Why do people look at you like you have 3 heads?

[Jireh Customs]

Why do people look at you like you have 3 heads when they ask "how much is a paint job?" and you give them a realistic answer?
It never ceases to amaze me the looks I get when someone asks how much a paint job (standard or custom) or restoration will cost and I tell them. I get this look like they are trying to push out a corn cob or something. Then I get this "My aunt's sister-in-law's third cousin can do it for $500." My response is usually a polite "well then take it to them." Why is it that people want to pay for a Yugo but drive a show car? I just don't get it.

[HDP 7]

You should ask for their contact info and say for that price, you need to get in on that deal too.

[Mediarocker]

Well if I ever give anyone that look, It's because I can't really fathom the cost Nevertheless I'm not meaning any disrespect.

[GrantH]

The people that want you to work for minimum wage typically work for......minimum wage. People don't understand the detail and long hours that goes into a quality paint job and probably couldn't tell the difference between yours and their 12th cousins. Not because yours isn't nicer by 10 fold but because they don't care about quality, or longevity. Typically reflected throughout their life

[Flatheadfreddy]

Painting is not easy. & shooting it on ain't the end of the job. Ever heard of Solvent Pop?? (HA inside joke)
If I wasn't stubborn I'd pay to get it done & not gripe about the price.
Freddy

[Samir]

Originally Posted by Jireh Customs

Why do people look at you like you have 3 heads when they ask "how much is a paint job?" and you give them a realistic answer?
It never ceases to amaze me the looks I get when someone asks how much a paint job (standard or custom) or restoration will cost and I tell them. I get this look like they are trying to push out a corn cob or something. Then I get this "My aunt's sister-in-law's third cousin can do it for $500." My response is usually a polite "well then take it to them." Why is it that people want to pay for a Yugo but drive a show car? I just don't get it.

You'll always have those. I run across a similar thing in my business. People will spend $100 to sponsor a one-time car show with no media coverage versus the almost 1 year of advertising that buys on here. Oh well.

Quality automotive paint work is definitely within the realm of art and detail. Most good automotive painters know this and won't sell themselves short. The general public just doesn't get this.

Originally Posted by HDP 7

You should ask for their contact info and say for that price, you need to get in on that deal too.

Originally Posted by GrantH

The people that want you to work for minimum wage typically work for......minimum wage. People don't understand the detail and long hours that goes into a quality paint job and probably couldn't tell the difference between yours and their 12th cousins. Not because yours isn't nicer by 10 fold but because they don't care about quality, or longevity. Typically reflected throughout their life

I don't think it's even that because we've got a lot of stingy engineer-types in this town too. They know so much about the process that they don't think the labor is worth the price. What they don't get is that it's the same price anywhere you go.

Originally Posted by Flatheadfreddy

Painting is not easy. & shooting it on ain't the end of the job. Ever heard of Solvent Pop?? (HA inside joke)
If I wasn't stubborn I'd pay to get it done & not gripe about the price.
Freddy

You said it. Stubborn, lol. I think we all have a bit of that as we try to make our dollars go further.

[Beckham]

Originally Posted by Samir

... we've got a lot of stingy engineer-types in this town too. They know so much about the process that they don't think the labor is worth the price. What they don't get is that it's the same price anywhere you go.

Agreed.

People being cheap can be applied to every industry. You don't know how many times people freak out over a $100 pair of speakers in their show car.

The most common thing in my industry is custom labor for interior pieces. The time it takes us to make something custom, we could have done 100 CD player installs which would have been 1,000x more profitable. People generally just don't think about the time it actually takes to do quality work. (paint jobs, etc)

[coupemama]

No offense for the body and paint shops here locally, but this is why Chip learned to paint our own rides. He spends about $500, and sometimes a little more, on paint and materials, and does a great job in his shop. Maybe not show quality, but close to it in our eyes.

It is too bad that we here cannot get a quality paint job for around $1,000 to maybe $2,000 here, like the shops in So. California. Just look at our yellow '57 Ranchero. That has one of those inexpensive, great paint jobs from CA.

Do not get me wrong, I know there is a lot of work and time that goes into the preping for paint, as well as the material & paint. But when we were given a quote for $4,000 or more, we decided it was time to learn how to paint!!!

[mailman]

I think a lot of it is so-called sticker shock.
The dollar just isn't worth as much as it used to be and when you are used to something costing a certain amount it shocks you to find out that the price is so much more now.
Cheap imported stuff makes us think that prices haven't changed that much but when you go to purchase something that has to increase, like labor or American made products, it shocks you to see the devaluation. My 2¢

[Quincy]

I will say that I don't think people have an idea how much quality paint costs. Mike at Jireh gave me an awesome quote and after doing my research, I found out how much the paint alone costs. For a great paint job, it requires great materials and for the paint, pearl, and clearcoat, it can cost $750 alone.

[dmcmahan12]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM08o...TAD6NKa84f6EaA

[HDP 7]

I won't post who painted my RX7, but there are flaws in it. And what's so strange, the painters made the same mistakes they complained about the previous painters had made... so for what I paid and the results I got, should I have any gripes, probably.