13 hour excursion detail

statusdetailing

statusdetailing

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:rant:I need to vent. Apparently I'm an idiot, because once again I let myself do an excursion for not enough dinero!

I charged $275 for a full detail, with a one step and engine. The money doesn't seem horrible, right? Wrong! I put 13 hours into that beast yesterday. That's with a steamer, extractor, compressed air. . .the works. I work out of a shop.

If you haven't done an exursion, they're a pain. They are absolutely a 2 day job. Don't fool yourself. Not only are they twice as big as any other car, but they have weird intricate frames under the rear passenger seats that collect kids candy and all kinds of nasty crap.

The interior was a light tan color so every single tiny stain shows up. AAAAAAh! The leather was a wreck! Had to clean it with APC+ and let it dwell for a while before scrubbing. I hate leather that is stained that bad!

I know I should have charged $400 + and did it in 2 days, but I didn't. I'm exhausted and my hands are throbbing. Ok, I'm done. Sorry guys. I had to get that off my chest.
 
Sometimes you need to make the same mistake twice before it sinks in...ask me how I know!! :doh:

Now that you realize just how much work and how long it takes to get the job done correctly $400 is the price.... :props:
 
statusdetailing said:
:rant:I need to vent. Apparently I'm an idiot, because once again I let myself do an excursion for not enough dinero!

I charged $275 for a full detail, with a one step and engine. The money doesn't seem horrible, right? Wrong! I put 13 hours into that beast yesterday. That's with a steamer, extractor, compressed air. . .the works. I work out of a shop.

If you haven't done an exursion, they're a pain. They are absolutely a 2 day job. Don't fool yourself. Not only are they twice as big as any other car, but they have weird intricate frames under the rear passenger seats that collect kids candy and all kinds of nasty crap.

The interior was a light tan color so every single tiny stain shows up. AAAAAAh! The leather was a wreck! Had to clean it with APC+ and let it dwell for a while before scrubbing. I hate leather that is stained that bad!

I know I should have charged $400 + and did it in 2 days, but I didn't. I'm exhausted and my hands are throbbing. Ok, I'm done. Sorry guys. I had to get that off my chest.
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I hear ya!
 
BobbyG said:
Sometimes you need to make the same mistake twice before it sinks in...ask me how I know!! :doh:

Now that you realize just how much work and how long it takes to get the job done correctly $400 is the price.... :props:
Click to expand...


Hahaha it's just like what George W. Bush said. "Fool me once, shame on — [pauses] — shame on you. Fool me — [pauses] — You can't get fooled again.". . .wait a minute...What?!
 
statusdetailing said:
Hahaha it's just like what George W. Bush said. "Fool me once, shame on — [pauses] — shame on you. Fool me — [pauses] — You can't get fooled again.". . .wait a minute...What?!
Click to expand...

Everytime I hear this quote I think of The Who song, LOL!

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
 
I hate to hear that man, I know how u feel though! Super frustrating ! And your right those under the seat frames are a pain!


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk
 
People still own excursions. Lol. You also need to watch out for vans too they always have a way of sneaking up on you
 
statusdetailing said:
:rant:I need to vent. Apparently I'm an idiot, because once again I let myself do an excursion for not enough dinero!

I charged $275 for a full detail, with a one step and engine. The money doesn't seem horrible, right? Wrong! I put 13 hours into that beast yesterday. That's with a steamer, extractor, compressed air. . .the works. I work out of a shop.

If you haven't done an exursion, they're a pain. They are absolutely a 2 day job. Don't fool yourself. Not only are they twice as big as any other car, but they have weird intricate frames under the rear passenger seats that collect kids candy and all kinds of nasty crap.

The interior was a light tan color so every single tiny stain shows up. AAAAAAh! The leather was a wreck! Had to clean it with APC+ and let it dwell for a while before scrubbing. I hate leather that is stained that bad!

I know I should have charged $400 + and did it in 2 days, but I didn't. I'm exhausted and my hands are throbbing. Ok, I'm done. Sorry guys. I had to get that off my chest.
Click to expand...


What happens when they come back again and the price went up $ 125 dollars, what are you going to tell them, just curious?
 
Klasse Act said:
Everytime I hear this quote I think of The Who song, LOL!

Sent from my SPH-M930 using AG Online
Click to expand...

The Who 1971......

[video=youtube_share;NIHJ9RMAVGI"]Who - Won't get fooled again 1971 - YouTube[/video]
 
Italian Guy said:
What happens when they come back again and the price went up $ 125 dollars, what are you going to tell them, just curious?
Click to expand...

I'll just have to tell them sorry, but unfortunately I had to raise the price in order to continue doing hight quality work and remain profitable. It's not that I lost money on the excursion, but I've ran into this problem before. Those big vehicles will burn you out and potential cause injury. I got tendinitus in both wrist a year ago doing 4 small shuttle buses, one after the other. I took today off to recover, but I normally work 5 to 6 days a week. If you try to do an exursion in one day and then have another full detail the next day, your going to get hurt. . .whether that be mentally or physically. I know it sounds funny but it can happen.

I knew that I should have broke it up into 2 days and charged more. The reason for the $400 price is because I could have done 2 easier cars for 200+ each, in 2 days. If I did the excursion in 2 days for less than $400 I would be losing money for sure. Hope that made sense.
 
statusdetailing said:
I'll just have to tell them sorry, but unfortunately I had to raise the price in order to continue doing hight quality work and remain profitable. It's not that I lost money on the excursion, but I've ran into this problem before. Those big vehicles will burn you out and potential cause injury. I got tendinitus in both wrist a year ago doing 4 small shuttle buses, one after the other. I took today off to recover, but I normally work 5 to 6 days a week. If you try to do an exursion in one day and then have another full detail the next day, your going to get hurt. . .whether that be mentally or physically. I know it sounds funny but it can happen.

I knew that I should have broke it up into 2 days and charged more. The reason for the $400 price is because I could have done 2 easier cars for 200+ each, in 2 days. If I did the excursion in 2 days for less than $400 I would be losing money for sure. Hope that made sense.
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Makes perfect sense.
 
Try to sell the client on a maintenance plan and show them how it will save them money in the long run and keep the Excursion in better shape as opposed to a once in a blue moon full detail. It would also save you time and effort doing an excursion that's just a little dirty once or twice a month as opposed to one that's totally trashed out.
 
statusdetailing said:
I charged $275 for a full detail, with a one step and engine. The money doesn't seem horrible, right? Wrong! I put 13 hours into that beast yesterday. That's with a steamer, extractor, compressed air. . .the works. I work out of a shop.
Click to expand...


 
I feel your pain statusdetailing.. I always say as im doing a car,,,Ok this time im gonna cut back on products,,,30 mins later my bottle that was full..is half empty.. Kinda like my wallet
 
I feel like this is something that just happens to every detailer at some point or another. On a good note. I'm doing a WRX STI next week. One of my favorite cars. Looking forward to it.
 
statusdetailing said:
I feel like this is something that just happens to every detailer at some point or another. On a good note. I'm doing a WRX STI next week. One of my favorite cars. Looking forward to it.
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It's all good bud! I used to do the same thing back in high school; I would charge my neighbor the same whether I did his 4 door Jag or beefy Tahoe. He was a neighbor though so I wanted to help him out as much as I could.

Good luck on the WRX; those are pretty neat cars. It's always a treat to detail cars that are your favorites.
 
I feel ya I have an F250 Crew Cab Short Bed and its the same size other then the cab where my pickup box is.

I was at an Auto Parts store the other week and a guy was complementing how good my truck looked. He asked how long it takes me to do it. I told him that this past spring I did M205, PO85RD, Blacklight and took me 2 days. He starts to tell me it should only take about 20 mins.
 
statusdetailing said:
I feel like this is something that just happens to every detailer at some point or another. On a good note. I'm doing a WRX STI next week. One of my favorite cars. Looking forward to it.
Click to expand...

Kind of a detailing axiom wouldn't you say.
I'm fond of saying that 'everyone loses on their first rv'. While not 100% accurate, there are plenty of threads to support this belief.
 
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