snowracer21
New member
- Jul 21, 2018
- 35
- 0
Quick note on my background first:
I've been a detailing enthusiast since I bought my first car, 15 years later and I'm just beginning to detail for-profit. I'm not advertising, just getting business by word of mouth, which is all I can handle currently, as work 50-55 hrs/wk at my day job. All of my business has been co-workers/friends. Because I'm new to the detailing-for-profit world, and all of my customers have been friends/co-workers (so far), my pricing has been very low—in my opinion, and I base that off what I’ve read throughout these forums, and the cost of my time.
I'll admit that I'm pretty damn slow, mostly due to my OCD/perfectionist mentality, and partly due to not having a fluid "system" down. For example, my last detail, a lifted F150 crew cab w/ King Ranch soft leather seats, took me roughly 18 hours (labor hours, ignoring any setup/breaks). I fully detailed the interior including spot removal on headliner, applied conditioner to the seats, shampoo'd/extracted carpets etc., and the exterior: full detail/dressed + decon + 1 step (AIO). While I only removed roughly 80% of the scratches/swirls, the finished product looked great, and the customer was extremely happy. Because he was my friend/co-worker, I charged him $300—he has a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] vehicle which he also plans to bring to me in the near future. If this job was just a random person/customer, I’d likely have charged closer to $500, and after a few years of experience in the business I’d likely price a little higher than that.
$300 / 18 hours = $16.75/hr. Factor in product expenses, overhead, and taxes, and I'm around single digits hourly rate.
Assuming I became more efficient and cut my labor time down 30%, I'm still at roughly 12 hours, netting me $25/hr on this job.
I'm very fortunate that I'm compensated well at my day job. I understand that I'm just starting out for-profit detailing, however, my goal is to earn roughly rates similar to my day job—ignoring taxes. I'd be content with earning roughly $50/hr after direct job cost expenses...is this a realistic goal?
This gets me to my next point, and the reason for this post. Also want to note, the median single-family home price for my location is roughly $425,000. I did a quick google search of nearby detailing businesses. I looked at a popular shop’s website, and noticed their pricing, and was quite disappointed.
The screen shot below is for their highest-level FULL (I&E) detail, including a 2 step paint correction, on a large SUV/minivan. Their price is listed at $360! The website shows the time to complete the job (569 mins), which comes out to roughly $38/hr. After shop overhead/direct expenses/labor costs, etc., how can a shop operate at this cheap of pricing? Ignoring the initial wash/decon of say, a Chevy Tahoe, a 2-step correction would likely take me 6-8 hours. Add in the wash/prep work, applying sealant, dressing, and then a full interior detail, IDK how the shop could earn any profit!?
View attachment 65338
To sum up my long-winded rant, is $360 for an I/E detail +2-step correction extremely cheap? I think what bothered me with this pricing is, there’s no way I could or would want to continue detailing for-profit if that’s what the local market rates are. I find detailing, especially paint correcting, quite therapeutic, however if i take on for-profit work, it at least needs to be worth my time.
edit: I live in Bellingham, WA. 90 miles north of Seattle, and 30 miles south of Vancouver, BC
I've been a detailing enthusiast since I bought my first car, 15 years later and I'm just beginning to detail for-profit. I'm not advertising, just getting business by word of mouth, which is all I can handle currently, as work 50-55 hrs/wk at my day job. All of my business has been co-workers/friends. Because I'm new to the detailing-for-profit world, and all of my customers have been friends/co-workers (so far), my pricing has been very low—in my opinion, and I base that off what I’ve read throughout these forums, and the cost of my time.
I'll admit that I'm pretty damn slow, mostly due to my OCD/perfectionist mentality, and partly due to not having a fluid "system" down. For example, my last detail, a lifted F150 crew cab w/ King Ranch soft leather seats, took me roughly 18 hours (labor hours, ignoring any setup/breaks). I fully detailed the interior including spot removal on headliner, applied conditioner to the seats, shampoo'd/extracted carpets etc., and the exterior: full detail/dressed + decon + 1 step (AIO). While I only removed roughly 80% of the scratches/swirls, the finished product looked great, and the customer was extremely happy. Because he was my friend/co-worker, I charged him $300—he has a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] vehicle which he also plans to bring to me in the near future. If this job was just a random person/customer, I’d likely have charged closer to $500, and after a few years of experience in the business I’d likely price a little higher than that.
$300 / 18 hours = $16.75/hr. Factor in product expenses, overhead, and taxes, and I'm around single digits hourly rate.
Assuming I became more efficient and cut my labor time down 30%, I'm still at roughly 12 hours, netting me $25/hr on this job.
I'm very fortunate that I'm compensated well at my day job. I understand that I'm just starting out for-profit detailing, however, my goal is to earn roughly rates similar to my day job—ignoring taxes. I'd be content with earning roughly $50/hr after direct job cost expenses...is this a realistic goal?
This gets me to my next point, and the reason for this post. Also want to note, the median single-family home price for my location is roughly $425,000. I did a quick google search of nearby detailing businesses. I looked at a popular shop’s website, and noticed their pricing, and was quite disappointed.
The screen shot below is for their highest-level FULL (I&E) detail, including a 2 step paint correction, on a large SUV/minivan. Their price is listed at $360! The website shows the time to complete the job (569 mins), which comes out to roughly $38/hr. After shop overhead/direct expenses/labor costs, etc., how can a shop operate at this cheap of pricing? Ignoring the initial wash/decon of say, a Chevy Tahoe, a 2-step correction would likely take me 6-8 hours. Add in the wash/prep work, applying sealant, dressing, and then a full interior detail, IDK how the shop could earn any profit!?
View attachment 65338
To sum up my long-winded rant, is $360 for an I/E detail +2-step correction extremely cheap? I think what bothered me with this pricing is, there’s no way I could or would want to continue detailing for-profit if that’s what the local market rates are. I find detailing, especially paint correcting, quite therapeutic, however if i take on for-profit work, it at least needs to be worth my time.
edit: I live in Bellingham, WA. 90 miles north of Seattle, and 30 miles south of Vancouver, BC