Questions for Paint Shops

After 10 months of flying my RV-7A bare, I'm beginning to make contact with paint shops to get the plane painted. Besides the basic questions of cost, timeline and availability, what questions should I be asking paint shops to evaluate each vendor?

Do they know how to properly balance the elevators after paint.

If control surfaces are removed for painting, will the paint shop allow (require?) the builder/repairman to re-install the balanced surfaces? No pressure washing of wheels unless bearings are subsequently repacked with fresh grease. How do you want the paint shop to handle screw heads (i.e., paint over them or remove and re-install unpainted)? Paint access panels inplace or removed?

Ask for names and phone numbers of recent customers.

John, A friend and I went looking at paint shops and I had three pages of details to ask about. You might go look at some other planes and see what you did not like and make notes.

Here are a few:
Paint system - surface prep, Alodine or not, primer, (chromate or not), top coat, single stage or base/clear,

Rivet inspection
what gets painted and not - antenna, hinges, etc
wing walk
all glass work - - "like it is" or do all the bodywork to make it beautiful even in primer.

bump/dent filling?

Overspray - don't underestimate or assume in the beginning.

paint quality: orange peel, nibs, mottled surface, drips, runs, sags etc. set some expectations.

Just a few points as reminders.

I would submit that you don't lose the overall perspective of the job. Are you looking for a $8500 job? Or an $18500 job. $38,500 job? Are your expectations with respect to scope and detail in line with your budget?
It's important to pick a shop that does the kind of work you expect, in addition to the willingness to accommodate unique or specific wants (such as doing your own dis- and assembly.)
I did NOT say it's important to pick a shop that charges amounts consistent with what you want to pay. If that is your only criteria, forget most all of the pre-qualifying mentioned above.
Everything previously mentioned in this thread above is important, but if this isn't factored in, all of the above may be for naught.

Good, fast, cheap... Pick 2 and you do not get the 3rd.

I do high end aircraft painting, (mostly Lancairs and Evolutions) but I don't do a lot of RV stuff, beyond jobs that need a lot of composite work, because that is our specialty.
I consider it highly important to become familiar enough with a customer to be able to understand where he fits in per the above.
If you are not happy with the quality of my work, it really doesn't matter what it cost, because I have failed to meet your expectations.
If you are happy with the quality of my work, but not the cost, either you or I didn't properly qualify each other for this job.
Some of the posts suggest "expectations" ... we do it the way we do it, and I suspect that that is true of most shops. We just need to keep plenty customers that want it the way we do it.

Brad Simmons
Airframes Inc
Milan, TN
www.airframesinc.com

Thank you all for your responses. I've never had a car painted, and this will likely be the only time I have a plane painted. I've done enough priming on the project, with various devices and types of paint, to know that I can't paint.

Brad, I appreciate your perspective, and I have had a discussion with a shop south of the Volunteer state regarding expectations, as they only do "show quality" work. I'm looking for good looking and durable, but not award winning. I took me 16 years to build my plane and my budget has adjusted several times. I'm budgeting for "middle of the road" knowing that there will be some extras for fiberglass fix-ups and a few minor dents.

I, too, had a limited budget for a paint job last year. I tempered my expectations accordingly. With some research, I came up with some parameters to discuss with potential shops, most of those parameters mentioned above.

The shop I settled on included a block of labor hours for composite work, and I told them what parts to prioritize. I ended up with a good but not show quality job: one or two runs, one or two dust specs, fairings with a few pinholes. I am completely happy with that.

Edit: I used Ace Aircraft Refinishing, Bartow, FL. Well run, ethical business.