is probably the best way to judge
>which one is the best for you.
>
>Just my opinions,
>Zak
>
>
>>I need a paint job too.
>>
>>That $3000 price sure sounds more attractive then the $6,000-$7,000 that
>>Cinnabar (depending on condition of body & color scheme) quoted me a few
>>months ago. Their brochure states that this price includes the following
>>items: "removing all external components from coach, paint and replace.
>>Original stripe will be removed and all necessary body repair will be
>>performed. Body molding will be removed and replaced with new molding when
>job
>>is complete. The undercarriage will be cleaned & painted. Front engine
>>compartment will be detailed, window frames will be painted and coach
will be
>>resealed".
>>
>>Does Topeka does this much work for $3,000? I'm sure Cinnabar does an
>>outstanding job. However, $3,000-4,000 is a big difference in price!
>>
>>Richard Waters
>>'76 Palm Beach
>>-----
>
>
>
Jim Bounds / Co-op Motor Works Orlando
www.gmccoop.com
