In my area, autobody places have quoted me $600 to $1300 Canadian.

That's crazy.

WHY???? It's just freaking paint!!! You're EM too right? So it's easier to match your paint than my IP. Body shops really irritate me, they get used to screwing the insurance companies, then they just want to screw everyone!

Pretty much, EM is actually decently hard to match. There is a lot of metal flake shiny stuff in there.

But yea, total rip off.

damn it ecktid. got my hopes up for a pro looking DIY paint job

i think around ~$300ish

i actually had it done DIY by a forum member here several years back for around $300, he did a crappy job.

ended up tolerating it until i had some damage done to the front and rear bumpers, insurance covered it, replaced bumpers and painted the sills, looks much better

~$300 isn't too bad really. Considering you're getting a prof job and not having to deal with prep/sanding/selecting pant/dirt/bugs/etc...
Anything over that though is really just a ripoff

I think you guy are grossly underestimating the costs of a prefessional paint shop. Let's put thing into perspective and typical labor/costs. Figure $65/hr tech rate:

1) Remove side sills. .45hrs
2) Clean and prep side sills. 1hr per sill (2 hr total)
3) Tape off front bumper, clean, prep. 1hr
4) Tape off rear bumper, clean, prep. 1hr
5) Prime and paint 1hr
6) Reinstall sills .5 hr
7) Polish/buff 1hr

Paint and shop materials $100

Total cost: ~$550 to $600 and a $65/hr tech rate is low

I got my nismo kit painted and installed for 450. The job is great with over 10000 km and still no chips. It also took him nearly 5 hours to install because I didn't have the rear templates.

Dave has a valid point, but it doesn't take a pro anywhere near that ammount of time. That's 7hr just for lower sills? It only took them half a day, maybe less to do mine.

I had two sets of rocker panels painted... didn’t cost that much either time.

Just going off the two estimates I got 2 years ago.

did he say when you walked into his office, "walking into my office with dirty shoes, now in need to replace carpeting" 150$