If your mate is starting out and needs the business to promote his work then he will give you a good deal. If your car comes back mint, post pics on the forum and im sure other people would contact him for a respray. As mentioned seeing previous work is a must especially if your car requires welding etc. You want to see it's being done properly. If he is planning on doing a good job he won't mind if you ask him for images of the progress he is making.
My paint job cost £1800 all in. It was done by a very experienced painter and included a small amount of welding but generally you do get what you pay for. The painter gave me a step by step picture DVD of the work done on my car which is pretty cool so I could see all of the stages. Paint & clear coat costs and quality vary hugely as with everything. The paint job I got was discounted slightly, I knew it would be done well because my landlord had his Ferrari Dino resprayed at the same time by the same bloke, if it's good enough for his car it's good enough for my mk2!
There is a vw camper restoration works near where I used to live and the paint jobs on some of those vans can easily cost 7k+. Have a look on his website:
www.thehotworks.com I had some leading and welding done by him and his work is A+.
Hope it all works out and you are happy with the results!
