Yep its nuts i agree, absolutely off the scale stupid, i only do it day in, day out.......and unless you want to do the proper job and then work for nothing......thats the price......for a bumper that needs work before painting. It allows for paying your dues to the tax man, and the sort of bulls**t you find under the existing paint.......we dont even fill 9/10 scuff's that come in on bumpers to us from ph2 clios, most times they can be sanded out as they are made out of very thick material the clio bumpers and removal of the defect wont comprimise the strength, but i make that call on seeing it.
The amount of poor f*ckers these days that come in having had a bumper respray cheap 12months ago, to only have failing paint all over now is on the increase thats for sure. I always ask, how much were you charged, "only a £100" they say , "he removed and refitted and did it in a day", WTF do you expect.........now look at your bill lol.
By the time you've p*ssed around with the rusted to hell under tray bolts, bumper bolts, drilled the under tray rivits out, removed all the plastics from the bumper, cleaned it up properly theres probably 3+ hours gone and ive not even started prepping.