Too much work for price or not enough

Bullitt AK

Bullitt AK

New member
Joined
Jul 10, 2010
Messages
196
Reaction score
0
-Wash
-Wax
-Door/Trunk Jambs cleaned
-Wheel wells cleaned
-Restoration and Shine of all exterior plastics and Tires
-Clean all interior surfaces
-Interior dressing
-Leather cleaned and conditioned
-Clean all glass inside and out
-Vacuum entire vehicle
-Choice of scent New Car, New Leather, Cherry, Watermelon
-2/4 door vehicles 90
-SUVs, Vans 110

n 25 for clays?


then i have
-Wash
-Wax
-Wheel wells cleaned
-Door/Trunk Jambs cleaned
-Clean all interior surfaces
-Interior Dressing
-Glass inside/out
-Vacuum
-2/4 door vehicles only $60
-SUVs, Vans only $75
 
Way to cheep. The stealership neer me charges almost 200 for 1/2 that.
 
ok thanks...just trying to see if it would be better to increase profits by cutting price and increasing volume or raise with lower volume
 
Way too much work for the price. you'll starve and wear yourself out!
Then again I can deliver my customers cars to you and pick them up. Let you do all the work. Do some research,don't cheat yourself!
 
Your prices should at the very least be connected to your average time spent on a vehicle. Where every vehicle won't be the same, if your average time for the first detail you described is 8 hours, you're average hourly rate will be a little over $10/hour. If you can do ALL of that in 4 hours, you've bumped up to $22/hour. I'd be surprised if you can regularly accomplish all of that in 4 hours though.

Shoot for the $20/hour mark by increasing your prices and keeping your quality high, not increasing your speed.
 
It actually depends on what your market can bare. I would suggest if you have no other source of income then follow through with your plan and prices. If business picks up (or you find other employment opputunitys) you can raise your prices at that point in time. A little bit of something is better then a whole lot of nothing. Plus the experience you gain will be priceless. Always strive to do your absolute best

Good Luck on your new business venture

Kind Regards,

Wisdom
 
Last edited:
In your first list I suggest that you pull the leather conditioning and upsell it for an additional $40 or so.Additionally I would specify large SUV like a Yukon XL add $40 or so making them $150+$25 for clay+$40 for leather conditioning=$215

In your second list, doing a wash and wax and not dressing the tires will not bring repeat customers. I would drop the wells and add tire shine to that list and again upsell what you can and definitely add for the XL type SUV.
 
that saturn sky i posted up, i did for 150. that was exterior only, including a quick interior wipedown (b/c its a friend) and i always do the inside of windows.

the Vrod was 50

i basically charge around 10-15 bucks an hour for bikes and 10 an hour for cars. i am not a business, nor am i trying to make a huge profit. just enough to buy more detailing products to try!!!
 
only reason i wanted to go cheaper is because it seems like around here mobile detailers are going cheaper and just using inferior products...i don't use any consumer grade products but alot of customers just dont care i guess about using good product or it looks good enough for them without it i suppose...

and i kind of like to stay away from upselling services...trying to create more package deals because it seems thats usually what works best

thanks for all the suggestions and input...need to re work this


i added in a paint cleaner/light scratch swirl remover and bumped the first list to 140 and second to 170 good? i added the cleaner to the package because i think it could potentially be a hard service to upsell? or ill do 130 and 160 and maybe try to upsell the leather cleaning and conditioning...

i can also do upholstery and carpets...
carpets i was thinking $50/2-4 door cars trucks and $70/SUV,Vans
and upholstery should i price it by the severity or just give a flat rate
 
Last edited:
i think pricing upholstery or carpet by severity might scare some people off without even calling because they may think its going to be too high?
 
If you're talking just upholstry and carpet (shampooing im assuming?) then i dont think its too high. For me we do full interior detail and its just all 1 package starting at $125....thats carpets/seats (if cloth) and mats being shampooed, dash/door pannels etc being deep cleaned (usually apc+) and then dressed and all plastic being treaded (usually with plastx). If the seats are leather then we just keep the price the same and instead of having to shampoo the seats we clean and condition them. Kinda keeps it simple. If its an SUV or Van then the price goes up to $175...and we have an optional fee (our option) of adding on $25+ if the interior is FILTHY...thats only for rare cases like...sever mud/throw up/pet hair etc...but it kinda covers us just incase we run into it.
 
Bullitt AK said:
-Wash
-Wax
-Door/Trunk Jambs cleaned
-Wheel wells cleaned
-Restoration and Shine of all exterior plastics and Tires
-Clean all interior surfaces
-Interior dressing
-Leather cleaned and conditioned
-Clean all glass inside and out
-Vacuum entire vehicle
-Choice of scent New Car, New Leather, Cherry, Watermelon
-2/4 door vehicles 90
-SUVs, Vans 110

n 25 for clays?


then i have
-Wash
-Wax
-Wheel wells cleaned
-Door/Trunk Jambs cleaned
-Clean all interior surfaces
-Interior Dressing
-Glass inside/out
-Vacuum
-2/4 door vehicles only $60
-SUVs, Vans only $75
Click to expand...

The Price should reflect your work. Without seeing your final product it sounds like each vehicle gets around 5-6 hours of work. The Tampa Bay Florida Market allows me to charge around $35 per hour. Most vehicles for a premium detail (every day driver) cost around $200 to start. Show car and exotics I charge hourly. Keep up the honest work! :dblthumb2:
 
Soakin' Joe's said:
The Price should reflect your work. Without seeing your final product it sounds like each vehicle gets around 5-6 hours of work. The Tampa Bay Florida Market allows me to charge around $35 per hour. Most vehicles for a premium detail (every day driver) cost around $200 to start. Show car and exotics I charge hourly. Keep up the honest work! :dblthumb2:
Click to expand...


^ i do good work and use only professional products, ok i changed it to this tell me what you guys think..the reason my prices were so low before is because i only did this part time and was uneducated on rates

-Wash
-Wax
-Bug and Tar removal
-Door/Trunk Jambs cleaned
-Wheel wells cleaned
-Restoration and Shine of all exterior plastics- Door handles, bumpers, wheel wells, mirrors, wheel wells, windshield cowl, etc.
-Tire Shine
-Thorough cleaning of all interior surfaces
-Interior dressing - non greasy
-Clean all glass inside and out
-Vacuum entire vehicle
-Choice of long lasting scent New Car, New Leather, Cherry, Watermelon
-2/4 door vehicles $120
-SUVs $130
Large SUVs - Suburban, Yukon, Denali, Tahoe, etc. $150

Add ons
Leather Cleaning and Conditioning of SUVs and 2/4 door vehicles add $40
Paint Cleansing before wax add $25
Clay Barring before wax add $25
Upholstery Cleaning priced on severity

reflecting roughly 18/hr+product
 
Last edited:
Bullit, the price list is getting better! I'm also trying to enter the scene around my parts, just trying to get my name out more and more. Seems like most around here are hacks! People charging $100 for a "full detail" with swirl removal and the whole 9 yards. Just remember, price yourself for how much you think your work is worth and you will do just fine.
 
Bullitt AK said:
^ i do good work and use only professional products, ok i changed it to this tell me what you guys think..the reason my prices were so low before is because i only did this part time and was uneducated on rates

-Wash
-Wax
-Bug and Tar removal
-Door/Trunk Jambs cleaned
-Wheel wells cleaned
-Restoration and Shine of all exterior plastics- Door handles, bumpers, wheel wells, mirrors, wheel wells, windshield cowl, etc.
-Tire Shine
-Thorough cleaning of all interior surfaces
-Interior dressing - non greasy
-Clean all glass inside and out
-Vacuum entire vehicle
-Choice of long lasting scent New Car, New Leather, Cherry, Watermelon
-2/4 door vehicles $120
-SUVs $130
Large SUVs - Suburban, Yukon, Denali, Tahoe, etc. $150

Add ons
Leather Cleaning and Conditioning of SUVs and 2/4 door vehicles add $40
Paint Cleansing before wax add $25
Clay Barring before wax add $25
Upholstery Cleaning priced on severity

reflecting roughly 18/hr+product
Click to expand...


I think thats looking better as well. My packages are set up a little differntly, but then again i think everyone has something different. I think for what you're offering the price is pretty good. When you put 'paint cleansing before wax' are you talking about like an AIO polish or cleaner wax or...? Will you be machine applying it?
 
How many cars a week are you averaging at this point? I am all for getting paid as much as your market will bare, but I also would hate to see you price yourself right out of work
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top