"Well, how much does it cost?"
This is the most often asked question we hear and the answer is - it depends: But everyone wants a concrete answer, so let's look at what's involved:
For a complete re-cover of a fabric airplane, the cost of materials alone can be $4,000-5,000 currently (and as with all things, the cost keeps going up every year). To recover a bare airframe will take about 250 hours provided that all repairs have been done and the structure is ready for it. Unfortunately, in the real world an airplane arrives in its old fabric and until we have pulled it all off and dismantled the airplane (no easy task either- see the picture) we won't know what we have. There are almost always repairs to be done and a general clean-up is necessary; you only get to certain parts of the airframe once every couple of decades and it would be foolish not to take advantage of this opportunity. Minor repairs during a re-cover would be covered - note "minor"! Replacing rusty screws and hardware, cleaning minor corrosion and re-coating etc. This is where the owner must decide between a re-cover and a re-build; we can do that, but the project grows from a 250 hour (roughly - biplanes take a lot longer) to up to 1,000 hours or more, depending on the level it is taken to.
If your airframe is in good shape and all you want is straightforward re-cover, you can budget for around $14 - 15,000, including all materials (fabric, paints etc) apart from parts needed for actual repairs to the airframe. You can figure out that the hourly rate for a full re-cover is very reasonable - your A&P mechanic may charge a lot more than that. Not to mention your local car dealership who may charge twice or three time that hourly rate. We realize that there is a limit to how much an owner can afford to put into an airplane whose final value may "only" be around $30,000. This s a decision the owner has to weigh, but for the kind of aircraft we work on, it's not usually a question of cold economics; these airplanes are valued by their owners for more than their cash value. So we try to keep rates low enough to make it worthwhile to do the job and do it properly instead of the aircraft ending up listed under the "Projects only" section on Barnstormers.com or Trade-A-Plane.
Bear in mind again, this is a ballpark figure, but we can come to an agreement for a flat fee rate once the aircraft has been stripped and inspected. You're welcome to bring your own mechanic for the inspection, or you can use ours. You will get a concise list of what work needs to be performed and any repair parts needed before the recovering begins.
In addition you will receive weekly e-mail updates detailing what work has been done, complete with pictures. You will never be in doubt at what stage your project is. When the job is completed, you will get an album of these picture in any format you choose. Sometimes this can be useful if you're selling the airplane at a later date, or for your mechanic.
For other work on aircraft such as actual repairs, welding, fabric patching etc, our shop rate is $40/hour which you will find difficult to beat - we love these airplanes and we know we won't get rich doing this - we just want to see them fly for many more decades.
This is the most often asked question we hear and the answer is - it depends: But everyone wants a concrete answer, so let's look at what's involved:
For a complete re-cover of a fabric airplane, the cost of materials alone can be $4,000-5,000 currently (and as with all things, the cost keeps going up every year). To recover a bare airframe will take about 250 hours provided that all repairs have been done and the structure is ready for it. Unfortunately, in the real world an airplane arrives in its old fabric and until we have pulled it all off and dismantled the airplane (no easy task either- see the picture) we won't know what we have. There are almost always repairs to be done and a general clean-up is necessary; you only get to certain parts of the airframe once every couple of decades and it would be foolish not to take advantage of this opportunity. Minor repairs during a re-cover would be covered - note "minor"! Replacing rusty screws and hardware, cleaning minor corrosion and re-coating etc. This is where the owner must decide between a re-cover and a re-build; we can do that, but the project grows from a 250 hour (roughly - biplanes take a lot longer) to up to 1,000 hours or more, depending on the level it is taken to.
If your airframe is in good shape and all you want is straightforward re-cover, you can budget for around $14 - 15,000, including all materials (fabric, paints etc) apart from parts needed for actual repairs to the airframe. You can figure out that the hourly rate for a full re-cover is very reasonable - your A&P mechanic may charge a lot more than that. Not to mention your local car dealership who may charge twice or three time that hourly rate. We realize that there is a limit to how much an owner can afford to put into an airplane whose final value may "only" be around $30,000. This s a decision the owner has to weigh, but for the kind of aircraft we work on, it's not usually a question of cold economics; these airplanes are valued by their owners for more than their cash value. So we try to keep rates low enough to make it worthwhile to do the job and do it properly instead of the aircraft ending up listed under the "Projects only" section on Barnstormers.com or Trade-A-Plane.
Bear in mind again, this is a ballpark figure, but we can come to an agreement for a flat fee rate once the aircraft has been stripped and inspected. You're welcome to bring your own mechanic for the inspection, or you can use ours. You will get a concise list of what work needs to be performed and any repair parts needed before the recovering begins.
In addition you will receive weekly e-mail updates detailing what work has been done, complete with pictures. You will never be in doubt at what stage your project is. When the job is completed, you will get an album of these picture in any format you choose. Sometimes this can be useful if you're selling the airplane at a later date, or for your mechanic.
For other work on aircraft such as actual repairs, welding, fabric patching etc, our shop rate is $40/hour which you will find difficult to beat - we love these airplanes and we know we won't get rich doing this - we just want to see them fly for many more decades.
