Boat pricing

AeroCleanse

AeroCleanse

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How do you charge for boat cleaning (no polishing, etc). Do you change by the foot?
 
I am not a detailer however locally I think I saw people charge by the foot... Only seems the right way to be fair to yourself and the customer.
 
i think generally speaking, RVs, boats, limos are done by the foot

could be wrong
 
Never would have thought of by the foot, I did my first boat by the hour and it ended up pretty fair. Dont see why it is different than a car?
 
a min 40-50$/ hour , in that range
if is soiled or polish involved , price goes up.
*i only did 2 boats , i am not sweating for them
 
By the foot is typical, but in my experience, also wrong. A 28' boat can be 3' tall of hull or 10'...that's a lot of difference.

I usually do it hourly, for paint work (gelcoat), it's $75 an hour. I can add up, but if you've ever polished gelcoat for 25 hours on a boat (I just did), you'll realize how freakin' much work it can be.

I think hourly gives you a bit more fairness on both ends. It's also more static since not every project by the foot is the same.
 
davisautodetail said:
By the foot is typical, but in my experience, also wrong. A 28' boat can be 3' tall of hull or 10'...that's a lot of difference.

I usually do it hourly, for paint work (gelcoat), it's $75 an hour. I can add up, but if you've ever polished gelcoat for 25 hours on a boat (I just did), you'll realize how freakin' much work it can be.

I think hourly gives you a bit more fairness on both ends. It's also more static since not every project by the foot is the same.
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:whs:

I have a 29 footer coming in this weekend which has a fly bridge, interior cabins, storage/drawers/tanks etc.... If I were to charge per foot I would lose my shirt and my mind!! A price per hour is the way to go. The price will depend on your market, and does have to account for the cost of the products (which are a little more for marine "eco friendly" products). Do sell yourself short trying to gather more business.... this is HARD WORK!!, and that is they are charged a hefty price.
 
I charge by the foot for your standard boat. I do a little bit lower price than average but only work on referal. I do $10 a foot for just the hull on a standard boat with no fly bridge or anything I do 5 more per foot for the top side. The average price around me is 12 a foot for the hull and 6 for the top. Anything more complex like fly bridge and larger 40ft plus boats is priced after I see them but I work out what it will take in my per foot pricing to make it worth my while.

And as it was stated boats are no easy task don't underestimate the work and leave yourself making min wage or anything. Always good to get a look at the boat before you quote it especially being your first one.

Also keep in mind the people paying you to do it are aware of how much hard work it is to do a boat. That is why they are not trying it themselves so don't be afraid to make it worth your time.
 
Dr_Pain said:
:whs:

I have a 29 footer coming in this weekend which has a fly bridge, interior cabins, storage/drawers/tanks etc.... If I were to charge per foot I would lose my shirt and my mind!! A price per hour is the way to go. The price will depend on your market, and does have to account for the cost of the products (which are a little more for marine "eco friendly" products). Do sell yourself short trying to gather more business.... this is HARD WORK!!, and that is they are charged a hefty price.
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No doubt! The one I just did was 28', and it took me about 25 hours, plus at least $300 in materials (ruined pads, polish, etc.) to do it.

Boats are a whole other animal. I'm the only guy in my area that actually does paint/gelcoat work, so I can command a bit of a premium for it, but there are also not a bunch of boats, so it balances out.

FWIW, I do the same pricing for RV's, all hourly, I just found I couldn't come up with a fair per-foot price that captured the necessary risk.
 
Not talking about polishing out a boat, just a clean.
 
I have never did a boat before for a customer but I have 2 identical sea-doo speedster jet boats to do this week. Customer is mainly concerned about polishing the outside of the hull and the rear where people step in is also faded. I'm going to try to get under the boats as much as possible too. I quoted $250 each. Does that sound close??
 
Typically a jet boat is 14-21ft and there isn't much hull to them. So I'd say that you could make some decent money on that deal.
 
AeroCleanse said:
Not talking about polishing out a boat, just a clean.
Click to expand...

If you charge $25/hr for basic wash on car than add 15% for boats (cost of product and the extra nooks and crannies)

If you charge $40/hr for automotive specialty services like compounding/polishing etc..... then polishing the gel coat, the aluminum, the plexiglass windscreen, mold and mildew abatement etc... you will have to add a premium for all the nooks and crannies and the fact that gel coat (although more forgiving) is a LOT harder to polish.

If you don't like the "per hour" scenario, then calculate "per square feet" and then add a small premium because of the product cost (and the extra liability of stepping on a wet surface)

This is not an exact science and does require a little bit of learning on the fly. As the dirty pictures posted above show not all detailing jobs are created equal.
 
Yea that Bayliner is almost the worst boat I have ever seen. My local marina where my boat is at has a few that haven't moved in over 15 years and have never been covered it's nasty. Overgrown and I don't think you could even pull them out without a chain saw first.
 
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