How much $$$ for detailing

P

patricemougeot

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Hi guy's,

I know this question might of been asked, but I live in Canada near Ottawa. I am wondering what would be a fair price to charge customers who would bring in a F-150, Dodge Ram, Chevy Silverado or Sierra versus a BMW, Audi, Lexus?

Should I charge by the hour or should I charge for a package?

What would be the average time I should spend on either type of vehicle?

Thanks

Pat
 
Hi Patrice.

From what I see we live in the same area.

Anyway, pricing is the biggest puzzle for a detailer. Start by looking around what others charge for specific jobs. Are you mobile? What exactly are you doing on those vehicles(full interior, exterior, paint correction...etc).

Do not charge by the hour, per say, but base your pricings on that. Figure out the time you need to prepare your equipment, travel time and all that. Example: 3 hours at 30$/hour = 90$. Then figure out the amount of products you will use.

I'm still struggling with pricing myself to be honest.
 
I personally tend to stay away from pickups,to much time involved and the interior is usually very dirty.on cars I set in my mind how long it's gonna take to do a good job.You have to listen what the customer wants.is it production or paint correction with a interior detail.only you can determine what your worth based on speed and skill,then set your price.Start with a minimum of 30 an hr,but never tell a customer that you need $$$ per hour.
 
RangerDetails said:
Hi Patrice.

From what I see we live in the same area.

Anyway, pricing is the biggest puzzle for a detailer. Start by looking around what others charge for specific jobs. Are you mobile? What exactly are you doing on those vehicles(full interior, exterior, paint correction...etc).

Do not charge by the hour, per say, but base your pricings on that. Figure out the time you need to prepare your equipment, travel time and all that. Example: 3 hours at 30$/hour = 90$. Then figure out the amount of products you will use.

I'm still struggling with pricing myself to be honest.
Click to expand...

Hi RangerDetails. Well I want to stand out as I see a few detailers in our area that don't go the extra mile. I want to specialize myself in paint correction. I am not mobile and don't think I will be either as I prefer clients to bring me their car in my garage. I can work from the safety of my home and give them my full attention and 100%.

I will give you an example.

Client bring his full size truck. It needs a wash (2 bucket system), it needs to be clayed (Nanoskin 2 step), then I see we have swirls and some RIDS, the I polish and wax.

Would it be safe to say that this would take me around between 7-10 hours to complete? If so, would 500$-600$ be suitable or would it be too much?
 
GSKR said:
I personally tend to stay away from pickups,to much time involved and the interior is usually very dirty.on cars I set in my mind how long it's gonna take to do a good job.You have to listen what the customer wants.is it production or paint correction with a interior detail.only you can determine what your worth based on speed and skill,then set your price.Start with a minimum of 30 an hr,but never tell a customer that you need $$$ per hour.
Click to expand...
always if you can,do a section sample on the driver side.That will help tremendously when quoting a job.Detailing is educational when it comes to the public,they simply just don't know what it takes to do the job right.I always do a sample spot then hit them with the price.never give quotes over the phone.people will never mention the true condition of there car.ask them if you can come by to look at it,then do a sample and most of all there buying into you.If they call and they are trying to pull a estimate out of you then there looking for pricing not value.
 
patricemougeot said:
Hi RangerDetails. Well I want to stand out as I see a few detailers in our area that don't go the extra mile. I want to specialize myself in paint correction. I am not mobile and don't think I will be either as I prefer clients to bring me their car in my garage. I can work from the safety of my home and give them my full attention and 100%.

I will give you an example.

Client bring his full size truck. It needs a wash (2 bucket system), it needs to be clayed (Nanoskin 2 step), then I see we have swirls and some RIDS, the I polish and wax.

Would it be safe to say that this would take me around between 7-10 hours to complete? If so, would 500$-600$ be suitable or would it be too much?
Click to expand...

Ahhhhh I wish I had a garage.

The estimated time would be about right but sadly, in our area, I don't think you would get away with 500$

There is a mobile service around here called Mobilux, they clean the interior, dress plastics, clean exterior, dress tires, decontaminate the paint, do a 3-step polish and clean the engine. All that and they charge 250$ which I think is insane. I don't know how they make money with those prices.
 
RangerDetails said:
Ahhhhh I wish I had a garage.

The estimated time would be about right but sadly, in our area, I don't think you would get away with 500$

There is a mobile service around here called Mobilux, they clean the interior, dress plastics, clean exterior, dress tires, decontaminate the paint, do a 3-step polish and clean the engine. All that and they charge 250$ which I think is insane. I don't know how they make money with those prices.
Click to expand...

We have plenty of those guys in AZ. And sadly people leave good reviews because they think they got a great deal and their car is shiny.

True story, was parked next to a mobile detailer and start asking questions, he told me you must compound before you clay to make the surface ready for clay.

You then clay, then apply a wax. I tried telling him how that's wrong, but it just wasn't registering... Gave up and drove off. That poor black car had rotary buffer trails galore.


So even if you charge more in your area. As long as you're better then your local competition, you will do fine.
 
Jomax said:
We have plenty of those guys in AZ. And sadly people leave good reviews because they think they got a great deal and their car is shiny.

True story, was parked next to a mobile detailer and start asking questions, he told me you must compound before you clay to make the surface ready for clay.

You then clay, then apply a wax. I tried telling him how that's wrong, but it just wasn't registering... Gave up and drove off. That poor black car had rotary buffer trails galore.


So even if you charge more in your area. As long as you're better then your local competition, you will do fine.
Click to expand...

That's true, I have no idea what their work looks like. Maybe they do a quick and poor job.
 
RangerDetails said:
Ahhhhh I wish I had a garage.

The estimated time would be about right but sadly, in our area, I don't think you would get away with 500$

There is a mobile service around here called Mobilux, they clean the interior, dress plastics, clean exterior, dress tires, decontaminate the paint, do a 3-step polish and clean the engine. All that and they charge 250$ which I think is insane. I don't know how they make money with those prices.
Click to expand...

Well to be honest RangerDetails he won't last long charging that price. I would pay good money to have a look at the jobs he does. We will see how that plays out.
 
patricemougeot said:
Well to be honest RangerDetails he won't last long charging that price. I would pay good money to have a look at the jobs he does. We will see how that plays out.
Click to expand...

Or if you have a older DD, have him detail it. And study his work. If you ever have a client say how "this detailer only charges X amount" you can respond Nicely saying I've seen his work and it's not in the same league👍
 
Jomax said:
Or if you have a older DD, have him detail it. And study his work. If you ever have a client say how "this detailer only charges X amount" you can respond Nicely saying I've seen his work and it's not in the same league👍
Click to expand...

:dblthumb2:
 
patricemougeot said:
Well to be honest RangerDetails he won't last long charging that price. I would pay good money to have a look at the jobs he does. We will see how that plays out.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I bet they will jack up their prices next summer. Those prices are a disservice to all detailers in the area. They establish a standard that is ridiculous and makes it hard for us to charge the right amount to customers.
 
patricemougeot said:
Hi RangerDetails. Well I want to stand out as I see a few detailers in our area that don't go the extra mile. I want to specialize myself in paint correction. I am not mobile and don't think I will be either as I prefer clients to bring me their car in my garage. I can work from the safety of my home and give them my full attention and 100%.

I will give you an example.

Client bring his full size truck. It needs a wash (2 bucket system), it needs to be clayed (Nanoskin 2 step), then I see we have swirls and some RIDS, the I polish and wax.

Would it be safe to say that this would take me around between 7-10 hours to complete? If so, would 500$-600$ be suitable or would it be too much?
Click to expand...

IMO customers look at detailing very different than what a detailer does. I seriously doubt your client will pony up $500-$600 for the work. I agree give the customer what they want. Most trucks are not show cars. I'd recommend cutting your time in half and price accordingly. Paint correction is rewarding, most just want clean and shiney. Remember you can clay and polish making it look 80-90% better and most likely accomplish the task. Bottom line if figure out your time to do the work and set an estimate accordingly but don't over deliver ruining your profit. Just do what you both agree to do with perhaps a little extra thrown in that the client will appreciate.
 
rmagnus said:
IMO customers look at detailing very different than what a detailer does. I seriously doubt your client will pony up $500-$600 for the work. I agree give the customer what they want. Most trucks are not show cars. I'd recommend cutting your time in half and price accordingly. Paint correction is rewarding, most just want clean and shiney. Remember you can clay and polish making it look 80-90% better and most likely accomplish the task. Bottom line if figure out your time to do the work and set an estimate accordingly but don't over deliver ruining your profit. Just do what you both agree to do with perhaps a little extra thrown in that the client will appreciate.
Click to expand...

This is true, 99% of the time truck owners are super happy with an AIO. They'll take it the next weekend camping and scratch it up.
 
Can anybody steer me to the thread where Mike offered suggestions on setting up a mobile wash and production detail route
any help would be greatly appreciated I can't find it
 
I have 3 packages and usually add $100 more for the exterior of a van or SUV but all my quotes include verbiage that states the exact costs could vary based on inspection of the vehicle at the time of drop off. I state that for all vehicles.
 
GSKR said:
always if you can,do a section sample on the driver side.That will help tremendously when quoting a job.Detailing is educational when it comes to the public,they simply just don't know what it takes to do the job right.I always do a sample spot then hit them with the price.never give quotes over the phone.people will never mention the true condition of there car.ask them if you can come by to look at it,then do a sample and most of all there buying into you.If they call and they are trying to pull a estimate out of you then there looking for pricing not value.
Click to expand...

after reading this an image of a small hand held battery powered polisher popped in my head, with me standing there looking over the car and listening to the clients needs and then I do a quick test spot and how them the difference really fast with my hand held polisher and they were sold from just the small improvement with the hand held.
 
how muc do u charge for wheel coating/seal is it per wheel or the set? also how much?
 
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