Gauging Interest - My Painting Offer

[Kezzer30 40 1 Cars]

Ok so as some of you know im a quite keen sprayer still have lots to learning and in certain areas i do need to improve , however ive got to the stage now where i can do a good job .

Now this is NOT on offer atm as im just wanting some feedback etc

(Hope im not breaking any rules as im not selling this atm)

Now i have a small garage , abit dusty at times and no crazy ovens or extraction units so i cannot offer split mint paint jobs.

If you are after split mint jobs then my service will not be for you.

Due to all of the above my prices will be very fair indeed and ive done a small start to A price guide (see below)

Certain things i wont be able to do ( full resprays or have your car on my drive etc)

This will wont be a buisness it will be a spare time thing as im a chef by trade

Any extra questions i can answer

Please note this is not avaiable just yet.

 

Thanks for your time guys

Edited March 22, 2013 by Kezzer30

[NFS 32]

Umm, Tbh, i would spend time learning how to fill properly and know what should be filled and what should be pulled out.

Painting takes alot of time, i have offered cheap paint jobs in the past and only got a few hundred pounds out of 2-3 weeks work. its not worth it for you.

and no one is going to ask you to them work when you are telling them that there might be inperfections. learn how to get rid of these imperfections then you can charge more and make it worth your while.

and most importently you need to show us your work.

 

i know how good it feels to paint and see the outcome but from what i have read you need to spend more time with the prep.

[Kezzer30 40 1 Cars]

Thats a fair comment i understand totally

 

The money making side of things is not a major thing for me (obviously its nice to make some)

 

I will just be doing it in spare time etc

 

But i respect the comment

[cRaig 273 1 Cars]

As above really, from my experience of dealing with and chatting to bodyshops, none of them offer "cheap blow over/spray jobs" anymore, as they are just too much hassle, as its a huge grey area as to what the customer expects for a cheap job- usually the customer complains about something, and they ended up doing it twice.

 

Ive sprayed a couple of cars with mates, the MG in my project thread for one, and it came out pretty well, but we wouldnt even dream about doing one for money, epecially for someone who wasnt a friend. Its just too much risk (cost of all the paint/prep if it reacts, needs redoing etc)

 

And without being rude, couldnt most people find a dusty garage and do it themselves, if that is essentially what you are offering?

 

Just my 2cents!

 

Craig

[Kezzer30 40 1 Cars]

Fair play this is the reason i put this up .

 

My own feeling was that u can expect to pay 100+ these days for a mint job so i could do it at nearly half the price just due to a few odd bits of dust etc

 

But as it seems no one has any interest thats fine i will leave it

[NFS 32]

Dust isnt a big of a problem as you think, the only place you need to make sure dust dont fall on is inbetween basecoats, even then you can tack it off, if it falls in the clear coat then you an easly wet sand it out and polish back up. tbh you will like i did get show finish paint jobs in a garage, it will just take alot of pratice a decent gun and alot of time.

Oh and its not that anyone not interest its because your selling yourself short pal.

[Kezzer30 40 1 Cars]

Tbh some of what ive done for myself have come out really nice just a few (big bits of dust/grit) have left very small marks etc

But my filling i do need to improve but i though thers a few people out there who dont want a split mint job etc but fair play i understand

Ps my project thread has a few bits ive done etc

[GLPoomobile 958]

Personally I think that if you want to do this to build up your experience, then you need to offer the labour for free and the "client" supplies the paint. Once money is exchanged, you are supplying a service, and then liability comes in to it. But with our 'blame' culture you would need to cover your back (possibly get a written contract with disclaimers about quality of work to be expected). Then there's the matter of insurance (would your insurance cover theft or damage to parts supplied for painting?).

 

In other words, doing this as a favour for mates, you can get away with a more casual approach. But even then, things can easily turn sour, and friendship can soon count for nothing. Doing it for people wh aren't mates needs to be approached strictly as if it was a business. If you don't adopt that mentality and properly protect yourself, you are wide open for a s*it strom if/when your work doesn't meet a 'clients' expectations.

 

And without meaning any disrespect at all, I'm not sure I would pay any money (even very competative rates) to have somebody do paintwork for me when they are still learning the trade and have no formal training or qualifications.

[Kezzer30 40 1 Cars]

I understand this is why i have clearly stated some issues that may occur etc , but i wasn't planning on making a full scale business .

Just wanted to give something to the forum a a helping hand but like it seems ive barked up the wrong tree.

[chris-gti 14]

I'd say go for it, I do a little bit myself for customers with minor accident damage. I'm working on the lower end of the market, people with 8-10+ year old cars who want it to look presentable but don't have the money to take it in and have the work done professionally.

 

My most recent was a clio 2 that hit a rouge wheel on the A1 at about 70mph, it totalled the bumper, cracked the wing and broke the headlamp (i was amazed no more damage was done) the customer came to me as i look after her car and asked if i could do the job. I told her i could, that the finish would be good but i couldn't guarantee a factory finish as i don't have the right environment to do it. She was happy with this and I ended up spraying the new bumper, fibreglassing the wing and filling and re-spraying that. as i promised the finish is good, there are a few imprefections on the bumper and a small imperfection i missed when i was filling the wing but she is happy as the car now looks as it should. for an every day use vehicle this is perfect, obviously i would turn down any customers who wanted their cars doing to show spec. It's just out of my league.

 

the biggest thing is getting the paint match correct, once you've cracked that then you're laughing. My garage is quite dusty, i sweep out and hoover round about an hour before bringing the car/panels in to be sprayed. I have plywood sheets down on the floor to stop any concrete dust rising and an old gas space heater blowing away in the corner.

 

My results are by no means perfect but i've never had any negative comments about my work, just satisfied customers who now have a car that doesn't look a total wreck on first glance.

 

As a hobby if it's something you enjoy then do it. Just don't leave yourself out of pocket.

[calvinhorse 870]

After seeing some of kezzers work on the weekend I can say he is being very modest, i will be taking advantage of his cheap prices and quality painting in the near future

[notamondayfan 44]

I think so long as your honest and make sure your customers know what to expect then you'll be fine. I'd maybe even have a bonnet or similar in your garage which you've sprayed so you can show to customers, and they know what to expect.

 

As mentioned above, your market will probably be the 10 year old car, where there isn't much point in spending £100s on resprays for damage, but still want their cars to look half tidy.

 

The other thing I'd say is make your pricing less complex. Your spreadsheet isn't very clear and will put a lot of people off. If I were you I'd say something like "Bonnets starting £45 + paint". At the end of the day you'll probably need to see the parts before you spray them anyway, so you can negotiate with the client face to face.

 

Dean

[Kezzer30 40 1 Cars]

I'd say go for it, I do a little bit myself for customers with minor accident damage. I'm working on the lower end of the market, people with 8-10+ year old cars who want it to look presentable but don't have the money to take it in and have the work done professionally.

 

My most recent was a clio 2 that hit a rouge wheel on the A1 at about 70mph, it totalled the bumper, cracked the wing and broke the headlamp (i was amazed no more damage was done) the customer came to me as i look after her car and asked if i could do the job. I told her i could, that the finish would be good but i couldn't guarantee a factory finish as i don't have the right environment to do it. She was happy with this and I ended up spraying the new bumper, fibreglassing the wing and filling and re-spraying that. as i promised the finish is good, there are a few imprefections on the bumper and a small imperfection i missed when i was filling the wing but she is happy as the car now looks as it should. for an every day use vehicle this is perfect, obviously i would turn down any customers who wanted their cars doing to show spec. It's just out of my league.

 

the biggest thing is getting the paint match correct, once you've cracked that then you're laughing. My garage is quite dusty, i sweep out and hoover round about an hour before bringing the car/panels in to be sprayed. I have plywood sheets down on the floor to stop any concrete dust rising and an old gas space heater blowing away in the corner.

 

My results are by no means perfect but i've never had any negative comments about my work, just satisfied customers who now have a car that doesn't look a total wreck on first glance.

 

As a hobby if it's something you enjoy then do it. Just don't leave yourself out of pocket.

This is exactly what im saying , some people just want a good honest job and i can offer that and whats more i quite enjoy it ,

I just want to help out and the prices will be cheap and will be judged to a degree on the final finish

Its not for everyone and like you said i just say no to things i know i cannot do.

This isnt me making shed loads of money and even if i do 1 panel every 2 weeks or so thats fine.

 

Getting a small amount of money for something you enjoy , hence why i would play for any football club for same wage i get now haha

[GLPoomobile 958]

I understand this is why i have clearly stated some issues that may occur etc , but i wasn't planning on making a full scale business .

Just wanted to give something to the forum a a helping hand but like it seems ive barked up the wrong tree.

 

I think you've taken my post the wrong way. Yes, it was negative, but the point I was trying to put across is that you need to make sure you are covering your own arse. Don't ever assume that just becuase you've set an expectation of reasonable/passable quality cheap work, that potential punters are going to understand and accept, or even have the same perception as you. For every 100 decent, like-minded (read: normal) people, you are bound to have 1 arsehole who isn't happy with what you've done.

 

So let's say you've done a bit of cheap work and the guy comes back 6 months later becuase the prep wasn't spot on and a few blemishes have developed. What are you going to do? Can you afford to put problems right at your own expense if that happens?

 

If you can make a go of this then I wish you will, I really do. But with the absense of further supporting information, I've assumed that you really are only finding your feet at the moment with the spraying (and comendably it seems that you've had some good results) and so IMO it just sounds a bit too much like trying to run before you can walk if you are wanting to charge people even a small amount of money to do the work. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it is only my opinion.

Edited March 22, 2013 by GLPoomobile

[chris-gti 14]

As Dean said, i would do away with the price sheet as with bodywork no two jobs are even close to being the same. You know roughly in your head what a job will cost on first inspection so you can give a rough estimate on the job total. if your customer wants something set in stone before the job is carried out then you can add it up and give them a full quote. Otherwise you may end up arguing over weather the dent is category A or category B.

 

I like the idea though. it's good that someone is putting some more services into the forum.

[Kezzer30 40 1 Cars]

 

I think you've taken my post the wrong way. Yes, it was negative, but the point I was trying to put across is that you need to make sure you are covering your own arse. Don't ever assume that just becuase you've set an expectation of reasonable/passable quality cheap work, that potential punters are going to understand and accept, or even have the same perception as you. For every 100 decent, like-minded (read: normal) people, you are bound to have 1 arsehole who isn't happy with what you've done.

 

So let's say you've done a bit of cheap work and the guy comes back 6 months later becuase the prep wasn't spot on and a few blemishes have developed. What are you going to do? Can you afford to put problems right at your own expense if that happens?

 

If you can make a go of this then I wish you will, I really do. But with the absense of further supporting information, I've assumed that you really are only finding your feet at the moment with the spraying (and comendably it seems that you've had some good results) and so IMO it just sounds a bit too much like trying to run before you can walk if you are wanting to charge people even a small amount of money to do the work. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it is only my opinion.

 

No no i understand what your saying but if there happy with the job at the start then thats the end of it in my eyes i mean , chips and scratches happen over time thats not my fault etc

 

And yes in a way your right i cannot do the job 100% yet and this will take alot of time but i do deep down belive that i can make a few people happy and as ive cleary stated there may be a few issues and so it would be there own decision if they use me etc

 

But yes you are trying to see where it will fail and thats fine

 

I guess after meeting a few members i like to think everyone (on here at least) are decent enought to be able to understand what im offering

Etc

An there will be a few members who would not dare use me due to lack of previous work etc which is fine and reapectable .

 

 

Chris that was just sort of a thing i was using to judge a fair cheap price etc but also i understand