Estimate of painting Harley Parts

  • Thread starter moparmusclecars
  • Start date
M

moparmusclecars

I don't normally paint motorcycle parts, but was trying to give a customer a fair estimate as to the cost of painting some motorcycle parts. He wants both fenders painted, as well as the gas tank. All three need to be stripped and repainted in black. He wants a HD decal put back on. Not sure if he wants it cleared over, or on top of the clear. Any ideas on time and what I should charge for such a job? Am i somewhere around 10 hours labor time with stripping and painting? If i figure a couple hours each piece, then paint time, buff time, etc I think I am getting close to 9-10 hours, but maybe not. Thanks for any advice. I apologize if this is posted in the wrong section.
 
hmmm, well if they need to be stripped then i would normally blast them. my price for something like that would be prob around $800. blast, epoxy, 2k, block everything out, sealer,base,clear, sand, buff. your probably a little over 10 hours on all that. 12-13 maybe but that will vary on how quickly you work and your workflow. could be 9-10 or for some it could be alot more for others. fuel tank decals never go on top of the clear, always under no matter what brand of bike.
 
Is the bike hourly rate same as a body shop, in this area its $42 an hour for normal insurance work.
Being custom, I would think it would be a lot more??
 
there isnt a standard hourly rate. i think with cars most of the rate is set more by ins co. with bikes the ins co doesnt pay for bodywork. bikes are all remove and replace parts. only time they pay for paintwork is if there is a custom job on the bike already and that has been insured and will need to be redone. when one of my customers with artwork wipes out and the job needs to be repaired i can usually charge the ins co whatever i want because they cant go just anywhere to have it redone. it has to goto me otherwise they will be hunting the country for an artist to fix it. i dont ever give them an hourly rate but if i figure the total of the job out at $150hr then so be it. unfortunately insurance work is few and far between. most of the time i try and quote someone and figure it out at about $65hr. sometimes in the end i make more but most of the time the job takes way longer than i thought. i dont ever try and figure out what the hourly rate comes out to be at the end of a job. it would probably make me sick. i swear i avg $30-$35hr lol
 
Harley does have labor time allowances for refinish work on their parts but stripping and prime and block would be extra. You may need two rounds of clear to bury that decal on the tank. Charge him a fair rate and bill by the worked hour-that's the fairest deal for both you and the customer. It is amazing how much time it can take to do bike parts considering how small they are!
 
thanks for all the advice. I was just not sure how to handle this job outside of just saying, time plus materials, as I don't normally ever do bike parts. I was thinking somewhere around 700 bucks. I will see where it goes from there. He mentioned he wanted the "HD" decal back on the tank. What's the best way to install the decal? Clear it all out with like 3 coats of universal, let dry, apply decal, and recoat with 3 more coats of clear? Just curious which way is best when clearing over decals.
 
The decal can go right on the base without issue. You can put it on sanded clear as well. Your call.
 
Jim C;29997 said:
The decal can go right on the base without issue. You can put it on sanded clear as well. Your call.
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So best to lay down intercoat clear with hardener, then the decal, then clear over it all? Three coats of clear enough? Thanks for any advice.
 
crashtech;30002 said:
More like 3 coats, sand, then 3 more coats to eliminate the decal edge.
Click to expand...


ok, that's what I figured. I thought I needed to make sure there was plenty of clear build to "bury" the decal. Thanks guys, again!
 
Don't forget setting up bike parts for spray sucks, and consumes time. I got fed up after years and fabricated some adjustable stands, well worth the effort. A make-shift set up can lead to a part falling over, damage, more time to repair. Don't ask me how I know that.
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