Pricing Help Needed (1st gen Honda NSX inside)

T

TheMeanGreen

New member
Alright guys, my co-worker/boss, approached me to detail the frunk, interior, engine bay, and trunk of his NSX. This car has been in his possession for close to a year and has been slowly fixing very minor accident damage. I know you guys might be thinking, "How come only the interior bits?", well my boss/co-worker told me that he already promised a friend who `buffs a lot of cars` that he can have a go at it. *Disclaimer my boss/co-worker is around my age, I`m 23.* I know my OCD will kick in and wonder if this `buffer guy` even knows how to complete a proper paint prep. Anyways, these areas, except the interior, look to not have been cleaned in years and are pretty filthy. Given the dirt and sensitivity of this vehicle, how much would you bill for a proper detailing of said areas, knowing that you could spend at least 6 hours cleaning (to bring it to my level, I could spend an entire day on these areas alone). I ask because I have only really detailed family and neighbor cars; I have yet to bring my skill set to market. So what would you charge?


Here`s some lack-luster eye candy for you:

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Myself, I would charge around 80-100, but wouldn`t think it would quite take 6 hours. Either way, it`s a super cool car to work on. I`m really bad at pricing though, so take it with a grain of salt. I`m sure others could chime in with better estimates
 
$40/hr. products/supplies included, his satisfaction guaranteed. It`s fairly easy to document your time and if he signs off on your finished product who`s to argue a job of this nature. You`re worth it. The drive-thru tunnel washes around here will charge you $80 to do a standard size vehicle interior, another $50 for an underhood detail. Might take them an hour for each procedure. You gotta know and he should also know that your work is significantly better than any tunnel wash would deliver. I`ve seen some of the under the hood work and it`s pretty sad. Usually looks like some greasy product was slathered over a still dirty engine. Assuming the car is not a total disaster and you don`t have to pull the seats and assuming there are no oil leaks under the hood, it might take 4 or 5 hours. Don`t sell yourself short. Set the bar high and tell him he can expect the moon. He should be able to realistically have that type of expectation and you no doubt can deliver most anything he wants. Heck, then go polish a spot (fender) and show him what it`s supposed to look like when his polisher guy is done. Chances are he`ll wonder why he`s even considering the other guy. ;) Good luck!
 
GearHead_1 said:
$40/hr. products/supplies included, his satisfaction guaranteed. It`s fairly easy to document your time and if he signs off on your finished product who`s to argue a job of this nature. You`re worth it. The drive-thru tunnel washes around here will charge you $80 to do a standard size vehicle interior, another $50 for an underhood detail. Might take them an hour for each procedure. You gotta know and he should also know that your work is significantly better than any tunnel wash would deliver. I`ve seen some of the under the hood work and it`s pretty sad. Usually looks like some greasy product was slathered over a still dirty engine. Assuming the car is not a total disaster and you don`t have to pull the seats and assuming there are no oil leaks under the hood, it might take 4 or 5 hours. Don`t sell yourself short. Set the bar high and tell him he can expect the moon. He should be able to realistically have that type of expectation and you no doubt can deliver most anything he wants. Heck, then go polish a spot (fender) and show him what it`s supposed to look like when his polisher guy is done. Chances are he`ll wonder why he`s even considering the other guy. Good luck!
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Funny you talk about polishing a fender, I actually have the old damaged fender (small areas mangled), that was replaced, sitting in my trunk as we speak. I asked him if I could take and see which products, of mine, would make it come back to life. This is a scenario where I wish FK1000P would play nicely with other products, because I think a layer of PB Blackhole underneath a layer of FK1000P would look very bold, in addition to a coat of PB Natty`s Black.
 
i charge an estimated $25/hr per job, some jobs have taken less and i let em know they owe less and sometimes it`s taken longer and i bite the bullet cause i told em before hand what the price was

and is that black or the dark forest green
 
Civicclutch said:
i charge an estimated $25/hr per job, some jobs have taken less and i let em know they owe less and sometimes it`s taken longer and i bite the bullet cause i told em before hand what the price was

and is that black or the dark forest green
Click to expand...
And therein lies the rub. You`re willing to take less if you spend less time on it and have the integrity to charge someone less but how many customers are prepared to give you more when the job is more difficult than anticipated. Pricing by the hour should eleminate any issues here but I honestly feel like a detailer doing this for money is worth every bit of $40/hr. Though not rocket science, it`s a skill, it`s hard work and quality products aren`t cheap. Once you start to factor in the price of top notch products your take home per hour can go down significantly, $2/application for this product, $1.50/application for another, pretty soon it`s real money. I`ll say it again, don`t sell yourself short.
 
Mean Green --

What is the Owner looking for in the final-final of this ?

Is this a "just clean it up and I will be happy?" Is this "I want it perfect and am going to get the whole vehicle restored to its original, (absolutely beautiful) condition" ??

How good are you ??
Do you have mad skills in there ?

Do you have great products that are probably not over the counter?

Are you willing to really go over - "every square inch" ( I say this a lot) of that Interior and the hatch behind it (which is really hard to work in), to get that part and the engine there perfect ?

If you answered "Yes" to all of the above, $40/hour is a good place to start and it may take all those 6 hours and more..

It`s an Acura NSX - not a regular anything else made by this company...

Haven`t seen the inside yet (but you have, right?), and if it`s bad, you will have to pull the seats - heck if I was doing it and it was really dirty in there, I would pull them anyway - remember - it has to match - ( I say this a lot).. Are you prepared with the right tools to do that too ?

At the very least, if you cannot pull the seats, you have to be able to raise them high enough to get a good steamer nozzle under there and blast and clean everything perfect - after you have stuck the long thin vacuum nozzle (I always talk about) under them, to get everything vacuumed out of those places..

It looks like that dark green color to me..
Good luck !
Dan F
 
I agree with the $40/hr quote.

Listen to their advice, it`s never steered me wrong in the past few years.

I`ve been selling myself short for over two years, don`t be That guy.

Also I will add, when you`re finished with the job you will have a nice photo collection to help you get the next one.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
 
Thank you for the input guys, $40/hour sounds like the ticket.

@Stokdgs, Yes to every question. I know what he is looking for and I can deliver that, well I can deliver more than he is looking for because he doesn`t share the sickness like we do.
 
GearHead_1 said:
And therein lies the rub. You`re willing to take less if you spend less time on it and have the integrity to charge someone less but how many customers are prepared to give you more when the job is more difficult than anticipated. Pricing by the hour should eleminate any issues here but I honestly feel like a detailer doing this for money is worth every bit of $40/hr. Though not rocket science, it`s a skill, it`s hard work and quality products aren`t cheap. Once you start to factor in the price of top notch products your take home per hour can go down significantly, $2/application for this product, $1.50/application for another, pretty soon it`s real money. I`ll say it again, don`t sell yourself short.
Click to expand...

you`re right about this but my $25/hr doesnt include product, a friend of mine made up a spread sheet for me that breaks the price of product down to where i add that into the cost as well. i used to do a flat rate that i didnt fully put in cost of product and man did that end up biting me in the rear several times.
 
TheMeanGreen said:
Thank you for the input guys, $40/hour sounds like the ticket.

@Stokdgs, Yes to every question. I know what he is looking for and I can deliver that, well I can deliver more than he is looking for because he doesn`t share the sickness like we do.
Click to expand...

TheMeanGreen -

You are the Man !
It is going to be beautiful !
Get good pics for your future $$$ Clients to see..
Dan F
 
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