Custom Auto Work

Q. Describe the most common types of jobs you do for your clients.

A. Small wiring jobs (stereo), paint jobs, suspension work (lowering, lifting).

Q. Why does your work stand out from others who do what you do?

A. I do a quality job the first time. I haven't had a single customer come back and ask me to "fix this" or "redo this".

Q. What do you like most about your job?

A. I love the fact that I am my own boss. But I also love to work on those muscle cars.

Q. What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A. How long will I be without my car?
Depending on whats being done, it could be an hour to a month or more.

What do you charge?
$25-$35 an hour

Flat rate or Hourly?
Both. I start paint jobs at $1000.00, most everything else like wiring is hourly.

Q. What do you wish customers knew about you or your profession?

A. 30+ years combined in automotive knowledge.
Sata certified to spray any automotive finish.

Q. How did you decide to get in your line of work?

A. I've been working in this trade since I was a young boy.

Q. Tell us about a recent job you did that you are particularly proud of.

A. Currently I am working on a 70 duster 340 wedge car.

Q. Do you do any sort of continuing education to stay up on the latest developments in your field?

A. Starting school in the fall of 2010 for welding technology.

Q. If you have a complicated pricing system for your service, please give all the details here.

A. Affordable Customs
(503) 313 9678 - Matt
Pricing:
Shop Rate is $25.00-$35.00 hr + parts/materials
Air ride - $2000.00 and up
Lowering - $250.00 and up
Shaved door kits - $500.00 installed and metal primed not painted
Stereo Installs/Custom Boxes – Shop rate plus materials
Custom Paint- $3500.00 and up
Simple Paint(see below) - $1000.00 and up
All prices are just an estimate and are not a set price.
We also do oil changes, brakes, and other maintenance on any vehicle. (Call for pricing)
FREE Estimates
We use PPG, Sickens, 3M, SEM and Transtar paint materials
We accept the following payments: Cash, Check, PayPal
While having set pricing for full body and paint jobs is nearly impossible and each job may be a little different than the last, I have tried to come up with a series of options to meet many budgets. These are the kind of packages to give you an idea of how much what you want, will cost.

Stage 1- This is pretty much just a scuff and shoot, and an excellent idea for somebody budget minded with a fairly straight car. I will sand and prep the entire car for paint including removal of minor scratches and chips in existing paint. The car then gets taped up and a quality urethane basecoat/clear coat paint applied. Paint comes just as it's sprayed for $1000, or flaws wet sanded, addressed and polished for $1250. Spraying the door jambs adds $100.

Stage 2- This will get all your scratches and chips, as well as little dents and dings smoothed out, repair areas filler primed, simple trim removed, entire car sanded and prepped for paint. The car then gets taped up and a quality urethane basecoat/clear coat paint applied to the car not including the door jambs. The paint then gets wet sanded and polished. This package runs $1500.


Stage 3- This gets you everything included in Stage 2, but also includes a sealer coat before paint which will give your new paint longer durability, as well as keep back any issues with the existing paint underneath. This will also give you a bit more thorough of a job as I will spend a few more labor hours massaging all the contours and removing trim. This package is $2500.


Stage 4- This is more along the lines of a paint job somebody might want if they were going to be showing the car a bunch or wanted a superior quality job. I would start by stripping most of the existing paint, filler priming and block sanding the entire car, sealing, painting, wet sanding and polishing. It eliminates any possibility of future failure due to the existing paint on the car and will get all the surfaces super smooth, creating an excellent foundation for a paint job using the latest technology. Again, this is something that would get even more love than Stage 3 by the way of MANY extra labor hours, much more attention to detail, and more disassembly before paint. This package costs $3500.


Stage 5- This is the Ultimate. This gets you everything in Stage 4, but after I clear coat the car and it cures, I go back and wet sand the clear and spray 2-3 more coats of clear before final wet sanding and polishing. This gives the clear a LOT more depth. With the step up in package there is a step up in care and attention to detail which at this point would about be best described as downright anal. I will also take care of all the little details. Things like spraying fresh undercoat on the car so bottom looks new instead of caked with 20 years of dirt. Black trim will also be refinished with a nice satin black to match how it looked when new. This would be about $4500.

Stage 6 - This even more over the top than the stage 5 above. This includes an extra fill priming session with 2-3 heavy coats then blocked out again to make sure that the body is as straight as an arrow. Everything else is the same as stage 5 otherwise but adds another 15 hours of work to the process. Package is around $5200.


The above prices listed are with all labor and materials included, but based on using an economical paint line. Its good quality paint and I wouldn't use it if it wasn't. I can get about 90% of all OEM paint codes from about any car since the 70's for that price. Some codes are specialty ones that require pearls and such and can sometimes cost a bit more. Of course, if you want any sort of custom paints or high dollar paints like PPG, House of Kolors, or DuPont, the paint cost may go up substantially higher. For instance I might get enough base and clear of the economical stuff for $400. Some more expensive base/clears might get up to more like $1400.



Since I like to add options whenever possible, I'm willing to offer some of the aspects of these various Stages as “add-ons” to any package.


Black trim refinishing- $75 for all trim on the whole car.
Undercar undercoat refinishing- $75
Extra wet sanding of first clear coat, addition of clear, and wet sanding and polishing for that super deep clear look- $500
Paint door jams- $250

Of course, these are all prices for full jobs. I can also do minor paint and body spot repair. Contact me to see what I can do for all your paint and body needs.

Q. If you were advising someone who wanted to get into your profession, what would you suggest?

A. Wait, the economy is not here for it.