Finishing prices

[Dennis Jarchow]

I have a decent sized project where I will either have to finish myself or sub it out. I am OK at finishing and can get decent results when spraying; but I am really slow and often need some sanding and polishing to get the final coat where I want it. So I am considering subbing it out.

The scope is:
27 cabinet doors and 11 drawer fronts (total of 107 sq feet (214 front and back)
12 face frames. They could be sprayed off the cabinets
2 27x84" pantry cabinets and 2 24" x 30" uppers all with glass doors and shelves that will need to be sprayed as well. All other cabinets will not need finishing. The four cabinets that need finishing could be sprayed before assembly or with the backs off. (total of 268 sq ft)
a 118" x 14" valance (22 sq feet)
A 118" x 42" x 37" bar that will need 3 sides finished, the back is all cabinets. This will be in sections and can be sprayed before assembly.
6 8' sticks of crown and panel moldings
All of the finishing could be done off site and I would transport all the parts to and from the finishers shop. All of the pieces would be ready to spray.
If I was spraying this myself, I figure I would need about 6-7 gallons of EM8000 as this is about 600 sq feet of area to finish

I talked to the out-of-town finisher (Des Moines) that finishes for the door shop I use, and he quoted me $850 for finishing the doors and drawer fronts. But since I also need the 4 cabinets sprayed as well as the bar I figured I would get a quote from a local finisher. He got back to me today and quoted me $5500 for the entire job including materials (he only uses oil/solvent based finishes)

I realize that different markets vary hugely on pricing but given one finisher quoted $850 to finish 38 doors, does a quote of $5500 to finish the doors, plus 4 cabinets, 12 face frames, a valance, and the bar seem reasonable?

Thanks for any opinions!

[Kevin Jenness]

One bid seems low and the other perhaps high though not outrageous but I don't know your market. How much would it cost you to do the work compared to transporting it and having a sub do it? The important thing is to develop a relationship with a finisher you can work with who does good work and will stand behind it.

I would be surprised to see a commercial finisher using oil base products for cabinets. The nice thing about having the work done offsite, especially with solvent based products, is the off-gassing occurs elsewhere. The obvious drawback is schlepping the stuff back and forth. If you can deliver to your customer from the finish shop and install the parts there it will save a step.

The ideal situation would be to have someone who would come in and do the work in your shop as a subcontractor but that may be hard to do.

The last project I subbed out was a bookcase about 5' x 7' with a couple of drawer fronts in pigmented conversion varnish which cost around $650.

[Jim Becker]

Try to talk to local small cabinet makers about who they sub out finishing work to. I agree with Kevin that the two estimates you have now seem to be at the extremes.

[Tom M King]

EM8000 sprays beautifully with airless. There is nothing slow about spraying with airless. With the time saved in transporting everything two extra times, and not having to pay someone else, you could buy a good airless rig, do it yourself, and still come out ahead. It would probably only need to be sanded once between some coats in the process. See the video in either of my current threads. The setup test in that video was for EM8000. No thinning needed. Just stick the pickup in it and go to work. I even have the pressure, and tip figured out for you. I can recommend a rig setup if you are so inclined.

[Dennis Jarchow]

Tom,

Thanks for the reply. I have both a Fuji 4 stage HVLP and a Graco 390. The Graco has been used for spraying paint though. All the EM8000 I have sprayed was with the Fuji. When I said I was slow, I meant that I am not consistent and if I spray four things, three will look great but one is guaranteed to have orange peel or dry spray and need sanding and another coat. That all takes extra time. Not to mention I don't have drying racks, or a dedicated spray booth so the process to spray 37 doors and drawer fronts, a bar, and 4 cabinets would take me some time. I am OK with that but really don't want to screw up 5k worth of doors, cherry, and plywood.

I will check out your threads. Thanks!

[Dennis Jarchow]

Kevin and Jim,

Thanks for the replies. On the choice of finish, both of the finishers said they would use oil or solvent based. The one that quoted the doors says he never uses water based and the other that quoted the whole thing said he only uses water based if the client forces him.

Our town isn't very big and there aren't many custom cabinet shops (Bertch and Omega both have factories here). I asked both the paint store I shop and a place that does custom millwork for recommendations and they both only knew of one guy. The one with the $5500 bid. A friend of mine who is a high end trim carpenter an hour south of me gave me the name of the place he uses and I reached out to them today. If I have to haul the stuff anyway, an extra hour is no big deal if the bid is decent.

Again, thanks for both your feedback.

[Jim Becker]

Many existing finishing businesses have their ways and that's just fine. There's nothing wrong with the stuff they use as long as it's appropriate for the use. They will also have the necessary spray environment to safely use those solvent based finishes which is something that most of us do not. There's also nothing wrong with today's waterborne finishes, either, when what's chosen is appropriate for the use. :)

I hope you find someone if you want to sub this out!

[Dennis Jarchow]

Short update. I got a quote from a big shop an hour away. A trim carpenter friend of mine uses them and spoke highly of them. $3800 for the whole job. I would have to transport both ways. Then I got a recommendation from another carpenter I know for a local guy who had been doing drywall, painting, and finishing but is moving to just finishing and painting. He quoted me $9400. He is using Renner 2k products. Just the doors and drawer fronts were 5k. He made it sound like the big price difference was the materials, but from what I see, the Renner products aren't that much more than ML Campbel like the other shops were using.