So on Friday I sent emails to about 7 car restorers and body shops in northeast New Jersey to get informations so I can choose a shop. These places ranged from auto body shops that do new cars and collision repair to antique car restorers that specialize in porsches and American midcentury stuff.
So far everyone is refusing to give me an estimate, even ballpark, which I kind of understand but kind of don't I work in a field that is prone to scope creep and schedule slips due to unforeseen issues (digital experience design), so I get that people don't want to get locked into estimates that are wilding out of line, but I also know that once you've done similar projects more than twice you can get fairly close, given the condition that the budget is renegotiated after things pop up.
Long story short, the first response I got back quantified the labor for stripping, welding in new floors and filling belt line trim holes, dipping, epoxy priming, 3-stage painting, and undercoating at 950 hours or more at $85 / hour.
This seems insane to me.
Can anyone give me an idea of what this kind of bodywork should take, labor wise?
Or conversely, can someone talk me into not doing all of this stuff? I understand that dipping could probably be the first thing cut from my list, but I have seen a lot of projects that get completely stripped and quality paint done, and I can't imagine that that many people are over investing in their Zs.