Question to the MacRumors Community

[matdevdug]

I recently had an idea that I wanted to run by the MacRumors community. I have always wanted to paint my MacBook, but after looking at other companies that do it I thought the price was outrageous. So several months ago I decided to just do it myself. After consulting a friend who paints cars for a living, I got some custom paint, took the MacBook apart and painted it. It turned out beautifully.

I thought maybe there was a market for this, so I started to paint my friends Macs as well. Four MacBooks, two MacBook Pros and an Air later, the results have been really stunning. The finish is shiny, the colors are beautiful and so far it has proven to be incredibly durable and scratch-resistant. I was wondering if you, as a group, this that there is a market for this service. I have been charging $100 and still turn a nice profit. Obviously the painting voids the warranty of the computer, but other than that it seems people are really pleased with the results. Could I turn this into a business or is there not enough demand out there? Thanks.

 

[kabunaru]

Yes, you can.
Can you make a MacBook look aluminium (paint everything aluminium colour) and make it look like a MacBook Air or 12" PowerBook G4?

 

[rdowns]

Could you make a business of it? I think so. Would it thrive? I don't think so. I would imagine it takes a considerable amount of time to paint one. Could you do enough to make a lot of money?

Best of luck if you give it a go.

 

[Aperture]

I would definitely try. I just checked and ColorWare will do a MBP for $450, a bit pricey. $100 (or even a little bit more) seems to be a really attractive price.

Out of curiosity, could you post some pictures? I'm interested in how they turned out.

 

[iMacmatician]

I was wondering if you, as a group, this that there is a market for this service.

Anyone who uses Colorware could be considered as a person in that market.

 

[erikistired]

the only thing you really need to think about is that if you mess up someone's computer, you'd have to fix it or replace it. so as long as you have a contingency plan for that, i'd say go for it. it's certainly a lot more reasonable than what other companies charge, but their overheads might be higher as well. when you have to pay for a website, and staff, and a building (with utilities and whatnot) what you have to charge to cover all of that goes up.

even having a disclaimer (other than for data) still might not cover you in event that something gets broken (like a mainboard).

 

[tMac85]

post some pics of your work. I would love to see how they turned out.

 

[CanadaRAM]

There's no way, if you are spending the time to do this properly, that you are paying yourself a decent hourly wage for this.

You have to factor in the cost of the paint, the painting equipment (and the maintenance, cleaning and replacing of equipment), the time and trouble to take the order, collect the money, receive and ship the MacBooks. Then, if you are doing this as a business, the business license, the bookkeeping, insurance, a contingency for liability if you damage or lose a machine (as mentioned above) the business taxes and sales taxes.

That all is why other companies charge $450.