New Paint Job at Tejas

[N207LS]

I dropped my baby off at Tejas Aero Services (San Marcos, TX) on Friday last week and must say that I was very impressed with their service and attention to detail.  My plane was met with a crew of people that pushed it back into the "prep hangar" and 4-5 people began to inspect the plane.  While they were inspecting every little detail of the plane, Chris (General Manager and Layout Designer), Mike (Owner), and I went into the office to finalize the custom paint scheme.  We spent about an hour going over every last detail and creating a new sketch for the layout.  Besides being truly friendly, it was apparant that they were real pros.  After finishing the paint scheme details, I was given a very extensive checklist regarding the detailed condition of every inch of my plane.  We went through this exhaustive list and each item was pointed out to me.  Their facilities are first class and very clean.  Their paint booth is quite impressive as well.  They had a medium twin in the pain booth and it looked great.  They were also re-painting a 2008 Ovation that was done at another shop.  This plane had the white on it and was in the layout area where the stripes were being taped.  I couldn't believe the shine on the paint, even though no buffing or sanding had been done yet.  I can only hope that mine looks as great! 

Here are a few photos that Chris sent me today.  I will keep this posting going as I get new photos of the work in progress.

Aaron

[Parker_Woodruff]

Can't wait to see how it turns out!

[KSMooniac]

Sweet!  Mine went into the shop today, and I cannot wait to get her back...it is gonna be a long few weeks!

[The-sky-captain]

You lucky ducks! Good luck with the new paint jobs guys, I'm jealous:) Scott I just PM'd you on the ferry issue.

[MikeinFL]

But Aaron......

 

All that money for an old style paint job???? 

 

When yours is done, I'll have to make sure mine is not on the ramp at the same time!!

 

Mike

[piperpainter]

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[piperpainter]

I can't wait to get a paint job. its gonna be flight red.....solid! Later I will paint the tail black. Please keep the pictues coming of the paint job, its always cool to see things evolve!

[TheTruth]

Congrats ,its always great to get a fresh paint job,But just to give yall a heads up Mooney Airplane Company Factory Paint Shop has opened it doors to strip and repaints , i took my Bravo in and wow let me tell yall "O.E.M all the way", talk about a first class finish, you might pay a bit more but in the long run its well worth it .when you want the best of the best just take it  where it was born.

[fantom]

Well, things have changed at the Mooney factory. My factory new paint job was crap 15 years ago, because Mooney put their least experienced people into paint prep. When I asked about it at the 1997 MAPA, the Mooney V.P. said:

"If you get a good paint job from the factory, it's an accident", and for me, and many others it was TheTruth.

The $20K grand the factory quoted at this years SunNFun, for a paint job, is more than "a bit more" IMHO. Very glad you're satisfied, however.

[TheTruth]

Thank you, and i hope your satisfied. 

[KSMooniac]

Wow...$20k is hard to believe, even for them.  I thought their interior renewal prices were unrealistically high, but the paint price is even worse.  I fail to see how it costs them anywhere near that much (for either service) in an old facility that should have been paid for long ago.  They are also in a low-cost labor area too.  There cannot be much of a liability concern either for cosmetic work, so there should be no need to jack up the prices for extra insurance costs IMO.

[TheTruth]

Well , $20k is a little high  IMO too,i dont know how that paint qoute came across this subject because i got my paint job at a much lower price.but then again maybe my bird had different issues.i dont know but i hope yall get a better qoute next time.

[N207LS]

I am glad that you are happy with your factory paint job.  Last year at Sun and Fun, the factory painted (checkered flag look) appeared to be nicely done as well.  With that said, I have seen several factory paint jobs that were less than stellar (to Gary's point).  To me to pay a $4k premium over Tejas doesn't seem worth it.  Especially since, until this past year, Tejas was painting the factory "show" planes, as well as most of the new Acclaims.  $20k seems really high...

Aaron

[TheTruth]

Yes you are correct, they did do most of the show birds in the past.but word around the camp fire is that in late 2007  the factory got a jump start recruting around 4 top painters and they were able to take over the "show plane" situation.and  alot of those factory paint jobs that are in poor condition are results of out processing paint jobs.and if they are charging 4k less than mooney  i guess mooney cant match a 13k paint job.

thanks for listening. 

[TheTruth]

Yes you are correct, they did do most of the show birds in the past.but word around the camp fire is that in late 2007  the factory got a jump start recruting around 4 top painters and they were able to take over the "show plane" situation.and  alot of those factory paint jobs that are in poor condition are results of out processing paint jobs.and if they are charging 4k less than mooney  i guess mooney cant match a 13k paint job.

thanks for listening. 

[rkallies]

As I was the guy who quoted $20K for the paint job at Sun N Fun this year, I felt it was necessary to chime in and give everyone the facts on Factory Strip and Repaints.

The price was in fact $20K and higher (metallic paint option is an additional $2,000) for quite sometime. The reasoning behind this was that during production, the shop was at it's maximum capacity and we would farm out full strip and repaints. Due to this, we have had no historical data to properly assess the costing and pricing for a full strip and repaint.

Now that we have quite a few of these under our belt (and please keep in mind, the aircraft that helped us build this data were quoted $20K but charged the actual cost) we have been able to sharpen the pencil and have substantially reduced the price of this upgrade. The most recently completed full strip and repaint for a customer that post on this page frequently, left the factory with an invoice for the paint totalling $16,500 out the door.

Hopefully this post will clear the air a bit on the topic and I will be answering a few other post soon. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have, good or bad, about the factory and I will be more than happy to provide you with some answers.

On a side note: N207LS - Your aircraft is in some of the most capable hands in the industry. Mike is a true professional and I know that you will be extremely happy with the work that his team does on your aircraft. Just be sure you're sitting down when they unveil it for you!

Cheers and keep 'em fast!

[KSMooniac]

Ronnie, thanks for joining up here and chiming in for the factory!

My opinion is that 16.5K is competitive with Tejas, but still quite a bit higher than all of the other paint shops in the region.  My 201 just went to a shop on Tuesday with a price substantially less...I'm very confident I will be pleased, but I suspect it won't be identical to a Tejas-quality job if someone went over it with a magnifying glass.  We'll see. 

[fantom]

Second what Scott has said. My plane is going in either right before, or right after MAPA. A 60% up charge for a hopefully excellent paint job, over a assured very good one, is too high a premium for me, and I don't skimp with my plane. Arron's bird has a number of special items, that Mike is taking care of in his all inclusive price, so his choice is more understandable.

Good to have you with us Ronnie, as we all love Mooney, and have a strong desire to have the factory thrive. Until the factory has a longer track record, high end pricing may be an issue. Best of luck, in any event.

[N207LS]

Ronnie,

Thank you for your thoughts from the factory viewpoint.  I appreciate the vote of confidence in Tejas.  I have felt that way about Mike and Chris since the first time that I spoke with them.  I can't wait to see the finished product.  I have asked for lots of photos and I will continue to post them as I get them in. 

Aaron

 

[N207LS]

Stripping begun today on my plane.  Here are a couple of photos of the process.

 

Aaron

[KSMooniac]

That looks painful!    Are you keeping the split rear window, or converting to a J-style single window?

[N207LS]

All ready have the Southwest Texas 201 Mod.  The stripping process is painful to see, but I can't wait for the end result.

Aaron

[N207LS]

Sorry didn't read correctly (thought that you were talking about the windshield)...  I am keeping the split rear windows.  I like the fact that it identifies the plane as a Vintage Mooney. 

Aaron

[Chris_Tejas]

Hey Aaron, your plane is looking great. Everything is going smooth. Just sent you a new picture. If you or anyone has any questions feel free to ask...

 

Chris

Tejas Aeroservices...

[Chris_Tejas]

Quote: TheTruth

Yes you are correct, they did do most of the show birds in the past.but word around the camp fire is that in late 2007  the factory got a jump start recruting around 4 top painters and they were able to take over the "show plane" situation.and  alot of those factory paint jobs that are in poor condition are results of out processing paint jobs.and if they are charging 4k less than mooney  i guess mooney cant match a 13k paint job.

thanks for listening.