What would you guys charge for this detail

I

imported_Conan777

New member
This car was brought to me at night where I could see swirls but had no idea it was as bad as it was. The paint on this car was absolutely horrendous. To make matters worse the owner tried to correct the paint himself using an over the counter swirl removing wax he bought at wallmart. The wax stuck to the paint really bad and he could not remove it all so there were residue spots everywhere. I am new to detailing for money so I am kinda lost when it comes to properly pricing out a job. I just don't know how you guys do it for a living. These jobs burn me out. I spent 16 hours on this car. I probably could have cut out 2 hours or so but thats it. My process: Washed with Dawn/Foam Gun, Clayed, Polished with my UDM with Menzerna PowerGloss Compound on a Yelow LC CCS pad, followed by 106ff white pad, topped with Wolfgang Deep Gloss Paint Sealant. The interior wasn't bad at all so that was pretty easy. Also the area that I live in is just outside Washington DC. The area is very affluent and in Fact labeled the Wealthiest County in the Country so these people are not poor out here. I was thinking of charging between $40-$50 an hour but if I did that this detail would cost btw $500-$600. Is that reasonable do you think? What do you all charge for jobs like this. Thank you and any tips you have will be welcomed.

On with the pics. Sorry if they are all thumbs? Hopefully I fixed it so you do not have to click on them to see the larger size (I don't know why it's doing this?)

Before:

37290532lu1.jpg


1aoi2.jpg


23746915dx5.jpg


3asy6.jpg


16971191pd8.jpg


4aht2.jpg


17841324ay9.jpg


5apg4.jpg


92081219ku0.jpg


6ajy2.jpg


33978154wd5.jpg


7aez3.jpg


17134992on4.jpg


8avy9.jpg


97899428vd1.jpg


9ayi3.jpg


10mt9.jpg


10aia7.jpg


11up7.jpg


11azm7.jpg


12th2.jpg


12aam4.jpg


13px8.jpg


13arh8.jpg


14sf2.jpg


14aiz8.jpg


15kt7.jpg


15alo2.jpg
 
Did you touch the inside at all? If not that would've been an $80 detail over here at my shop for a fully paint corrected exterior detail.



Sorry you had to spend so much time on it. The reason the "Pros" get to do this for a living and make it is because we usually come stocked with all the proper equipment to save alot of time. That really shouldn't have taken any more than 3-4 hours tops to get done. But when your first starting out it takes forever... I remember spending 8 hours on one detail... Drove me insanse having to spend that much time on a single car. You'll get alot faster the more you do it. You're obviously already putting out good quality work. Just keep it up.
 
Jakerooni said:
Did you touch the inside at all? If not that would've been an $80 detail over here at my shop for a fully paint corrected exterior detail.
Click to expand...



You are way under-charging then IMO
 
Joshua312 said:
You are way under-charging then IMO
Click to expand...



I would absoultly LOOOOOVE for you to come to my area and try to charge even $10 more LOL... You'd get laughed right out of business around here. I understand alot of guys on here live in the right areas and get alot more money. $80 for a full exterior paint correction detail in Flint is actually almost double the normal rate and is considered very very good money around here... Just FYI ;) eventually I'll move to an area where I can get your guy's rates. But for now I'm not complaining.
 
But back to the OP question.... Just call some other local detail shops and see what they would charge.... Then base your price on competitive wages. It's a good place to start.
 
Generally i do not even touch black for less than $120. If it needs some good correction it starts at $200 and goes up.



Sorry Jakerooni you can't charge more.
 
80$ Way to low. For me a Full would have been around $235, outside only around $185

$190. I try not to give a price untill I see the vehicle and do a walk around evaluation.

This has been a good practice for my business. No surprises for me or the customer!
 
Also, you may want to determine how you will price jobs like these before hand to let the owner know. You don't want to say "Okay the total is $600 when they come to pick it up" because they may be outraged, but then again if price was an issue they should have brought it up as well. I would not under-charge though to be on the safe side..You worked hard and it came out looking great, reward yourself with a justified price.
 
Seriously though guys... Before this thread goes cocoo in the friggin brain of all these guys telling you that you need to charge $250-$10,000 for this detail you have to check your local compitition. Just because one guy can get away with charging $300 for a detail dosen't mean by any means at all that you can. I know full well I couldn't. My skills are up there I'm very good at what I do but I know my local economy and what my prices can get. I hope you can get a few hundred. That would be awesome. But just because some detailing in Texas or Cali or wherever can fetch those prices all day long dosen't mean you can. Don't listen to what anyone on this board tells you about setting prices. Their prices are set for thier locations and they get what they can because thier local economy lets them get their fair market price. I told you what I would charge because you asked. I know full well a few guys could easily get $500 for that detail and no one would think twice about forking over the cash. you absoultly HAVE to set your prices based on your local. Otherwise you'll be out of work here very very soon.
 
This was my old neighbor and I just started detailing for money so I told him I would do this car for $50 to cover costs. I told him I was basically looking to get my work shown around town and if he liked what I did for him he could tell others. When he picked up the car he was so happy that he handed me $300. He then asked me if I could work on his black Mustang. I'm sorry but there is absolutely no way I would even bother doing this kind of work for less than $250-$300. Serioulsy I have to hand it to you guys who do this full time. That would wear me out. I agree I def need to figure out how to do this kind of quality work but in much less time. I am thinking i need to invest in a rotary buffer or see if I'm working my polishes too long with the UDM and wasting too much time there? This car was super bad though and I had to do several of the panels several times to really clean them up nicely. Again please continue with the feedback and tips for pricing. Thanks Guys!
 
Must be in the Loudoun County area. If it were me, I would charge $250 minimum for a full correction and interior. It is not a large car, but it is also not a mini cooper. And it is black.



A lot of guys in the Loudoun area would charge $400 for that easily. I've seen their websites with their prices. There are also a lot of lowballers in the area so you will have to consider that people are charging between $75-500 for a "full detail". If it were me, I'd walk away for anything less than $250.



Very nice work though. How hard was the black lexus paint?
 
Conan777 said:
What would you guys charge for this detail?
Click to expand...



What did it cost you to detail this car? Add what you feel is an appropriate profit margin and you have your hourly.



Please do not compare this work to other Professional Detailers in your area if you are not truly operating as a professional.



FWIW, that looks to be a (maximum) six hour job on what I see almost weekly.
 
First of all I think the car looks DAMN good!!!!



Second, if I could only get $80 for a detail like that I would not be in detailing.



Personally since I detail on the side and its not my main source of income. I DO NOT price match other detailers at all. If someone calls me and asks for my price and I tell them my exterior corrections start at $300-$400 when I come to them....If they say I can get a detail for $125 down the road or another guy will do it for $250. I tell them to have a nice day.



OP, you are in DC one of the highest COL areas in the country. For that quality of work $300 is fine. Yes it will take you some time to get your process down and reduce your time. I think I still take to long to polish a car, but I do not care. I want the car to be 100% right each and every time when doing full defect corrections.



Keep up the good work!
 
I live about 40 minutes south of jakerooni and I charge $30 an hour, no exceptions.



When Jakerooni speaks of how much he can charge, you must constantly remember what area he is in. Flint is in rough shape, it used to be an area with a lot going on, GM used to keep that place afloat, since GM has bacially "pulled out" the place has went downhill... Remeber the movie roger and me, that was based on flint.



With that said you have to take Jakerooni's rates with a grain of salt.



Calculate how much in materials you used for a typical job, come up with an hourly rate based on the median income and/or the going rate (not of hack shops) and price accordingly
 
I agree with the majority here, about $200, $275 including interior. And, yes, my shop is in a comparable area.



The job would've gone MUCH faster with a rotary, but I assume you know that.



Really very nice work.



Good Luck! I hope he spresds the word!



Jim
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top