Budget Resprays?

H

hug - lo

Active Member
Just a quickie really to what peoples oppinions are of budget resprays?

Now automatically people will think shit craftsmanship, uneven coverage and runs. Thats what i think and have experienced BUT a very good customer of mine is thinking about starting up on his own (bentley trained) and we were talking about the whole budget issue.

His budget idea would be to run his labour charge out at minimum (for example) £25ph and then have different options for colours, primers, clear coats ect

In theory sounds good but in reality would it prove to be popular?

What do people think?

Prices from £250 all the way up to £2000
 
I think everybody appreciates a breakdown of costs. It sort of proves that the painter didn't pull the price out of his arse when he saw what you looked like/car you're driving etc.
It gives the buyer confidence in what he's paying for, and add the opportunity to upgrade if he's feeing flush (or downgrade if they're feeling the pinch).
So offer bare basics, then up-sell the extras. Sounds like a good plan to me.
 
this sounds cool, im just inthe middle of doing my own respray and after i have coughed out for all the tools and paints i will be stood at around 600 sterling! i could have got the car sprayed for around that as a BUDGET job but would rather learn the skils and have the ability for life! but if i had known of someone with good skils at good money that would be different! budget price is normally budget finish we all no that so a good spray job at budget price is a good move! cant see how anyone can complain!
 
^^ My thoughts exactly and this guy can SERIOUSLY paint and his prep work is so over the top it's unreal. BUT you know what they say 'Good paint is all in the prep'
 
Yes, you buy cheap you buy twice and all of that BUT surely theres are market for Legitimate skilled people offering resprays at less than £50ph!?!

I'm not talking cheapo paint, standox and even house of kolors would be available if people wanted it but it's cost of the labour that bumps the price up (from what i've found anyway)

2 Fully trained guys with serious prestige training behind them has got to count for something?

The best bet i know would be a demo car with say £600 'Worth' of spray job for example so everyone could see exactly what £600 gets you for your money and drag it to every show on the calendar but this is purely speculative (at the minute anyway).

Does any one else think there is a market for it or is advertising the fact that they would be cheaper than the rest be something that puts people off instantly!?!
 
Its a tough one, I believe that anything less than 1k for a spray job isn't necessarily going to be "up to scratch". The show a £600 spray job is a good idea, as promotion initially will help and then word of mouth will take over. The hard part is that as its fairly well established you are looking around 1k for a "decent" job you are competing at the cheapo job market but offering what would almost be a too good to be true deal.
 
Hey mate, I'd DEFFINATELY! be interested (SY__GT's house mate) and I know how good the guys at Bentley really are when it comes to the spray jobs, and I appreciate how much time is involved in getting a really good finish so the cost of the paints etc is insignificant to the overall cost!

Also if you want a car to demo then I can provide one or three that you can keep for months if you like to get everything sorted and decide what level you want to provide for which cost??

PM me if your interested in a test car, as I'm at Bentley atm so I quess you must be pretty local.

Very interested!

Thanks

Brad =)
 
At £25/hour he's not going to be offering resprays for much under £1200 I wouldn't have thought? There is a market but it begs the question, if he's that good then why doesn't he do insurance/high-end work and charge £70/hour?
 
I think it's going on the High volume low cost idea. Think of a csah and carry :D

2 cars a week, £600 a car thats £48,000 over 10 months work. Yes theres overheads but they can be kept to absolute minium so you know, if your looking for the independence and flexibility that self imployed can bring i think it'ss very viable!

The above is idealised but you get what i mean. My day job is designing spray booths for dalby engineering so they'll be 'borrowing' me for booth selection ect ect!
 
Doesnt seem realistic to me. I have a friend who has his own bodyshop and he is not a wealthy man, does ok but not flush.

Point I am trying to make, bodyshops dont generally tend to charge lots of money because they are rip off merchants. They charge lots of money because the time it takes to do a decent job, 'good paint is all in the prep' is just right! Therefore I think your friend would find that he'd either have to lower his standards to reach an agreeable 'budget' value or lower the cost he charges. This is without taking into consideration all the overheads involved in any business.

Hope I have put my point across clearly as I seem to have struggled writing that.
 
I see where he's coming from but after the cost of materials (paint, primer, thinners, masking tape, paper, rags, blocks, etc, etc) at £25/hour that's gonna work out about 10-15 hours on a car! If he can prep, prime, block and paint a car in a day/day and a half then any bodyshop would snap him up (mine included) and pay him a good wage. He'll be looking at £350+ a month to rent anything half way decent which leaves him with even less profit.

I'm not trying to put him off, just make sure he's thought it through properly. As Deee says, bodyshops charge so much for a reason, not because they're greedy.
 
Yes and no guys... I hear what your saying and am taking it all on board and relaying it my my mate BUT for example if you take Crash Corrections down in Sheerness. Those guys did an absolutely flawless, infact i'm going to go as far as saying Stunning full job on my old S14 for £1300!

I had a quote from a very very reputable body shop in West london who are known for their work and the quote just for the prep and paint came in at £3000. Exactly the same specified paint with exactly the same prep...

We've been looking into the whole workmanship issue and to be honest you don't need to lower the quality of your work just to meet a price point. £25 was set as an example and would by no means be 'The' price but it wouldn't be far off.

Obviously any business you start and or job you do you are doing because you get paid. End of.
If it was a case of living to work then he wouldn't be wanting to leave his fairly well paid job at Bentley and nor would our other friend! Fuck it i mean i saw a painters position going at ADR group i think it was, somewhere down south and that paid £35k iirc. More than his bentley wage thats for sure!
This would be a move to allow them to essentially do what they want when they want and develop a custom and performance body shop just as they have always wanted.

Work to live is something that keeps cropping up and i can't support that notion enough!

As said already, the equipment they use won't be substandard neither will the paints or the level of care that goes into the work.

A small Unit with a single booth and space for 3 cars in designated prep areas can be found for very fair rates and when the booth costs no more than £3ph to run (when using gas and 3 phase electrics), take into consideration small business rate relief and an established relationship with you paint suppliers and the costs DO make it a goer.

If though and only IF people could get behind it!?!

It's no like it'll be a Machine mart special offer compressor with free spraying set and paint from B&Q!
 
I also have a friend who runs his own body shop, and doing jobs at a under averaged price has made him one of the busiest man around where he lives. The problem with doing budget resprays means that you ARE definitely gonna get shitting loads of work, and on top of all that work, you're not getting paid that well, not only is there labour, there's also materials and rents.
If your mate is prepared to do jobs at such a low price, then he's gotta prepare to have man force or, he'll likely to die from the amount of jobs he's gonna recieve
 
a friend of mine had a garage back in the early 90's he would do paintwork cheap for certain clients just to keep busy he used charge £175.00 to do taxi resprays in a day yes a day
there would be 3 people on the job one would be grinding the rust down another would chase him with rubbing paper then the third would chase the second with filler and then you would get all 3 on the rub down and then mask and painted.
2 pac taxi black:D
 
It is possible to do cheap resprays and do a good job. I have a garage and sparyshop and we offer a full outside respray in any colour inc metalics and micas for £650.
And we have only ever had 2. Not alot of people want a full respray, most only want a door or wing spraying.
He will need to advertise his services for body repair aswell as cheap resprays as he wont get enough work. Maybe after a few years but not straight away.
 
run a place on £3 an hour thats frickin crazy
i dont see how people can charge that little for resprays unless they are missing loads of bits and there is no way that after paint and materials you will earn screw all.
i cant beleive that you are talking about using house of kolor paints etc do you have any idea how much this stuff costs and the quantity of it you need.
also on top of these factors its not that easy just to set up a booth in any building there are so many regulations in place now.
but if you do do jobs for this money and they are as awsome as you say they are then i may as well pack up now lol
 
I actually said the type of booth they'll be running, the BOOTH will cost maximum £3 per hour based on a direct gas burner or a LPG gas burner system. That is fact, i should know, i design, help manufacture, commision and install spray booths for my day job at one of the countries most highly regarded spray booth manufacturers!

Total overheads WILL be alot more as i've already stated!

I simply mentioned that HOK paints would be available as would standox and also some high temp coatings (for engines ect ect) from specialists such as Akzo Noble, NOT that each spray job will definately cost £2.50 and for that you'll get 15 litres of hok top coat did i???

As for the regulations, what i don't know about the HSE guidlines and LEV certificates isn't worth knowing! Not to mention building regulations for such installs and certificates for things like air clearance tests and breathing air tests! When was your last LEV cert issued? less than 14 months ago?

The quality of their work is very very good and they have over 15 years experience between them both! (For confirmation please read above as i'm just repeating myself now!) So good in fact i'd confidently recommend them to ANYONE!

You've not really read the entire thread have you, it's clear by your post! If the thought of a body shop setting up and doing very very very very reasonably price spray jobs is something that worries you then by all means, shut up shop. It'll only put more work both my friends way and also my own way through my job as the person that takes on your booth needs it will need it re-commissioning.!

Plans are in motion and rental agreements are currently being looked at so fingers crossed this'll be a goer within the next 2 - 3 months!!! Small business rates relief has been confirmed by the council and there is 3 possible premises all with rent free periods of 2 - 9 months based on contract lengths so the future is a damn sight brighter than orange!
 
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