I've always found disassembly easy; the hard part is reassembling everything correctly.

 

Im currently working on painting an 2001 Ultra. Bike has been stripped of its formal shriners glory (it was a shriners edition), detoured with the removal of tourpak, saddlebag guards, cb, passing lamps, etc. Basically sporting a Street Glide look. Plans are to paint hugger orange, but with mat (denim) finish. Material cost is around $300 so far. The rear fender is to be changed with a Sumac one piece with fillers. Ive also build speaker pods for the fairing lowers. A fatboy fender was installed on the front. Once you do paint work you can understand why it cost so much, in labor that is.

 

I just finished taking my 03 Ultra down to the frame/engine and completely did a restoration. I added a RWD tank and rear fender extension (metal w/fillers) I also bought a RWD "wrap around" front fender. As someone else said, its a LOT of work. I did everything myself and had a friend that owns a body shop help me spray the finish. If I had paid someone it would have cost $5-6K + the parts I changed. I really don't see getting a quality job for $2K.