Since I removed, stripped, straightened, and polished the 60 some pieces of stainless steel trim on my 60 El Camino, I've become pretty proficient at it.
I took on a job today that will be a first for me. About 40 pieces of stainless trim for a 57 Bel Air. Most need a little dent removal.
What's the going rate for this type of work?

The guy also wants me to polish a set of 60's American Racing TT's. What's the going rate for wheel polishing?

I know what you're talking about. I have a good friend who was looking to buff up all the trim on a 60 Impala Convertible. He's helped me in the past so I said sure. I was ignorant as to the amount of trim on a 60 Impala graemlins/clonk.gif He brought one truck load one day and the next day he shows up with another truck load :eek: . I eventually told him it would cost $100 and he supplies all the Eastwood stuff. Man, it took me about 50-60 hours I believe.

My conclusion on this would be to charge by the hour. That per hour charge would depend on who he is - friend or unknown. Maybe between $10-15 per hour which I'm sure is far less than the going rate at a professional shop.

Sorry, can't give you an opinion on the wheels.

Thanks Don. I counted the pieces again and came up with 54! That's just the stainless parts. The complexity of the trim on these cars floors me!
This isn't a friend (not yey anyway) but a prominant businessman who is building eight 1957 Chevrolets. He must have a thousand pieces of trim stored. So, I want to charge enough to get some more business, but not do it for $5 an hour either! I'd like to charge a little less than a professional service would charge. That's why I would like to know the going rate.

call a place and find out what they would charge for the same pieces and their rate and then set urs according! :confused:

if the parts are going to be perfect when you are done, that means you are a professional, and you should charge just like a pro.
remember this the complaints come in just the same if you charge a lot or a little.
when you deal with the public be prepaired to get some grief.
figure out what your time is worth and double it.
this way you are happy and the customer is happy.

They charged me here about $15.00 a foot for aluminum trim. Thats canadian dollars.


Jerry

My buddy is buying my old motorcycle from me and part of the deal is that I help him trick it out. So, for one, we are polishing the aluminum frame. I have the equipment for polishing and have let my buddy do all the poslishing work :D . He's a perfectionist though and after all his work (damn fine work too!), he is going to have a "professional" try and give it the final touches at a rate of $20 per hour. I'll be surprised if looks any better.

Seems to me the way to make money in the polishing business is to restore original trim pieces and then resell the pieces at NOS prices as opposed to a steady order of polishing work for a list of clients. Just my 2 cents. smile.gif

Btw, that rate is just buffing not any other metal work.

Some good points made. I'd throw a couple other things in to consider........

* Take photos or video of all the parts to avoid any later discrepancies

* What happens if a part is damaged in the process of restoration?

* Might want to check out a 55-57 Chevy site to see what similar NOS or replacement parts go for

* As a customer I want to know at least an estimate for the total project. $20 an hour, for example, doesn't mean anything to me if I don't know approx. how many hours we're talking.

........good luck

Alex, you have a business mind! A great perspective on this subject. However, it's finding, gathering and buying the pieces that would be:
Time consuming and expensive.
Try finding extra trim for a 57 Bel Air. It's not out there any more. It's on cars or in the hands of collectors like the guy I'm dealing with. maybe it would be worth it, I don't know. One estimate I got on line was for $1500
I'm just looking for more input. Thanks to everyone so far.

Hey Jimmy,

Got an update for you. My buddy got the parts back from the polisher guy. I haven't seen them yet, though. He charged 60 bucks for the work and said he spent a little less than an hour per piece (frame and swingarm) trying to make them extra perfect. Remember, all the surface prep was done and they were already polished really good.

One extra tidbit:

My buddy inquired about chroming the parts. Guy said he'd do it for $250 (same guy and prep work already done), but recommended against it because, "You'll never get chrome to look as nice as this already looks".

So, you might think about adding chroming and it looks like this guy actually charged $30 per hour vice $20. Also, in lieu of hard to find stainless and aluminum trim, maybe there is some market for newer and easier to find parts that people would buy if they were polished (or chromed?).

Now you got me thinkin ...! :D

2 years ago I finished my 57 Chevy and to give you an idea , I paid 500.00 to work and buff all the side , crown at top of quarters, windshield and back glass pieces and a few other pieces . I was happy to get this done for the price . The man was a professional and operated a metal refinishing shop.
His prices were $50 for long piece down quarter ,$30 for all shorter pieces such as doors ,fender etc.
Keep in mind that the reproduction stainless is not good. It has waves in it . the dog leg pieces at the roof are very easy to warp and can be very expensive to replace.
make sure he knows that you can be responsiable for warped pieces.
If you can take an original piece and buff to look good you should be able to get the price of a repo piece, as most people buillding a nice 57 prefer the original.
Have you ever seen so much trim on a car , this is what makes the 57 a beautiful car. If I can help more let me know aas I can get prices on the repo pieces.

Jimmy, would you mind telling me what you use and your process for this. I'm working on the trim for the coupe and keep trying different products that give less than ideal results.It sounds like you have figured out the right way. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Michael
I started out using Eastwood products. They worked well but were a bit on the expensive side. I found a buffing supply guy at a local swap meet. I don't know hwere he gets his stuff from since it's packaged generically. I'll find his # and send it your way if you want.

Originally posted by Jimmy P:
Michael
I started out using Eastwood products. They worked well but were a bit on the expensive side. I found a buffing supply guy at a local swap meet. I don't know hwere he gets his stuff from since it's packaged generically. I'll find his # and send it your way if you want. that would be great, Thank-you sir graemlins/thumbsup.gif