Pros, how long do you take to do a "full detail" on a sedan?
- Thread starter Bill1234
- Start date
well, my boss got paid 90 bucks per full detail, in which he paid me 45 per car. so for me to make decent money, i had to be under 3 hours MAX. i personally didnt cut corners, i just never stopped, always moving quickly, ect.
dealing with that for 4 months, is the reason i wanted to start my own thing.
times can be VERY different, depending who you talk to. so realistically it's whatever amount of time you want to devote to the job.
Setec Astronomy
Well-known member
- Aug 31, 2010
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So which is it? You don't want to take too long, but you don't care how long it takes, however you are doing product testing--huh?
I would take this advice:
Souldetailer
New member
- Feb 13, 2015
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This is funny and I agree. You have to start somewhere, time is money, indeed. A favor here or there does goodness for the soul. Pick your choices. Take care.
Peace,
Darrin
custmsprty
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- Apr 11, 2012
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dealers wont pay over 100 bucks around here. i learned on a rotary, and with fresh pads could create some awesome finish, but reality is we'd have 1 pad to last us 2 weeks.
Setec Astronomy
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- Aug 31, 2010
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I'm just trying to help you get your question answered...or maybe I'm reading between the lines a little because what you're asking doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
Are you just looking for cars to do to hone your skills? Are you trying to curry favor with this person by detailing his car? Has he expressed interest in the process so you want to show him? Do you pity him because he's driving a POS and you want to make it look better?
Is it some secret as to whose idea this detail was? I mean any of the above reasons are good ones--I guess I just don't get why it matters in this situation how long a pro takes when you aren't a pro and you're not getting paid. But maybe I'm just dense.
Edit: It doesn't matter, I'm just glad you're getting a car to detail, Bill, have fun and thanks for telling us about it!
Souldetailer
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- Feb 13, 2015
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Ok, nitty gritty. I charge $50 an hour for my services. Some jobs take longer. I will always amend prices if a customer needs a specific task.
Peace,
Darrin
Cabrio
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- Sep 8, 2014
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Good point. No question...the pros on this forum are much more proficient at detailing a car. From the general consensus, it seems that the pros can slay that sedan in roughly 4 hours. If I were claying the car and maybe doing a two step polish, wax and the interior...I would definitely be adding a few hours.:awman:
Calendyr
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- Jun 9, 2013
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The time it takes dépends on your skill and your Equipment. Also if you are doing this for free, you should definatelly ask him to help you!
So the Sonata is Hyundai's 3rd smallest car (Rio is smallest, then Elantra, then Sonata). It`s an average size sedan I would say.
So let's look at time it would take me for each step with my skill and Equipment, if you are an amateur, add 20-50% more time I would say.
Cleanining the exterior with 2 bucket method using a pre-wash with foam gun and power rinse, doing good job cleaning wheels when they have pretty much never been done before... 90 to 120 minutes.
Claying the car about 60 minutes. If you are using a clay alternative like a Nano Sponge cut the time in half.
Polishing about 3 hours for me. When I don't compound first, I usually do 5 passes. If you go faster and do 2 or 3 passes you would probably shave an hour off that.
IPA wipedown. About 10 minutes.
Applying a sealant like 845 about 20 minutes to put it on. 10 minutes to buff it off after it cured.
Interior vaccuum time really depend on the result you want. Quick vaccum would take about 15 minutes. If it's really dirty and you have to work hard at it, it has taken me an hour in the past on some cars.
Interior cleaning (no shampoo) usually takes me an hour (that's just wiping down everything)
Interior Windows about 30 minutes if they have not been cleaned for a while. That's 2 cleaning per window and a 3rd step for the windshield (I use magic eracer to break down the window film before cleaning).
Interior protectant, depending how meticulous you wanna be, about an hour.
So as you can see, it's quite the workload. If your friend helps you, cut out about 30% to 50% of the total time it would take you to do it alone.
If he is not knowledgable about detailing, you can have him do the easy things like cleaning your pads while polishing, doing the IPA wipedown when you are done polishing a panel, vaccuming while you are polishing, etc.
Hope you and your friend enjoy yourselves
So the Sonata is Hyundai's 3rd smallest car (Rio is smallest, then Elantra, then Sonata). It`s an average size sedan I would say.
So let's look at time it would take me for each step with my skill and Equipment, if you are an amateur, add 20-50% more time I would say.
Cleanining the exterior with 2 bucket method using a pre-wash with foam gun and power rinse, doing good job cleaning wheels when they have pretty much never been done before... 90 to 120 minutes.
Claying the car about 60 minutes. If you are using a clay alternative like a Nano Sponge cut the time in half.
Polishing about 3 hours for me. When I don't compound first, I usually do 5 passes. If you go faster and do 2 or 3 passes you would probably shave an hour off that.
IPA wipedown. About 10 minutes.
Applying a sealant like 845 about 20 minutes to put it on. 10 minutes to buff it off after it cured.
Interior vaccuum time really depend on the result you want. Quick vaccum would take about 15 minutes. If it's really dirty and you have to work hard at it, it has taken me an hour in the past on some cars.
Interior cleaning (no shampoo) usually takes me an hour (that's just wiping down everything)
Interior Windows about 30 minutes if they have not been cleaned for a while. That's 2 cleaning per window and a 3rd step for the windshield (I use magic eracer to break down the window film before cleaning).
Interior protectant, depending how meticulous you wanna be, about an hour.
So as you can see, it's quite the workload. If your friend helps you, cut out about 30% to 50% of the total time it would take you to do it alone.
If he is not knowledgable about detailing, you can have him do the easy things like cleaning your pads while polishing, doing the IPA wipedown when you are done polishing a panel, vaccuming while you are polishing, etc.
Hope you and your friend enjoy yourselves
AGOatemywallet
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- Jun 13, 2015
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13 hours for me
detailsbydennis
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- Apr 9, 2015
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Over the 23 years I have been in business. I have seen plenty of 4 hour full details. Thank goodness there are guys out there to correct it after. Please call it a 4 hour clean up.
This is one example of what we find in our region. Unskilled labor and more silicone on the interior than on the tires!
View attachment 40991
This is one example of what we find in our region. Unskilled labor and more silicone on the interior than on the tires!
View attachment 40991
dcjredline
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- Mar 26, 2012
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5-7 hours, but I am not a "pro"
parshooter
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- May 17, 2015
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I did my wife's Chrysler 300 last fall. Saturday I washed, Nanoskin sponged, then used Blackfire TPS. This took about 3 hours - 4 hours (I wasn't timing it, nor was I in any hurry). I threw a coat of wax on Sunday, so maybe another hour and a half. All work was done by hand.
frankprozzoly
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- Mar 28, 2014
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I think 6 hrs for an amateur is pretty good if you don't stop. That's a decent exterior cleaning, nanoskin, one step polish. I usually keep a friends car for a day in a half because I like to stop once in awhile