I dont agree with that so much anymore.
I panel painted tons of parts. Ever since the Jag hood that didnt match the old fenders very well after painting it twice, and the green bmw hood on that $500 car I painted twice and still didnt match right… both of which were CHEAP jobs, where I would have made only a few hundred in labor… I bit the bullet and bought another pt of paint, put another few hrs in labor, used more reducer and more clear… all for FREE to help them out like you said above. Becasue both jobs were for friends of friends.
Its safe to say I didnt make anything on those jobs. I took money OFF the bill for each of them, and on top of taking twice the time to complete the job and using twice the materials, I LOST money on the job and gained two pissed off customers.
Those two were my worst jobs to date. Both cars were 15+ years old one metalic red and faded fender tops, other was metalic green rusted, dented, steering wheel fell off in my hand, trans shot, hg shot, 4 different wheels, but it had a fresh hood and I even painted and fixed the grill and front bumper on it for them!
Lesson learned by me… You want cheap, dont expect perfection. You want middle of the road cost and panel painting, it will be a cleaner job than cheap but I am by no means saying it will match perfect and I am NOT painting it twice for free. Sorry but I believe more in doing the job right (blending) the first time, and I waste WAY too much money and valuable time to be doing freebies on cheap jobs when it doesnt work out the first go around. :dunno