We've had Porsches painted at those chain store body shops (race cars! not our full builds
) and we have had cars painted by the best here in So Cal. You get what you pay for it.
Don't kid yourself, the average pinto owner does not care if his paint job has "Sunkist" written all over it , minor runs, un even gaps.
The majority of enthusiast car owners (not just Porsches) expect good quality work and results. And you pay for that.
Blowing smoke up you know where, telling people they can get a top quality job for 3k or so, just is not fair. I applaud the DIY-ers here that do some great paint prep and paint on their own cars. Very cool. But when you add up all the hours spent , materials, tell us really what you would repeat that for week in and week out trying to make a living.
What would YOU charge for it?
rant over