What would you guys charge for this detail

Agreed. I would go 275-325 for int and ext if you think thats the most you could get. The guy next door who I actually see at school sometimes drives a dark blue IS300 and everytime I come home with my girlfriend I bend down to get the reflection of the street light on his hood and everytime I stand up and sadly shake my head. His paint is ridiculous. Just like that, its a mess. My gf always goes "why do you always do that baby??" Wishful thinking that maybe its literally just hairs and spiderwebs and that someday they will disappear...I just get nervous hes gonna ask me for my services when he finds out what I do.....On a lesser note, sometimes toyota paint can be soft!!!:up
 
Well, you have not stated which county you are in. From the information you have provided, it could be Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, or Loudoun. The high income in NOVA should factor some what into your price, however, there are many other factors. What are your costs of doing business? Are you insured and licensed etc. Other factors include your level of skill and experience. Another factor is your process, and how thorough you were. You stated you just starting 'detailing for money', so is your experience/skill worth $50 an hour? I am very experienced/skilled, but find it difficult to charge $50 an hour. BTW, I do most of my work in Loudoun County. There is a very small niche market that is willing to pay $50 an hour for detail work. Most people, despite their high incomes, are not willing to pay more than $250-$300 for a full detail. My full details only include one polishing step and LSP. If the customer wants to pay me $40 an hour to fully correct their paint that is fine, but most are not interested in paying for full correction.
 
$80 for a full paint correction detail is absolutely INSANE! Especially for a car in such bad shape as that one was. I personally don't think $5-600 is unreasonable at all for that detail and the way it came out.
 
backwoods_lex said:
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?
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Ding...ding..ding! We have a winner! ha..ha..! You guessed it, Loudoun County and Fairfax County.



The lexus Paint is fairly soft. Too much so in my opinion. My wife has the newer version of this car and it's amazing how many rock chips these cars get. The paint is very thin. Almost weekly I have to touch up the hood. This customers hood was terribly chipped. His paint was the same as my wifes so I touched it up for him and filled in most of the chips although I didn't go as far as to wet sand them smooth afterwards like I do on my own cars. Not enough time.
 
Awesome turnaround!!! The paint looks dripping!



As far as the price, for me that would have been a $225 job, I charge $50/hour, that would have been have a day's work. A rotary really speeds things up as far as correction, the UDM is a great machine, but it does take a while to break down polishes.



Again, great job!
 
Thanks to all of you that have responded I really appreciate it. And thank you for the positive comments on the work I did. I am definitely looking into a Rotary, in fact I will probably order one by the end of the week. Thank You again... any comments on a good rotary? I've read good things about Metabo and Makita... I Can still use most of my 6" LC CCS foam pads with a rotary right?
 
^yes you can. I find though that the flat edged CCS pads aren't very friendly on the rotary, but then again, I am not very experienced with the rotary yet, so it could just be my lack of experience. Someone more experienced with this will chime in I'm sure.



On a different note however, very nice job on that IS. These cars apparently have something called 'environmental paint' which is very very soft as you have noted from the large amount of rock chips. You did a nice job cleaning that up. How do you like PowerGloss? I have a new bottle upstairs waiting to be used when the cold weather goes away (stupid winter *grrr*)



Kaval
 
I would charge per hour. Probably end up being around $400-$500.



Think about it this way, if he had that car repainted it would cost at least $5000 for a good paint job, you saved him all that and you should be compensated.
 
Your before pictures don't match your afters in most occasions so it's hard to tell, you show before marring then after in a completely different setting, noones to tell what type correction was done for the most part, if it was 95% corrected, you should at least be charging $300 minimum.
 
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.
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:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: Wow, that's so low I can't imagine what type of work to expect, that's unreal, you can't get a wash n wax in my area for $80.00
 
Wherever your at, doing that for $80 is not a profitable business. For the work for the OP, I could get anywhere from 350-500 for a full paint correction. Also like Brad said, I'm located in the NOVA area and most people don't want full paint correction. Most people spend 180-240 and get a 1 step polish and some LSP which makes almost everyone happy enough with the results. Prices that low like $80 to me, reflect your work ethics and the quality.
 
I did a IS300 in similar shape. I charged $200. Typical rate around here for a full exterior ranges from $200-300.



IS3005.jpg


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Here is the situation... You should be charging by the hour, but is it fair to charge your clients more (or are they willing to pay more) because you use a slower method? If you do amazing work, you will build up a cliental that expects amazing work as is willing to pay your prices.



Here is the thing though, lets say you start off charging 40/hr using the PC. So you get 640 for this job. Now you invest in a rotary, and you spend 10 hours doing the same (if not better job). Are you going to charge less because you did a better job faster? Doesn't seem fair, so lets say you still charge 640 for the same work performed. Now you just made 64 an hour (which I think is more reasonable, but still not enough, IMO). Its a slippery slope, and a reason why pricing by the hour doesn't always work. As you get better and faster, you end up charging less.



For the work you have done, charge what you precieve your worth to be. Less then 400 but way more then 200 would be a good start.
 
Jakerooni said:
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.
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I disagree. Why have any competition at all?
 
TH0001 said:
Here is the situation... You should be charging by the hour, but is it fair to charge your clients more (or are they willing to pay more) because you use a slower method? .....



Its a slippery slope, and a reason why pricing by the hour doesn't always work. As you get better and faster, you end up charging less.
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Very interesting observation.:think2
 
TH0001 said:
Here is the situation... You should be charging by the hour, but is it fair to charge your clients more (or are they willing to pay more) because you use a slower method? If you do amazing work, you will build up a cliental that expects amazing work as is willing to pay your prices.



Here is the thing though, lets say you start off charging 40/hr using the PC. So you get 640 for this job. Now you invest in a rotary, and you spend 10 hours doing the same (if not better job). Are you going to charge less because you did a better job faster? Doesn't seem fair, so lets say you still charge 640 for the same work performed. Now you just made 64 an hour (which I think is more reasonable, but still not enough, IMO). Its a slippery slope, and a reason why pricing by the hour doesn't always work. As you get better and faster, you end up charging less.



For the work you have done, charge what you precieve your worth to be. Less then 400 but way more then 200 would be a good start.
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Set an hourly rate (a mental one), as your skills improve, you become more efficient and your bottom line is increased.



When a say a mental hourly rate here's what I mean, I estimate how long the job will take based on my historical performance and that is what I use to quote the job... I never say to true customer "my hourly rate is x amount" I say your job will cost "$X" total.
 
MotorCity said:
Set an hourly rate (a mental one), as your skills improve, you become more efficient and your bottom line is increased.



When a say a mental hourly rate here's what I mean, I estimate how long the job will take based on my historical performance and that is what I use to quote the job... I never say to true customer "my hourly rate is x amount" I say your job will cost "$X" total.
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I understand what you are saying, but I tell my clients all the time for paint correction it is by the hour and then I give them a general idea of what it "might" cost based on past experience but I make it clear if it takes longer or shorter it will still be per hour.



The faster and better you become the more you raise you're prices. Like what Todd is saying.:2thumbs:
 
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