Time it takes for a full detail...

L

LedZep

New member
I was wondering how long it should take a 2 man crew to detail something like an explorer on average. It takes me and my partner 3 hours. Shineshop said I should charge $40 an hour, so with the 2 of us working that would be a $240 detail? When I mean a full detail, heres what I mean.



Wash

Tires dressed

Paint Claybarred, polished, and waxed

Carpets and matts shampooed

Leather conditioned

All vinyl and plastic cleaned and dressed

Windows cleaned

Engine bay pressure washed and degreased (basic)



We charge $130 to do this to a car, and $160 for a SUV/Van/Truck



What do you guys think? Thanks





-Daniel
 
$240 seems like a lot, but I think you can get more the $130 for a car. I would say $150 for a car and $200 for a truck and $300 for a Hummer. Don't want to underestimate yourself...





:nixweiss
 
Dale DeSteno said:
$240 seems like a lot, but I think you can get more the $130 for a car. I would say $150 for a car and $200 for a truck and $300 for a Hummer. Don't want to underestimate yourself...





:nixweiss
Click to expand...



How do you think we do on time?
 
i dont think its a good guideline to simply say that you'll charge $40 an hour. if you work really, fast, then people will be getting a great price. if you work really slow, then people will get ripped off. it all depends on how long it takes you...but i'm sure others will disagree.
 
What do you mean when you say $40.00 an hour?



As far as how much time to detail an explorer size vehicle , it takes me 4 hrs to do a S class Benz.



Price has a lot to do with were you are located and what kind of clientle you have , I have two Lamborghini's I do on a regular basis. One is a Diablo & the other is a new Murcielago. I get $500.00 for the Diablo and $800.00 for the Murcielago. I could never charge anything close to that even for something like an AMG Benz. But the Lambo owner is willing to leave the car for two days and have me all but disassemble it to detail in properly.



I say $150.00 is a nice number for the average car , now define average. lol





Hope I helped , I seemed to ramble alittle.
 
detailbarn said:
What do you mean when you say $40.00 an hour?



What I think Shineshop meant is that I need to get $40 an hour for my work. That seemed hard to do to me though.





As far as how much time to detail an explorer size vehicle , it takes me 4 hrs to do a S class Benz.

.



Is that you all by yourself? If so, you must work quickly, because with 2 of us a S500 takes 2.5-3 hours.
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yes i do work rather quickly. I'm not superman or anthing , I contibute my speed to having a system for the detailing process and also a very organized shop. When I can grab right what I need when I need that saves me time. I have been detailing for some time and it's only in the last few years that I have my system down good. On a bad day it can take me 5hrs to do an S-Class.



I understand what you mean about the need to get 40.00 an hour for your time. I would say you need to charge at least $150.00 for a car and up for trucks ect.





One more question are you mobile ar fixed?
 
Ah I see , I use to be mobile and it would take me six hours to do an S-Class so you're on the money in my book as far as time is concerned. I think it always takes longer to do a car on location.



I think you just need to charge more , I personally found I was losing business to a comptetior because people thought because I was cheaper that my work was too.



You have to remember you're adding a level of convience to the customer by coming to them , I would say you shoud charge $160.00 for the average car.
 
Now when you price out cars, trucks , etc. do you have mutiple catagories? We just have car and truck. I know some detailers have about 5 catagories since there are variations of car size and truck size.
 
Yeah I have a basic tier system ,small car , large car , small suv , large suv and pickups are different in a catagory by themselves. I drive a crew cab so I know that most trucks go thru alot of abuse and my customers want the bed cleaned and the tool box and there is usally like 6" of caked mud on the carpet or mats.





I start at $150.00 for the small car ie Mercedes SLK.
 
How does the price increase as you move up the tier? What do you charge for pickups? This is really helping me out. Thanks
 
Ok pickups I give a breif overveiw. Remember to the condition determines the final cost. But from the bottom say a two wheel drive stock ranger , used by a family man for a cumuter and weekend chores I charge $175.00 now go to the king daddy of pickups a F-350 crew cab dually , owned by a local contractor , used to carry employees , tools and material to the constuction site also used as a family truck and a tow rig. I'll charge from $250.00 to $500.00. These prices being the lowest for great conditon and highest being a horrible mess.





Any more questions feel free to ask , you can e-mail me at



thedetailingbarn@comcast.net
 
I know I am joining this a little late, but it takes me 4 to 5 1/2 hours for a full detail (by myself, no help yet!).



It takes me about 1 hr and 15 minutes to 90 minutes for a quick wash and vacuum, wheels, windows, whipe down.



I'd be interested to hear how long it takes you for a "wash n vac" job?



Josiah
 
who are you asking , if it was me I don't do any wash-n-vac. The only thing close to that I do I call a Monday morning prep , I do this for one of my dealer accounts , I go in and dust all the cars of hit them with some spray detail to shine up the finish , I vac them out if needed , spray some fabreeze inside and apply some tire dressing. Takes me about 15 min a car and I charge $10.00. This is on cars I've already done a full detail on in the last month and the cars are stored in a indoor show room.
 
I'm asking anyone who does "wash n vac" jobs! Here in Colorado, people get them weekly so they make up a fair percentage of my business. I make more money doing them than a regular detail, so there is no way I would not do them.



Best,

Josiah
 
to many car washes around me to bother , people would rather just drive their new car into the grinder as I call it. I won't even take my Tacoma thru there , it's sick I saw a brand new 911 still had the dealer tag on it , go thru the auto wash yesterday.
 
Josiah said:
I know I am joining this a little late, but it takes me 4 to 5 1/2 hours for a full detail (by myself, no help yet!).



It takes me about 1 hr and 15 minutes to 90 minutes for a quick wash and vacuum, wheels, windows, whipe down.



I'd be interested to hear how long it takes you for a "wash n vac" job?



Josiah
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On a regular customers car, it takes about 20 mins to do a wash and vac. On someones dirty car, it takes about 45. We charge 25 for a car, 30 for a SUV
 
Twenty minutes? What are you doing in that time? I wash/dry, clean wheels, tires, wheel wells, clean windows inside and out, mirrors, vacuum entire car/truck, wipe down dash, console, leather seats, floor boards, spray and scrub carpets if nec., and sometimes a quick final inspection.



What do you do on yours? What do you find customers like?



Josiah
 
I wash/dry, clean wheels, tires, wheel wells, clean windows inside and out, mirrors, vacuum entire car/truck, polish the dash, clean the door jams, and shine the tires. Keep in mind there are two of us, and a clean car is easy to clean up again.
 
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