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Paint scheme impact on buyers ?

Larry DeCamp

Well Known Member
Obviously color and trim design are personal attributes.

Unpainted may appeal in order to accommodate fine tuning before paint , pick your own color and trim, and minimize initial acquisition cost.

Yet others will prefer ready for judging and no more boxes to check. Just fly.

Does anyone observe a trend that would suggest one approach is more popular over the other ?
 
Just one data point: Local RV10 owner had a plane with a several year old paint job that was, IMHO, 7 out of 10, e.g., pretty good. But once the owner decided to sell (he wanted to build another plane) he first took it to a well known local painter and had it re-painted, I think $12K in 2012 dollars. He was convinced that he subsequently sold it for more than an extra $12K, and it went more quickly, than if he had not had it re-painted.
My opinion: I think with many buyers, "Looks sell" is very true.
 
I have a friend working on his 3rd RV10 build. His approach is to have his planes protected with a quality, simple white paint job. Theory is that he provides a blank canvas that the eventual owner can trim it out to their liking.
 
Paint

I don't have airplane experience but I've bought and sold a lot of cars. First thing I check is the paint. Inside the doors, hood, etc. Looking for a mismatch. Nice paint is great but it better match the paint code. I would look for an airplane with one color of finish paint. Preferably white or bare aluminum. Stripping an airplane is not s trivial task.
 
First looks

I know for a fact that first look sells things. I don't care if it's houses boats cars airplanes or Widgets.
Clean like you are going to eat off it also.
A study was done on home buyers about 30 years ago. Freddy Mac, Fanny May, Home builders ***, Realtors all participated.
It was determined that out of 68,000+ surveys over how many years I can't remember, that 68 percent of people in the market for a house, decided to buy a house because of curb appeal. In other words they didn't even go in the rest. $100,000.00 dollar kitchen remodel didn't sell the house.
It applies to all venues of sales.
I've been told I couldn't get X amount for something, and BAM I cleaned primped and polished and got top dollar.
Fix anything and make it shine is my policy.
Your luck may be different, I've only been on this earth for 70 years and sold tons of stuff.
Your paint job or lack of depends on how bad it looks. Buyers of aircraft want to fly not build.
Art
 
I work for an OEM selling new aircraft. A few years back we had some white tails from a fleet contract that never delivered (customer ran out of money halfway through). They were painted a bland white with some awkward bands on the tail. I told the boss we really needed to repaint them and he said "No! Just tell the customer we'll throw in a new paint job when they buy it." Try as I might, I couldn't give those things away. Even with significant discounts. Customers just couldn't see past that ugly paint.

In my experience a tasteful and exciting paint job will outsell a blank canvas every day of the week.
 
The first thing people see is the paint job. If they like what they see then they will look in the window to see the panel. If they still like it then they ask questions. I’ve painted for a lot of dealers. One thing they all say is that conservative sells and being flashy and “out there” really limits ones list of potential buyers. Another thing, a lot of RVers like to put something like Pilot/Builder - Bob on the side of the plane. Make sure that is in vinyl so it can someday be removed. If it’s painted, you better hope your buyer is named Bob.
 
Other things

I tend to agree that paint and panel are the big issues. The quality of both the paint and panel are the biggest influence. I've seen some nice schemes but up close they were not so good.

Crappy cowl fit and other glass work can also have an influence. I always urge builders to add a few hours to the project and pay attention to fit and finish and do quality glass work. It will always pay off in the end.
 
@Jerry - Epic!

Paint colour and scheme can be polarizing, see the Rocket lately painted in robin's-egg blue. I personally love the colour. If I were in the market for a Rocket, that paint job alone would have sold me on it. Others were less keen on the colour as can be seen in the replies to the post.

I think a good paint job of *any* colour and scheme will attract buyers, but different buyers for different colours/schemes. You won't be able to predict who will like what.

The most flexible for a new owner would be a single, solid colour, that could be accented with vinyl. Racing stripes/checkerboards/etc. are all relatively easy for the average person to apply if they have a good paint job as a starting point. Were I looking for a new bird, that's what I would try to find.
 
next Step

Great replies.
Now how to I go about finding a good painter? What questions should I ask and what should I look for when examining his previous work?

(Oh sorry, thread hijack!)
 
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