OldDupontGuy wrote:,"You get what you pay for right ..... "


Sometimes.

Recently there was a thread on an HD board where paint prices were the issue. One of the biggest shops in the country chimed in and claimed that any shop that charged more than they did was a rip off.And they also claimed that most small shops were rip offs.
What they fail to mention is that their work is mass produced by illegal immigrants working on a painting production line.
And that their work is ok, but put most any of their jobs up against mine or against one of the other award winning small shops in the country and our quality (fine detailed artwork and such) blows their stuff away. I know as I did a prototype paint job for a big mc company and then that shop did the production paint, and you could definately tell the difference between mine and theirs. But the big company did not care and neither did the customers, that is, until one of my customers bought one of those bikes and saw a picture of the prototype.
Then this other shop, a small one guy shop that does it part time, chimes in and says his price is the lowest, what was ridiculously low and no way could a reputable shop do it for that price) and posts pictures of his work which is not bad but again, not up to what I would call the highest standard. His graphics are ok his mural work and flames, not so much.
Myself and a number of other small shops form the basis of most of the jobs that win the highest mc painting awards in the country. Plus many of us have won some of the top custom paint awards for custom cars too. These kind of shops kill us.
One of the best known and downright best custom painter's in the world can barely pay his overhead cos the cheap shops are killing him. He's a friend of mine and its rough out there for the shops like ours who only know how to do the job one way, the right way.

And we paint our stuff so it will last for years and years. And we know it will cos we have stuff out there that's over 20 years old and it still looks good.
I know this post is just a rant, but business right now is brutal for custom painters. And the shops that go all out for their customers, who produce high quality work, they need to stay in business.
In fact one of my painting heros, opened a t shirt silk screening business and seldom paints anymore. I do a lot of writing and journalism to help pay the bills. That is the reality of custom painting in a poor economy.

The funny thing is most customers are happy with what they get from their painter, especially if the price is right (that is the price is low.)

Thank You

I do notice that when I start with a high quote 65% of the time people are accepting of it but that 35% seems to just come up with an excuse to not do it or they try and say well I only have this much .... You know the typical chew down . So then what am I better to refuse the job then to offer them a cheaper brand of paint ? Cause It almost feels like every time that happens there's a color match problem or a visual characteristic that I don't like about how the job comes out . What do you think is the right way of going About that ?

Mikeycoletta wrote::goodpost: Thank You

I do notice that when I start with a high quote 65% of the time people are accepting of it but that 35% seems to just come up with an excuse to not do it or they try and say well I only have this much .... You know the typical chew down . So then what am I better to refuse the job then to offer them a cheaper brand of paint ? Cause It almost feels like every time that happens there's a color match problem or a visual characteristic that I don't like about how the job comes out . What do you think is the right way of going About that ?

Most of the time when you try and take the shortcut, it ends up being twice the work. And the reason is, the quality painter doesn't like to let stuff go out the door that's substandard. It ends being a headache and you end up spending extra time obsessing over the job when you could be having a life.
How many hours have we painters spent working through the weekend on a job that went wrong, when we could have been spending time with family or having fun or doing something for ourselves? Just so the job would be ready on Monday or cos no way could we enjoy ourselves knowing that a disaster was sitting there waiting Monday morning in the shop.
So we put in the extra time solving the problem so we can sleep at night and then suddenly the weekend is gone.
No, its not worth it.

That sounds like my life in a nut shell .... I book my stuff Friday night to Tuesday ... I try to have a life while primer is drying or after the job is cleared ...like yesterday I worked 9 to 6 at my regular job then 7 to 12 doing body work to have a truck ready to spray today and back to the customer either Sunday night or Monday morning it's been like this for 10 years now .....Should I feel like its not worth it or are you talking about the cheaper jobs that I have been chewed down on ?? Cause most of the time I get good $$ for the job .. But at this rate should I be training somebody to do all the work I save 85% of what I make on the side ..and treat it like a business hoping it will grow into something .....