How much?

A

apoirier594

New member
Today I detailed a 96 Impala SS, love these cars!



I usually charge pretty low because I'm 17 and trying to get a name out there. So I have no idea what to charge this time, its a neighbors friend. My neighbor brought it to my house and told me to shampoo, do engine, leather, dash etc. Polish up any defects.



Well I washed two bucket method, and hand dry.



I did tires, rims, wheel wells.

Polished the hood(one step), door handles, trunk lid, and side pillars. This only took one hour, paint was oxidize in these areas, I didn't get it "new" but much better.

Hand waxed

Detail Engine Bay

Clean total interior(vents all cracks, etc). Vacuumed,cleaned all mirrors, and glass. Shampooed carpet by hand with APC then used Bissell LGM and water to extract and dry. Cleaned all jams, cleaned trunk and conditioned leather by hand. Also polished headlights(only took 10 minutes).

I also waxed the wheels, added "new leather" air freshener.



The whole thing took me 9 hours, what would you charge? I don't know if this person has a tight budget and I'm also trying to keep low prices to keep people coming($$ won't effect my quality right now)
 
Figure out how much you need/want to make per hour and charge that. My current rate is $50/hr as I need to pay shop rent and everything else assosiated with running my business, and that's on the low side because of the area I'm in with alot of "competition". So I would charge $450 for a 9 hr job. Being 17 and working from home, you wouldn't need to charge that much, but don't seriously undercharge either, it hurts the industry as a whole. I can't tell you how much you should charge, but I'm thinking $25 - $30/hr range.



Also, it would be a good idea to start quoting BEFORE you do the work. At least give the customer a ball park of how much it will cost before the work is done and find out their budget then. It's too easy to put tons of work into a car and then find out the person was expecting to pay $75 for something you planned on charging $300 for.
 
Don't waste your time working cheap. If you want to do this, learn to get it right, get trained, read and watch what's available - there's a ton - most of it not that great, but a ton none the less of free info. People who want to sell you products will spend all day teaching you how to use them, there are people like Barry on this board that have free seminars and teach what it took them years to learn, they can save you a lot of time and keep you out of trouble.



When you've learned how to get a result worth selling, sell it for the price it's worth, irrespective of your time. Your time is your problem, not your client's. As you get faster, your dollars per hour will go up. But if you can turn out a car that's as good as a detail shop turns out for $300 you should get $300. The convenience of having the car done at the client's location off sets credibility a shop provides. If it takes you two days, that's the way it is, if you get it done in four hours, again, that's the way it is.



R(obert
 
ExplicitDetails said:
Figure out how much you need/want to make per hour and charge that. My current rate is $50/hr as I need to pay shop rent and everything else assosiated with running my business, and that's on the low side because of the area I'm in with alot of "competition". So I would charge $450 for a 9 hr job. Being 17 and working from home, you wouldn't need to charge that much, but don't seriously undercharge either, it hurts the industry as a whole. I can't tell you how much you should charge, but I'm thinking $25 - $30/hr range.



Also, it would be a good idea to start quoting BEFORE you do the work. At least give the customer a ball park of how much it will cost before the work is done and find out their budget then. It's too easy to put tons of work into a car and then find out the person was expecting to pay $75 for something you planned on charging $300 for.
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:werd: I was going to say the same. All things considered I'd probably peg that as a ~$250 job easy, especially if the whole car was not polished.
 
Heh heh....mid-90s b-body..."polish up any defects" :nervous:



apoirier594- So was the owner happy?



Eh, I can't really see how you can set the price after the fact :think: Tell the owner you spent nine hours on it and see what *he* thinks it's worth...and then chalk the whole thing up as a learning experience.



What do *you* think your time/effort oughta be worth? Some people won't get out of bed for less than $xx/hr. and who's to say they're wrong?
 
Accumulator said:
Heh heh....mid-90s b-body..."polish up any defects" :nervous:



apoirier594- So was the owner happy?



Eh, I can't really see how you can set the price after the fact :think: Tell the owner you spent nine hours on it and see what *he* thinks it's worth...and then chalk the whole thing up as a learning experience.



What do *you* think your time/effort oughta be worth? Some people won't get out of bed for less than $xx/hr. and who's to say they're wrong?
Click to expand...



You're right, you can't decide to spend the customer's money without telling them up front how much. We're supposed to know how long it's going to take and what's involved and what it's worth to us to do it. When I started, before a lot of the guys posting here were born, I used to spend a lot more time than I thought I'd have to, but that was my problem not the client's so I just marked it up for next time, the cost of experience. (Experience: what we get when we didn't get what we wanted.)



My hourly rate isn't based on my time, it's what I accomplish, the time is my business, as I'm sure it is with you. I, probably we, charge by the job and make money based on what we provide. I've often thought a shop would be a good idea just because I could get the cars done so much faster in a controlled space and the client would have no idea just how fast I am, but balanced against rent I decided against it. Like I've said before though, I'm a one man show, if I had employees, a shop would make more sense.



Take care.

Robert
 
WhyteWizard said:
..My hourly rate isn't based on my time, it's what I accomplish, the time is my business, as I'm sure it is with you. I, probably we, charge by the job...
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Actually, I don't do this stuff professionally, and one of the big reasons *is* the value I place on my time.
 
Wow man, bad *** if you can get that much for only being 17! I mean that too. Most neighbors around here would take it to a professional because they "Have too much pride to let a younger kid charge them". I'm not saying they shouldn't go to a detailer, I just mean they'd say no because of a pride issue, and nothing to do with the actual outcome. Seriously though, even if you charge much lower than what a pro detailer charges, I bet you'll be making some serious bank!
 
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