Pricing questions

Bill1234

Bill1234

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I was offered recently to detail a GMC denali. This is the current equivalent to the Body on Frame big suburban size truck for those who dont know. The owners dont trash the vehicle but dont go through what we do here.

I have never actually priced out a vehicle for something that would be fair and in a couple of ways im a bit nervous of screwing up pricing so much that I lose money for the work I do.

Does anybody have suggestions for pricing out something that would be a rough estimate or some guidance on how to price things out?

Some things to think out:
If I do correction it would be more experienced based but would want to be compensated fairly.
I want to get paid well overall but not feel like im overcharging.

A friend I know who also details said just do 100 for exterior and interior. I feel if the car is relatively clean, fine, do it, but this thing is most likely bad
 
There are a lot of factors that go into pricing a vehicle.....what is your skill set/skill level? what are others in your area charging for what you're planning on doing? what are the customers expectations/standards? how bad is the paint...do you have to do any correction>
 
I would say im not close to someone like jose fernandez or renny doyle or mike here but I can do almost everything. I am living in a wealthy area and the price of something similar is about 500 dollars for a single stage correction with all the steps before it.

Customer probably expects a stereotypical detail and cleanup but wants someone better than a basic shop.

I have seen the paint and it is hammered in swirl marks and things
 
These GMC Denali vehicles are huge and very tall and you need to charge more than $100. I washed one today and it took awhile to just wash, dry, and wipe down the wheels
 
I was thinking about 250 without paint correction. I would at least think its about 300 around average in the US to charge without paint correction. That is also why I have my boars hair brush too. Makes it much easier to wash a car that size. Leaf blower dry might have to happen too
 
For a reference, when I was in Hawaii, which is not necessarily more expensive for services as you might think, we would have charged $350 for our full service detail. That included rinseless wash, clay bar, single stage polish, and wax, then exterior dressing applied to trim, door and window seals, and the tires The interior included vacuum and shampoo for the carpets and floor mats, cleaning of all hard surfaces, leather cleaning, and interior dressing. Windows too. Sealant was an extra $75, which seemed kind of high to me, but that's what my buddy charged and people paid for it regularly. I would say these prices are on the slightly high side of average. But it really depends on how much work you're actually doing. It would take two of us about 3.5 hours on average for this detail, and one person 5 hours. I would say a decent and fair price would equal to about $50/hr if you are confident in your ability to do good work and not take all day.
 
Bill1234 said:
I have never actually priced out a vehicle for something that would be fair and in a couple of ways im a bit nervous of screwing up pricing so much that I lose money for the work I do.
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How can you lose money when you don't actually have a business that has any expenses? So you might use a dollar worth of wash, a $25 clay bar (except I thought you bought a clay substitute), 2 or 4 bucks worth of wheel cleaner, possibly $5 worth of polish if you buy in small bottles, and what, a few dollars of LSP if you use an expensive one. So as long as you charge at least $40 you are going to "break even".

I still never understand why you are doing these jobs Bill, is it to make money, is it to gain experience, is it to help out a friend, is it because you talk a good game about detailing so people assume you actually do it and then you're embarrassed to back out? You never seem to have enough time with the vehicle to do what you intend to do, so as I have counseled you before, you need to talk to the "customer" and find out what their expectations are and how long they can leave the vehicle with you, and you have to be prepared to know what you can do and how long it will take.

Will you have a "helper"? I'm also presuming this rig won't fit in anyone's garage, so factor in that it's summer and it's hot out and you probably won't have any shade. Since this is a big vehicle and you never seem to have enough time to get to polishing, I wouldn't plan on doing any more than AIO polishing.

Bill1234 said:
I was thinking about 250 without paint correction.
Click to expand...

So what are you offering the customer for $250 and no paint correction? Exterior wash and interior wipedown and vacuum? Dress the tires? Clay? LSP?
 
I would say im not close to someone like jose fernandez or renny doyle or mike here but I can do almost everything. I am living in a wealthy area and the price of something similar is about 500 dollars for a single stage correction
!!!! Where do you live? 500$.....I'm moving lol
 
precisionmobile85 said:
I would say im not close to someone like jose fernandez or renny doyle or mike here but I can do almost everything. I am living in a wealthy area and the price of something similar is about 500 dollars for a single stage correction
!!!! Where do you live? 500$.....I'm moving lol
Click to expand...

Sorry meant to quote.....but seriously where I live you couldn't get over $150 for a prep and single stage correction. Maybe 175 and that's pushing it!
 
If you're doing a one step correction then 500 is a fair price. If the guy wants something better than the run of the mill shop then he should be willing to pay for quality.
 
about an hour north of NYC. People do pay that much and the shops are quality almost anywhere but there are a few bad ones
 
which is what I was thinking but then again they are good friends ive known all my life so Id maybe cut it down to 350 or 300
 
AuroraDetailing said:
For a reference, when I was in Hawaii, which is not necessarily more expensive for services as you might think, we would have charged $350 for our full service detail. That included rinseless wash, clay bar, single stage polish, and wax, then exterior dressing applied to trim, door and window seals, and the tires The interior included vacuum and shampoo for the carpets and floor mats, cleaning of all hard surfaces, leather cleaning, and interior dressing. Windows too. Sealant was an extra $75, which seemed kind of high to me, but that's what my buddy charged and people paid for it regularly. I would say these prices are on the slightly high side of average. But it really depends on how much work you're actually doing. It would take two of us about 3.5 hours on average for this detail, and one person 5 hours. I would say a decent and fair price would equal to about $50/hr if you are confident in your ability to do good work and not take all day.
Click to expand...

my only issue with hawaii is do they have these large suvs? The market here in mainland United States has every sort of vehicle. Hawaii would maybe not have the largest vehicles compared to what the rest of the United States has.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
How can you lose money when you don't actually have a business that has any expenses? So you might use a dollar worth of wash, a $25 clay bar (except I thought you bought a clay substitute), 2 or 4 bucks worth of wheel cleaner, possibly $5 worth of polish if you buy in small bottles, and what, a few dollars of LSP if you use an expensive one. So as long as you charge at least $40 you are going to "break even".

I still never understand why you are doing these jobs Bill, is it to make money, is it to gain experience, is it to help out a friend, is it because you talk a good game about detailing so people assume you actually do it and then you're embarrassed to back out? You never seem to have enough time with the vehicle to do what you intend to do, so as I have counseled you before, you need to talk to the "customer" and find out what their expectations are and how long they can leave the vehicle with you, and you have to be prepared to know what you can do and how long it will take.

Will you have a "helper"? I'm also presuming this rig won't fit in anyone's garage, so factor in that it's summer and it's hot out and you probably won't have any shade. Since this is a big vehicle and you never seem to have enough time to get to polishing, I wouldn't plan on doing any more than AIO polishing.



So what are you offering the customer for $250 and no paint correction? Exterior wash and interior wipedown and vacuum? Dress the tires? Clay? LSP?
Click to expand...



I would techically not break even as if I spend 4 hours cleaning a big rig like this , I would have to factor in man hours and product bought which I did buy alot of for personal use.

I do these jobs becuase people ask and I have a hobby I like doing in my free time. Im am knowledgeable enough to do the work in most areas and people keep coming back. Its usually friends but I can also get experience too. The customer has expected it to be cleaned up but I dont know exact details yet.

I would be doing everything up to polishing so wheels and tires, wash, decon and clay and then see about polishing. Gm clear coats are hard from that model year I have heard so I might need to compound first too.
 
Bill1234 said:
my only issue with hawaii is do they have these large suvs? The market here in mainland United States has every sort of vehicle. Hawaii would maybe not have the largest vehicles compared to what the rest of the United States has.
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Haha, yeah, they have every car make that you see in the rest of the US. I specifically quoted that price for that particular vehicle. A 2 door coupe would be about $100 less for comparison.
 
I normally take the price of all other local companies and base price off that. I have a special market where I'm the only one within miles and have access to the private neighborhoods. I price just below all the competition and push the facts of access and price
 
As of an update and some thinking.
Paint correction starts at roughly 300 dollars and up based on averages. Im leaning towards not doing it as the owner is saying to a family member who I am in contact with that it just needs to be cleaned up. My feeling however is the vehicle is so heavily swirled that it needs to be corrected to achieve best looking finish.

I thought of a price of 250 dollars based on them being good friends and still trying to make money too in my market and area.

more plans need to be worked out too
 
Bill1234 said:
As of an update and some thinking.
Im leaning towards not doing it as the owner is saying to a family member who I am in contact with that it just needs to be cleaned up. My feeling however is the vehicle is so heavily swirled that it needs to be corrected to achieve best looking finish.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, it's not really what you want. It's what the client wants. They're paying for the services. As much as you want to try to convince them, if they're not for it, they're not going to pay for it. You can certainly ask if they want the correction, explain the benefits of it, and go from there, but pushing services/products on them that they don't need is silly.
 
Keep in mind! Good work is not cheap and cheap work is not good. People will pay for good quality service.
 
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