How to Read Your RV Estimate, One Line at a Time

Every line on the estimate carries a labor type, and the type sets the rate. Body and paint is $210 per hour. Mechanical and electrical is $260. Diagnostics, scan tool work and module programming is $285 with a one hour minimum. Detail is $95. A single repair often crosses three of them: pulling a Dometic rooftop unit is mechanical, tracing why the thermostat never calls for the compressor is diagnostic, and refinishing the roof penetration collar afterward is body and paint. Read the type column before you compare totals between shops.

Hours are not invented. Body and refinish times come from published labor guides where an operation exists, and from documented shop time where it does not, which on RVs is often. There is no flat rate entry for reframing a sidewall opening around a 30 by 22 Hehr window on a 2016 coach with a discontinued panel profile. Those lines read as manual entries with a written justification. Ask for the justification if it is missing. A defensible manual line survives reinspection, while an unexplained one gets cut.

Body time is the labor to make the substrate correct: remove and replace trim, cut and fit the panel, reframe, laminate, fair the surface. Refinish time is separate and covers prep, sealer, base and clear. The two are not interchangeable, and an estimate that folds them together is hiding something. On a laminated sidewall, body time also includes vacuum bag setup and adhesive cure holds, which occupy the bay without consuming a technician, and a good estimate notes that so the schedule makes sense to everyone reading it.

Blend time is the labor to feather new color into adjacent original panels so the repair does not read as a rectangle. It is real work with a real cost, and it is standard practice on any metallic or pearl finish. A 40 foot coach in a three stage white pearl with a gel coat graphics package can require blending across two full panels either side of the repair. Refusing blend time produces a repair that matches under shop lighting and fails in sunlight, which is the most common complaint we see on outside work.

Parts carry two markup tiers. Parts priced at $100 or less carry 100 percent markup, and parts over $100 carry 35 percent. That structure exists because a $12 Kwikee step switch consumes as much sourcing, receiving and handling labor as a $1,400 Lippert slide rail. Both tiers are printed on the estimate next to the part cost, so you can see the arithmetic rather than guess at it. Ask the estimator which lines are OEM, which are OEM equivalent and which are aftermarket, because that changes fit, not only price.

Special order parts require a 100 percent non refundable deposit at order. RV assemblies are frequently build specific and non returnable, and a Carefree awning fabric cut to a discontinued length or a color matched Alpha Systems panel cannot go back on a shelf. That is why we get your signature on the part number, the dimension and the color code before ordering. Lead times get quoted with the deposit request. Onan and Dometic service parts often ship within a week, while Schwintek and Hehr components regularly run three to six weeks.

Two supply lines appear on most files. Paint supplies bill at $55 per paint hour and cover reducers, hardeners, sealers, masking, tack cloth and booth consumables. Body supplies bill at $5 per body hour and cover abrasives, adhesive nozzles, fasteners and filler. When the job involves chemicals, refrigerant or LP, a hazmat and disposal charge of $45 applies flat, once per file, because captured refrigerant and purged LP leave the building through a licensed waste stream with documentation attached to the invoice.

Sublet lines are outside vendor work billed through the file, most often glass fabrication, upholstery cut and sew, or specialty plating. They appear at vendor cost plus handling and they are labeled as sublet. Betterment is the carrier's position that a new part leaves the coach better than it was, most often applied to tires, batteries and awning fabric, and the betterment share lands on the customer. Finally, sales tax of 7.75 percent applies to parts and materials only. Labor is not taxed, so a labor heavy repair carries proportionally less tax.