People want detailing done for pennies!!!

BobbyG said:
It's take you at least an hour and a half to properly wax a Ford Explorer. Add an additional hour for the rest of the work and your looking at a minimum of 3 hours plus all the chemicals and equipment you'll be using. He's lucky you're only charging him $80 for all that work, I'd charge him $100 for the work you've laid out.

Mark,

If he wants it done for $40 give him the address of a local car wash.
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I agree 100%. I wouldn't work that cheap unless it was for a very close friend.
 
He e-mailed you back with the lower price quote because is negotiating the items he needs done. He probably doesn't even know anything about clay, or sealing wheels, or dressing wheel wells, etc.

It sounds like he is serious and I think that you may want to adjust the items on your list to meet his price point. He really just wants his car cleaned up, not sealed and protected and blah blah blah.

Just wash the car nicely, do a coat of spray wax, tire shine, spray wax on the wheels, clean up the interior nicely, and hand it back over to him for $40 or $50. At the end of the day, even if you feel like you are still being low-balled, use this job as a demonstration of what you can do for him in the future. Repeat business is always worth it. :xyxthumbs:
 
BobbyG said:
It's take you at least an hour and a half to properly wax a Ford Explorer. Add an additional hour for the rest of the work and your looking at a minimum of 3 hours plus all the chemicals and equipment you'll be using. He's lucky you're only charging him $80 for all that work, I'd charge him $100 for the work you've laid out.

Mark,

If he wants it done for $40 give him the address of a local car wash.
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:iagree: :props:
 
I think explaining to him why 40 bucks won't cut it is the best way to go. State it to him professionally, that if he wants such and such done, it will take this much time. Very simple. Comes down to time and money. If he wants to ONLY pay 40 bucks, then best you can do is maybe a wash... that's it. Hell, it takes me about an hour to properly wash and dry a minivan. That includes washing wheels of course, and properly drying the entire vehicle.
 
Give him a wash and vac with spray wax for 40-50. You have to work with budgets. No interior dressing. No vent detailing. If he wants to add a la cart you'll make more anyway.
 
integritydetail said:
Give him a wash and vac with spray wax for 40-50. You have to work with budgets. No interior dressing. No vent detailing. If he wants to add a la cart you'll make more anyway.
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He will probably be happy and it will look better than a car wash.
 
07 z-oh-6 said:
05 Explorer needs a good wash and wax. I would assume the explorer is pretty dirty. I went on to tell him it's probably a good idea to havve the car clayed before waxing. I explained why. I quoted him $100 for what I have listed below. I told him if he doesn't want the clay bar treatment, I'll do everything else for $80.

Hand wash
Wheel wells cleaned and dressed
Wheels cleaned and protected
Tires cleaned and dressed
Interior vacuumed and wiped down
Windows cleaned
Clay bar to remove contamination from clear coat
Premium carnauba wax or sealant applied
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I'm no pro, but I think $100 is reasonable for the services offered in the above list.
 
Emile said:
He e-mailed you back with the lower price quote because is negotiating the items he needs done. He probably doesn't even know anything about clay, or sealing wheels, or dressing wheel wells, etc.

It sounds like he is serious and I think that you may want to adjust the items on your list to meet his price point. He really just wants his car cleaned up, not sealed and protected and blah blah blah.

Just wash the car nicely, do a coat of spray wax, tire shine, spray wax on the wheels, clean up the interior nicely, and hand it back over to him for $40 or $50. At the end of the day, even if you feel like you are still being low-balled, use this job as a demonstration of what you can do for him in the future. Repeat business is always worth it. :xyxthumbs:
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I was thinking along these lines Emile, doing some adjusting. :props:

To everyone else, thanks for the feedback, I'm not sure how some of you can do all that I've mentioned in 2-3 hours. I'm sure it's possible, but that would be working awfully fast. I've done the same menu before, and it's taken me 4-5 hours. I take my time(not working slow), pay attention to detail, and do a quality job. I didn't think I was way out of line with my pricing, :dblthumb2:
 
07 z-oh-6 said:
I was thinking along these lines Emile, doing some adjusting. :props:

To everyone else, thanks for the feedback, I'm not sure how some of you can do all that I've mentioned in 2-3 hours. I'm sure it's possible, but that would be working awfully fast. I've done the same menu before, and it's taken me 4-5 hours. I take my time(not working slow), pay attention to detail, and do a quality job. I didn't think I was way out of line with my pricing, :dblthumb2:
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You're not way off at all. A proper, quality job is NOT rushed. We work efficiently, but not too quickly that we become erratic and miss things. It would take me at least 3 hours to do the things on your list. Most time being the claying and interior clean up. God knows how dirty his interior would be.
 
I charge $40 for an exterior wash, clay and paint sealant, no interior. However I only offer this to people that have had a more extensive detail done already.
 
I think it takes me 4-5 hours just to wash my car. Some of you guys work really fast, it's crazy. When I read details done by detailers, I think it's funny how they'll say "after applying the wax, and while letting it cure, I worked on applying tire shine and cleaning the exhausts."

After I apply my wax or sealant, I go have a cigarette and watch TV until it's cured. Im the MAN
 
The things on your list takes me about 5 hours to do so it's not a bad price.
Honestly I think detailing is really hard work, I'm sweating my ass off while doing it.
 
Emile said:
I think it takes me 4-5 hours just to wash my car. Some of you guys work really fast, it's crazy.
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4-5 hours to wash a car??? That's crazy! Takes me about 20min to wash and dry a car. Optimum No Rinse and a drying towel = 20 min.
 
AeroCleanse said:
4-5 hours to wash a car??? That's crazy! Takes me about 20min to wash and dry a car. Optimum No Rinse and a drying towel = 20 min.
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20 minutes??? I guess for ONR that might work... but still... here's why I need over an hour.

Get all gear/equipment ready (includes buckets, brushes, mitts, MF's, blower, etc) - 5 mins
Start washing/scrubbing tires and wheels with various brushes (includes spraying ARO all over, and using brushes to get calipers, lug nuts, etc) - 15 mins
Rinse all wheels/tires - 2 minutes
Rinse vehicle - 2 minutes
Wash vehicle using two bucket method - 10 minutes
Rinse vehicle - 3 minutes
Sheet-rinse vehicle - 2 minutes
Dry vehicle using MF - 7 minutes
Use leaf blower to get water out of all crevices (prevents water spots) - 7 minutes
Final dry/check of entire vehicle - 5 minutes

That totals 58 minutes, give or take a few. Add some time for miscellaneous stuff like moving the car out of garage, putting things away when done, etc... I would say closer to 1-1/2 hours when all done.
 
sportscarhiatus said:
20 minutes??? I guess for ONR that might work... but still... here's why I need over an hour.

Get all gear/equipment ready (includes buckets, brushes, mitts, MF's, blower, etc) - 5 mins
Start washing/scrubbing tires and wheels with various brushes (includes spraying ARO all over, and using brushes to get calipers, lug nuts, etc) - 15 mins
Rinse all wheels/tires - 2 minutes
Rinse vehicle - 2 minutes
Wash vehicle using two bucket method - 10 minutes
Rinse vehicle - 3 minutes
Sheet-rinse vehicle - 2 minutes
Dry vehicle using MF - 7 minutes
Use leaf blower to get water out of all crevices (prevents water spots) - 7 minutes
Final dry/check of entire vehicle - 5 minutes

That totals 58 minutes, give or take a few. Add some time for miscellaneous stuff like moving the car out of garage, putting things away when done, etc... I would say closer to 1-1/2 hours when all done.
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That sounds about right for a full wash, much better then the 4-5hrs it takes Emile :)
 
Emile said:
I think it takes me 4-5 hours just to wash my car. Some of you guys work really fast, it's crazy. When I read details done by detailers, I think it's funny how they'll say "after applying the wax, and while letting it cure, I worked on applying tire shine and cleaning the exhausts."

After I apply my wax or sealant, I go have a cigarette and watch TV until it's cured. Im the MAN
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:iagree: Same here! But I have a somewhat large Trailblazer. :buffing:
 
sportscarhiatus said:
20 minutes??? I guess for ONR that might work... but still... here's why I need over an hour.

Get all gear/equipment ready (includes buckets, brushes, mitts, MF's, blower, etc) - 5 mins
Start washing/scrubbing tires and wheels with various brushes (includes spraying ARO all over, and using brushes to get calipers, lug nuts, etc) - 15 mins
Rinse all wheels/tires - 2 minutes
Rinse vehicle - 2 minutes
Wash vehicle using two bucket method - 10 minutes
Rinse vehicle - 3 minutes
Sheet-rinse vehicle - 2 minutes
Dry vehicle using MF - 7 minutes
Use leaf blower to get water out of all crevices (prevents water spots) - 7 minutes
Final dry/check of entire vehicle - 5 minutes

That totals 58 minutes, give or take a few. Add some time for miscellaneous stuff like moving the car out of garage, putting things away when done, etc... I would say closer to 1-1/2 hours when all done.
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Some of the reasons I switched to ONR, less time, no water runoff.
 
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