Body Shop Estimate

Well, I guess if you're confident in the quality then just keep a close eye on things. For the extent of work you listed, and for that price, you usually get shoddy metalwork, like floorpans repaired with plain sheetmetal instead of proper pan patches, pop rivets everywhere, and gobs of bondo.

I typically pay $1800-$2000 in materials alone for a full-on paint job, and that's with me bringing them a car already disassembled and stripped to bare metal. Comparing apples to apples, that would leave you $1400 for labor, which at an average body shop rate of $35/hr is 40 hours. Think they can do a basic restoration in 40 hours???? Wait, it's already in its 4th week... Hot Hues paint is quite expensive as well, so that leaves even less of that price to go to labor vs. materials. I haven't even mentioned the cost of the interior pieces. This all sounds VERY fishy. You're either going to get many more bills in the future before it's done or really low-grade workmanship.

An inexpensive paint job can look just like a $10,000 paint job when it rolls out of the shop, but 1-2 years later it will be horrible looking while the $$$ job will look new after 10 years. It's not the brand of paint that makes a car look great, it's the preparation, and proper prep simply takes time.