Need advice on body & paint $$$$$
I will put my 2 cents worth in on this subject, I will start buy saying I own a restoration,fabrication,hot rod shop. We only deal in 1972 and older cars.
With that said I quote pricing on paint almost every day. a starting price as a rule of thumb starts at 10,000. I will also say that there may be only a handful of cars painted for this price. I will only give a written estimate after the car come back from blast.
You would not believe what you will find when down to bare metal. Your biggest expense will be in labor to get the car to paint. What may seem to be a simple process to the outsider is anything but simple. Countless hours of metal work, blocking and sanding every single inch of a car is very time consuming. Other thing to consider that you may not understand is cost of material. We will go through 4-6 gallons of primer surfacer . 2 gallons of epoxy primer. countless rolls of tape. masking material. and an unbelievable amount of sand paper. Consumable materials such as welding wire,welding gas, clean up materials. body filler, mixing sheets. cost of paint booth filters.
The cost of paint can also be a big factor. there is good paint/ clears and cheap paint/clears. Big difference. after paint consider the time it takes to wet sand and buff. for us we budget about 40/50 hours. how about painting the dash and all interior pieces. assembly time to get back to at least a roller about 40 hours. 30,000 seems a little step to me but all depends on how much sheet metal work is needed. I would budget for between 14-18K