Cost Of Repaint

[johnggreen]

I recently purchased a nice 1975 Skylane for the use of my grown sons to upgrade their licenses. The Skylane has no dents, dings, corrosion, or hail but original paint. It is a good solid airplane with lots of years of use so I imagine it will, eventually, get a complete remake. Right now, though presentable, i would like to start with paint. I'm not talking low end, I want a nice paint job that with care and hangaring will last many, many years.

I called a couple of good shops and was a little taken aback at the cost of a complete restrip, and paint job. I will admit that it has been several years since I had an aircraft repainted, but OUCH !!

I had rather not say how much until I get some input on costs that members here have seen. It would seem to me, that a Mooney and Skylane would be fairly close in cost. So, for those of you who have had a really nice job done recently, how much did it cost? And did anyone go the extra mile for clear coat, which according to my research adds about $------- by itself?

And if anyone has had really good experience with a particular shop, please let me know.

Numbers please.

Jgreen

[aerobat95]

A while back I was quoted 14,500 for a complete job. I thought it was a bit high though seeing as how I had only 3 colors and a fairly simple design. I opted to not get mine painted at that time. My paint is pretty good and I instead had the cowl and top of the wings painted. That ran me 1K for labor and about 250 in paint.

[aerobat95]

I think I have some pics of it in my gallery

[flight2000]

$11.5K out the door for mine, which included extra labor to remove/treat filliform corrosion on the upper surfaces of the wing and tail. It also included installing all stainless steel screws and camlocs. The blue paint is metallic which added a few $$$ as well.

Basic paint was quoted at $9K.

R&B Aircraft in Topeka, KS is the shop, all prices are from 2009.

Brian

[fantom]

$11.5K out the door for mine, which included extra labor to remove/treat filliform corrosion on the upper surfaces of the wing and tail. It also included installing all stainless steel screws and camlocs. The blue paint is metallic which added a few $$$ as well.

Basic paint was quoted at $9K.

Sounds about right, just shop around and have a design in mind you can show the shop.

Just like avionics, you can pay twice these prices and get a paint job that's no better. Hawk Paining at Tampa Exec is one very good shop to check out.

[231Pilot]

$12K, included matterhorn white base, metalic blue lower half, with gold and green stripes, all the colors are metallic, with clearcoat on the metallics. Also SS fasteners. I checked around and estimates ranged from $10K to close to $20K. I chose to use a local shop with a good reputation rather than take a ower price at a distant shop and deal with transportation issues (fuel costs to and from, commercial airline fares from and to, fuel costs for any warranty or touch-up). Pictures in gallery.

I used Wings in Dallas for the design...Brian has designed the schemes on many of the Mooneys on ths board.

[74657]

The shop I stored my Mooney and now store the Malibu in has done 3 or 4 Mooneys over the past 3 years. Estimated time in man hours to do a full strip/repaint with a white and 2 accent color scheme is around 14-15K from memory. There is approx. 300 hours in labor that goes into a paint job. How people do these things for 8K in unbelievable but I can't say that I've ever seen an 8K paint job on a Mooney before. Between paint and stripper alone there is close to 3K in cost......

A Cherokee 140 runs about 250 hours while a Cessna 340 runs closer to 700. Lots of exposed rivets!

[johnggreen]

Thanks for the inputs. I would appreciate more comments as there are lots of items to be considered. The two quotes I have gotten are $11,000 and $15,000. The 15 included complete clear coat; I wonder if that will make it that much better. Both prices are "basic" without SS screws (extra) and is for base and two trim colors. Both had big upcharges for two base coats, white over something else for instance.

Maybe that is really the ballpark for today's costs.

Jgreen

[N201MKTurbo]

$11.5K out the door for mine, which included extra labor to remove/treat filliform corrosion on the upper surfaces of the wing and tail. It also included installing all stainless steel screws and camlocs. The blue paint is metallic which added a few $$$ as well.

Basic paint was quoted at $9K.

R&B Aircraft in Topeka, KS is the shop, all prices are from 2009.

Brian

Wow, they painted my M20F in 86 for $3500.00 They did a great job!

Glad to hear they are still in business...

[scottfromiowa]

This is to depressing for words...

[Saltaire]

My favorite topic so I thought I’d chime in;

This narrative is for a complete "strip and paint" paint job from a paint shop owner’s point of view. I find that since any time an owner is about to pull somewhere between $9 and $12K out of his pocket, the expectation of the resulting job, paint or otherwise, changes dramatically.

So here are some of the facts and a check list of things to look for. First off, for a Skylane the average touch man-hours are between 200 and 250 hours. Considering a modest fully burdened labor rate of say $32/hr, the labor cost would be between $6,400 and $8,000. Historically at my shop our material bill has represented 25% of the sale price. For a $10K job, $2,500. This is all the materials; sand paper, stripper, paint, primer, masking materials, computer generated graphics, grind wheels, bulk paint thinner, etc. So doing some simple addition before profit, the cost is somewhere between $8,900 and $10,500 for a 172/182 type aircraft. If the shop owner is OK with a 10% profit add that on top and you’ve got your price out the door.

Checklist things to consider and reasons why there may be shops out there offering to do the whole thing for $8K. 1) Does the shop you are looking at have an actual paint hangar, incoming air, outgoing air (positive pressure system) with fire suppression system inside? 2) Is the shop using an aviation grade paint system throughout? Aluminum compatible acid-etch, conversion coat and primer. Aviation grade top coat (Dupont Aviation, Sherwin-Williams Jet-Glo, etc.) 3) Will the aircraft be disassembled and the control surfaces checked for proper static balance after paint? 4) Does the shop have an A&P on staff for the disassembly and reassembly? What is included in the job? Stainless steel hardware, reassembly with new certified hardware for control surfaces, shadowed “N” numbers, metallic trim colors, etc?

Keep in mind, aircraft paint shops are not regulated so it is up to the aircraft owner to do the homework and find the right shop that you’re comfortable with.

[Parker_Woodruff]

Sounds about right, just shop around and have a design in mind you can show the shop.

Just like avionics, you can pay twice these prices and get a paint job that's no better. Hawk Paining at Tampa Exec is one very good shop to check out.

A 2nd recommendation for Hawk. Depending on your paint scheme, will likely run $8500 to $9000 plus tax.

[Saltaire]

One last thing.

As of January 1, 2013, the state of Florida will no longer collect sales tax (6%) on aircraft maintenance on aircraft with a GW of 2000 pounds or greater. Up till now, this law applied to aircraft with a 15,000 pound GW or higher. An aircraft paint job is considered maintenance so going forward in Florida, you save 6% at the bottom line.

[fantom]

An aircraft paint job is considered maintenance so going forward in Florida, you save 6% at the bottom line.

Thanks for that factoid.....now I hope Parker doesn't blow a gasket

[KSMooniac]

You should be able to find a shop doing quality work for $10-12k in the current economy IMO. I'd choose one as reasonably close to home base, and put your own eyes on some recent and past work they've done.

[flight2000]

I forgot, the gruesome pictures can be seen here: http://www.67m20e.com/paint_job.htm

During the stripping part of the job, it looked like a pumpkin had exploded on it...

I had quotes from shops across the Midwest, but chose to stay local and I'm very happy I did. Had visitation rights during the process which was nice...

Brian

[carusoam]

Orange orange everywhere...

Thanks Saltaire for the professional's guideline.

Best regards,

-a-

[Parker_Woodruff]

Thanks for that factoid.....now I hope Parker doesn't blow a gasket

You gotta be kidding me.

[Saltaire]

Parker,

We've moved (2) customer deliveries to after 1/1/13 for this very reason.

Joe

[flight2000]

You gotta be kidding me.

It's only money right....

[KSMooniac]

I had to pay sales tax ON MY PLANE PURCHASE.

[TWinter]

Mena Paint in Arkansas did a great job for us and included a few extras. Mena is just outside Hot Springs, Arkansas. There are several other paint shops, avionics and interior shops also at the same airport. It's kind of like a big industrial park for aviation services. They also replaced a few rivets and replaced all new cowl camlocs. In addition I had them send my fuel caps out to be polished. Solid base and two accents. Metallic was no upcharge. Took about about three weeks. Jet-Glo is the paint used. Cost was under 11K.

Good Luck,

TW

[DonMuncy]

I had mine done at Mena Aircraft also. The price was very reasonable and the quality was good. By the way, Mena, in my view, is quite a ways from Fayetteville. It is not far into AR from Texas.

[jimosborn]

Having had two great though widely spaced paint experiences with family owned R&B Aircraft in Topeka KS (a Warrior in 1991 and a T-Saratoga in 2011), I'd be remiss by not adding my kudos for their work, their integrity and their reasonable pricing. R&B uses Imron exclusively, with which they've developed an expertise likely unmatched in the industry. Top quality stuff all the way, and highly recommended by this former FBO who, over the years, has seen a lot of the good, the bad and the ugly in aircraft refinishing.

Another legacy shop I highly recommend from multiple patronage, and for all the same reasons, is Cimarron Aircraft at El Reno OK. Cimarron uses the Jet-Glo system and is a bit more expensive, though I suspect that's mostly due to being a much larger facility with attendant higher overhead.

Can't imagine going wrong with either of these fine legacy paint shops.

Cheers!

[johnggreen]

I will be contacting the reference/recommended shops for quotes and info. Saltair, thank you for the information on time and cost which seems perfectly in line to me. Personally, I can't imagine a shop working for a 10% "profit". I will also contact you for a quote.

Good information and I appreciate it all.

Jgreen