Pricing and Labor Rates in Brea, CA
OCRV Center posts its labor rates publicly. Body and paint work bills at $210 per hour, mechanical and electrical at $260 per hour, diagnostics at $285 per hour with a one hour minimum, and detail at $95 per hour. Estimates are paid and credited against the repair when you authorize the work.
Nothing on this page is a quote for your vehicle. RV and fleet repair scope varies too widely for that. What this page does is show you exactly how a number gets built, so when you receive a written estimate you can read it line by line and know where every figure came from.
- California BAR licensed ARD00288521
- Rates posted publicly, not quoted on request
- Estimate fees credited against authorized repair
- All work performed in shop at our Yorba Linda facility
Ready to get this looked at?
We inspect on the lift, document the damage, and give you a written scope. The estimate fee is credited against the repair when you authorize the work.
Posted hourly labor rates
Every hour on your invoice bills at one of four rates, depending on which department performed the work. A single repair often touches more than one. A collision repair that damaged a wiring harness bills body hours at the body rate and the harness repair at the mechanical rate, itemized separately.
| Department | Rate | What bills here |
|---|---|---|
| Body and paint | $210 per hour | Collision, panel, fiberglass, structural, refinish |
| Mechanical and electrical | $260 per hour | 12V and 120V systems, generators, plumbing, appliances, mechanisms |
| Diagnostics and programming | $285 per hour | Fault finding, scan and calibration. One hour minimum, credited against authorized repair |
| Detail | $95 per hour | Wash, decontamination, interior reconditioning |
What an estimate costs and what you get
Estimates at this shop are billed, and that is a deliberate choice. An accurate RV estimate requires lift time, trim removal, and frequently a panel off to see how far the damage actually travelled. Doing that properly is technician hours, and hours are billed.
- Systems estimate, $150. For a slide, awning, water intrusion, electrical, generator, or appliance concern. Includes inspection, photo documentation, and a written scope. Credited in full against the repair when you authorize it.
- Diagnostic time, $285 per hour, 1 hour minimum. For faults that have to be traced rather than observed. Intermittent electrical, a generator that cranks but will not run, a slide that fails only when loaded. Credited in full against the repair when you authorize it.
- Collision and insurance assessments. Scoped the same way. When a carrier is involved we document to their standard and submit directly. See how we handle claim documentation.
If you decide not to proceed, you keep the written assessment and the photographs. You are not buying permission to get a number. You are buying the inspection that produces an accurate one.
Have a fault that needs tracing rather than looking at?
Electrical and systems faults get bench time, not guesswork. Diagnostic time is credited against the repair when you authorize the work.
Materials, supplies, and disposal
Shop materials are calculated from labor hours rather than estimated as a lump sum. This is the same method insurance estimating systems use, which keeps a retail invoice and an insurance estimate directly comparable.
- Paint supplies: $55 per paint hour. Covers primer, sealer, reducer, activator, masking, and booth consumables.
- Body supplies: $5 per body hour. Covers abrasives, adhesives, fasteners, seam sealer, and cleanup.
- Hazardous material and disposal: $45 flat when a job involves solvents, refrigerant, or LP. Regulated disposal under EPA ID CAL000367879.
Parts pricing and special orders
Parts carry two markup tiers. The lower tier applies to higher value parts because sourcing, receiving, and stocking cost roughly the same regardless of the part price, so on inexpensive items that fixed handling cost is a much larger share of the total.
- Parts at or under $100: 100 percent markup.
- Parts over $100: 35 percent markup.
- Special order parts require payment in full at the time of order and are not returnable. Many RV components are built to a specific floor plan and model year and cannot be restocked by the supplier.
Sales tax at 7.75 percent applies to parts and materials. California does not tax repair labor, and your invoice shows the split.
Deposits and payment
Larger jobs tie up bay space and require parts purchased specifically for your vehicle, so they carry a deposit schedule.
- Jobs over $2,000: 50 percent deposit at authorization.
- Jobs over $10,000: an additional 25 percent when parts arrive.
- Balance due at pickup. No vehicle leaves the property until the invoice is paid.
We accept cash, check, and major cards. Card payments over $1,000 carry a 3.5 percent surcharge, which is a direct pass through of merchant processing fees on high ticket transactions. Insurance direct billing carries no surcharge. The binding version of these terms is on our terms of service.
How insurance billed work is priced
Repairs billed to a carrier may be billed at carrier negotiated labor rates that differ from the posted retail rates above. We bill 16 carriers direct, including Progressive, GEICO, State Farm, Mercury, and AAA. Where a carrier rate schedule applies, we work from it.
The scope does not change based on who is paying. If teardown reveals damage the original estimate did not capture, we document it and submit a supplement. That is normal on an RV and it is the reason a first estimate is almost never the final number. More on that in how supplements and hidden damage work.
What we cannot price over the phone
We will not give a repair number sight unseen, and you should be cautious of any shop that does. Two RVs with the same visible damage routinely differ by a factor of three once the panel comes off, because the question is never the dent. The question is what the dent reached: the sidewall laminate, the framing behind it, the wiring in the cavity, the plumbing run.
What we can tell you on the phone is which estimate type applies to your situation, roughly how long the assessment takes, and when we can get you in. Call (949) 799-3387 or book the assessment online.
Frequently asked questions
Why do you charge for an estimate?
A real estimate on an RV means putting it on a lift, pulling trim, and often removing a panel to see what the impact actually reached. That is technician time and bay time, so it is billed as work.
The fee is credited against the repair when you authorize it. What you get in exchange is a scope built on what we actually found, rather than a number written in a parking lot that gets revised twice after teardown.
Is the estimate fee credited if I go ahead with the repair?
Yes. Both the $150 systems estimate and diagnostic time are credited in full against the repair when you authorize the work. If you decide not to proceed, you keep the written assessment and the photos, and you owe nothing further.
How is a repair actually priced?
Labor is billed in hours against the posted rate for the department doing the work. Body and paint hours bill at the body rate, systems and electrical work bill at the mechanical rate, and diagnostic time bills at the diagnostic rate.
Materials are calculated from the hours, not estimated separately. Paint supplies bill per paint hour and body supplies bill per body hour, which is how insurance estimating systems calculate them too.
Why do parts under one hundred dollars carry a higher markup?
Small parts cost about the same to source, receive, and stock as large ones. The handling cost does not scale down, so a flat percentage on a fifteen dollar fitting would not cover the labor of ordering and receiving it. Larger parts carry the lower tier because the handling cost is a smaller share of the total.
What happens with deposits on a large job?
Jobs over $2,000 take a 50 percent deposit at authorization. Jobs over $10,000 take an additional 25 percent when parts arrive. The balance is due at pickup.
Special order parts require full payment at the time we order them, because those parts are not returnable and are specific to your vehicle.
Do these rates apply to insurance work?
Not always. Insurance billed repairs are frequently billed at carrier negotiated rates that differ from the posted retail rates on this page. We bill 16 carriers direct and work from their rate schedules where one applies.
What does not change is the scope. We document what the vehicle actually needs and submit a supplement if teardown reveals more, regardless of who is paying.
Is there a surcharge for paying by card?
Card payments over $1,000 carry a 3.5 percent surcharge. That is a pass through of merchant processing fees on high ticket transactions, not a margin item. Cash, check, and insurance direct billing carry no surcharge.
Do you charge sales tax on labor?
No. California does not tax repair labor. Sales tax at 7.75 percent applies to parts and materials only, and it appears as a separate line on every invoice.
Written and reviewed by the OCRV Center Technical Team. Last updated .
Book your paid assessment
We inspect on the lift, document the damage, and give you a written scope. The estimate fee is credited against the repair when you authorize the work.