I had a guy quote me $40/hour to do bodywork on my 67 fb. It needs floors, 2 new rear quarters and 2 door skins. He said the floors will take between 10-20 hrs, he can do both door skins in 8 hrs and each quarter in 8 hours. Does this sound reasonable? He works for a shop during the day and will work on mine at his home on the side. He's a good body man. Do these times sound reasonable? I have all the metal needed for the repair..thx...
body work price questions
- Thread starter mikec35
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zookeeper
Founding Member
$40 per hour is very reasonable, but rather than price shop you should ask to speak to other customers to see how happy they were with his work. If the guy does shoddy work for $40, then decent work for $60 is a better deal. I've also found that guys that work in body shops typically work much quicker than a hobbiest. I did my own paint and bodywork and it took me forever where an experienced bodyman would have had it done in a tenth the time.
i think it sounds reasonable as far as the time. the labor rate is a bit high, IMO. here the shop rates are $46/hr. why should a guy with no overhead get $40/hr. if a shop does the work, they can guarantee their work, or at least you will have the BBB as an option if needed. if this guy messes something up, will he stand behind his work? what if the garage catches fire, will he pay for your car? a shop will use their insurance to pay for your car if needed. who knows about this guy.
is it worth the risk to potentially save $264?? (44 hours times the $6/hr you would save.)
if he was doing it for about $25/hr it would be a harder decision for me. but for saving $6/hr, its not worth it IMO.
is it worth the risk to potentially save $264?? (44 hours times the $6/hr you would save.)
if he was doing it for about $25/hr it would be a harder decision for me. but for saving $6/hr, its not worth it IMO.
zookeeper
Founding Member
I suppose price also depends on the area. Body shops in this area charge $65-$75, so someone charging $40 an hour here would have to beat the customers away with a stick.
I have known the guy for about 10 years... He does good work.. problem is finding a shop that wants to touch it. If its not a quick patch and paint job not one wants to do it. He's ready to start on it right away and I figured I'd let him do a few of the repairs and see how long it takes and how much it costs before I give the go ahead to do more. I was going to do it myself, but like zookeeper said, it would take me forever, vs. a professional. I know you pay for a pro, but my time is worth alot too...
xoxbxfx
Founding Member
i know you know him and everything but play it safe and get a signed agreement of price and how long it will take to complete. $40-45 is the average body shop price down here in TX so I would say its pretty good. Now for a pro to actually take 20 hours doing floors is a bit extreme to me.
tos
Founding Member
The going rate in my area is $67.00 hr. Body shops work like auto repair shops in that they have a guide that tells them how long it takes to replace each body part and they use that guide to charge by. Thats how they do their estimates. The drawback is the book might say it takes 4 hrs to replace a skin but if they do it in 2 hrs you'll still pay for 4 hrs. Your friend hopefully will only charge you actual time cause that book usually is padded a little bit. His prices seem real good to me.
