[email protected]
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2002
- Messages
- 4,025
Okay, I've had discussions with many of you about painting techniques, styles etc....some on the board some over the phone. Recently, I had a friend want a paint job. He said the boat was pretty clean, needed a little wet sanding and some primer. It's something like a 50+inch cat. I asked if he knew if it was a Deltron PPG paint on it, gel coat....etc?? Because that would make my life easier to know since I want to avoid orange peeling and cracking as well as chemical divorce...LOL :lol:
He said Deltron, no cracks just a straight paint job...."How much would you charge?" Well, site unseen I said I'd give him a deal at $100 as long as I had eveything needed in stock to do the paint job. I could see him wince with cheapness and then he dropped the bomb..."Dude, I could get a paint job anywhere for half of that!"....so I said "Fine, go for it!" Any how two days later, with defeat in his voice he gave me the cock-n-bull story how he'd rather give the friend twice as much and know it would be good work than pay a hack $50. I couldn't resist the urge to know how much another painter wanted.....He said $300+ more once the job was done. With all his cheapness in his heart he wanted to know how I could charge him, my friend $100??
So, this brings the moral of the post. Here's how I break down selling my material I purchased either for myself or another paint job, let me know how your's compare:
1) SEM primer $12
2) one base color one pint (let's say white) $28,
if you want red one pit is $60
3) one quart reducer $29
4) 3 parts of clear in quart size (Hardner, reducer, clear) $109
5) one gallon Lacquer Thinner $10
6) Fine Line tape for masking boat, checkers, flames, etc $8
7) Tack cloth $0.79
Grand total: $196.79 if you use white, with red $228
Your for sure gonna be able to paint 2 boats with all this material so let's cut the cost in half that comes to $98.40 for white and $114 for red.
So like most people that don't paint boats he said he had no idea. I explained to him it would still take me a couple days to do the job.
Now let's see the boat.....
EXACTLY what my face looked like when I saw this piece of [SIZE=14pt]CRAP[/SIZE]
sO MUCH FOR THE BOAT NOT NEEDING WORK. BOTH POINTS OF THE TIPS OF THE CAT HAD DIFFERENT SHAPES, ONE WAS FLAT ONE WAS TRIANGLED, NEITHER HAD A NICE POINT. When I put water in the boat it spilled right out of them. The rear deck looked like swiss cheese from all the holes he redrilled to align the strudder up, the auto-bailers etc.....not to mention each side had two holes for the water out lets, he said he couldn't decide which hole was cooler for the water to come out. So now I tell him well need micro ballon, fiberglass resin and hardner, so add another $15 for this material at the LHS. The deck was wavy, had stress cracks galore and probably would need about 10-20 sheets of wet sand paper, add about $10 to $20 for that.
So it would probably take a good 2 days to get it ready for primering and painting. So after he and I sat down and did the math I honestly told him that even I couldn't afford to paint my friends boat for $100 and come out in the negative end of the deal.
He was bummed and actually said he'd just run it as is. I'd like to hear what you guys charge people to paint boats and how you explain the costs of labor and material to the hard headed. :lol:
He said Deltron, no cracks just a straight paint job...."How much would you charge?" Well, site unseen I said I'd give him a deal at $100 as long as I had eveything needed in stock to do the paint job. I could see him wince with cheapness and then he dropped the bomb..."Dude, I could get a paint job anywhere for half of that!"....so I said "Fine, go for it!" Any how two days later, with defeat in his voice he gave me the cock-n-bull story how he'd rather give the friend twice as much and know it would be good work than pay a hack $50. I couldn't resist the urge to know how much another painter wanted.....He said $300+ more once the job was done. With all his cheapness in his heart he wanted to know how I could charge him, my friend $100??
So, this brings the moral of the post. Here's how I break down selling my material I purchased either for myself or another paint job, let me know how your's compare:
1) SEM primer $12
2) one base color one pint (let's say white) $28,
if you want red one pit is $60
3) one quart reducer $29
4) 3 parts of clear in quart size (Hardner, reducer, clear) $109
5) one gallon Lacquer Thinner $10
6) Fine Line tape for masking boat, checkers, flames, etc $8
7) Tack cloth $0.79
Grand total: $196.79 if you use white, with red $228
Your for sure gonna be able to paint 2 boats with all this material so let's cut the cost in half that comes to $98.40 for white and $114 for red.
So like most people that don't paint boats he said he had no idea. I explained to him it would still take me a couple days to do the job.
Now let's see the boat.....
EXACTLY what my face looked like when I saw this piece of [SIZE=14pt]CRAP[/SIZE]sO MUCH FOR THE BOAT NOT NEEDING WORK. BOTH POINTS OF THE TIPS OF THE CAT HAD DIFFERENT SHAPES, ONE WAS FLAT ONE WAS TRIANGLED, NEITHER HAD A NICE POINT. When I put water in the boat it spilled right out of them. The rear deck looked like swiss cheese from all the holes he redrilled to align the strudder up, the auto-bailers etc.....not to mention each side had two holes for the water out lets, he said he couldn't decide which hole was cooler for the water to come out. So now I tell him well need micro ballon, fiberglass resin and hardner, so add another $15 for this material at the LHS. The deck was wavy, had stress cracks galore and probably would need about 10-20 sheets of wet sand paper, add about $10 to $20 for that.
So it would probably take a good 2 days to get it ready for primering and painting. So after he and I sat down and did the math I honestly told him that even I couldn't afford to paint my friends boat for $100 and come out in the negative end of the deal.
He was bummed and actually said he'd just run it as is. I'd like to hear what you guys charge people to paint boats and how you explain the costs of labor and material to the hard headed. :lol:
Last edited by a moderator:
