"How Much"

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Hi All,

This week I have been presented with a bill of in excess of £8K to get Evlin to picture 3 seems excessive to me anyone had body repairs re-spray carried out latley and could give me an idea of price?

Thanks






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The bill so far of 8k is difficult to comment on because - it very much depends on the time spent + materials used cost so far.
By way a comparison I had my MK1 Elf examined by a well known Scottish Classic Car restoring company in 2008.

Their estimate (time only) reads as follows ; Possible Schedule of work to re-shell Riley Elf MK1 :

1. Clean down new shell, seam seal etc. 24 hrs
2. Modern pain process. 80 hrs
3. Remove front sub-frame with engine/transmission etc. 8 hrs
4. Remove rear sub-frame. 4 hrs
5. Overhaul steering, brakes, suspension parts. 24 hrs
6. Fit-up sub-frames and new mountings etc. 12 hrs
7. Remove glass & brightwork from old shell,remove lamps etc. 8 hrs
8. Remove interior trim, dashboard, instruments etc. 16 hrs
9. Fit new wiring loom to shell. 16 hrs
10. Make & fit new headlining. 8 hrs
11. Fit front & rear screens, body glass etc. using new seals,
glass channels, etc. 8 hrs
12. Fit & wire up lamp, electrical parts. 16 hrs
13. Fit up brightwork, bumpers etc 8 hrs
14. Fit up dashboard, instruments etc. 12 hrs
15. Fit up fuel, exhaust system, fit new water hoses etc. 12 hrs
16. Run car on test ----
TOTALS : 256 hrs

The Labour Rate in Scotland in September 2008 was 48 GB pounds per hour............................
Total labour Cost would therefore be 12,288 GB pounds plus materials plus VAT (plus cost of donour Riley Elf MK1 or MK2) :

Because I could not / still cannot afford that kind of spend plus the fact that I insist that my car (if it be restored ) should still
retain its original 1962 shell - it won such events as the 1990 Circuit of Ireland Rally outright - to mention just one of many succsses -
the car - warts & all - still drives well - so I won't be commissioning any restoration work anytime soon.

Hoping the above " Possible Schedule of Work " can give you some insight into how costs can mount-up and escalate into infinity - if you
allow them to !!
David2010

David,

Thanks for the reply

Yes I understand that price does increase just done a quick calculation from your list around £6K

Evlin is still a rolling shell with no new parts except body work fitted

It was never stripped down completely and remained on sub-frames at all time,
I supplied doors and rear valance

Cheers

It seems to depend on the garage and how much they want the work. A guy near me took his Cooper to a local Mini specialist and was quoted £8000 for some repair work. I directed him to Surf Blue where he was quoted £3000 for the same work!

I reckon you could about do a reshell on a standard roundnose for £8k - couldn't be done for an Elf of course.

Spraywork can be very expensive, especially the prep work. I've just completed my daughter's Clubman; it's taken me about 3 months to complete the paintwork alone. 9 litres of paint including primer, and lots of man-hours of flatting between coats. Generally you get what you pay for in a paintjob and £3000 just to spray the car is not unreasonable. Add together all the prep and hours of labour on the body and it can really mount up. I've spent most of 11 months on our Clubman and that's not counting the two months of work I did in 2009!

Question is, did you get a firm written quote for the work before you started? Because that's the only chance you have of any comeback on this. Sorry I can't be more positive.

Thanks for the replies

Original estimate was 5-6K completed and back on the road

Realistically I expected to be looking at around the estimated price for the repairs to body-shell re-spray and additional welding.

The rear /subframe was repaired changed four years ago with summer use only, the panel work was at the front end with new sills and door steps wing inner and outer A panels and a new front (I supplied doors and rear valance)

To date I have not been given a breakdown of the bill or estimate to complete
I have also not paid

Cheers

The problem with tradesmen that work on hourly rates is that they have little insentive to NOT drag their feet. I work in the building trade on an overall job price not hourly rates and if the job takes me longer than I thought it's tough luck for me and I work alot harder/faster ! If it takes less time then I'm quids in but it's safe to say that if I earnt anything like most garage rates of between £35 and £50 an hour I'd be a millionaire by now !!

I am in the process of rebuilding my 1963 Mk2 Elf which has had over the years most panels replaced. However I had a very rusty floor so my local garage parked it in the corner of their workshop and over the course of three months replaced the floor, inner and outer sills, the heel board, fitted a new subframe which I supplied, completed a lot of very tidy welding in the boot, rebuilt the entire rear bumper mounting lip and replaced the rear skirt. They did a very tidy job and returned the car to me so that I could finish it off ie chassis paint etc. The bill excluding the panels was about £ 1400 and the panels amounted to another £ 300 or so i think. I thought that this was a very good price. Luckily my car did not need painting and the very minor paintwork required along the door steps etc I have done with cans made up by a local paint factor for me. These cans were about £ 10 each and it took 4 to paint the boot, the engine bay and the new floor inside the car.

Stuart