1 step polish+LSP $$$???

Depends on exactly what else is being done. I start exterior details (wash, clay, 1 DA polishing step and LSP) at $100 for small cars-takes about 2.5 hours total, and price and time go up depending on vehicle size. For 90% of the people interested in a detail, 1 DA polishing step is enough to make their jaw drop when they see the car.
 
Scottwax said:
Depends on exactly what else is being done. I start exterior details (wash, clay, 1 DA polishing step and LSP) at $100 for small cars-takes about 2.5 hours total, and price and time go up depending on vehicle size. For 90% of the people interested in a detail, 1 DA polishing step is enough to make their jaw drop when they see the car.
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thanks. they dont realy get why u need expensive multiple steps, all they need is good shiny car lol.

What speed do i polish with? (Makita, LC 5.5" pads. I have m105,m205 compounds) AND LOTS OF DIFF. LC PADS. yellow, orange, and so on.
 
not to thread jack . . . . . but this is great information. My website is in the works and now that i am forced to put up prices im having a slightly difficult time getting things together.



Scott what products are you generally using for one steppers as far as polish and pads go and what else do you include with that?
 
well if you are doing a 1 step polish only maybe a green or white pad and some M205



with the makita you can go like 2.5 on the speed dial which is about 1200 rpms. Scott will chime in though im sure.
 
Either #205 or (at least as of late) Optimum Hyper Polish with a 5.5" orange Erasure cutting pad, although OHP is aggressive enough with a cutting pad to leave light micromarring black paint so I switch to a Meguiars yellow polishing pad on those cars. Seal with Carnauba Moose or Opti-Seal.
 
For That Detail I Start At $150 For Samll Cars.......if You Only Have Lc Pads....try Using The Grey Pad To Apply The M205......i Have Had Great Results On All Color Cars Espesially Black
 
i need to order some 205 . . . . . i have poli seal but not sure i like that. It seems to gum up the pad pretty quick, stains the pad and i don't get a long work time from it at all.
 
LS1-MEX said:
For That Detail I Start At $150 For Samll Cars.......if You Only Have Lc Pads....try Using The Grey Pad To Apply The M205......i Have Had Great Results On All Color Cars Espesially Black
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oh no i have LC pads but im not a fan of them. I have Sonus pads & Uber pads . . . uber pads are great. I wouldn't have it any other way as that was the first flat pad i tried and don't know why i stuck with LC CCS that long.



I still use LC from time to time just to use them up but more so the uber pads.



You actually get correction from M205 on a grey pad?
 
sacdetailing said:
How much would you charge for one step polish, and of course and some bfwd LSP?









how about 2 step? or more? thanks for advise.
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I don't get that many cars that I can just do a 1 step on. If I do I try to charge atleast $300-400 for a 1st step with LSP on average size vehicles. Each step after that is $250-$300. The 1st step is slightly more due to the Prep, Clay, LSP and Dressing.
 
sacdetailing said:
thanks. they dont realy get why u need expensive multiple steps, all they need is good shiny car lol.

What speed do i polish with? (Makita, LC 5.5" pads. I have m105,m205 compounds) AND LOTS OF DIFF. LC PADS. yellow, orange, and so on.
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Please tell me you're not doing a 1 step with a rotary?? that will be bad since you'll most likely leave holograms behind with those pads you're referring too.



If you're going to do a single step job it should be with a DA as Scott mentioned and be able to finish down well.
 
David Fermani said:
I don't get that many cars that I can just do a 1 step on. If I do I try to charge atleast $300-400 for a 1st step with LSP on average size vehicles. Each step after that is $250-$300. The 1st step is slightly more due to the Prep, Clay, LSP and Dressing.
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I agree.



I charge $325 for my 1 step, but that includes interior, wash, clay, 1 step, rewash and LSP plus all the little things. I need to charge more too for how long it takes me.



In many cases I can get at least 50% correction or better and that's worth a lot too me. In some cases of softer paint cars, I can get 75%+ correction achieved and then they're getting way more for there money.



Josh
 
Scottwax said:
Depends on exactly what else is being done. I start exterior details (wash, clay, 1 DA polishing step and LSP) at $100 for small cars-takes about 2.5 hours total, and price and time go up depending on vehicle size. For 90% of the people interested in a detail, 1 DA polishing step is enough to make their jaw drop when they see the car.
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Scott I've seen your work and don't doubt your abilities but how in the world are you able to finish a car in 2.5 hours? Considering an average sized sedan, to thoroughly wash the wheels it takes me 15 minutes working pretty quickly. Wash/dry makes it an hour. Claying at least 30 minutes so I'm at 1.5hrs now. To properly work in almost any polish, about 1/4 of the hood takes maybe 3-4 minutes at the very least. Multiply that by similar sized surfaces around the car (4 roof, 4 hood, 3 trunk, 8-10 sides and 4 bumpers) and I'm at over an hour in polishing. LSP, dressings, exhaust tips, etc. follows.



And this is working like an energizer bunny... would you mind breaking down your process like that just to compare. Thanks





JoshVette said:
I agree.



I charge $325 for my 1 step, but that includes interior, wash, clay, 1 step, rewash and LSP plus all the little things. I need to charge more too for how long it takes me.



In many cases I can get at least 50% correction or better and that's worth a lot too me. In some cases of softer paint cars, I can get 75%+ correction achieved and then they're getting way more for there money.



Josh
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My 1-step (Light Polish Detail.. cool name, I know :p) starts at $250 for smaller cars and it's about $300 for midsize sedans like a BMW 5 series. It includes a thorough wash (wheels, wheel wells, etc. included) dry and clay before polishing. After everything is polished with the one step (I'll usually do a very quick 2-3 step on a deeper scratch or two as a favor to the client) it's followed with LSP, dressing of tires & trim, polishing of the exhaust tips and finally a quick interior dash wipedown and quick vac.



Additional polishing steps are $125-150 and as David said, are less expensive because only polishing is counted for the price.



All that said, you have to price accordingly and for whatever market you're looking to get into.



For example, if I was to apply a lot less polish to the pad than I do at the moment, I would be able to polish out the same section of paint in half the time (say 1.5-2 minutes) and utilize maybe 50% of the correcting power a 1-step has on the paint, compared to 100% if I was to use more polish and polish the paint section for a longer time, 3-5 minutes.



For many average people, who aren't nearly as critical as most of the members on here, this 50% is great looking and worth spending the hard earned $150. However, $250 is way too much even for 100%. To these clients you have to sell the 1-step as a $150 service but also explain what they can expect, or better yet show them a test spot.
 
lecchilo said:
For many average people, who aren't nearly as critical as most of the members on here, this 50% is great looking and worth spending the hard earned $150. However, $250 is way too much even for 100%. To these clients you have to sell the 1-step as a $150 service but also explain what they can expect, or better yet show them a test spot.
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That's your opinion friend, and I do not consider my clientele to be merely "average" people and they ARE as much critical of there vehicles as I am...



They are happy to pay $325++ to have it done correctly by someone who takes pride in his work and make them happy without question knowing they can leave the keys (to there prize possession) and go to work with no one home to monitor the situation. That's called TRUST and you can't put a price tag on that my friend.:2thumbs:



Josh
 
lecchilo said:
Scott I've seen your work and don't doubt your abilities but how in the world are you able to finish a car in 2.5 hours? Considering an average sized sedan, to thoroughly wash the wheels it takes me 15 minutes working pretty quickly. Wash/dry makes it an hour. Claying at least 30 minutes so I'm at 1.5hrs now. To properly work in almost any polish, about 1/4 of the hood takes maybe 3-4 minutes at the very least. Multiply that by similar sized surfaces around the car (4 roof, 4 hood, 3 trunk, 8-10 sides and 4 bumpers) and I'm at over an hour in polishing. LSP, dressings, exhaust tips, etc. follows.



And this is working like an energizer bunny... would you mind breaking down your process like that just to compare. Thanks
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Using ONR, I can usually have the car cleaned and ready to polish in under an hour. I start with the wheels, tires and fenderwells, get them cleaned and dressed (so any dressing overspray gets washed when I was the car's body), then wash the car itself with ONR, claying at the same time. Once you get the area clean with ONR, you can then go over it with clay and then dry. We don't have serious fallout issues in the Dallas area so claying usually goes pretty fast. Clean the door and trunk jambs.



Then an hour of polishing, CMW takes 15 minutes or so to apply and remove, OS about 4-5 minutes to apply. Clean the glass inside and out, quick vacuum and dash/console wipe-down and done.



Someone paying $100-150 ish for a simple exterior detail with 1 DA polishing step isn't looking for perfection, just a clean, shiny and protected car. Corrections take me a lot longer due to the polishing required, along with deeper cleaning of the car.
 
JoshVette said:
That's your opinion friend, and I do not consider my clientele to be merely "average" people and they ARE as much critical of there vehicles as I am...



They are happy to pay $325++ to have it done correctly by someone who takes pride in his work and make them happy without question knowing they can leave the keys (to there prize possession) and go to work with no one home to monitor the situation. That's called TRUST and you can't put a price tag on that my friend.:2thumbs:



Josh
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It's not an opinion, it's a fact. 99% of the population goes to the corner wash for $5 and it has nothing to do with what you or I think.



Maybe you misunderstood what I was saying... I have yet to do a $150 1-step and my clients are clients like you described... critical, want the job done right and at 100%, and happily pay my asking prices. That aside, I was merely pointing out that there's a market out there, as Scott mentioned in the post after you, where clients are looking to spend a little less and get a little less, and it's a market you want to address because there's tons of profit there.



Scottwax said:
Using ONR, I can usually have the car cleaned and ready to polish in under an hour. I start with the wheels, tires and fenderwells, get them cleaned and dressed (so any dressing overspray gets washed when I was the car's body), then wash the car itself with ONR, claying at the same time. Once you get the area clean with ONR, you can then go over it with clay and then dry. We don't have serious fallout issues in the Dallas area so claying usually goes pretty fast. Clean the door and trunk jambs.



Then an hour of polishing, CMW takes 15 minutes or so to apply and remove, OS about 4-5 minutes to apply. Clean the glass inside and out, quick vacuum and dash/console wipe-down and done.



Someone paying $100-150 ish for a simple exterior detail with 1 DA polishing step isn't looking for perfection, just a clean, shiny and protected car. Corrections take me a lot longer due to the polishing required, along with deeper cleaning of the car.
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Yea I figured I'm taking a bit longer with washing and claying cars in Chicago is a big pain usually. Completely agree on the $150ish 1-steps... it's about satisfying the client and earning their money.
 
Lecchilo, maybe I am misunderstanding you, but in that quote I quoted of you it sounded like you are saying that $250 is too much for 100% correction let alone 50% correction. That's how it reads.



I do not market my services to the "average" "99%" everyday car drivers, I market myself to the hardcore enthusiast who loves there's car's more then there kids....



If you think the average everyday person is the untapped market, by all means, be my guest.



Josh
 
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