I'm looking into some kit aircraft, and possibly some older fabric planes. I was curious what it costs for materials to do it yourself versus what it costs to have someone do it for you. I know doing it yourself is a big time/space commitment.

A recover job if you do it your self and don't cut corners will run close to $7,000 or more depending on your location. Having some one do it for you will run around $15,000 to $24,000 depending on who dose it and there expertise. Be careful of the fly by night kind of people. Take your time and read on it. There are a lot of videos on the subject.Check your local area as well...

Ken in Alaska

It ran about 2k in materials to cover my relatively small wings on my experimental. That was using ceconite and Randolph coatings. Labor is gonna be killer. I had close to 100 hours into my wings time they were done.

What makes this stuff/fabric/supplies so ungodly expensive?
Is it liability insurance again?
I know the chemicals are highly refined/modified crude oil, but really?
Is it the small batches/small market thing?
Or just pricing what the market will bear with few suppliers?

Anyone with insight?
lc

Little cub , what makes things so expensive is at times the lack of manufacturers , or companies who market there products along with popularity an liability. They control the price as well as demand. People now days want to make $30 to $100 bucks an hour in labor.. That's one of the other things that runs the price way up as well. When some one makes $15 to $20 bucks an hour and is paying $50 to $100 in labor we all windup getting pinched in some way or the other.
Just my 2 cents.

Ken

I bought the Clipper as a project that needed one wing recovered. In the end I recovered both wings. I'm looking at the Invoice now and it's $592.27 for everything I needed to cover the second wing including brushes, strainers, tape ect. I paid a little more on the first wing because I bought a spray gun and a couple of irons. You could also figure on +\- a hundred dollars or so, as in any project. The Clipper wings aren't big, but the fabric isn't that expensive : $108.50 per wing. I'm a big fan of the Stewarts System but I do not have any experience with any other system. The first wing took me about three months and the second wing took me about a month start to finish. (I know I'm not giving you the number of hours it took, but I'm trying to give you an idea of time relative the amount of experience I gained after th first wing). An example: it took me two weeks to remove corroded parts, clean them up, prime/paint and re-install them on the first wing. It took me two days to do the same on the second wing! You can't buy experience!

It was rewarding but time consuming. I wouldn't have done it if I couldn't have kept and worked on it here at my house in the shop because of my young family.

Hope this helps.

Clippwagon

Most of the system sites have a cost estimator of some sort. If not, contact them and ask, and don't forget the shipping, as that can be a major factor in all but Stewarts! Also consider YOUR health and it's worth. Doing your own can be a major pleasure and source of pride! It's not rocket science, just takes time and the ability to follow directions and pay attention to details. I'd highly recommend that you at least help, if you have someone else cover your airplane.
The most significant reason the products cost so much is the "hoops" they have to jump through for FAA certification. Even the old systems. Yes, labor costs are nuts, but it's a very small market, relative to the rest of the markets out there for coatings, and the regs that cover it are HUGE.
From personal experience on the "inside".
John

Thanks, John, for the insight.

lc