Decent paint without breaking the bank...

For you maybe. It's simple but time consuming and tedious work for sure.

 

No not for me, as I restore classic Corvettes so have quite a bit of experience in tear down and put back.
All I'm saying is that anyone who is not mechanically inclined, or lacks experience may come out way ahead by letting the professional handle the entire job.

 

I'm guessing if he's working on a taco, Barrett Jackson auction, show winning finish, hand rubbed by Tibetan monks using diapers hand crafted by virgins on mountain tops isn't an expectation for him.

 

I advise you to look around, A LOT. Forget places like Maaco as they will charge you an arm and a leg. Find a place that is not part of a chain. Since you said you are in the San Antonio area, just being blunt, look for Mexican places. They are usually independent, not union, and will do a good job for a WHOLE lot less than other places. I am attaching a video of the before and after when I had my old 96 Tacoma painted a couple of years ago. It cost me $1700 but was well worth it. A year later, in April of 2019, I sold my 96 Tacoma Xtracab for $6700 Cash, and the paint job certainly helped. I would not have gotten anywhere close to that price if I had not painted it, although when I had it painted, I had no intention of selling it, so that was not why I had it painted. But in any case, here is a video to show you how good of a job they did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iANbomEGAuA

 

I don't know the OP's experience but I also wouldn't say it's a bad idea and discourage them from trying to do it themselves, especially with how much it cost to have someone else do it. A shop might be good at paint but shit at prep and reassemble so it could come out crap either way. At least if you do it yourself and it's turns out decent there is a sense of pride gained and you add another ability to your arsenal. So I would encourage one to try it for themselves.

 

The difference is that if the shop does the prep and it turns out like crap, it's on them to make right.
Sense of pride kind of goes out the window if owner scratches the heck out their new $4000-$5000 paint job re-installing a piece of window trim.

I've prepped myself when doing restorations and have let my paint shop do it. Like you say, it's time consuming tedious work and there's a degree of risk associated.
I would NEVER do the body-work/sanding as part of the prep as if paint turns out bad, your painter is most likely just going to blame your prep work.

 

twas a thing back in the day I believe they were selling completes for like 300 bucks or something. They didn't R&I anything just masked over everything quickly ran a scotch brite over it and sprayed it.

 

I remember those ads, wasn't a bad deal if you had an old "beater" that you just wanted to look a little better.

 

Have known several people who have gone the Maaco route and were satisfied...because the results were pretty damn great for $400. Show quality? not a chance. Work trucks, sure

Their painters can usually lay the paint down really good since that's what they do all day everyday. The skipped prep work is definitely where they cut costs. A buddy in high school did his own prep and had them do a $399 metallic blue paint job on his beater yota. Years later is still looked great.

 

Not inclined on the prep work stuff, people make it sound so simple so it was worth looking into. Definitely gonna shop around, I’m dreading looking into the south side because I don’t wanna get shot but sometimes you gotta risk it for the biscuit