Paint work is a “get what you pay for” type of job.
Anyone who has wrecked a car and went through insurance knows how expensive it is to repair a car back to OEM quality. I have posted some before and afters for those types of work, and none of them were less than a $2000 hit. Infact a deer that took out a 09 Cobalt’s hood, fender, headlight, bumper, radiator and dented the door caused $3800 in damage. Thats paying for proper blending work, removing trim and panels to do the work right to the point that untrained eyes and even dealerships wouldn’t know anything ever happened.
Here is the short and sweet of it:
Panel painting, IE a hood, or a fender is a total crap shoot on matching up. Me as the painter cant waive a magic wand over the paint can and make it match 10 year old paint. Even new cars might not match. I have seen it go both ways; 2010’s panel painted are a shade off, and 2001’s panel painted are dead nuts a perfect match. Its not the painter, its the paint, the mixers, the car, and the manufactures formulating the paint codes.
Blending panels can take a decently matching mix of paint, and make it so that when clear is shot over the effected panels, makes it hard to impossible to see the slight differences in shade, or even color… if there even was any. Blend time adds up FAST. That can take a bumper replacement from a $400 panel spray job to $1300 real quick. Tri coats (base, pearls/metallic mid coat, clear) its 2X the blend time out of the book. Example A pearl white (tri coat) trunk replacement would cost around $2100 to shoot the trunk, and have to blend the fenders and bumper, then clear the entire ass end of the car. And on a color like that the odds are way against you getting a panel paint job to match.
Materials costs come into play when you have an honest painter selling the job. We repaired a Shift members 2011 WRX that rode a guard rail, that paint, base coat wise was money well spend on high end paint. Something that could be $65 a qt for run of the mill costs $265 for high end stuff. The high end stuff coats better and is easier to shoot in general, and the color matches and pride that goes into the paint itself is much higher. I challenge anyone here to look at his car and tell me what panels we shot on that car. If its an older car, or the value in the owners eyes doesn’t warrant it necessary to spend the extra money on high end base, money can be saved " if its not a terrible color to work with. I dont stand to make anything off using cheap materials, infact it could bite me in the ass and cost me time and money… so I wont steer you in the wrong direction.
Finally over all finish quality. Customers have 2 options in my book… Show/OEM quality, and “just paint it so it looks ok” quality.
Example, panel paint a hood for me show/OEM quality (should be blended, this is just an example) I would quote no less than $700 labor. Thats NO body work, top side only and no labor needed prior to paint other than clean, mask, scuff and clean again. The cost comes in the time AFTER the paint is sprayed. I will put a bit more clear down (+2 coats more than normal), which costs a bit more time and materials wise, so I can cut and buff it to glass. No runs, sags, raised dirt’s, fish eyes, or severe orange peel. I have take 4+ hours to cut and buff a hood becasue it had to be perfect. Time and materials add up quick. Ever price out DA sanding disks?!? 
If you are looking for the “just paint it so it looks OK” job YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. I will lay the base as good as any other job, no differences there. Clear will be a dust coat and 2 wet coats. Dust gets in paint no matter what kind of booth you have, its going to happen. There is a fine line between a run/sag and orange peel… pay me show/oem quality for it and ill walk that line, otherwise its going to get shot as well as I can to be efficient. I am still going to cut and buff the work to get the major flaws out of it, but I am not taking extra hours to get every last tiny fisheye or pucker from a deep dust out, not to mention risking blowing through the clear and starting all over again. You are paying me to make good decisions to achieve both quality and efficiency. While it may sound bad, this isnt some Maaco hack job, but without sounding cocky it will look damn good for what you paid for. Ninety1two40, Norwood, Drunky the bear, Yetti VR, OhNoPOPO, Ollie, and many others on here I have had the pleasure of painting stuff for them and can attest to the care I take in my work. If you are unhappy with a major flaw or something I may have missed, I will usually offer to fix it to make you happier right there on the spot. I just shot a old hood only based off the VIN’s color that came up in the computer, color wasnt even close. I eat the cost for another pt of base, clear, 3 more hours time, and shot it again… then took $50 off the cost to boot. Thats a major problem and something I cant live with by telling them to take it away. If there are a few little fish eyes or sags that didnt buff all the way out, I am sorry but thats as far as this job/cost is going to take it. All I am asking is to be realistic with your expectations, not sure how else to put it. Heck call up another big name 100% body shop and get a quote to compare that should tell you alot, if i can match or come close to their results at 1/2 the price, I would consider it a win.
Thats just little “quick” repairs. I wont even get into custom paint, body, and major damage or restoration work.
Sorry for the book, but I need to put this out there to save future headache’s and questions. Thanks for your time.
