Boat Detailing Contract pricing questions

J

jbdetailing

New member
I just got a call from a major boat dealer in New England and they want me to be their primary detailer for all their boats. They said I would be doing about 300 boats (power boats like Sea Ray, Boston Whaler, Bayliner) between April and July. All of the boats are out of the water and will be done at their facility. I will be using all my own equipment and supplies and will be hiring a 3 man crew full time to do the labor.



How much should I charge/ linear ft? They want a full detail including hull and topside polished and waxed, cockpit, cabin, bilges cleaned etc. Basically they want every square inch of the boat detailed.



They said the last company they used charged them $12/ft. I was thinking somewhere between $12-$15.



Any thoughts
 
Do you have much experience on boats? How about your crew? It would be an incredible contract to get, but from my limited experience on boats (I have detailed about 20 this past year) they are a lot of work...more than you would think. I think $13 - $15 would be good as long as you dont have to do major polishing work.
 
Thanks for the reply, keep em coming!



I do have experience detailing boats, but I would say I have only done around 20-30 of them. Of those 20-30 most of them were 30+ft. I have done up to 45ft boats so I know the work that is entailed and it is difficult.



As for my crew, they have limited experience detailing boats. I will have to train them and that is going to be an issue. It will be relatively easy to train guys to do the basic cleaning. As for polishing, I will have my more experienced detailers do that part of the job. The compounding/polishing that the company is looking for is probably a 1 stepper cleaner polish to remove light oxidation at most. These boats are no older than 5 years and are kept indoors in storage, or outdoors shrink wrapped.



Any more advice and opinions would be greatly appreciated.



Thank guys.
 
$12/foot is CHEAP.





If it's just washing, and taking care of brightwork, and the Isinglass windows, and maybe a coat of wax, sure, $13-15/foot is about fair. But for reference, I start at $25/foot for full polishing/compounding, and $35/foot for boats over 65'.
 
I just negotiated $15/ft. The work entailed and the dealers expectations are very intensive though. They want a complete detail not just cleaning, washing and waxing. We're talking every nook and cranny, bilges, head, cabin, gauges etc...However the polishing aspect is not going to be removing severe oxidation. A one-step is probably going to be enough and if its not, I will charge extra.



The dealer also wants to know what my hourly rate is for additional cleaning/detailing tasks--i.e. If he wants just a boat washed and waxed, or a quick wipedown.



I think $40/hr is fair for an hourly rate?



Any thoughts/suggestions
 
I charge $40 an hour for any marine work...polishing, interior, whatever. This summer I will probably start charging $50 an hour, but for wholesale work $40 is what I would go with in my area.
 
Jokeman said:
15/ft is VERY cheap. You have to remember that foot goes all the way around the boat.
Click to expand...



How much should I charge? Other shops around the area are charging $18/ft. I would think $15 would be on par for wholesale.
 
do you know anything about the conditions of the boats? 15$/ft for exterior is great, interiors start at 125$ for me. Have them pay you cash! no NET 30 crap. Sounds like they are subing you out? They will likely tack on 5$ a foot for the clients? How much did you calculate YOU will make per foot, meaning after you cal all your costs?



Cheers,

GREG
 
Greg Nichols said:
do you know anything about the conditions of the boats? 15$/ft for exterior is great, interiors start at 125$ for me. Have them pay you cash! no NET 30 crap. Sounds like they are subing you out? They will likely tack on 5$ a foot for the clients? How much did you calculate YOU will make per foot, meaning after you cal all your costs?



Cheers,

GREG
Click to expand...



The condition of the boats are relatively new. Slight oxidation at most, 5 years old tops. Unfortunately they are not going to pay me cash. I will be doing over 300 boats over the course of 4 months so that will be over $100,000 in revenue--unlikely that they would be willing to pay all that under the table.



I will be given a 1099 independent contractor form.



I have calculated that I would make $11/ft after all expenses including supplies, 4 full time detailers working 40hrs/wk, insurance, etc...



Over the course of 4 months I will be making about 60k profit before taxes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top