My first detail customer, and I'm pretty sure I undercharged

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Iamonaboat

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So after catching the detailing bug after realizing the lack of quality detailers here in town, I had a guy in my office ask me what I would charge to do his Lincoln MKX. I told him I wasn't sure (first mistake), as I didn't know how long exactly it would take me, and what condition the vehicle was in. I'm just starting to get into it, but I've worked a lot on my cars, and have done a lot of "front line details" when I was whole selling cars. I picked up the car, and it was in decent shape exterior wise, interior was pretty hammered. I told him we'd square up when I got done. (Second Mistake). When I dropped off the car, he asked me what he owed me, and I hadn't thought ahead of time, and just said throw me $100. When driving home, I was recalling the all of the work I did on the car, and realized I probably screwed myself. Here's what I did:

Cleaned Wheels and Tires with Sonax and Wheel Brush
Two bucket wash/rinse
ONR and NanoSkin
Dry with MF Waffle Weave
Vacuum / Shampoo / Scrub / Extract Carpets
Remove Rubber Floor Matts PW, and treat with Meguiars Vinly/Rubber cleaner.
Spray Engine Bay with BF APC and rinse
Meguiars Vinyl/Rubber on all Vinyl Rubber areas of the car
Steamed and cleaned door jams and all around the door
Lexol Cleaner and Conditioner on the seats
Meguiars UC on approximately 1/5 of the vehicle (time constraints, and overall vehicle was in decent shape)
Meguiars Ultimate Polish on those areas
Meguiars AIO on the entire vehicle
All windows cleaned inside and outside windows.
Final dressing on interior and dash.
Adams Under carriage dressing on wheel weeks
I'm sure there is something else I forgot.

All in all it took me ~5 hours. I probably could have shaved about 30 minutes off had I had all of my stuff ready and a better order of doing things. I know I'm not an expert, but I'm not a $20 hack at a local car wash. I busted my ass for 5 hours straight and he seemed a little appalled by the 100 quote I gave him. I'm not crazy right? Not to mention he said I could have the car for the whole day, then about an hour in, he said he needed it back in 5.5 hours. I know prices heavily dependent on the market, but if this is the type of work I'd have to do for $100, no thanks. Here are some pictures. MKX - Imgur Go gentle, I'm new.
 
I believe the customer got way more than what he paid for. Good for him, bad for you. But then again, you made $100 and got some experience. I'd like to see him go somewhere else and get the same services for less. Chalk it up to a lesson learned. Don't undersell yourself. And next time give them a better idea of what it will cost before you invest all your time into it.

And you could possibly get a referral out of it. Live and learn and keep going.
 
LandOfLinkin said:
I believe the customer got way more than what he paid for. Good for him, bad for you. But then again, you made $100 and got some experience. I'd like to see him go somewhere else and get the same services for less. Chalk it up to a lesson learned. Don't undersell yourself. And next time give them a better idea of what it will cost before you invest all your time into it.

And you could possibly get a referral out of it. Live and learn and keep going.
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That's why I told myself after I got home. I probably wouldn't have done much else today except watch tv and poke around online. I got some experience out of it, $100, and hopefully a referral or two. Just hope he doesn't tell them what he paid!
 
I recently experienced something similar like this too. My buddy tells people that I have a lot of detailing stuff and they say they want their detailed and how much. I said IDK depends on condition of the car, what they want done, etc. but set their expectations at $150 or higher. My thinking is that will rule out the people who don't quite understand the work that goes into it and the cost that goes along with it.
 
Iamonaboat said:
That's why I told myself after I got home. I probably wouldn't have done much else today except watch tv and poke around online. I got some experience out of it, $100, and hopefully a referral or two. Just hope he doesn't tell them what he paid!
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Let him tell them what he paid. Because if he does and they call you then you know at least they're willing to spend the $100. And if they don't call well then you don't have to break your back for someone who wants it all but doesn't want to pay for it. Your pricing will weed out those who don't care about their vehicles and bring you those that do and willing to pay. But on the flipside, a $100 is a $100 and possibly more referrals. You may have to give more than you get to start but it'll get your name out.
 
This is one of the reasons I always like taking as many pictures as possible. At least you can add it to your portfolio even if you got paid pennies. Pictures and documentations can end up being more worthy. Of course getting paid pennies is never a good thing.


On the other hand, I've had this happened to me. Saying you have X amount of days or hours. Then half way through they tell you they need the car back ASAP. Then you rush and hurry up and the work comes out all looking hack style.

What are your guys recommendations in these types of situations? Should you just do the work as best as possible (by not rushing through) and let the owner take the car back half done? Due to their error and not yours?

But then your name gets branded and its not even your fault :dunno:

Any suggestions to prevent this or how to deal with these types of situations?

Thanks
 
From my perspective, and I'll assume the quality of your work was incredible: this was your first, paid detail job. The guy paid you $100 for experimenting on his car. You know you're good, but nobody else does. I've spent 5 hours on a full detail and got paid, like $50. When you subtract product used & taxes, I made a few bucks an hour- but I learned. For me detailing is a part time "gig"; I got paid little but I learned much and in the process, people paid me to learn about corvettes, BMWs, Pontiacs, Hondas, & Toyotas. I also got to learn from some real POS cars, but I learned a lot about detailing cars and me; meaning, I learned to work smarter. Working "smarter" is due, largely, in reading through this forum, especially Mike Phillips.
You got $100 and now you've started to get some, "street cred" with folks. You can look at charging more or making more on the $100. Props on your first paid gig! Hope it works out for you.
 
For that car size I charge $250 no matter what the condition is! If they want the interior/exterior done it starts at $250 for that car. Engine cleaning is $40 more and if the interior is trashed it goes to $300. There is no paint correction or any polishing included in this price. Since your just starting out I would've charged at least $175 for that job.
 
didnt see any claybaring or sealer or wax on your list these are the big areas to work on.I will do the outside only wash claybar sealer/topper wax for 100.00 at my shop only.takes me about 2 1/2 hrs to do this.
 
You live and learn. I would have charged about $200 - $250 for that detail, but I'm in a very rural area and a small market.
 
Looks like you really charged right on point. The real issue is the cost, it was the time management. Keep pushing your self and learning more efficient tricks. You will be able to accomplish one of these details between 2 and 3 hours :)
 
Although I feel you undercharged, it is said and done. But I think you should take it away as:

- It is not your primary occupation and definitely not your primary income
- It is a hobby/ side job you enjoy doing
- You got experienced out of it
- You are building a reputation
- You have a happy coworker
- You killed 5 hours :)

On top of the work, if your service is excellent, I'm sure he will refer others to you. If you document your work with photos I'm sure you will land a lot more clients
 
My prices are similar to Pureshine, a bit less but I'm further south (Olympia) where the market is a bit weaker. Spokane I think would fall in around my price range. From my time spent there I did see a lot of car washes and detail shops so you're going to have more competition there I'm thinking. Point here is to know you're market and what they are willing to pay and what kind of time you really spend on vehicles of different sizes and conditions. I've had a few price adjustments this year, and changed a couple of packages to only include clay and a AIO. Full on correction will be a flat hourly charge based on the condition of the paint and what the customer is expecting it to look like. Just better, or full show quality shine. Feel free to look at my site and prices to get an idea of this. Like I said I think we're in very similar markets.
 
Zelfiris said:
Although I feel you undercharged, it is said and done. But I think you should take it away as:

- It is not your primary occupation and definitely not your primary income
- It is a hobby/ side job you enjoy doing
- You got experienced out of it
- You are building a reputation
- You have a happy coworker
- You killed 5 hours :)

On top of the work, if your service is excellent, I'm sure he will refer others to you. If you document your work with photos I'm sure you will land a lot more clients
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I agree with above, now IF he get you referals you can up your price and say he was your 1st true customer or you offered him a discount to get him into the detail (or to get you more referals), and you can also set rates by the hour so for your 5 hours of work you charged $20.00 +/- charge per hour what you feel comfortable with. Nice turn around on vehicle you did.
 
Zelfiris said:
Although I feel you undercharged, it is said and done. But I think you should take it away as:

- It is not your primary occupation and definitely not your primary income
- It is a hobby/ side job you enjoy doing
- You got experienced out of it
- You are building a reputation
- You have a happy coworker
- You killed 5 hours :)

On top of the work, if your service is excellent, I'm sure he will refer others to you. If you document your work with photos I'm sure you will land a lot more clients
Click to expand...

Exactly^^^^ Thats how I got into doing it on the side. Just had a neighbor from down the street drive up in her 2014 Buick asking if I detailed cars because she sees me working on the weekends all the time on different vehicles. Long story short she wanted her new Buick SUV done. Interior needs a spiff but hardly been used. Exterior is pearl white. I told her $150 and thats with no machine polishing. Wash, clay, wheels/tires, paste or sealant, windows, jambs, vac, dress interior. She didn't even bat an eye and I will be doing it this Sunday. Good luck in the future and keep at it! It's tough for me to come up with a set price for a certain amount of work. I really base it on the size and how bad of shape the vehicle is in. I have done little 4dr cars and charged more than I am for this SUV.
 
For me, it would have cost them $350-400 for all those services! Usually what I do is if it's for a friend, I either charge them full or free. That's just how I roll! ;)
 
look at it as experience and some money to buy more stuff. i would probably charge $400+ for that work as there is machine polishing involved, engine bay detail, and more. i quoted a customer recently $550 for AIO machine polish, steam clean interior, engine bay detail, and headlight restoration. just so you get a idea. We don't use cheap products from auto stores and our prices should reflect that
 
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