How much should I charge?

N

nappyjim

New member
A person on another forum saw pics of my car and wanted to know if I could detail his. This would be exterior only, and just wondering what I should charge him. The car is a 2005 Velo Red Mazda 3 5 door.



I would do

Wash

Clay

Polish with pc

Polish with pc

Wax with pc

Go over entire car with fk1 425

Clean rims

Dress tire

Dress exterior trim





He asked how much the supplies would cost for him to do this on his own, i told him over 200. Considering the PC with SFX pads alone is 150. The thing is, it took me a LONG time to do my car, like over 9 hours. And really, I wouldent wanna bother doing another car unless I was gonna make like 200, cause its just so much work. Do you think 200 is too much?



Be honest, if it is, just tell me.
 
if you do great work then you can definitely sharge 200 especially if the car is in mediocre condition. If I have to do any abrasive polishing then I will charge over 200 for a sedan and up to 300 should the car need extensive polishing.
 
eric77 said:
if you do great work then you can definitely sharge 200 especially if the car is in mediocre condition. If I have to do any abrasive polishing then I will charge over 200 for a sedan and up to 300 should the car need extensive polishing.
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After detailing a few times, undercharging suks! Eric is very much inline with what should be charged. If people don't want to pay you for your time and skill then send them to the local wash and scratch. :up
 
nappyjim said:
Do you think 200 is too much?
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Charging $200 for a 9 hour detailing job works out to only $22 per hour.



Most professional detailers charge between $50 to $70 per hour for similar services. At those rates they would need to charge between $450 to $630 for the same 9 hour job.
 
if I am doing something along those line, then I will charge about 150, but I also vacuum out the interior and hit the windows with some cleaner...more depending on the size of the car, but 150 lowest for spending over 6 hours on it....I only really charge 30 per hour at this point in time, and because of the clients I get calling me at this point
 
WOW! I wish I could get yalls prices. I am out in the country where nobody knows anything about polishing and waxing. I charge like $100 for a full swirl removal job on large trucks (ie: F-350 dually) b/c I cant get anymore than that. Plus, I only do it on the weekends, and I love to drive the trucks, so its a little fun.
 
Brandon1 said:
WOW! I wish I could get yalls prices. I am out in the country where nobody knows anything about polishing and waxing. I charge like $100 for a full swirl removal job on large trucks (ie: F-350 dually) b/c I cant get anymore than that. Plus, I only do it on the weekends, and I love to drive the trucks, so its a little fun.
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Those prices for professional detailers takes into account the many expenses incurred in order to own and operate a successful detailing business. When you stop and think about it, making $100 with very little overhead is not all that bad.
 
mirrorfinishman said:
Those prices for professional detailers takes into account the many expenses incurred in order to own and operate a successful detailing business. When you stop and think about it, making $100 with very little overhead is not all that bad.
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well thanks for making me feel better :thx
 
I have a detail tomorrow for a friend, from the sounds of it on here...If I charge $130 for a full exterior detail do you guys think this is fair for me? It's going to be a 4-5 hour job if this helps.
 
For an all PC exterior like you describe, $160 is fair IMO. Break out the rotary and you just walked into a $200 minimum for me.



Your speed at this point is your problem, 9 hours is way too long on an exterior only working with the PC.



I am sure you do great work, but speed comes with time/experience. Keep detailing and you will be able to bust that job out in about 3.5-4 hours tops.
 
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