Mike Phillips
Active member
- Dec 5, 2022
- 51,004
- 6
Fair but competitive price for a wash, and or exterior wash/wax for a Ford F-150 that is black
Anytime I get questions via e-mail, a PM or a FB message I prefer to invest my typing time where
A: It's easier for me to share links, pictures and videos.
B: More people can read and thus benefit from the information. (no just one set of eyeballs
So I get an e-mail asking,
Good afternoon from San Diego.
Hey Mr. Phillips,
I wanted to ask you a question and some guidance as well. First let me ask what would be a fair but competitive price for a wash, and or exterior wash/wax for a Ford F-150. And it's black.
I'm trying to start my own mobile detailing business and I am really willing to go thru what it takes.
Thank you in advance,
Julius
Great questions Julius,
My frist recommendation would be join this forum and ask your questions to this forum. This forum will be your most powefull tool for being succesfful in your business. More powerful than any buffer you will ever buy.
Click here to join the AGO forum
I don't answer quetiosn via e-mail or any form of messaging for all the reasons I listed above and in this article I wrote here,
Please post your questions to our discussion forum - Don't send them to me in a PM or E-mail...
I love to help people but typing out in-depth answers that often include pictures, videos and links to even MORE information doesn't work well via e-mail or any form of messaging but worst of all, only one set of eyeballs see and benefit from the information.
Most people that e-mail me have the abitlity to type so they have the ability to join the forum and post their questions here. If they won't do this then I'll do it for them because I simply don't have the time to answer questions for one set of eyeballs now day.
Make sense?
Now on to your questions...
What I think would be fair for the average detailer to drive to someone's house and then ONLY wash their vehicle would be in the $60.00 range and that's on the low side once you factor in your gas and time to drive to their location.
Washing any average size car and doing a professional job, (professional means thorough), will take you at least an hour from set-up to finished. I've documented myself washing my wife's SL 500 in under 30 minutes but I regularly maintain this car with frequent washings and it always has a paint coating on the paint, glass, plastic and wheels. (this means it stays clean, washes fast and dries fast otherwise it would take me an hour).
A large truck will take longer when you consider you'll need a Werner Work Platform, stepstool, step ladder or ladder to get into the truck bed so you can wash the roof and also wash out the bed.
If the black truck in in NEW or EXCELLENT CONDITION like I list on page 37 of my how-to book, The Complete Guide to a Show Car Shine then in order to avoid putting scratches into the perfect paint you will have to be more careful and this will mean more time.
If the truck is a daily driver and all swirled out and the only goal is to simply get the dirt off and make the swirly paint shiny, then at least one hour from start to finish.
If the wheels are SEVERLY neglected, as in the front wheels have baked-on, caked-on road grime and brake dust to the point they are BROWN and the owner expects these to be restored to like new then figure on around 20 to 30 minutes for each wheel and this will also require some very good chemistry in your choice of wheel cleaner and some good brushes.
I've outlined the above scenarios because you didn't describe the current condition of the truck or the expectation of the owner. So don't know if that helps but there's a chunk of information for you to think through.
I'm really good at this kind of stuff and really fast. My artificial leg doesn't make me slower than any person with two legs for this type of work. Here's an example of a Chevy Tahoe I washed THOROUGHLY and it took me one hour.
High quality production detailing by Mike Phillips
The issue you may run into is that living in Southern California you will have a lot of detailing competition where your competitors will drive to someone's house and wash a car or truck for half this price and even less.
Getting a person to pay you a higher price starts with two things,
1: Having a good reputation for doing quality work the first time.
If you do good work your first time customers will become long-time customers. If you don't then you'll never build up a profitable customer base.
2: Educating your customer
If you don't know what your doing (head knowledge), then you cannot explain to your potential customer why paying your $60.00 just to wash their black Ford F150 is a better value than paying anyone else $30.00 to wash their truck.
Join this forum an start reading and more important, start threads asking questions. You will LEARN a lot and it is your education of the craft of car detailing that will separate you from the competition and enable you to be successful.
Here's a saying I have,
A successful detailer starts with the brain not the buffer
Most guys think all they need to do to become a successful detailer is get a buffer and get busy. That is SO FAR from the truth. You need and want head knowledge and then you can work smarter, not harder and make a profit instead of losing mony and becoming frustrated and giving up.
Then next best thing you can do is attend one of my classes. I'm both happy and proud to say I teach the best hands-on detailing class on planet Earth. I would never take anything away from my good friend Renny Doyle or Todd Cooperdier, (the only two other guys that I know that have a good and known reputation for being "instructors". I've never taken their classes but I know what I teach in my classes and I've seen the results over the years and heard a LOT of feedback.
So invest in yourself and attend one of my classes. The class here in Stuart, Florida is $1,795.00 plus you have to travel here and get a hotel room and rent a car plus meals. My classes always sell out and this means most the people that attend these classes are spending around $3000.0 to $4000.00 minimum just to attend this class plus what is purchased in the way off tools and supplies after the class.
When people consistently invest this type of money into the classes we hold here at Autogeek - this is an indicator that the class is what it claims to be.
The other option is sometime in the future I'll have a Roadshow class in California or a nearby state. You need to join the Autogeek Newsletter to hear about this or... be active on this forum.
Here's information about our road show classes, where my credentials are also shared...
Autogeek's 2-Day Roadshow Detailing Classes with Mike Phillips
I hope I've helped you and I hope to see you join the forum and start elevating yourself above the competition.
Anytime I get questions via e-mail, a PM or a FB message I prefer to invest my typing time where
A: It's easier for me to share links, pictures and videos.
B: More people can read and thus benefit from the information. (no just one set of eyeballs
So I get an e-mail asking,
Good afternoon from San Diego.
Hey Mr. Phillips,
I wanted to ask you a question and some guidance as well. First let me ask what would be a fair but competitive price for a wash, and or exterior wash/wax for a Ford F-150. And it's black.
I'm trying to start my own mobile detailing business and I am really willing to go thru what it takes.
Thank you in advance,
Julius
Great questions Julius,
My frist recommendation would be join this forum and ask your questions to this forum. This forum will be your most powefull tool for being succesfful in your business. More powerful than any buffer you will ever buy.
Click here to join the AGO forum
I don't answer quetiosn via e-mail or any form of messaging for all the reasons I listed above and in this article I wrote here,
Please post your questions to our discussion forum - Don't send them to me in a PM or E-mail...
I love to help people but typing out in-depth answers that often include pictures, videos and links to even MORE information doesn't work well via e-mail or any form of messaging but worst of all, only one set of eyeballs see and benefit from the information.
Most people that e-mail me have the abitlity to type so they have the ability to join the forum and post their questions here. If they won't do this then I'll do it for them because I simply don't have the time to answer questions for one set of eyeballs now day.
Make sense?
Now on to your questions...
Julius said:
What I think would be fair for the average detailer to drive to someone's house and then ONLY wash their vehicle would be in the $60.00 range and that's on the low side once you factor in your gas and time to drive to their location.
Washing any average size car and doing a professional job, (professional means thorough), will take you at least an hour from set-up to finished. I've documented myself washing my wife's SL 500 in under 30 minutes but I regularly maintain this car with frequent washings and it always has a paint coating on the paint, glass, plastic and wheels. (this means it stays clean, washes fast and dries fast otherwise it would take me an hour).
A large truck will take longer when you consider you'll need a Werner Work Platform, stepstool, step ladder or ladder to get into the truck bed so you can wash the roof and also wash out the bed.
If the black truck in in NEW or EXCELLENT CONDITION like I list on page 37 of my how-to book, The Complete Guide to a Show Car Shine then in order to avoid putting scratches into the perfect paint you will have to be more careful and this will mean more time.
If the truck is a daily driver and all swirled out and the only goal is to simply get the dirt off and make the swirly paint shiny, then at least one hour from start to finish.
If the wheels are SEVERLY neglected, as in the front wheels have baked-on, caked-on road grime and brake dust to the point they are BROWN and the owner expects these to be restored to like new then figure on around 20 to 30 minutes for each wheel and this will also require some very good chemistry in your choice of wheel cleaner and some good brushes.
I've outlined the above scenarios because you didn't describe the current condition of the truck or the expectation of the owner. So don't know if that helps but there's a chunk of information for you to think through.
I'm really good at this kind of stuff and really fast. My artificial leg doesn't make me slower than any person with two legs for this type of work. Here's an example of a Chevy Tahoe I washed THOROUGHLY and it took me one hour.
High quality production detailing by Mike Phillips
The issue you may run into is that living in Southern California you will have a lot of detailing competition where your competitors will drive to someone's house and wash a car or truck for half this price and even less.
Getting a person to pay you a higher price starts with two things,
1: Having a good reputation for doing quality work the first time.
If you do good work your first time customers will become long-time customers. If you don't then you'll never build up a profitable customer base.
2: Educating your customer
If you don't know what your doing (head knowledge), then you cannot explain to your potential customer why paying your $60.00 just to wash their black Ford F150 is a better value than paying anyone else $30.00 to wash their truck.
Julius said:
Join this forum an start reading and more important, start threads asking questions. You will LEARN a lot and it is your education of the craft of car detailing that will separate you from the competition and enable you to be successful.
Here's a saying I have,
A successful detailer starts with the brain not the buffer
Most guys think all they need to do to become a successful detailer is get a buffer and get busy. That is SO FAR from the truth. You need and want head knowledge and then you can work smarter, not harder and make a profit instead of losing mony and becoming frustrated and giving up.
Then next best thing you can do is attend one of my classes. I'm both happy and proud to say I teach the best hands-on detailing class on planet Earth. I would never take anything away from my good friend Renny Doyle or Todd Cooperdier, (the only two other guys that I know that have a good and known reputation for being "instructors". I've never taken their classes but I know what I teach in my classes and I've seen the results over the years and heard a LOT of feedback.
So invest in yourself and attend one of my classes. The class here in Stuart, Florida is $1,795.00 plus you have to travel here and get a hotel room and rent a car plus meals. My classes always sell out and this means most the people that attend these classes are spending around $3000.0 to $4000.00 minimum just to attend this class plus what is purchased in the way off tools and supplies after the class.
When people consistently invest this type of money into the classes we hold here at Autogeek - this is an indicator that the class is what it claims to be.
The other option is sometime in the future I'll have a Roadshow class in California or a nearby state. You need to join the Autogeek Newsletter to hear about this or... be active on this forum.
Here's information about our road show classes, where my credentials are also shared...
Autogeek's 2-Day Roadshow Detailing Classes with Mike Phillips
Julius said:
I hope I've helped you and I hope to see you join the forum and start elevating yourself above the competition.
