I think I have fallen out of love with this stuff. I have a few projects left but i think I'm done. I'm tired of people not valuing my time, telling me how they want shit done, stupid time frames(race car shit) and just flat expecting way more than what they are paying for.
Most of all, I'm tired of not saying no. I always go out of my way to make people happy and in the end I end up cutting my own throat. I'm a sucker for a good car story. "Man I've had this car for 30 years, i finally want it nice"
One of my customers has a bunch of painters for his everyday flipper cars. I paint his keepers, now he wont ever ask me to paint these beater cars which I totally appreciate but he will fill me in on the details. These guys will paint completes for like 1500 bucks. primed, body worked, half ass polished. Even then I don't know how the hell they do it. On completes, even with the SPI prices I will still have close to 2K in supplies alone.
As far as metal finishing, I personally don't have that talent. I have enough talent to get the panels really close, skim coat and move on. Metal finishing is an art form, and if you are doing it then you better be getting paid what you deserve. I work on classic drivers and race cars.
And to anyone reading this, the worst thing you want to do is fall in love with a drag car, lol. I've made that mistake too many times in my life! Its heartbreaking. These cars are so violent, they dont even have to crash them to screw them up.