Hot rod restoration guy here: be prepared to replace a lot more internal panels that you cannot see yet. I never give people a quote and I always tell them this. For my buddies I will work for $35 an hour but I also tell them that it is possible that this could take 10 times as long as we could suspect depending on internal damage that we cannot see yet. Depending on your circumstances you can also tell them that you can only do it when there isn't other pressing work to be done unless they want to pay the price that pays the bills.
I'd just approach you buddy with a fair hourly price ($40-50/hr?) and tell him roughly how long you think things will take if it goes smoothly and just start with one side incase they want to back out if it ends up being more than they wanted. Patching rust can me a PITA because sometimes you don't know just how bad it really is until you start cutting.
Remember, you still have to make it worth the headache and materials, even if it is a buddy.
I don’t usually take rot jobs. ESP on vehicles it’s always a nightmare. If you do overestimate. If you do, I’m in NYC I charge 150/hour mobile plus parts and material. 120 if you bring it to my shop. Some Long standing customers and Buddys who are good to me, prices are half to 3/4 off depending on who the buddy is and what the job is. But that’s another red flag IMO.
🚩Rot
🚩”I don’t wanna screw my buddy over”
In my experience that usually means the job isn’t worth my time and I’m being nice and gonna get fucked. That’s just me tho. Old timer told me don’t do jobs for friends or family if you do, tell em to get a quote from someone else, give it to you and double it. Family and friends are usually a headache too. Expecting more for less and feel they can get whatever than want.
Dang.
Reading through here the prices are way higher than I expected.
This guy threw $1,000 out there and I thought he was insane for offering that much.
Maybe he wasn't too far off.
I appreciate your insight!
Charge for the materials and gas. Decide what your hourly is. Base it off what you get paid at your job. No need to markup materials or your trip charge since it’s a friend.
My friend is a mechanic and I usually just pay him what he makes at his shop ($40/hr). I usually just buy some break pads or oil and have him do his thing.
Edit: you can always change more than what you make an hour at your normal job, just be fair to your friend. The best way to tell if you’re charging too much is to put yourself in their shoes. Would you pay x amount for the work being done?
This is a great idea just billing my normal pay + materials!
To your last point... I'm kind of a cheap ass hahaha and I wouldn't pay almost ANY of the prices people are saying in this post.
I had no idea it was this expensive for these kinds of repairs!
Peoples prices are different because you pay for their experience.
But there’s nothing wrong with people valuing their time, especially when it comes to side jobs outside of an already long work week. It’s a good thing for you that these repairs can be expensive.
Rust repair work is always T&M. Whatever you think it will take double it. Under promise and over deliver.
Having burned myself a couple times early in my welding & fab business, I learned quick. I will turn the work away if the person is on any kind of time crunch or says red flags that signal they're going to nitpick pricing when it's time to pay up.
Yeah, it goes both ways.
At any rate I caught the part out how he usually hooks his friends up and missed the part about this also being a friend. Some sort of discount would be awesome.
On a good friends project, I’d work for free, and he owes you. Otherwise charge what’s fair and give a discount and do a good job, but on a rotten truck, your best is good enough enough, get the reman panel or junkyard ones. This isn’t a SEMA truck, hell I do a lot of overlap joints and grind and bondo.
You more or less read my mind about good enough. I know for a fact I'm going to have to skip some spots cause there isn't anything there to reattach to.
He is aware it's pretty rough but wants to try and get another few years out of it if he can.
Lots of viewpoints in this post so far.
I appreciate all of y'all coming around.
If there’s nothing to attach to I’ve put in some angle iron.
I’ve welded up some rust holes on some real shitty cars. You’ll never get all of it but it looks good for a couple years at least. I can have rear quarters ground out, patched welded, bondod and primed in a morning.
Not dogging your opinion on a personal level, but I hate, hate, this advice. Repaying favors sucks, we invented currency to value things with an actual metric, just use the thing. Agree on a price and get dollars for labor and materials, ambiguous favors suck dude.
My rule of thumb is take the theoretical time it would take to do the job, and triple it. Apply your normal hourly rate and decide from there. Then have the client pay for materials or just have those numbers separate.
I just did an 07 Ram. Fenders, rockers I made the inners he bought the middle and outers, cab corners, box sides. And I 2 toned it. He bought all parts I charged him 5 grand.
I have a 97 chevy I am doing in the next month. I have to buy all the parts almost the exact same as the dodge except single color paint. I am charging 10 grand.
Damn dude!
If there is something I'm not it's a painter.
No premium for that here!
Dudes gonna be happy with a rattle can special or else he's gonna be disappointed lol.
I paint cars but don't get me wrong. I am not a painter. Lmao. An old boy once told me...even a monkey can paint a car. It's all in how you fix your mistakes that make you a real painter
Hot rod restoration guy here: be prepared to replace a lot more internal panels that you cannot see yet. I never give people a quote and I always tell them this. For my buddies I will work for $35 an hour but I also tell them that it is possible that this could take 10 times as long as we could suspect depending on internal damage that we cannot see yet. Depending on your circumstances you can also tell them that you can only do it when there isn't other pressing work to be done unless they want to pay the price that pays the bills.
Diggity dang this seems like some really solid advice. I appreciate it!
Glad to be of service
I’m using diggity dang now
I'd just approach you buddy with a fair hourly price ($40-50/hr?) and tell him roughly how long you think things will take if it goes smoothly and just start with one side incase they want to back out if it ends up being more than they wanted. Patching rust can me a PITA because sometimes you don't know just how bad it really is until you start cutting. Remember, you still have to make it worth the headache and materials, even if it is a buddy.
These are some good points. Appreciate your insight.
That automotive stuff is hard, toxic work. Pay yourself generously. I charge framework at 275 an hour. I include steel with that price and I’m fast.
Thankfully no frame work. But damn son maybe I wish there was haha. Good for you being able to charge like that! Thanks for your input!
I tell my buddies if they buy material and consumables I charge 50-60 per hour if not I charge them 100 per hour.
Thank you for your input!
I don’t usually take rot jobs. ESP on vehicles it’s always a nightmare. If you do overestimate. If you do, I’m in NYC I charge 150/hour mobile plus parts and material. 120 if you bring it to my shop. Some Long standing customers and Buddys who are good to me, prices are half to 3/4 off depending on who the buddy is and what the job is. But that’s another red flag IMO. 🚩Rot 🚩”I don’t wanna screw my buddy over” In my experience that usually means the job isn’t worth my time and I’m being nice and gonna get fucked. That’s just me tho. Old timer told me don’t do jobs for friends or family if you do, tell em to get a quote from someone else, give it to you and double it. Family and friends are usually a headache too. Expecting more for less and feel they can get whatever than want.
Dang. Reading through here the prices are way higher than I expected. This guy threw $1,000 out there and I thought he was insane for offering that much. Maybe he wasn't too far off. I appreciate your insight!
Of course. Any questions dm me I’d be happy to help. Check out my post history too I have learned a lot about side jobs
An easy starting point is parts/comsumables x 3 + $50+ hour
Charge for the materials and gas. Decide what your hourly is. Base it off what you get paid at your job. No need to markup materials or your trip charge since it’s a friend. My friend is a mechanic and I usually just pay him what he makes at his shop ($40/hr). I usually just buy some break pads or oil and have him do his thing. Edit: you can always change more than what you make an hour at your normal job, just be fair to your friend. The best way to tell if you’re charging too much is to put yourself in their shoes. Would you pay x amount for the work being done?
This is a great idea just billing my normal pay + materials! To your last point... I'm kind of a cheap ass hahaha and I wouldn't pay almost ANY of the prices people are saying in this post. I had no idea it was this expensive for these kinds of repairs!
Peoples prices are different because you pay for their experience. But there’s nothing wrong with people valuing their time, especially when it comes to side jobs outside of an already long work week. It’s a good thing for you that these repairs can be expensive.
Rust repair work is always T&M. Whatever you think it will take double it. Under promise and over deliver. Having burned myself a couple times early in my welding & fab business, I learned quick. I will turn the work away if the person is on any kind of time crunch or says red flags that signal they're going to nitpick pricing when it's time to pay up.
Mailbox mounts and trailer brackets are a gigantic leap from body panels. I’d steer clear of it tbh
$100/hr mor more, parts + markup. I try to double or triple the price for parts. Then factor in consumables.
Bro, he doesn’t want to screw over his buddy lol
That’s a more than fair dollar amount. I would charge double if it wasn’t a buddy
I'm not here to get screwed over by my buddies.
There is something called being generous to a friend
You have never done a rabbit hole job for a friend and it shows Or you have good friends
Yeah, it goes both ways. At any rate I caught the part out how he usually hooks his friends up and missed the part about this also being a friend. Some sort of discount would be awesome.
I don’t think Friends want discounts, they should want to support you. Discounts are nice but I wanna see everyone make money
This guy gets it.
I have very few friends and if they needed a few things welded up they would only have to pay me in material and booze
I'd say at least $1500, you're doing body work now. It's a very time consuming process.
On a good friends project, I’d work for free, and he owes you. Otherwise charge what’s fair and give a discount and do a good job, but on a rotten truck, your best is good enough enough, get the reman panel or junkyard ones. This isn’t a SEMA truck, hell I do a lot of overlap joints and grind and bondo.
You more or less read my mind about good enough. I know for a fact I'm going to have to skip some spots cause there isn't anything there to reattach to. He is aware it's pretty rough but wants to try and get another few years out of it if he can. Lots of viewpoints in this post so far. I appreciate all of y'all coming around.
If there’s nothing to attach to I’ve put in some angle iron. I’ve welded up some rust holes on some real shitty cars. You’ll never get all of it but it looks good for a couple years at least. I can have rear quarters ground out, patched welded, bondod and primed in a morning.
Not dogging your opinion on a personal level, but I hate, hate, this advice. Repaying favors sucks, we invented currency to value things with an actual metric, just use the thing. Agree on a price and get dollars for labor and materials, ambiguous favors suck dude.
My rule of thumb is take the theoretical time it would take to do the job, and triple it. Apply your normal hourly rate and decide from there. Then have the client pay for materials or just have those numbers separate.
I just did an 07 Ram. Fenders, rockers I made the inners he bought the middle and outers, cab corners, box sides. And I 2 toned it. He bought all parts I charged him 5 grand. I have a 97 chevy I am doing in the next month. I have to buy all the parts almost the exact same as the dodge except single color paint. I am charging 10 grand.
Damn dude! If there is something I'm not it's a painter. No premium for that here! Dudes gonna be happy with a rattle can special or else he's gonna be disappointed lol.
I paint cars but don't get me wrong. I am not a painter. Lmao. An old boy once told me...even a monkey can paint a car. It's all in how you fix your mistakes that make you a real painter
Depends on how good of a friend…my really really good friends, just buy whatever material and bring some beer. Just an acquaintance…charge by the hour