Dave,
I think you can pay as much or as little as you want for a paint job. It all comes down to "you get what you pay for"! When we had our '74 repainted a year and a half ago, we visited several paint shops, talked to a lot of Corvette owners and asked every shop for a list of references. We chose one because we saw 4 Corvettes they had painted...all of them flawless. Our '74 was totally stripped and had a couple of relatively minor cracks repaired, had the front and rear bumpers and weatherstripping replaced...price was $5,000 and worth every penny!! We also bought separately all emblems and door handles which they installed. The car was in the shop for 5-1/2 months over the winter which was fine with us! This car has won 1st place in all shows but one since then (came in 2nd) and has taken Best of Class 4 times! You can't do that well with a cheap paint job!! Take a look at our Stingray on our site!
Good luck. Take your time, ask lots of questions, and most importantly, look at other Corvettes they've done...and talk to those owners!!
GS Diva aka Elaine