Fair price for quality paint work

[Jeff Buchanan]

I"m a new builder and just about finished with frame number four. What is a fair price for a local painter to charge for a single color paint job with a contrasting DT panel? I would supply the dry transfer decal. Also, what type of rust preventative do you use when soaking off the flux? Thanks!

[pruckelshaus]

Color + panel would be two color (unless of course you work the panel into your decal), decal application, clearcoat, etc. should run in the area of $300-$350 for a quality paint job. You should check out Fresh Frame in York.

Pete

[Jeff Buchanan]

Thanks for the reply. As soon as I'm finished with #4, Fresh Frame is where it will be painted!

[conorb]

I"m a new builder and just about finished with frame number four. What is a fair price for a local painter to charge for a single color paint job with a contrasting DT panel? I would supply the dry transfer decal. Also, what type of rust preventative do you use when soaking off the flux? Thanks!

Some folks have different definitions of "fair" and "quality" but I would agree with Pete that $300-350 would be a solid starting point. Final pricing would also depend on the type of paint uses, the amount of finishing you've done, the amount of work the painter has to do to prep the frame and etc., etc. The various painters that we've worked with have slightly different requirements so be sure to have a conversation about how they'd like to receive the frame and what kind of work they're willing to do to it once they receive it. Some painters offer a variety of "quality" finishes from single color, single pass to ultimate show finish, etc.

Ultimately it's about the collaboration and reaching an agreement as to the process. Also, be sure to listen to the painter for feedback as there's always room to improve on the fabrication end. At least there is for me.

As for rust inhibitor you can use Frame Saver or LPS 3 (I think it's 3) in the tubes - you can also mix in some metal prep to create a dilute phosphoric acid solution which you can use in the flux tank. Various suppliers like PPG DX579 make stuff that you can use. Just one example of many.

Conor