For reference, A good friend of mine owns a body and paint shop, all family run, all work is word of mouth and he's always out 6 months or more. He gets a lot of vehicles in and out. Not slow.
I have always done machinework for him at a friend price and he has done bodywork repairs on my newer vehicles for the same.
I recently asked him to quote a nice paintjob on my 94 80 series. The good friend price was $3500 without jambs or $4500 with jambs (changing color). That is no rust repair, fixing a bullet hole in the rear hatch, welding and bodywork on the roofrack holes. I believe the non-good friend price would be north of $10k and he is essentially just charging for materials plus 10% or so.
I think that's a steal, almost too cheap even for a friend. I will probably pay him more than he asks as I know it's a ton of work.
I have always done machinework for him at a friend price and he has done bodywork repairs on my newer vehicles for the same.
I recently asked him to quote a nice paintjob on my 94 80 series. The good friend price was $3500 without jambs or $4500 with jambs (changing color). That is no rust repair, fixing a bullet hole in the rear hatch, welding and bodywork on the roofrack holes. I believe the non-good friend price would be north of $10k and he is essentially just charging for materials plus 10% or so.
I think that's a steal, almost too cheap even for a friend. I will probably pay him more than he asks as I know it's a ton of work.