Interior designers have various billing methods, including hourly, flat, percentage, cost plus, and combination rates. The cost of hiring an interior designer varies depending on factors like experience and location. On average, interior designers charge $99 per hour, which depends on the client’s location, job scope, and the designer’s fee structure. Some designers charge hourly rates, while others also charge flat rates.
Current pricing models for interior design services include flat fee, hourly rate, percentage, cost plus, and combination rates. Common ways to charge for painting include per square foot, per hour, per room, and per day. Average costs vary depending on the painter’s experience level, type of job, season, and location.
A retainer is an upfront fee paid for a portion (often up to 30) of the designer’s total fee. A designer can also earn a commission on furniture and items they design. Discounts to designers range between 15-20, rarely more than this. Designers are paid by the time they invest in handling the product or service, and discounts range between 15-20.
Most designers use one of the following charging strategies: a flat fee, an hourly rate, cost-plus (also known as product markup), or a hybrid model. Rates can vary significantly, typically ranging from $50 to $200 per hour, depending on the designer’s experience and geographical location. The markup is generally between 2 times net (100 markup) and 3.5 times net (250 markup). Many designers use a sliding scale for markups to help them hit a good profit margin on the project overall.
However, clients often become increasingly resistant to their markup as the project nears the end. The pricing fee for interior designers and decorators is not standardized, and it is wildly all over the lot.
📹 STOP Lap Marks.Tips PRO’s Use To Paint Perfect Walls
How to stop getting lap marks on your interior walls when you are painting. Professional painting tips to eliminate lap marks when …
What is the typical mark up for interior designers?
The average product markup for interior designers is 35, but this rate varies greatly depending on factors such as the type of product being sold, demographic and economic status of the target market, established designers with a strong reputation, and region. High-end or custom furniture and decor items may have a higher markup compared to more common pieces. The demographic and economic status of the target market can also influence markup rates, with luxury clients expecting higher markups for exclusivity and quality.
Established designers with a strong reputation may charge higher markups due to their expertise and unique design perspectives. Markup percentages can also vary by region, with metropolitan areas often seeing higher rates due to increased operating costs. Many states have laws around disclosing markups and commissions in the interior design industry, so it’s better to err on the side of caution with legal issues.
Do interior designers charge a percentage?
An interior designer’s percentage of project cost can range from 10 to 45, with an average of 15 to 30. This includes materials, furnishings, and contractor fees. The designer adds their design fees to this cost, typically with a 20 to 35 mark-up on purchases and services. This billing method is straightforward and involves providing a cost estimate for the entire project, including furnishings, finishes, installation, and contractor fees. The designer must provide the client with copies of all vendor invoices and be transparent.
Another option is a “design for a day” fee, typically for eight hours of work, which averages $600 to $2000. This fee is ideal for small, specific projects like furniture placement, color consultation, or shopping trips.
How do interior designers make their money?
Set fees are a method where a designer creates a detailed project brief and provides a set fee to complete the work. The fee is calculated by estimating the time and resources needed, along with a percentage of profit. The proposal should clearly state the scope, payment schedule, and additional work charges if needed. This approach is suitable for well-defined project briefs but less suitable for complex projects or when the project party is prone to changing their minds or scope.
Is painting included in interior design?
Next Level Interior Design emphasizes the importance of art in every project, as it serves as the finishing touch to the overall aesthetic. Designers aim to please clients and make their personal spaces special by creating artwork that speaks to their design direction and their emotional response. They believe that clients will live their best lives in their newly designed home, and all details must be perfect.
Angela Cameron’s art goals and values are to connect and create artwork that speaks to the viewer individually, ensuring it resonates with the client and their family. Fine art photography should convey the intended message when creating the work.
What is a reasonable budget for interior design?
The cost of a home renovation or furnishings depends on the overall value of the home. A general rule of thumb is to allocate 7-10% of the home’s value for interior design expenses, with a focus on “Mid-Range” products. For “Designer” level finishes, budget around 25% of the home’s overall value. For example, for a $2 million home, a budget of $500, 000+ would be appropriate for decorating and designing the entire house at the “Designer” level.
However, it’s important to note that these prices do not include home renovation expenses, such as construction. Clients often add features or upgrade finishes as the design process progresses, increasing the scope and cost of the budget. To avoid unexpected overages or disappointed expectations, clients should add about 20 to their initial budget estimate. This will leave wiggle room for upgrades and allow for more accurate financial expectations.
Interior designers are professionals who can save homeowners money by providing a professional touch to their home design projects. For example, if a client budgets $500, 000 and adds 20, they’ll end up with an estimated budget of $600K, leaving plenty of room for any changes or upgrades.
Is a 50% profit margin too much?
A good gross profit margin ratio is generally considered healthy for businesses like retailers, restaurants, and manufacturers, while a 50-70 ratio is considered low for financial institutions, legal firms, and service industry companies. These businesses typically report high-90 gross profit margins due to lower production costs compared to goods-producing companies. In contrast, a 50-70 ratio may be considered low for financial institutions, legal firms, and technology businesses.
What are the profit margins for interior designers?
The interior design industry typically exhibits a healthy profit margin, with an average range of 20-30%. However, it is of paramount importance that this margin is sufficient to sustain the business’s operations.
Do interior designers have to draw?
Sketching is a crucial aspect of interior design, as it serves as the foundation for planning room layouts and finer details. Learning perspective and scale is essential for success, and computer software can be helpful, but hand-sketching is the best way to learn. Naqiyah, a hand-rendering pro, shares a guest blog to help grow confidence in sketching in interior design. The process begins with a dot and line, often overlapped with multiple lines to create forms or spaces. Lines are honest and represent what the designer imagines. Before sketching, it is essential to determine the objective of the idea.
What is a typical trade discount for interior designers?
Trade discounts are a common practice in the interior design industry, where vendors incentivize interior designers to purchase their products at a discount ranging from 20 to 50 off the retail price. These discounts are crucial for interior designers as they allow them to purchase items at a lower cost, increasing their profit margins, especially for larger projects with high material costs. Additionally, trade discounts help interior designers stay competitive by offering lower prices to clients, allowing them to share the discounts with their clients.
How much should I expect to spend on an interior designer?
Interior designers typically charge an average of $8, 206 per project, but fees can range from $200 to $65, 000 depending on the project’s size and scope. There are three primary charging methods: flat rate, hourly rate, and per-square-foot rate. Hourly rates can range from $50 to $500 per hour, but do not include material costs. Per-square-foot charges are typically reserved for commercial projects, but some interior designers use it for larger residential projects. A flat-rate fee allows for upfront charges, including materials, providing a clear understanding of the project’s cost from the start. However, additional project management fees may apply.
What is a good profit margin for interior design?
The interior design industry typically exhibits a healthy profit margin, with an average range of 20-30%. However, it is of paramount importance that this margin is sufficient to sustain the business’s operations.
📹 Knoxville man upset over bad paint job on classic car
A car collector in Sevier County is disappointed with the quality of the paint recently applied to his 62-year-old Cadillac.
The car was not stripped as the reporter claims. That would have cost over $3500 in labor alone. It was only stripped in certain areas to do minor bodywork and rock chips as you see on the receipt. You can clearly see in the photo the old lacquer paint is still on there. No modern urethane coatings are going to bond to that. It will always bubble and peel sooner or later no matter what you do or what primer you use. This is not a paint or Maaco issue. This is an issue of Cheap Chuck refusing to pay what it needs to be done properly and why Maaco ghosted him. IT HAS TO BE STRIPPED to bare metal.
Are you kidding me that’s on him, anyone in their right mind would never take a classic car like that to Maaco. These guys have a reputation of doing butter jobs, quick jobs in and out the door without doing any real real body work. Today a good body man in Canada would charge at least minimum of $8,OOO buckaroos to do that kind of bodywork and paint a car of that nature.
I know guys like this… they expect a lot for a little.. means they’re CHEAP.. He got EXACTLY what he paid for… Now take the car to a restore shop, let them keep the car for 7 years, taking it apart, changing you $20,000 per year, storage and handling, plus the shop will probably go out of business or change hands 3 times… AND….. AND…. the same guy that painted your car ar Maaco, will paint your car this time. STUPID..
Maaco is the first problem. $3500. for body work and paint for that size car was a heck of a deal. Also, there are many things that can cause this problem. Just a couple of examples that I’ve experienced over the years are… Waxing the car too soon or using a fast drying clear coat. If the finish gets sealed off too soon it can’t breathe and that definitely will create bubbles. I’ve seen it happen so many times. The only thing that fixes a problem like that is to strip it back down and start over. That’s the very reason I’ve told my customers not to wax paint. If you’re wanting that extra shine, use a polish instead.
Funny story. My dad has a 56 Bel-Air which he stripped and did all the body work himself on. He took it to macco back in 1995 and had their premium urethane paint service done. He paid extra for extra coats of paint so he could cut and buff it himself. Long story short the car looks as good as it did almost 30 years ago today and people at the car shows cant believe that its a macco paint job. Its all about what’s underneath the paint not necessarily who painted it !
You don’t get a classic car painted at Maaco. Their services are geared to modern cars and quick cheap paint jobs. A decent paint job on that Cadillac would cost in excess of $10k minimum. You get what you pay for, and as in any good quality work, preparation is crucial. Unless the car was completely stripped, the metalwork repaired properly and a high quality paint applied, what this man got is what to be expected. For $3500. He got a cheap paint job worth $3500
Cooking.. Well-known blunder – and is caused by one of two reasons, or both. – The body is not completely dry after rinsing with water and before painting, there is still moisture in the primer. Which will of course swell up like bubbles in the paint later. – Collision between chemicals in the primer and the paint itself. Not compatible. Then you get bubbles anyway.
People are missing a important point it’s not the fact he went to macco that’s the problem! It’s that all the old paint bodywork from the 60s70s80s is causing the new paint not to adhere properly, most likely that car has a Lacquer paint from factory. Well a little fact about lacquer paint is that it keeps letting out fumes/gasses or also called VOCs so if you seal it off with new paint, doesn’t matter if its enamel or urethane it will trap in those gasses and since they can’t escape they will push the new material away from the surface, that car needs to be stripped to metal or close it. Then redone with modern chemicals. I and 2 other auto body guys I known will not touch a lacquer car unless you are putting lacquer back over it or going all the way down and redoing it.
If you’re going to get into the auto restoration hobby my advice is do as much as you can. Bodywork is 85% of the project and it’s not that hard (it’s dirty and time consuming though). If you do the stuff that no one wants to do and do it right you won’t have a problem. Talk to other hobbyists and see who they would trust to paint their car. I’ve been selling auto refinish supplies for over 30 yrs and if you use the products properly you will get good results. The issue looks like poor surface prep and a sealer issue. The only way to fix it would be to strip the car and start from scratch
Looks pretty good for only 3500$ !!! Like i said a paint job especially with body work like that would be 15-20$ or more. Paint and supplied could easily exceed 2000$ pretty quickly. I see a lot of body work was needed on that car, too much filler on the panels, but what did he expect macco isnt a restoration shop. He paid 3500$, thats a steal!
I had my 1976 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible painted at my local Maaco and I was shocked at the quality of the paint. It was painted and clear coated for $1,500 dollars and you would think it was a $10,000 paint job. The manager was into old cars and he told me he took extra care in painting my car. I guess it depends on where you go and who is doing the job.
Many are misunderstanding or missing the main point, that in all likelihood, that Cadillac had a lot of surface rust all inside the panels of the car. Rust is like cancer, if it’s not cut out and metal replaced, it will resurface eventually because rust retains moisture. A lot of National chain body shops won’t repair classic cars, very time consuming. Moreover, as some have duly noted, 85 to 90% of the work in painting, is in preparation. If there’s rust between a trunk lid, a hood lid, door panel, underneath etc, eventually that rust will find its way through the metal and paint. Older vehicles, such as this, had many issues with collection of water, because water drainage wasn’t as good as the newer cars are today because the drain holds sign and would become clogged with leaves and dirt underneath metal was never prepped. They would rust overtime, and once that rust starts to blister like that, it just keeps growing unless you cut the metal out and then treat it. Also, nothing last forever, the guy didn’t want a new vehicle. He just wanted to paint job. And that’s basically what he got, overtime. The rust will pull in moisture again and the paint will start to bubble up blister and peel like it showing. The problem is with rust. It’s an organism that eats away. Without seeing the vehicle and it’s original condition first, it may have been in need of a complete frame off restoration, the tail tail signs would be the rocker panels, the door panels, the trunk compartment, and the floorboards of the vehicle, if those are rusted out, in my opinion, they are not worth restoring because you will get yourself upside down really quick on a vehicle.
Let me start with this, you need to completely dismantle a car like this for a restoration. Also, when you strip the paint from a vehicle, you bring it down to bare metal. You need to apply epoxy primer or something similar for corrosion protection so things like this don’t happen. Then you perform your body work then prime it, block it out straight, then refinish. Since they kept the old paint finish on the car and painted over that, the bubbles were bound to happen. The bubbles are the two paint jobs causing a chemical reaction along with adhesion issues that results in the bubbles. The techs at that shop aren’t trained on classic car restoration. Long story short, you get what you pay for when going to Maaco. Go to a real restoration shop where you will pay upwards of 60K plus to do that car right. End of story.
Going to Maaco and thinking that $3500 is a top of the line paint job shows a TOTAL lack of knowledge. Materials alone for a car like this easily tops $5K let alone the hundreds of hours it takes for a collector quality paint job. The real number is closer to $20-30K assuming minimal metal work. Get into expansive rust repair and panel straightening and the price can easily top $100K. Whether or not the car is worth it the labor and materials are the same. Too many complain that a certain repair is worth more than the car well those people should either accept it or get a car that is worth more. Just a harsh dose of reality.
Painted a old pick up truck in the backyard about 20 years ago with cans of spray enamel from the hardware store. Just washed it, taped everything up, and painted it. Only problem I had was my right index finger went numb and was hurting like hell. A few flies and leaves stuck on it but they eventually washed off. I was proud of it.
Many years ago Maaco was considered poor quality and a cheap place to have a paint job, but I did it anyway. The car was a 1971 Cutlass, everwhere I went for service they couldn’t resist commenting what a lousy paint job. Well it all ended when I washed it off in sheets at the car wash a year later. I then had a quality body shop do it
Many are misunderstanding or missing the main point, that in all likelihood, that Cadillac had a lot of surface rust all inside the panels of the car. Rust is like cancer, if it’s not cut out and metal replaced, it will resurface eventually because rust retains moisture. A lot of National chain body shops won’t repair classic cars, very time consuming. Moreover, as some have duly noted, 85 to 90% of the work in painting, is in preparation. If there’s rust between a trunk lid, a hood lid, door panel, underneath etc, eventually that rust will find its way through the metal and paint. Older vehicles, such as this, had many issues with the collection of water, because water drainage wasn’t as good as the newer cars are today, because the drain holes block up and would become clogged with leaves,dirt and water, up underneath doors, panels, border, panels, and rockers, back then the metal was never prepped very well. They would rust overtime, and once that rust starts to blister like that, it just keeps growing, unless you cut the metal out and then treat it. Also, nothing last forever, the guy didn’t want a new vehicle. He just wanted to paint job. And that’s basically what he got, overtime. The rust will pull in moisture again and the paint will start to bubble up blister and peel like it showing. The problem is with rust. It’s an organism that eats away. Without seeing the vehicle and it’s original condition first, it may have been in need of a complete frame off restoration, the tell tale signs would be the rocker panels, the door panels, the trunk compartment, and the floorboards of the vehicle, if those are rusted out, in my opinion, they are not worth restoring because you will get yourself upside down really quick on a vehicle.
I did my automotive paint apprenticeship at Maaco in Burnaby, BC, in the late 70″s. I would paint 10 completes and 2 spot repairs a day for 2 years straight. When I got my papers I quit and went to a more quality type shop. Maaco is for beaters. But boy could I lay down a nice acrylic enamel! Good luck with that Caddy Cheapo, cause its got to be stripped to bare metal! Your Chauffuer, J Bruce, Hollywood North 🇨🇦
I own a restoration shop, for $3500 I would not even be able to strip the car to bare metal. In the photos, it was not stripped, that is why there are paint issues. The old paint is a bad foundation, just like you would never build a house on a bad foundation, you should never paint over an old substrate. To do that car right it should be more like $35,000, not $3,500! The man got EXACTLY what he paid for, GARBAGE!
NEVER TAKE A CLASSIC CAR TO MACCO AS A PROFESSIONAL I WILL TELL YOU THAT A CAR LIKE THAT WOULD COST OVER 10000 TO DO CORRECTLY ALL THOSE CHEMICALS ON THAT CAR HAVE TO BE STRIPPED OFF NOW THAT IS WHY MACCO WILL NOT HONOR THAT WARRANTY THE WHOLE PROBLEM STEMS FROM THE FACT THAT THE OWNER SHOULD HAVE WENT TO A PROFESSIONAL RESTORATION SHOP NOT A MACCO PAINT SHOP
I love these kind of articles where someone has a classic car and they have Maaco do the final paint work. Why? If you have a car that is that nice, why wouldn’t you have a restoration specialty shop known for detail do the work. Hey Maaco is fine for basic or cheap paint jobs. You get what you pay for, but for serious classics….?? Or the dude that is taking his 1979 Trans Am and doing a Rustoleum paint job on it. I could go on and on. Did you also notice that the paint is really Quite orange pealed on this Caddy. That alone shows you their standard.
That’s what you call extremely poor prep work and cure time. I just painted my Powerstroke myself last year with my compressor and a mid grade gun. Never painted a car before but I took time to prep and clean the surface, it came out nearly flawless. I did a two tone and get compliments everywhere I go.
Just so y’all know: that could’ve EASILY been a one hundred thousand dollar restoration (because you have to dig out 60 yrs of bad repair- thereby exposing TENS of thousands of additional repairs needed to even get the twenty foot long beast back to even getting close to being able to apply that ‘paint job’ you were after) 😊
I had a friend who did body work at Maaco they pay 40% commission, he said that the work order he got might say $500 when the customer actually paid $800, He managed to snag an unused work order from the office it has several copies with carbon paper in between, Funny thing is the section where body labor goes there’s no ink on the carbon paper so they can write any amount they want later.
Known as osmotic blistering, bubbles are the result of moisture entering the paint. During application, droplets get trapped inside or below the paint’s surface. The moisture then migrates to the surface, where it emerges and releases. The result resembles a bubble or blister that visually mars the paint job. If conditions are not proper for the paint application there can be bubbles, cracking, and peeling.
I was feeling bad for him too. But then I saw the Maaco sign and thought uh-oh, what was he thinking? No way you take any car for a complete paint job to Maaco that you plan on keeping. I wouldn’t even take a daily driver to Maaco. They simply didn’t do the prep work correctly or possibly painted it in bad environment (for painting).
With Maaco it really depends on the owner and if he cares that the employees have ever painted before. The one I went to I checked over the cars they finished, talked to a few that had previous work done and made the decision. The job turned out pretty good and still on the car 10 years later. Same owners at that location too.
Maaco paint jobs vary wildly in quality, paint and bodywork is not like a franchise burger joint. The guy seems reasonable, and I think Maaco missed a customer relationship opportunity – especially since that franchise location went out of business and now has a new owner. If I was the new owner I would have taken on the refinishing job even if corporate wasn’t reimbursing, it would have been a brilliant move to reintroduce that shop to the local community.
The repair was not a restoration, if it was it wouldn’t have had this problem . Vehicles that age if not stripe completely before new paint is applied will have the foundation (old paint and primer, old body filler) to cause such bubbles to happen . The paint applied is not the problem but the old paint foundation which who knows what can of worms is underneath. Maaco only does a light sanding just enough for it to be smooth before paint is applied, visually all was done correct and is not something you catch until paint is applied and later appears . This is why typically maaco does not warranty vehicles before 1990 and most shops state that for that very reason . Customers should have been told that this will happen on those kind of vehicles and if they don’t want this to happen than to pay for a restoration.Keeping the customer inform on such thing was maaco bad part of it and if it was it was customer lost. Maaco franchise did all they could do by repainting it but it will continue to happen . Customer needs to pay for them to stripe it down completely, body work and primer, and maaco should do their part only to redo the paint for free and all will be taken care of. That’s my take in it .
Like others have said he got what he paid for. I have a 72 Cutlas Convertible that I have owned for 29 years. I worked in body shop in my late teens and early twenties but was busy with my new profession and I took it for a paint quote in 1997 and, with me taking all the trim, bumpers and chrome off myself was quoted 6,500.00. A 60 caddy is likely twice as much surface area and to get a quality job has to be stripped to bare metal as nobody could warranty a spay over not knowing what’s beneath. I was too cheap to pay that kind of money and painted myself. My car had 85% original paint at the time so I preped sealed and painted over old paint. The paint materaial cost alone were over $600 26 years ago. The paint still looks great, A good paintjob on the caddy would cost over 20K today. It’s amazing how people expect to get quality bodywork and paint for 3,500.
I used to flip cars and would have them painted at Econo, which of course is on par with Maaco, however I’d do all my own body work, primer, prep, etc, and give them a car that had basically been stripped of lights, emblems or anything else that would make painting “difficult” for them. Granted, they had a good painter working for them and my cars always came out looking as if they had really nice paint jobs on them. It’s all in the prep work, which is something many people don’t understand. And yes, the cars looked good years later, because I’d always get the single stage paint vs the base/clear.
Chuck, Chuck, Chuck… MAACO?!?!? I have three words for you… NOOOOOO!!! I just had a classic car painted, the supplies costs twice what you paid in total for your whole car’s paint job and body work. I completely stripped my car and prepped (probably saving $10,000+) and the paint job was still a little over $25,000… and that was the “bargain” price charged by a little old man in a dilapidated building that looks like it’s going to collapse any second. Had any other custom shop done the job, It would have been, minimum, $35,000 (again, with all the prep work already completed before hand). Did I go to the little old man because he was cheaper, well, I did… but only because he’s considered to be the best paint man in the northeast. He doesn’t advertise, it’s all word of mouth. His cars are in every major concours in the world. There are household names of car collectors that use this gentleman. World renowned resto shops use this gentleman. There’s a year and a half waitlist… IF you know somebody who knows somebody who knows him. I’m not saying you need to spend $30k on a paint job, but good grief, Chuck!!! You want a TWENTY foot long car worth 30k to 60k with two acres of body surface to have all blemishes, rust, and body repairs made, panels lined up, and painted for $3500?!?!? Talk to people in local car clubs, restoration shops, at car shows… ask who does good work that’s affordable. Someone will know a “little ole guy” and refer you to him. YOU CAN NOT PAINT OVER OLD PAINT!
Oh my goodness as soon as I heard Michael I knew there was a problem and then when I saw $3500 you couldn’t redo that car for under 20 grand if you want a show room finish on an old car like that there is a tremendous amount of work that has to be done to totally restore it for painting and it’s not possible that car is huge it takes a lot of time it takes a lot of sanding and filling and doing whatever needs to be done But to think that Michael is capable of that it’s not even possible I can’t say I feel sorry for this man because I don’t he obviously does not know what it takes to restore A classic car and paint will be one of the biggest expenses you need to go to a guy that’s done custom cars and show cars and then you’ll know the difference…
I spent $20,000 to have my Rolls-Royce painted 15 years ago, and it’s still perfect. A lot of times these body shops not knowingly will wax the car after it’s been painted and the gases can’t escape so the paint is still drying but if you put wax on it it traps the gases and it will bubble just like it’s happening to this man’s car. You’re not supposed to put any wax on it for over a year.
Taking a car to Maaco for a good paint job is like going to MDonalds for a 5 star Michelin dinner.Who cares if you paid $3500.00. They could charge you a million dollars. Price is irrelevant. I have had great paint jobs for less. It depends on the painters experience and supplies. Maaco hires the cheapest inexperienced painters. Once in a while you may get a good painter,but rare.
Guy is ordering steak and lobster at mcdonalds. It sucks that happened but what do you expect paying only 3500 at that place. Most shops the bodywork alone is more than that. If you brought any car to me even a scuff amd spray with zero bodywork will run you 5k, 8k if you want an all over with door jambs and under hood and with bodywork can easily go over 10k
I think I have identified the problem. You took your car to Maaco for a paintjob. They are pretty well known in the automotive world as a bottom of the line shop when it comes to painting a car. They will do it fast, and they will do it cheap. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for. If you want a decent paint job on what is otherwise a beautiful car, go somewhere else and expect to pay close to $10K to get it looking as good as it deserves. Sorry you had problems.
I got my mustang painted at maaco but I sanded it to bare metal myself and did all the body work. I paid 1300$ for them to paint it and while there were some runs and orange peel, there was absolutely no bubbling or paint coming off. The orange peel and runs can be polished out. Lasted for 3 years fine until it got vandalized and the whole car had to be repainted again
Try getting a reputable restoration shop to paint your car (let alone a huge old Caddy) for $3500! I used to have a restoration shop, but didn’t do body and paint. The last project I did was a ’70 Porsche 914-6 GT and the paint and body work was $12k for a bare shell. He got what he paid for, a cheap paint job!
Literally EVERYONE than knows ANYTHING regarding CLASSIC CARS had the EXACT SAME REACTION when hearing that this complete DOPE took a stunningly beautiful 61 Cadillac to MAACO. MAACO… to MAACO? worse, he didn’t take to to them ONCE… oh no. This guy wasn’t satisfied with a single destructive force having it’s way with the old gal. Nope. He had to bring here back for a second GANG PAINT. How can you get past 3rd grade, being a lover of classic, top tier metalwork such as we see here, and the first thing that pops into your tiny, rattle prone HEAD is MAACO? I am appalled at the very idea of the crew at MAACO having at this car. If they had even a modicum of respect, they would have told the owner “we are NOT the right shop for this car. It’s like a car wash that is so bad, your car comes out dirtier than it was before the “wash”
20 years ago I had my Trans Am convertible repainted at Maaaco and it did the same bubble shit🤨🤷🏻♂️ the shop manager blamed it on defective Sherwin-Williams paint and told me to bring it in to be repainted. Luckily, the second time the paint was awesome Sadly, the engine block was overheating and had to sell the car. 😂😅
Fun fact: many national show winners have paint jobs that cost starting at $25,000 and up. just. For. Paint. Repainting an old car requires many hundreds of hours of careful metal prep and body prep, and if anyone ever used silicone “wax”, it requires very careful prep work with solvents. This guy wanted cheap and got cheap. $3500 for paint? LOL
Came here to say what everyone has already said. Maaco for you classic Cadillac? Bro….how could you be so foolish? Did you do ANY research beforehand? Wow. A nice price for a job like he wants would be at least $17,0000. Just came across a guy who spent $24,000 for a paint job on his classic Caprice. Also, the “investigative team” is nuts for even taking this one on.
If you want a decent paint job from a shop like this, you’d have to do all the body work and prep work yourself, so it’s flawless, then just have them spray it with whatever paint you tell them to use. Hell, you could use Rustoleum and some enamel hardener and ROLL a few coats of paint on the car, then wet sand until your arms fall off, then buff it out and it could still come out decent if the body work was perfect beforehand. lol Prep is everything.
I saw this article surfing and oh my gosh had to laugh. Nice car but I have to agree with other post as my painting experiance tells me if you expect a $20,000 paint job which is the area this would have cost due to the size you DO NOT!! Go to a shop like this. Agree bubbles are caused by heat, moisture, adhesion. Should have done your research in this matter.
Who takes a classic car to Maaco anyway? Everybody knows you get what you pay for in the body work and paint industry. It’d be like going to McDonald’s and expecting a steak dinner. Those bubbles are from bad final prep work. Or being touched by someone’s bare hand. (Skin oil) The painter didn’t “tack” the car down one last time, before shooting paint. Which, any good painter always does. 😢
I’m surprised that they gave any warranty due to the fact that they did not fully remove all the paint and start with fresh metal due to the cars age and the products originally used and banned by the EPA . To refinish a classic car you must strip all paint for panels treat any rust and then epoxy primer to completely seal the surface then do body work fill and come back with 2K sealer then paint. A complete paint job would probably be somewhere between $10 -$25 if not more !!! When I seen Maaco a BUDGET Auto body and paint shop it unfair to expect perfection for $3.500 is unrealistic . I sorry for the customer who thought he was going to get a perfect show finish
I bet he took it to several restoration shops for an estimate before he went for the cheapest paint job he could find. I took a classic Cadillac to Maaco but first I did all the body work. removed as much chrome trim as possible and primered the whole car. I sanded the primer with 320 paper in the parking lot before it went in. I got a pretty good paint job. I would never trust Maaco to do body and prep work.
it’s like a fast food restaurant! Why would you chose a fast food restaurant when you can have a 7 course meal and a fine restaurant? A classic car need’s that when it comes to paint care and conditioning! specialist in classic car reiteration are a well worth investment. This kind of paint job is for a car that’s on the road everyday to a construction job!
Wow Classic taken to Maaco 3,500 I know if you don’t specifically point out rust spots dents etc they will just paint right over them . Only 1 Maaco in a 150 mile radius in my area works on classics all the others won’t even touch them the metal is too thick and takes too much labor and skill to get it right that’s what they told me .
He should have told them when they asked if it’s peeling, yes. Because those are not bubbles or blisters. That’s peeling paint, that just hasn’t cracked yet. Likely because of the strength of the clear coat being fresh. But bubbles are in the paint, not underneath the paint. When the paint loses adhesion, that’s peeling paint. So under the companies own words on their policy, this should be covered. And I agree with many comments. Maaco isn’t a place for fine paint jobs. You have to expect some imperfections and less quality work and material. It would be better money spent, taking the car to a painter who does side work out of his garage. Because many of these guys are good painters, looking to make extra money or start up their own paint shop. And they will often charge 3 to 4k for a paint job. And it will be great quality. Paint jobs do run 8 to 12k even as much as 20k for a large car like that in a good established paint shop. But nobody wants to pay that. And when they pay 3500 for what many shops charge 8k for. How can you expect perfection? You either pay a shop a low price. Which means they only make money getting jobs in and out quickly. Which means imperfect job. That extra 5 or 8k you pay at other shops. Is for the higher quality materials. The more experienced painter. And for your vehicle to be in their shop 3 or 4 more days, for r and I. And to prep correctly, mask up correctly, and to sand and polish correctly. Maaco probably have your vehicle 1 week or 10 days.
I understand that “you get what you pay for” however, there should be some sort of governmental quality control implemented to regulate a paint shops job. We don’t want the government to be involved in everything but it’s businesses like this that calls for the intervention. With that being said, I figured that it would be sort of “common sense” that you don’t take a “classic” car to Maaco for a paint job, would you take a loved one to a physician who learned from You Tube or a professional with proper schooling and training just because the You Tube physician is cheaper ?
The first mistake was taking the car to MAACO! It is not a place for classic car restoration or top notch paint jobs! It is a budget shop. MAACO is to an expert body shop what McDonalds and Burger king are to a good steakhouse or restaurant! A low budget alternative, short on quality but affordable and convenient!
$3,500 should have been a huge red flag! Looking at the prep photos, it wasn’t taken down to the metal and properly done from there. A vehicle with that much real estate should have been in the $20k range. Material brand & paint has a huge difference in the quality. Most blisters are caused by poor prep work and rust. For $3,500, he got cheap paint and half fast workmanship, and witjout acid etching the metal
What did that shop paint the car with, a roller? I’ve seen roof shingle jobs with less orange peel and smoother overall finish. Maaco is nothing more then an update of an Earl Sheib $29.95 paint job using $25 Harbor Freight paint guns and Home Depot house paint. I spent over$3000 just for materials to paint my ’31 Ford roadster street rod along with several months part time to prep the body – and tho not a pro, sure looks 1000% better then that Caddy. Oh and those bubbles – probably from improperly repaired rot holes and water
So you take a classic car to a “budget” paint shop and then complain about it. I’m sorry. I won’t even take a 20 year old run-of-the-mill sedan to one of these places because they don’t do the work that is needed to have a good quality paint job, which will probably cost you thousands more (probably in the realm of $10k) if done right (and by right I mean sanding, prepping, priming the metal, etc). These plays are almost like what they call them in the game GTA “Pay and Spray”. I’m sorry but he got what he paid for. Luckily it sounds like it was just a paint job and hopefully not body work, because the paint can be redone by a real paint shop, but he’s wasted his time and money going here to be honest. These places are for people who maybe have faded paint and want to sell a car quick to get rid of it… that’s the type of people who go here, or they just need a panel painted or a bumper (something quick and cheap). I’ll just put this out there.. If it cost a good body shop $500 to prep, paint and mount only a plastic bumper cover (not including the bumper itself) on my car, $3500 for body and paint work on that classic car of that size is a huge huge red flag.
Classic case of when expectations exceed quality of service. I wouldn’t let maaco paint my daughter’s nails let alone a classic car. A run of the mill decent paint job at today’s prices is minimum 10000 to $15000. You’re not paying for the paint you’re paying for the body prep and the hours of block sanding that get done prior to the paint. It’s like the old question who painted your car ? answer the body man. This guys a dope and needs to have his car guy’s card revoked.
Maaco should’ve just said NO. Anyone this delusional is going to complain. They even did body work and he has the audacity to go to the news??! Get with the times gramps. I’ve seen Maaco jobs done years ago and for the price, they aren’t half bad. Well, I mean they are 16 year old first time painting a car quality. But, they are a company to spruce up your hoopties for a year and that’s it.
It irritates me that the news station would even report on this. Macco is cheap and quick decent paint jobs, not for show quality and the news station should know this. I wouldn’t paint that car for less than 20k if he was expecting show quality. I’d have at least 2 months of work in it. What a cheap idiot.
Everybody is saying that he should have known better than the go to there. Maaco shouldn’t do work on a vehicle unless they plan on doing it correctly. There should never be bubbles, orange peel, chipping, etc. No matter how much you pay, that should never be a result of their service. No matter how much you pay, the finish should not have defects.
If to much activator (Hardener) is added to a Polyester Filler it will blister just like what you see. I was a painter/technical representative for 44 years. Get a hold of the paint manufacturer, they will send there Paint Tech, he will confirm your problem. About 15 years ago I was called to a customers house for the same reason, really weird but it happened to be an old Cadillac as well. In that case they sanded out the Polyester Puddy and redid the vehicle, problem solved. By the way, from what I seen the entire job is real lousy …not just the blistering.
I’m absolutely shocked at the amount of snobbery comments on this article. You act like no one should have an old car if they can’t or won’t pay 10 Grand on a paintjob! This car is barely worth that much! It’s a freaking 4 door! Maaco paints more cars in a day than most shops do in a week. If you do your own prep work, including masking, there is absolutely no reason why you should not expect them to do a good job laying down the paint. You all clutching at pearls because you think it’s something tragic that he took this non valuable car to get a discount paint job need to get a reality check. And then look up the roller paint jobs people are doing here on youtube. Some people are still into cars for their enjoyment, not rich people snobbery
You’re not going to get anywhere near show quality paint job anywhere near $3500 unless you do it yourself (assuming you have all the tools and the knowledge to do so). The bodywork alone would have been more than that. M@@co is the Wal-mart of paint and body world. Clear case of you get what you pay for. That being said, M@@co should honor the warranty or at least do a partial refund. Both parties should count it as a loss and walk away as lesson learned.
Just to be clear, this is an example of a car owner going for the cheap solution and expecting excellence. He likely went to the place that gave him the lowest price. If you put new 2 stage paint over a Vintage paint it will fail. All experienced paint and body technicians know this. Any ethical vintage car restoration shop would tell the owner that a patch and “repaint” will fail. 3500.00 sounds like a lot to the average person but that would not even pay the cost of quality materials for a car of that size. Simply looking at photos of work in process shows new work being blended into old repairs. This ALWAYS fails. I have 50 years of Auto collision and restoration experience, industry certifications.The owner is asking a lot of noise and these uninformed reporters are being used in the owners effort to get what he wants.
He should of never taken to Macco not for a Show Room finish spend few buck more and find the best Independent Body Shop with proven resuilts Reasons Why Bubbles Appear in Car Paint accumulation of moisture at points within a coated firm. It occurs when water is trapped because of early overcoating. !!!