What would a paint job cost if I just rolled my truck in as is? And what would it cost if I did most of the prep work myself?

The body is in great condition with some light surface rust on the roof and a little deeper rust at the bottom of the doors but its nothing major at all.

I'm asking because I have absolutely no idea what paint jobs cost.
Thanks alot!

 

Depends on what you want done work and paints clear coats ect. 100% of the work done around $4-5,000. If you do 100% of prep work and buy your own paint and only need the paint shot on $1-2,000. Cheep paint jobs under $1,000 usually don't last for more than a year or two.

Most places do free estimates.

 

Quality will dictate the price. Crazy is spot on as far as prices. If you did 100% prep work (done right), and trailered it to the booth, you could expect to pay about $1400 for someone to shoot with a four year warranty (they supply paint). You will need about $400 in primer and paint for a solid color. About $300 in misc. supplies for body work if it as you think it is, and about 200-500 hours depending on the level of finish you want. If you do the wetsanding before the clear goes on, it will affect the price in your favor. If you choose to add metallic or pearlized paint, or multiple colors, it will affect your price too. Your question is somewhat ambiguous as far as what your wanting.

 

this is one of those things you just need to stroll into a body shop and get an estimate. most will do that for free and give you a pretty good idea what your looking at aswell as tell you how they want you to do the prep if you do it. some shops won't paint it with a warrenty if you do prep and some will. the cost comes into two things. time (time is the big thing here and huge amounts of time can be spent on just making the body look only ok. if you want it great or like new it is truly labor intensive) and materiel. the final colour you chose impacts cost because of the fact that some finishes require extra steps and coats to get it right.
if you want it cheap and want it to last then chose a basic color (like black or grey even green just nothing fancy and chose one that requires only one color with only clear coat and sanding being additional steps) and if you can or want to learn how you can do the body work. repair or replace the damaged/rusted panels and do the primer and sanding. the prep work wil determine the final product. how smoth it is will depend on how many times your primer and sand. old hands will tell you that you can use plain ol nothing special paint (good brand obviusly) and if your prep is good then you will have3 a fantastic finish but that you can use top shelf paint do a sorry prep job and it's gonna look like some one threw a bag of hammers at it.
if you do the prep at home then remember that clenliness is paramount.
no oil silicone nothing other than paint and thinner should touch that car once you start. it will make it fisheye and it won't stick.
im telling you if you want to do it at home be prepared to spend alott of time on it if you want it to looke good. and when it's time to move it to the shop a coverd trailor would be nice but you relly need to cover the vehicle to protect it on the way there. once it's there i'd pay them to go over it and clean it up and check the work you did. if you just pull it there say paint it and go home. that's what they will do. what you said and nothing more.
by the way if you chose to paint it at home you need to make sure you have everything you need. set up a temporary paint booth so it stays clean and make sure the metel temp is in the range the paint manufacturer calls for. also it helps to have some halogen lamps to bake it when it's done.

 

Thanks ALOT for all that help! I think I'm planning on a dark charcoal grey solid colour. Nice and simple. Also, they wont have to paint inside the box because I'll probably throw some box liner in there. I definitely like the idea of doing my own prep work because I don't have a lot of money to spend. I'm confident that if I'm patient enough and if I find a good prep tutorial somewhere on the internet I can do an exceptional job. I just don't trust myself to do the spraying! I don't think the truck will need much body work... I can just sand the rust off. The only body work it might need is to fill in the holes behind the rubber strip that goes down the length of the truck. If I decide to remove it. I think asking them too look over it once it arrives is a great idea and probably worth it.
Does doing your own prep work include applying the primer?

 

I've gotten a couple of quotes for doing my '93. The low being ~$800 for no prep work, $2300 for prep work, removing a couple of dents and some reconditioning. The highest estimate I've gotten so far, $9,000! That was to remove every fender, door, bed, grill, hood, bumpers, lenses, and sanding the entire truck down to bare metal (peeling paint). That would basically give it a new car type of finish. But for sure, prices vary between shops.

 

The $800 for shooting is not worth it, as I am sure they will not wetsand the paint before shooting the clear or cut other corners. The $2300 for prep and paint is a fair price, but they will not disassemble the vehicle for that price, so it will probably "look" like a repainted truck. The $9,000 is for show quality finish, and worth every penny, as you will not have to recieve it unless it is perfect with zero defects. Let your wallet decide what you want to do, but gauging your question, experience, and what your wanting, I would think you need to save up for the paint job, and dabble in the meantime repairing the dents since they have to be sanded down to metal anyway.