I agree with everyone. Yes it takes a lot of hours to do a car and noone I believe should give you an estimate on time or $. I believe if I tell someone they will have 10k into it and they change their minds or extras come into play they no matter what you say or they say still have that 10k figure in their heads. Now that being said where you are on your car I I would think be just about done. But that's us keyboard cowboys judging it off of pictures. The thing I love to see is guys walking through the door and watching or just looking & taking pics. Helps prove what work I am doing as well as they see it as well as progress. Yes removing a qrt and installing new one they see progress if they are not in the shop often. Now if I am priming and blocking the car say two times in the time they come in they won't really see any progress as the car looks the same. I keep a running log on excell with what I do,dates,parts/materials and have it figure tax in. It then added it up on the top of the sheet. Shows total hours,labor$,parts/materials $,tax total $& amount paid and amount owed. That way they can see what each operation really costs and any time they come in they can see where they are at. I have all my paint materials figured out per spray able oz. That way when I mix up and use 20 oz of primer I log that.
Now if I was you I would ask for documentation on where they have that hours. I did a 58 impala that took a hell of a lot of metal replacement,painted & installed a lot to finish car off. We had in the neighborhood of 600 hours into it.
Best of luck!
Corey
