Things to consider when coming up with a paintless dent repair estimated price

A ruff draft of how The Dent Devils comes up with estimated times & pricing?
Several things to consider when coming up with a price but not limited to the following; location (what is it going to take to properly / least abusive way to access the backside of the damage and how good will it be) , depth ( is the dent stretched), size, budget & how perfect of a repair is the customer is looking for.
Most PDR companies choose to drill access holes in the door jamb areas of your car. (Which if this is a leased car can be considered structural damage at turn back!) My way is to first look for factory access holes. Sometimes these are not available or can be in the wrong places for proper leverage or size compared to the damage or maybe I have to use a twist tool instead of straight pushing. If your dent is stretched I need straight pushes to shrink the excess metal. If not the dent will have to much metal and be left high and or oil can (will pop in and out). So the next step is taking off trim panels, belt molding around door glass, side molding, fender liners, tail lights, headlights, rear seats, panels in trunk area, headliners, side windows, doors, tailgates, sunroof............
Why is aluminum more expensive to repair than metal? Without going into great details....it is less forgiving than metal. Aluminum work hardens very easy if over worked or worked like metal, it's springiness is one of the things that gives its strength and cannot be shrank like metal so repair times are drastically increased by 50% in most cases.
When working body lines / contour lines / style lines it has to be considered if the damage is in a ridged or flexible area?
Ridged metal is harder to push so it requires larger tools which requires more open access & more difficult to glue pull if it can be at all. Flexible metal areas are easier to push so smaller tools are required to push the metal which in turn requires less access.
Larger dents; the better the access the larger the tool and tips that can be used to repair the damage so the faster and cleaner the repair can be accomplished.
Leverage;
Needs to be controlled, sloppy leverage can lead to tool tips slipping which increases repair time and increases the chances of cracked paint.
Edge of the panel dents are usually none accessible or very limited with regular Paintless Dent Repair tools. So access has to be created by trimming areas , glue pulling or shaved tools only. ( very few techs can repair things in area’s like rear quarter panel wheel lips)

Old Paintless Dent Repairs;
Someone else has already messed with the dent (this is not advisable because what starts as a soft crown now becomes a nasty kinked area)
Soft Crown (think of this as what looks like a rolling wave)

Kinked crown (this looks like a folder piece of paper, take lots of skill to remove and time)
Soft crease; Most of the time has very little stretched metal but always has some.
Stretched crease; (very time consuming as tip location is difficult, lot of time shrinking the stretched area in the center of the damage, also heat is needed to lessen the chances of splitting cracking the paint)
Color;
Slivers , gold , white ( these colors need to be pushed softer and slower or the metallic will flip flop when the sun reflects off them and also crack easer but the good thing is they do not have to be as straight but it is harder to see what you are doing to repair them so it is a “catch 22”)
3 stage / Tri Coat White Pearl and other 3 stages / Tri Coat paints; need more care to repair as they will crack if repaired cold, if the tech tries to rush the repair aggressively. Sometimes even though the paint did not crack on impact it could still crack upon the first push or later on in the repair proccess, Also run a higher risk of paint delaminating when glue pulling is the only repaired method.
Darker metallics and solid colors;
(need to be repaired straighter but are easier to see when repairing and do not show micro cracks like light colors and metallic's but care must still be taken or you can see your tap marks and if you over push)
High line verses low end cars; high end cars are easier to repair as the metal has better memory and the paint is more flexible
Factory Paint or Repainted;
Factory paint is most of the time more flexible than repainted cars and will withstand glue pulling most of the time.
Repainted cars have a higher risk of the paint cracking or delaminating if glue pulling is the option needed to repair your damage.
Lighting;
What a repair tech cannot see they cannot fix or is more difficult. Lighter colors are harder to see than darker colors. Lighter colors can be imposable to see the tool tip in direct sunlight, glare or moving reflections across the area to be repaired such as shadows or customers walking in-between the repair.

Here are a few average prices ranges to properly take off the following items of a car for proper access;
Rear Taillights; each $20 to $100
(Some have to have the trunk rear trim and side panels and the rear bumper taken off to access hidden bolts and screws)
Headlights ; each $20 to $125
(Sometimes front bumper and other pieces must be taken off to access hidden mounting bolts)
Does not include headlight alignment but most times is not needed unless headlight was out of adjustment to begin with*
Door panels; $25 to $125 ( some doors have hidden mounting hardware and clips so they take more time to R&I plus once the panels are off things like speakers and other trim must be still R&I'd to achieve access )
Side mirror; $25 to $75
Door Belt moldings; $20 to $50 each
Remove & Install;
Doors; $50 to $200
(Does not include interior panel)

Hood; $50 to $125
Hood underside protection pad $25 (plus clips if needed)
Trunk; $50 to $100
Underside trim; $35
Headliners complete with or without air bags
$100 to $500
Sunroof; additional $50 to $300
Windshield, rear glass, quarter glass or Door glass (laminated / safety /);
$100 to $300 each