Pricing feedback

[Belo]

Not gonna comment on pricing, there are too many factors.

Regarding waxes: I would suggest you use sealants instead, they last longer. Should you use a machine applied sealant or a spray on type? Well that depends on the price point you want to use. Spray sealants can make your packages cheaper because they don't cost that much to use, a quart will cost you maybe 40$ or 50$ and you can do about 30 cars. And it takes about 20 minutes to go around the car and protect everything from paint, to windows to trims. A machine sealant takes a lot longer to apply. The application by machine will take at the very least 30 mins to an hour. Then you have to wait for it to haze up, which can take an other 30 mins, then you need to wipe it off, an other 20 minutes. So because of all the extra work, you have to charge a lot more.

I have no done machine sealants in years. I suggest a polishing if the person wants a nicer job, and I use a cleaner wax to do it (which is a sealant despite the name). I charge 3 hours of work to do that. Results are usually very good. Depends on the paint.

kinda of what I was trying to say. This past weekend i did my wife's explorer. big vehicle. i used mk360 and it came out great, but with taping off the trim and then using wets after it really does take a guy like me a long time. All my rides will get an annual polish and seal, but I will be using the sprays more frequently going forward instead of 2 machine jobs a year.

 

[Calendyr]

kinda of what I was trying to say. This past weekend i did my wife's explorer. big vehicle. i used mk360 and it came out great, but with taping off the trim and then using wets after it really does take a guy like me a long time. All my rides will get an annual polish and seal, but I will be using the sprays more frequently going forward instead of 2 machine jobs a year.

If you use a good quality cleaner wax, you don't have to tape anything. For example, I use Meguiars D166 Ultra Polishing wax and I use it over everything: Paint, glass (except the windshield), plastic trims, rubber trim, chrome, etc. It doesn't stain, it removes the damage and it leaves lasting protection behind. This product also is super easy to wipe off.

 

[Belo]

If you use a good quality cleaner wax, you don't have to tape anything. For example, I use Meguiars D166 Ultra Polishing wax and I use it over everything: Paint, glass (except the windshield), plastic trims, rubber trim, chrome, etc. It doesn't stain, it removes the damage and it leaves lasting protection behind. This product also is super easy to wipe off.

interesting, i'll have to give them a shot. i like mk360 and wanted to give hdspeed a try too, but if i can avoid taping i will go that route for sure

 

[ek556]

seems this thread has gone astray...

 

[TTQ B4U]

Hi all,

If you saw my intro thread, you know I'm starting a side business. Blue Line Mobile Detailing. I finally have what I think is a well rounded pricing menu with reasonable prices. I plan to offer a discount (likely 10%) to Law Enforcement, Military and First Responders. I'd love some people to take a look at it, tell me what they think, and get your feedback. Any and all suggestions are welcomed. Thanks! Sorry in advance for the format. I took like from Microsoft Word and had to copy and paste it here as it wouldnt let me attach the file.

Express Exterior -- $55.00
• Clean wheels and tires
• 2 bucket wash and dry
• Clean door jams
• Interior/exterior glass
• Quick detail spray
• Shine tires
Express Interior -- $65.00
• Vacuum entire interior and trunk
• Clean all plastic, glass, vinyl surfaces
• Clean all the leather trim





PREMIUM PACKAGES
Intermediate $135.00

• Exterior
  • Everything from Express Exterior, plus…
  • Foam Cannon pre-wash
  • Brazilian carnauba wax applied by machine
  • Water repellent glass treatment
• Interior
  • Everything from Express Interior, plus…
  • Dress plastic and vinyl for UV protection
  • Condition leather trim
  • Clean floor mats and seats

Advanced $199.00

• Exterior
  • Everything from the Intermediate package, plus…
  • Clay bar (restores a smooth as glass surface. Removes embedded dirt, pollution, brake dust, water spot minerals, industrial fallout and more. Preps surface for polishes, sealants and waxes)
  • Cleaner Wax (Micro-abrasives and cleaners remove most minor oxidation, minor imperfections, and light swirls. Sealant seals the paint for added protections, and Brazilian carnauba wax adds shine and more protection)
• Interior
  • Everything from the Intermediate package, plus
  • Condition all leather including seats
  • Deep clean floor mats and seats with foaming cleanser

Pro $275

• Exterior
  • Every from the Advanced package, plus…
  • Wheel wells cleaned of all dirt, grime and grease
  • Full body polish (one-step) (this replaces the cleaner wax and is a step up in polishing capabilities from a cleaner wax)
  • Separate sealant applied by machine (up to 1yr of protection)
  • Brazilian carnauba wax applied by machine
  • Trim restoration applied to all exterior trim and wheel wells
• Interior
  • Everything from the Advanced package, plus…
  • Deep clean all carpeting (front seats are removed for more thorough clean)
  • Enzymatic odor eliminator and air freshener

Congrats on the side gig. I do the same. My only feedback that perhaps doesn't mean much if your area is on the low-end of things price wise, but your prices and offerings don't appear to be offering you much ROI compared to what I would suspect is out there for you. What's your target for an hourly earning? I offer several packages and within all of them pricing varies based on vehicle size.

New Vehicle Prep & Protection $300-500
Basic Clean & Protect $225-$300
Premium Enhancement Polish $300-$500
Elite Enhancement Correction $400-$600
Signature Level Perfection $700-1,100

Coatings, etc. options are all add-ons at additional costs. Interiors I have a couple different offerings that range from $50-$125 for a basic vac/wipe down, etc. to a full detail from $300-$450.

My advice is dont sell yourself short. Personally, I'm not taking less than $50hr but at the very low end. My average is the $70-$80 range now.

 

[ek556]

Congrats on the side gig. I do the same. My only feedback that perhaps doesn't mean much if your area is on the low-end of things price wise, but your prices and offerings don't appear to be offering you much ROI compared to what I would suspect is out there for you. What's your target for an hourly earning? I offer several packages and within all of them pricing varies based on vehicle size.

New Vehicle Prep & Protection $300-500
Basic Clean & Protect $225-$300
Premium Enhancement Polish $300-$500
Elite Enhancement Correction $400-$600
Signature Level Perfection $700-1,100

Coatings, etc. options are all add-ons at additional costs. Interiors I have a couple different offerings that range from $50-$125 for a basic vac/wipe down, etc. to a full detail from $300-$450.

My advice is dont sell yourself short. Personally, I'm not taking less than $50hr but at the very low end. My average is the $70-$80 range now.

Thanks for the feedback! Much appreciated. I've researched competition and theres really not a lot. There are some, but still few that are strictly detailers. Most of its auto bodies that offer some detailing. There are a couple detail shops, nothing really in my immediate area, and a couple mobile guys. Based on what they offer and charge, my prices are competitive I think. But still a a bit less than them. I feel like its fair, and my prices reflect that I'm new to the business. I wasn't really pricing things out on a hourly basis. My prices are based on comparisons to other detail packages that are similar, and what they're priced at. Take a look at my updated list here: BLUE LINE PRICING - Google Docs

My Advanced package came out around around 32-25/hr based on the job I did this past weekend. This makes me think the price is too low, but I want to remain competitive and fair, especially while this is a new side gig.

 

[gregpack]

My advice is dont sell yourself short. Personally, I'm not taking less than $50hr but at the very low end. My average is the $70-$80 range now.

Yes, on the surface $70-80 sounds high but once you figure in hours for marketing, travel, etc. your true hourly/weekly wage is much less than your billable rate.

 

[TTQ B4U]

Yes, on the surface $70-80 sounds high but once you figure in hours for marketing, travel, etc. your true hourly/weekly wage is much less than your billable rate.

Not for me. My business is 100% referral. I have no marketing. Customers come to me. The only thing not included in my earning are cost of misc. materials such as rags and and pads...but I don't replace either very often. Polishes, compounds and coatings however are already built into my pricing.

I still stand by the fact that he's way low but again, that may be his market.

 

[Calendyr]

Not for me. My business is 100% referral. I have no marketing. Customers come to me. The only thing not included in my earning are cost of misc. materials such as rags and and pads...but I don't replace either very often. Polishes, compounds and coatings however are already built into my pricing.

I still stand by the fact that he's way low but again, that may be his market.

I did not do any marketing for the first five years in my business. I now regret it. This year I did continuous facebook ads and my business has about trippled. I spend 5$ per day on facebook. July was my biggest month ever with almost 10,000$ in revenue. August was much slower because this is when people take vacations where I live, it has started picking up again this week. Despite that, my month of August was a lot more busy than usual. It might seems like you are saving money not advertizing but you are actually loosing money.

Use advertizing to sell your big ticket items: Paint correction, coatings, etc. 1 sell with cover your marketing expenses for 2 or 3 months. And it's all tax deductible so it costs you less than what it actually seems.

 

[Natron]

ek556, they seem reasonable to me.

 

[sudsmobile]

I like to stay around $70-75/hour for the truck when there's two of us. When I'm by myself I'm good getting $50/hour. My son, who doesn't live in the real world, likes to make that hourly wage including drive time between jobs, showering in the morning, being on his phone throughout the day, eating lunch, etc. To me, the not getting paid for 20 minutes of drive time is offset by the fact that I've never written a rent check.

 

[TTQ B4U]

It might seems like you are saving money not advertizing but you are actually loosing money.

I'm not losing as I'm only looking to do 1-2 cars per week and I'm continually booking out well. I understand your point, but for me this is a weekend gig only that honestly I could probably go to 3-4 days per week already but prefer to keep it 1-2.

 

[sudsmobile]

The fallacy with advertising is that if x amount of advertising is good, 2x or 3x must be better. It depends. With the amount we're doing, we're pretty busy. I'm not booked out two weeks in advance, but I stay pretty busy day to day and I always have a couple jobs next week, two weeks out, plus our maintenance customers. If I doubled my advertising, I might fill in the down time but I'd at some point pretty quickly be paying to make the phone ring without being able to serve the customer. I definitely don't want to be paying just to make the phone ring and then telling people that I can help them maybe next Thursday. Based on the job size we do and the amount of hours we choose to work, there's a weekly dollar amount that is about as much money as I can make in one week. I'm closing in on that number frequently, so there's really not much room left for more customers. Now, if I could find a way to only make the phone ring for high end jobs then we're on to something. LOL

 

[Calendyr]

I like to stay around $70-75/hour for the truck when there's two of us. When I'm by myself I'm good getting $50/hour. My son, who doesn't live in the real world, likes to make that hourly wage including drive time between jobs, showering in the morning, being on his phone throughout the day, eating lunch, etc. To me, the not getting paid for 20 minutes of drive time is offset by the fact that I've never written a rent check.

I add 30$ to all my packages to cover gas and commute time. It's nowhere near my work rate but it helps. Most of my jobs are between 30 and 60 minutes commute each way. And my Dodge Caravan does pretty badly in terms of gas usage... around 20L/100 KM (11.75 MPG).

On the plus side, when I get a job that is close by, it's actually good money

 

[Calendyr]

The fallacy with advertising is that if x amount of advertising is good, 2x or 3x must be better. It depends. With the amount we're doing, we're pretty busy. I'm not booked out two weeks in advance, but I stay pretty busy day to day and I always have a couple jobs next week, two weeks out, plus our maintenance customers. If I doubled my advertising, I might fill in the down time but I'd at some point pretty quickly be paying to make the phone ring without being able to serve the customer. I definitely don't want to be paying just to make the phone ring and then telling people that I can help them maybe next Thursday. Based on the job size we do and the amount of hours we choose to work, there's a weekly dollar amount that is about as much money as I can make in one week. I'm closing in on that number frequently, so there's really not much room left for more customers. Now, if I could find a way to only make the phone ring for high end jobs then we're on to something. LOL

That's what I love with facebook. If my schedule is full, I turn off the ad. If it's empty, I can ramp up for more ads served daily. So far I did not have to do either. I start a new campaign when the schedule start to get low, and keep it running to the end. At 5$ per day, I am booked a week in advance most of the time. Almost all the jobs are either ceramic coatings, paint correction or interior/exterior details.

Yesterday I got a call from a marketing expert at facebook and he showed me a few tricks to maximize my ads. Can't wait to try it next week

 

[sudsmobile]

I spend about $10/day with Google. That's actually not a bad idea about turning the ad off except that with AdWords I believe that if I turn it off for a couple days it will just ramp up to cover the days I didn't use it. Because the target is $xxx per month, not $10/day. I guess you could continually adjust your monthly spending. Start off with a bang and then adjust it up and down as needed throughout the month. Not really my cup of tea. I'm already a bit of a micromanager I'm not sure I'd want to try and manipulate my advertise on a daily basis.

I'm sure Facebook works decently but nobody is ever going to change my mind that your advertising dollars are better spent anywhere but Google.

 

[Calendyr]

I spend about $10/day with Google. That's actually not a bad idea about turning the ad off except that with AdWords I believe that if I turn it off for a couple days it will just ramp up to cover the days I didn't use it. Because the target is $xxx per month, not $10/day. I guess you could continually adjust your monthly spending. Start off with a bang and then adjust it up and down as needed throughout the month. Not really my cup of tea. I'm already a bit of a micromanager I'm not sure I'd want to try and manipulate my advertise on a daily basis.

I'm sure Facebook works decently but nobody is ever going to change my mind that your advertising dollars are better spent anywhere but Google.

I will try Google next year. Many say it's very good. My last campaign was a video instead of images, and I got a 18% interaction with people who it was served to. That is pretty impressive, about 3 times more than my ads with images. So for now I will do some more of those. Winter will be here shortly so I will be shutting down in about 2 months anyway.

 

[ek556]

For those who have maintenance customers. How are you guys setting these customers up? Is it an add-on to a full detail package? Is it a subscription type service? And what are you including with your maintenance service? I've been thinking about building in a maintenance service but wasn't sure where or how that should appear in my pricing list.

 

[sudsmobile]

We don't list pricing for most packages, we make them up as we go based on frequency and type(s) of vehicle(s). Essentially, we kind of prequalify each customer based on whether we want to do it regularly and we mention it to them. We have people ask, if it's something I want to do I really sell it. If it's a vehicle or a customer that doesn't make sense for us, I don't push it as hard. Typically maintenance customers come from two places for us, new customers that do a big job and want to keep it looking good or customers that just purchased new vehicles. We don't really discount anything unless it's part of a bigger package that starts with a full interior and exterior detail or if they have multiple vehicles. The benefit for them is they don't have to remember to schedule anything, we'll take care of that and we'll find them a time that works with their schedule. Unless I can work a deal where it's a wash & wax one time and a wash the next, etc, it doesn't make a lot of financial sense for us. I'm not a car washer and my average ticket is high enough where I don't have to wash cars if I don't want to.