Can someone tell me what a good quality simple paint job would cost? I have an 86 F150 regular cab short bed and I just need a standard simple paint job. I talked to a couple of places and one said between 2000 and 3000 and the other said between 3000 and 4000. Now that is a 2000 dollar difference, are either reasonable?

 

2-3k seem reasonable...if you do it yourself, it would be around $500 but you would still have to setup a garage or something for it and buy the saftey equipment and tools....just a thought.
chris

 

Paint job is one area that you dont want to skimp on. You get what you pay for in this instance. We at our shop, have done paint jobs from 2k minimum up to 8 and 10k.

the Paintjob thats on my 75 is in the 8k range. theres 20 hrs in the sand/buff on the cab and front clip.

When you talk to the shops aobut paintjobs, find out what they will/wont fix down the road, for how long this 'warranty' will last, if they are going to remove trim mouldings, door handles, lights, etc etc. If they dont, there are going to be alot of tape lines around the door handles, lights, mouldings, etc and increases the chance of clear or color or both peeling back off down the road.
Find out if they are going to sand/buff any after the paint is dry, even with a expensive paintbooth your still bound to get some dirt and trash in the paint job that'll need to be taken out.

 

heres a picture after the sand/buff on my 75 F250 'monster tigger'

 

A quality basecoat clearcoat urethane will start somewhere around 2 grand the same color for a complete, no bodywork, no jambs underhood, ect, just sand and shoot. They will probably remove simple items like tailights, moldings ect, and tape the rest. Only going to go up from there depending what else is done. A decent bodyshop should wetsand and buff if it is needed due to dirt nibs and that should be part of the cost. Normally the estimating books will give you a time of something like .4 hrs per refinish hour to wetsand and buff. Now I wouldn't expect them to knock out every little bet of urethane peel and orange peel and include that, but flaws like dirt nibs or if they get a small run, ect, they should want to take care of. If it is something like a color change, doing jambs, and underhood, stripping off paint, removing all moldings, handles, locks, and wetsanding and buffing completely flat, then you can expect the cost to be up there probably 5 grand at least. There could be a wide variety of prices, some can charge more because they are well known, and a lot of shops don't like doing completes, since they make the most on collision repairs, and only painting what needs it, so they may just throw out a high price to do the job. Shop around, ask people in your area for recommendations, and check references on the shop you choose. A shop that is certified through there paint company and use all that companys recommended products from undercoats through clear should be able to offer a lifetime warrenty against things such as peeling and fading.