Gas tank painting price question

 It's still early here so I'll have an orange juice for now, order what
you want.
I'm having my two fuel tanks painted (pictures are next door, i almost
blew it up, dent,etc.) I'm interested in knowing how much I should
expect to pay for labor to finish the job.
Here's where I'm at: Both tanks are removed, cleaned (inside and out),
dent pulled out of the damaged tank, hole welded and grinded down, and
I made a spiffy tank holder stand that they are both bolted to. I
purchased both decals, one pint of paint (half pint of top coat, half
pint of base coat), and the paint reducer.
What they will do: Apply bondo on the dented area, sand, apply paint
(it's a tricoat paint), apply decals, apply clear, rub out.
If anyone has experience in painting, what would you charge for this
work? It's at a friends collision shop and I want to be fair about
paying them. They might give me the friend price but the guy has
overhead to pay and I want to make sure I give him enough. I believe a
friend shouldn't question the cost of doing business on a project or
he's really not a true friend, everyone has to make money.
Thanks in advance.

Walt
'92 flstc

 

i looked at the tank holders.  why?  how do the back sides and places where
they are bolted up get painted.  i would hang them from a hook so that i
could paint the backs, undersides and all the other nooks and crannys.



i would pull the other tins, wet sand them and reclear them while i was
painting the tanks.  in my experience it is easier to get a good color match
this way but i am a hack when it comes to spraying paint so i have to take
extra steps.


how much did the supplies cost you?  double the price of the paint and you
are probably close unless you bought cheap paint.  if you drilled holes and
welded on the tanks i would be tempted to line the inside of the tanks
before i painted them.  do not use the "creme" (sp) brand you see almost
everywhere.  you would be better off without it.  POR 15 is the best tank
liner i have found.



personally i would do this for a real friend for free if they were willing
to wait.  if their bike was down until the tanks were done and they wanted
to ride this year, i would charge them a 100 to 200 bucks according to level
of friendship.  some chump off the street would pay at least 400 bucks.