Other Paintwork and pricing

[sturat]

Seems like pricing is all over the place for what people are charging to shoot a ski up and down. It's also very hard to get builders to reveal what they charge for custom work, usually resorting to me asking the customer if they want to divulge in the event I track them down. I don't want to undersell my services but also don't want to scare people away with a big price tag. I use quality paint unlike a lot of others... and it's not cheap to spray a ski properly. Also cleaning up a hull can be an extremely time consuming and tedious process as anyone who's taken on a POS knows.

For those who charge others for paint, do you ask the customers to bring in a ski with everything removed or is disassembly something you include with pricing? I've been having good luck with the other things I am currently painting but if it's something I can set myself up a future with I need to be smart about it. I know what it costs me to spray, time factored in for a perfectly prepped hull.

I guess what I'm asking is what's fair? Time and materials + X?

 

[AAlamo]

I want to preface this response by saying I have not taken on any customers. I’ve only painted skis and parts for myself, my friends, and a couple of skis I’ve sold. I’ve done about 15 or so. I don’t make any money doing it as I have a full time job, it is strictly a hobby that consumes all of my free time. I really enjoy it and love the results. So here’s my advice from my limited experience...

I prefer to use high quality urethane basecoat and clearcoat for any ski I paint, and a high build epoxy primer. I use 3 coats of primer, 4 basecoat depending on color, and 5 coats of clear. Which for a standup hull, hood and some small parts equates to 1 1/4 quarts of primer, 1 1/2 quarts of basecoat 2 quarts of clear. So in paint alone you’re looking at around $3-400 depending on what brand you use. I buy mostly from tcpglobal and specialist paints. In terms of time to spray the ski, I would use approximately 5 hours.

The problem is the amount of time for prep. The better the condition of the ski, the less time to prep it to get it into the booth. But between sanding 220 and 320 grit all parts before primer, filling low spots and pinholes, washing, taping off all areas from overspray, wet sanding primer 400 after dry, and cleanup you have a lot of time invested into prep. Minimum 10 hours but usually way more.

Other materials that add up and have to be factored in: mixing cups and sticks, sanding disks, filler, masking tape, masking paper, acetone, filters, tack rags, wax/grease remover.

And lastly, overhead costs. I have about $1000 dollars invested into guns: devilbis and iwata. $1500 into the booth (mostly in the lights and fans) and another $1000 into an air compressor/filter setup.

So if I was to price it to a customer I would have a cost per hour for prep, cost per hour for spraying, and cost per hour for stripping the hull down and or rebuilding it. Prep work in my opinion should cost less per hour than spraying. You don’t use as expensive equipment while doing it and it takes a little less skill (relatively speaking, it still takes experience and patience. to do a good job. )

Cheapest you could probably do a complete job with materials is $1000 and that’s with a hull in immaculate condition and not putting a big $ per hour on your time. Most likely around the $1500- $2000 mark. Which lies the problem: I don’t know too many people that want to put out that kind of money for a jetski paint job. I don’t! Which is why I do it myself and pay myself nothing for the time spent. But if you enjoy it there’s an opportunity to make money painting, it just might not be $100000 a year.

Best of luck and post pictures of your setup and results! Here’s a couple I’ve done recently.

 

[Sanoman]

@AAlamo you are spot on the pricing.This is what it’s going to take to do a good paint job on one.
l save by doing all the prep work myself before handing it over to a painter.Makes it a lot cheaper.

 

[alex_hockey]

What colour is that blue sxr it looks amazing

 

[AAlamo]

What colour is that blue sxr it looks amazing

Specialist paints shimmer blue over a gloss black basecoat. It looks dark in the shade and bright in the sun.

 

[khaos]

I use House of Kolor and that pricing @AAlamo called out is on point. The amount of disassembly required to do it right is surprising. These are some WIP shots.

 

[sturat]

I usually shoot with PPG concept. It holds up better than most I've used. only problem is that stuff is expensive lol. I did have a bit of a miscalculation issue this week and ran out of white... just so happened to have some nason stuff I cut heavy with the rest of my clear. This is a dodge blue metallic, I want to say cloyster or something like that. It actually came out pretty darn good given the conditions. I spray with a devilbiss gun and an 80gal craftsman 2 stage. Just a harbor freight portable 10x17 and a couple air movers keep it flowing nice. Figured Id shoot my buddys square since it was already apart but I nearly played myself lol



Thats about what I was thinking as far as cost goes though.

 

[sturat]

Specialist paints shimmer blue over a gloss black basecoat. It looks dark in the shade and bright in the sun.

is that an acrylic enamel?

 

[AAlamo]

No it’s a gloss black urethane basecoat with a midcoat clear And the shimmer mixed in. Pretty much just metal flakes in a clear coat

 

[SXIPro]

No it’s a gloss black urethane basecoat with a midcoat clear And the shimmer mixed in. Pretty much just metal flakes in a clear coat

It came out goddam gorgeous.

 

[sturat]

Time to get all the crap bolted down and throw the engine in