The problem here is that many confuse a body shop with a restoration shop.
They are not even close to the same thing.
Body shops stay in business, keep their lights on and pay their employees by repairing cars that have been in an accident. The technicians are on commission, getting paid for each job.
They are paid at book rate and work off of an estimate negotiated between the shop and the insurance company.
If the estimate is negotiated at 10 hours for a repair and the technician gets it done in 6 hours..... He still gets paid for 10 hours.
In a collision shop it is a looser for a technician to do restoration work. 1 hour work = 1 hour pay.
1 hour work = 1 hour pay may be normal in the rest of the world but in the collision industry a Technicians hourly wage is set lower. By the time a technician reaches a journeyman level it is expected that he will be doing at least 1.5 hours work for every hour worked.
That is how a body tech and a collision shop makes money.
In a "Real" restoration shop the customer is charged by the hour, this can be $50 or more.
Then you have the customer..... They want it done fast, at the lowest cost, and expect perfection.
Lets look at the math on a $7000 paint job.
$2500 for materials
leaves $4500 for labor and the shop.
$4500 divided by $50 an hour shop cost = 90 hours.
90 hours = $1575 paid to the body and paint technicians based at $17.50 an hour.
$4500 - $1575 = $2925 left for shop profit.
Now take $2925 and start subtracting business tax, light bill, environmental fees and so on......
So for you guys bitching about a $7000 paint job....... Are you really expecting a painter and body-man to perfect your car in 11.2 days (90 hours divided by 8 hour days) and split $1575.
If so...... Paint your own damn car.
Oh..... And remember, if we miss a little ding or you see an imperfection after we finish, you will expect us to fix that for free.
