Hi everyone.

I own a 2008 Softail Deluxe and bought Tsukayu primed hard bags for them.

Over the summer I won a custom bike paint job in a raffle. I told the guy I just wanted my Tsukayu hard bags (that are primed) painted to match my bike, and he happily agreed.

I was planning on having another person airbrush a hummingbird mural on them afterwards, but this guy I found out also does airbrushing.

I've asked him to give me a price quote on the airbrushing, and he told me to give him a budget.

That's not gonna work for me.... first of all, I have no idea how to price airbrushing and I'm sure he knows this.

Second, it's complicated since the paint job on the bags is free. I just want to know the price of the airbrushing.

Here's what I want: a mural of a flying hummingbird into flowers, faded off into the base paint as a vinette, and the exact mirror image on the other bag. Below pic is pretty much what I want.

Does anyone have any educated estimate on such work? I'm clueless and don't want to be taken advantage of. There must be a way to estimate this work.

Thanks!!!

 

He's probably basing it on the hours involved..
If you won a free paint job, the painter probably had an idea about how many hours he would have in the "freebie" , figured his hourly rate accordingly, and gave a prize based on that mythical number.

He wants to know your budget so he can see if it's a good trade for him.

For flat rate, I would easily believe $50.00 per hour.
How much is costs depends on how detailed you want to get with the final piece


..

 

First of all... I hope you're a chick as I can't imagine a guy wanting to paint a hummingbird & flowers on his bike.

As for the paint... Most of the cost of any paint job is in the prep work. If I understand you correctly, the airbrush artist is the same guy who is already going to be painting the bags. If that is correct, there is a lot less work involved to add the airbrushed art. He'll spray his base coat, maybe a mid coat clear before he starts airbrushing, do the airbrush work, then clear everything.

Airbrush work is hard to price - it really depends on the artist and the amount of detail. I could see someone charging anywhere from $200-$500 per bag.

It's really dumb for the artist to be asking you for a number. The question is, what would *HE* charge to do the work, right. WTF?

Screw it, tell him your budget is $200.

 

Double post. HDF strikes again.

 

knightking on this forum may be able to help.
A little birdie (pun intended) told me he may know a thing or two about such matters.

 

I'd like it better if the hummingbird was showing flames. Have you considered replacing the bird with say a P-51 Mustang......Just wonderin

 

First of all I hope you are a girl. I would tell him 100-200 and let him come back with a number. It sounds like he wants to play games so just go along. When someone plays that **** with me I get real stupid and start playing hard ball.

 

I would never tell him what my budget is, hes the one doing the painting, he should have a REAL good idea what he wants, and if he is doing part of it free, he should still be able to figure that for you...unless this is a hobby for him he is trying to break into and not a living.

 

He should be able to give you a price based upon a graphic/image that you show him.

but it is also not uncommon for a painter to ask what your budget is to see if there is if a deal can be worked out. For the most part they want the business as much as you want to pay for it. You guys just need to find the middle ground that you both can agree on.

 

Yes of course I'm a chick! Thanks everyone for your replies, this should help when I email him back.