C. Charles Hahn
CCH Auto Appearance, LLC
Taxlady- agreed, right now I've just started accepting a higher volume of customers and I only figure to make $20/hr. as time goes by, I'm sure this will increase to around the 40-50 range.
NEED ADVICE PLEASE Staring my own detailing business
- Thread starter darrinb
- Start date
safetyman2010
New member
Taxlady said:
Unfortunately you only get one chance to start charging a reasonable rate. Charge your friends the lower rate and charge your customers $40 p/hr. All you will do by charging low is attract the type of people who want a cheap job. You only "rent" these type of people as customers until the next lower priced newbie comes along.
C. Charles Hahn
CCH Auto Appearance, LLC
ShineShop-
Isn't it true (to a degree atleast) that with time you can do the same quality of job with just as much attention paid in less time? If this is the case, you will end up making more per hour because charging the same as you did for a 4 hour job, just took you 2 to complete?
I mean if this is the case all you have to do is when you start getting to that "groove" of moving right along you can schedule more customers and increase what you're making that much more.
Isn't it true (to a degree atleast) that with time you can do the same quality of job with just as much attention paid in less time? If this is the case, you will end up making more per hour because charging the same as you did for a 4 hour job, just took you 2 to complete?
I mean if this is the case all you have to do is when you start getting to that "groove" of moving right along you can schedule more customers and increase what you're making that much more.
ShineShop said:
Agreed. But, I think I wasn't very clear. If a service is worth $40 by a professional who takes one hour, why should someone less experienced, who will take two hours, charge $80? The less experienced person should charge the same or slightly less than the experienced person for the same work. If the price for a detail remains the same, the hourly rate will go up with practice. I guess the trick here is to be very careful about how one words ones rates.
Taxlady said:
Yes - rates per hour are a minefield. I have the same issue in selling leasing, the cheapest rate is not the same thing as the cheapest job. You must educate your customers on this. You should price jobs on how much work there is to be done - your rate will then reflect how long it takes you to do it.
As a newbie to the business you need to increase the hourly rate as you get faster so that the price for the job stays the same - that way you won't lose your customers to the next cheap newbie.
As you bring on new customers with more expensive cars you can charge them more as you will be providing a higher quality detail. If you are lucky/ successful then you can start to drop off your old cheap customers to allow room for the new well paying customers.
It is important to differentiate between a hobby which brings in some money and a business. If it is a business, it does not really matter what you do - detailing or making bread. A business concerns itself with the creation of capital. You will be a businessman not a detailer.
Good luck either way but make sure the basics are covered: finance, insurance etc etc
Good luck either way but make sure the basics are covered: finance, insurance etc etc
safetyman2010
New member
Shiny Lil Detlr said:
Maybe I mistated myself and I will clarify my earlier post. What I do at my shop is set a standard price for each service based on the average time it takes to complete it and charge additionally if necessary for extra work. You are quite right that a customer should not be paying anything extra because someone may not be as experienced and efficient and I am sorry if I gave you that impression. For example: for a average car we start at $89.95 to do an interior shampoo and detail and exterior car wash. We adjust the price to account for any extra work we need to do by the hourly shop rate x extra time spent. If the car should be $89.95 and I have a new employee who may not be as efficient and takes longer to complete the work than we are charging for the extra cost is NOT passed along to the customer - we absorb it. What I intended to make a point of is that you should price your services at a reasonable shop rate x average completion time as I showed in the example. I hope that clears up any confusion.
KCPreki: As DavidB said, there are several sources for getting customized cards, forms, etc. In my case, I am going to do my own from scratch. I already have the software to do it as well as the background.
Nadir: I didn't see ya sneak in, buddy.
darrinb: While your intentions are noble, you still need to "crawl before you walk." In short, you need to develop more experience before you can tackle that Lamborghini Murcielago or Ferrari Enzo.
As the others have said, you need to be able to understand different types of paints and how to work them in order to get the best results.
Nadir: I didn't see ya sneak in, buddy.
darrinb: While your intentions are noble, you still need to "crawl before you walk." In short, you need to develop more experience before you can tackle that Lamborghini Murcielago or Ferrari Enzo.
As the others have said, you need to be able to understand different types of paints and how to work them in order to get the best results.
imported_Aurora40
New member
Mmmph said:
God bless you Mmmph! I was :rofl
"High End **** Only" <----- Ah hahahahahahha!! :lol