What are your rates for your services? mobile or shop?

11B250

11B250

New member
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
155
Reaction score
0
Just curious what people are charging for their services. I know location and probably years of establishment (experience) could make a difference, but I'm just curious.. I do my own work, so I neve really inquired it. Was thinking if I charged someone to do their car.

What do you charge for a wash? (include spray wax?) do you upcharge for wheel cleaning with iron remover?

1 step AIO (including claying the car and all necessary steps) Do you upcharge for iron decon?

2 step polish > sealant?

Do you even offer 3 step?

and how do you guys charge? By the hour? I was thinking maybe like 100 an hour?

Lastly, do you work out of your home garage and people come to your house? Do you go to them? or do you have a warehouse?

Thanks!
 
I work from my home shop, and people come to me, but I've read/heard from multiple sources that mobile detailing is the best way to start out.
 
Spray wax wash incl. cleaning and dressing wheels, with vac and interior wipe $60. This takes me about 1.5-2 hours and is almost always done mobile
AIO is my silver package and includes clay bar $100, $20 up charge for mobile and for oversize vehicle (anything I need a step stool to reach the roof). takes about 3 hours
2-step polish is my gold exterior package. $150 and it takes about 4-5. I don't usually do this mobile because I like to control the shade and take breaks in the FL sun.
I do offer a 3-step for some but I don't advertise it. I usually suggest the horizontal surfaces get compounded on darker vehicles that need some extra. I will generally charge an additional $50 for this or $100 more for the whole vehicle making it $250.
I always charge atleast $20 more for mobile work and always tell the customer I can do more for less if they drop it off. When mobile I work out of a MazdaSpeed3 and mostly use ONR.
 
sweatthedetails said:
Spray wax wash incl. cleaning and dressing wheels, with vac and interior wipe $60. This takes me about 1.5-2 hours and is almost always done mobile
AIO is my silver package and includes clay bar $100, $20 up charge for mobile and for oversize vehicle (anything I need a step stool to reach the roof). takes about 3 hours
2-step polish is my gold exterior package. $150 and it takes about 4-5. I don't usually do this mobile because I like to control the shade and take breaks in the FL sun.
I do offer a 3-step for some but I don't advertise it. I usually suggest the horizontal surfaces get compounded on darker vehicles that need some extra. I will generally charge an additional $50 for this or $100 more for the whole vehicle making it $250.
I always charge atleast $20 more for mobile work and always tell the customer I can do more for less if they drop it off. When mobile I work out of a MazdaSpeed3 and mostly use ONR.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Way less than I thought. hell, for 250 3 step, you can come do my car!

I was thinking more like 100 an hour, so your AIO package closer to 300 and 2 step for around 400-500.
 
Here's the biggest issue. Other people telling you what your prices should be is a reflection of their work. If you charge $500 an hour, and can justify WHY, so be it. There will be clients within your reach that will understand why your services are the price they are. Vise-versa. If your services are $40 for an entire interior/exterior clean, chances are, it'll show. You have to be the one to set your prices because YOU know your abilities and skill level. Figure out the demographic that you're after, and work from there.

There's a lot of hillbillies around here, that drive beat up, rusted out, old school trucks. I know already that I do not want to cater to those people simply based on the fact that they can't maintain that vehicle, so why waste my time on another one of theirs? Instead, I look for the guy who's driving the Mercedes, or the Porsche, because I know that he's going to actually maintain that vehicle. Maintaining that vehicle means coming to me more often. I'm not going to rape the guy on my service prices, but he's going to know that by paying "$x" he's going to get exactly what I tell him, and then some.

Figure out your demographic
Analyze the market
Pinpoint a certain target audience
Figure out time spent + cost of product + labor rate <<< This will help you find your advertising price.

Time is the biggest factor here. People don't want to spend the 4-10 hours we do on vehicles. They just don't have the time for it, so they hire someone to do it. They're trading money for time. Vise-Versa. We're trading time for money. Eventually, you'll get into the swing, get things rolling, #### will start clicking, and you'll be good to go. Go with what YOU feel is sufficient for your level of work.
 
SKorch630 said:
Here's the biggest issue. Other people telling you what your prices should be is a reflection of their work. If you charge $500 an hour, and can justify WHY, so be it. There will be clients within your reach that will understand why your services are the price they are. Vise-versa. If your services are $40 for an entire interior/exterior clean, chances are, it'll show. You have to be the one to set your prices because YOU know your abilities and skill level. Figure out the demographic that you're after, and work from there.

There's a lot of hillbillies around here, that drive beat up, rusted out, old school trucks. I know already that I do not want to cater to those people simply based on the fact that they can't maintain that vehicle, so why waste my time on another one of theirs? Instead, I look for the guy who's driving the Mercedes, or the Porsche, because I know that he's going to actually maintain that vehicle. Maintaining that vehicle means coming to me more often. I'm not going to rape the guy on my service prices, but he's going to know that by paying "$x" he's going to get exactly what I tell him, and then some.

Figure out your demographic
Analyze the market
Pinpoint a certain target audience
Figure out time spent + cost of product + labor rate <<< This will help you find your advertising price.

Time is the biggest factor here. People don't want to spend the 4-10 hours we do on vehicles. They just don't have the time for it, so they hire someone to do it. They're trading money for time. Vise-Versa. We're trading time for money. Eventually, you'll get into the swing, get things rolling, #### will start clicking, and you'll be good to go. Go with what YOU feel is sufficient for your level of work.
Click to expand...

Yeah but then you get someone like sweatthedeatils who charges 250 or so for a 3 step (would take me probably 2-3 days), I don't understand how you can compete with that.

so you're saying he either does a real shitty job, or he charges very little and is making a mistake and undercharging. I'm gonna assume being an active member here, he knows what he's doing no better or worse than me.

the reason I posted this is the labor rate. Someone doesn't have to break it down for me, I can figure that out myself.
 
I'll say this, sweatthedetails deserves alot more respect than this. I've seen his vids and I can tell just from how he speaks and presents himself that he's a kind hearted person who delivers quality in his work. He doesn't know who I am but I can tell these sort of things when I see good people.
 
sweatthedetails said:
Spray wax wash incl. cleaning and dressing wheels, with vac and interior wipe $60. This takes me about 1.5-2 hours and is almost always done mobile
AIO is my silver package and includes clay bar $100, $20 up charge for mobile and for oversize vehicle (anything I need a step stool to reach the roof). takes about 3 hours
2-step polish is my gold exterior package. $150 and it takes about 4-5. I don't usually do this mobile because I like to control the shade and take breaks in the FL sun.
I do offer a 3-step for some but I don't advertise it. I usually suggest the horizontal surfaces get compounded on darker vehicles that need some extra. I will generally charge an additional $50 for this or $100 more for the whole vehicle making it $250.
I always charge atleast $20 more for mobile work and always tell the customer I can do more for less if they drop it off. When mobile I work out of a MazdaSpeed3 and mostly use ONR.
Click to expand...

I do like the upcharge idea for mobile services. As for me, I perfer to do the work in my garage as SKorch630 does. It would be kinda hard for me to wheel around my 33 gal compressor, and then all my product, and tools. My biggest problem right now is coming up with some packages to offer. I am also in the process of designing a web site but do not want to reveal it till I have all my T's crossed and I's dotted. I strictly want to detail as a part timer, and advertise strictly by word of mouth and social media. In researching my area, a basic car wash is running around 50 bucks. I guess I am to much of a perfectionest and would charge more, but I know the quality of work I do. Just remember, if you fail to plan, your plan will fail.
Good Luck.
 
He's free to charge as he wants, I was merely stating that around my area, $40 is a basic car wash. I don't do production work. I'm by no means, in any way/shape/form discrediting ANY member on this board, so let me make that clear right now. I'm almost guaranteeing that someone like sweatthedetails could be charging more for his type of work. I've not seen his work, but if it's what you're saying it is, then there's more money to be made. Again, that may not be what he's after though. Each and every person is different. Do what works for you.

I'm stating that if you feel $100/hr is sufficient for your work, then charge that. You'll quickly figure out what works, and what doesn't, and adjust your prices, or change your demographic. I was doing $50 exterior/interior work when I first started, and I hated it. So I figured, if I hate production work, then I need to change, and I did. By lowering your prices because someone else has a lower price, is asinine. Go take a look at Larry over at AMMO NYC, and ask him about his journey. He's one person, in particular, that was/is very adamant about undercutting, and why it's destroying your business. Simply put, just because you appear "cheaper" than the competition, doesn't mean you're going to make more money. It's actually the adverse effect. When you undercut prices, and your skills are superior, you're hurting your business by not charging enough for your skills. Hence, in my original post, I stated that if you charge $500 an hour, and can justify it, so be it.

Competition is something that's going to happen in any industry. If you're next door to him, or down the street, and he's charging $250 for a 2 step, and his skills are far superior than yours, well... you've got an issue. But if you're in a different state, or across the country, why does it matter? My suggestion to you: continue to master your craft. Continue working on the weekends, master your industry, hone your skills, and then set whatever price you want.

Backstory: Larry @ AMMO NYC cut his client list from 300+ for the car wash he owned, down to roughly 10-15 clients that he works with SPECIFICALLY because that was the demographic he was after. He wasn't interested in the production work, and solely wanted to work with those clients that he carefully crafted the list from.
 
Just because someone charges a really high rate doesn't mean they do a better job than the person who charges a lower, more reasonable rate.
 
sweatthedetails said:
Spray wax wash incl. cleaning and dressing wheels, with vac and interior wipe $60. This takes me about 1.5-2 hours and is almost always done mobile
AIO is my silver package and includes clay bar $100, $20 up charge for mobile and for oversize vehicle (anything I need a step stool to reach the roof). takes about 3 hours
2-step polish is my gold exterior package. $150 and it takes about 4-5. I don't usually do this mobile because I like to control the shade and take breaks in the FL sun.
I do offer a 3-step for some but I don't advertise it. I usually suggest the horizontal surfaces get compounded on darker vehicles that need some extra. I will generally charge an additional $50 for this or $100 more for the whole vehicle making it $250.
I always charge atleast $20 more for mobile work and always tell the customer I can do more for less if they drop it off. When mobile I work out of a MazdaSpeed3 and mostly use ONR.
Click to expand...

Have you considered raising your prices? I'm actually considering moving to Jax and starting up my business there again, but you are working for about $30/hr, not even counting material usage, fuel costs, paying taxes. As an employee, $30/hr sounds good. For a business owner and in a skilled automotive field, that's chump change that cheapens the value of the work. That's about what I charge my closest friends. For actual business, you need to separate yourself from the wooden sign detailers on the side of the road. If you do a good job, you will find people that know what a good detail is worth, and you'll get to detail the cars you want, not the 1989 LeBaron with the clear coat peeling off that the owner wants miracles happening for $100.
 
Real Riders said:
Just because someone charges a really high rate doesn't mean they do a better job than the person who charges a lower, more reasonable rate.
Click to expand...

Lower doesn't always mean reasonable. There are industry standards that tend to exist. Not only is undercharging cutting out of your own profits, but it hurts the industry. Why wouldn't you want to make more money for your hard work, and it's exactly that, hard work. I don't mean to be condescending at all, and I'm actually trying to help out when I say someone should charge more. A lot of under charging is probably due to just not knowing what they can charge, hence this thread. If you are used to making $10-15 an hour working for someone else, $30/hr sounds like making a killing. But $50-$100 is even better.
 
SKorch630 said:
Here's the biggest issue. Other people telling you what your prices should be is a reflection of their work. If you charge $500 an hour, and can justify WHY, so be it. There will be clients within your reach that will understand why your services are the price they are. Vise-versa. If your services are $40 for an entire interior/exterior clean, chances are, it'll show. You have to be the one to set your prices because YOU know your abilities and skill level. Figure out the demographic that you're after, and work from there.

There's a lot of hillbillies around here, that drive beat up, rusted out, old school trucks. I know already that I do not want to cater to those people simply based on the fact that they can't maintain that vehicle, so why waste my time on another one of theirs? Instead, I look for the guy who's driving the Mercedes, or the Porsche, because I know that he's going to actually maintain that vehicle. Maintaining that vehicle means coming to me more often. I'm not going to rape the guy on my service prices, but he's going to know that by paying "$x" he's going to get exactly what I tell him, and then some.

Figure out your demographic
Analyze the market
Pinpoint a certain target audience
Figure out time spent + cost of product + labor rate <<< This will help you find your advertising price.

Time is the biggest factor here. People don't want to spend the 4-10 hours we do on vehicles. They just don't have the time for it, so they hire someone to do it. They're trading money for time. Vise-Versa. We're trading time for money. Eventually, you'll get into the swing, get things rolling, #### will start clicking, and you'll be good to go. Go with what YOU feel is sufficient for your level of work.
Click to expand...

I don't think you can always justify why you charge more than someone else. There is only so good you can clay bar a car. There is only so good you can get swirl marks out. If someone does a complete proper clay bar, and charge $30/hr doing it, there is NO justification for charging $100/hr in the customer's eyes. It doesn't matter what your overhead is. The customers don't care. The same exact results for 1/3 of the cost is all they see.
 
AuroraDetailing said:
I don't think you can always justify why you charge more than someone else. There is only so good you can clay bar a car. There is only so good you can get swirl marks out. If someone does a complete proper clay bar, and charge $30/hr doing it, there is NO justification for charging $100/hr in the customer's eyes. It doesn't matter what your overhead is. The customers don't care. The same exact results for 1/3 of the cost is all they see.
Click to expand...

Nonsense, why does Starbucks charge $3.25 for a $.99 cent cup of coffee? Perceived value. Your value to your clients is what they perceive it to be, even if the difference between you and your competitor is less than 1%.
 
You are mistaking product for service. You can value product whatever you want because it's different, has different qualities, different tastes. It's completely subjective. Being able to make a painted surface smooth and taking out swirl marks is objective. It either is or isn't, with a few levels in between. But 100% swirl mark removal is 100% swirl mark removal. They don't have different flavors to be judged on, nobody cares which product you used to remove them, they just want them removed. There is no value in paying more for the same objective result.

Once you get above the basic paint correction stuff, of course the value can start changing there, based on the steps required and skill level required, but still priced largely based on the time involved, and to some degree cost of the products.

What I'm getting at is the price of the physical labor shouldnt be too cheap. Competition is fine, but it doesn't help anyone in the business by making people in the area think these services should be half of what they should be.
 
I am purely home based, part time, only detail cars on weekends and some evenings.

My pricing is in between other detailers in my area. I am not the highest or lowest, I priced myself somewhere in the middle. I can't justify spending 8 hours on a car and only making a $10 an hour profit especially in the Georgia heat lol.

1. All in one package - Starting $275 for small cars and goes up slightly for larger vehicles - 5-6 hour job - includes 2 step decontamination process
2. Single stage paint correction - Starting at $550 - 8- 12 hours
3. Multi stage paint correction - starting at $850 - 12 + hours depending on paint

Definitely agree you should charge what you think your services are worth. I think if you can do a great job of explaining your process and services to potential clients and they like you they will go with you even if your prices are slightly higher than someone else's in the same area. At the end of the day you are not just selling your services/ products, you are selling yourself as well (Cliched but true).
 
I guess to answer the original question, I plan on shooting for at least $50/hr mark profit in the Jacksonville, FL area, which I think to be pretty low, but it seems to be on par with the area when it comes to total service prices. I don't charge by the hour, but just keep it in my head that I want to make at least $50/hr for whatever I do. Sometimes it's more.

I managed my buddy's mobile detailing business in Oahu, running his rig with another guy. We generally stuck with full service details, which were waterless wash, clay bar, polish, wax, exterior trim and tires dressed, full interior panel cleaning, windows, door jams, shampooing carpet and floor mats, leather seat cleaning and full interior dressing. They started at $250 for a two door car and up to $375 for large trucks. $75 was an additional charge for sealant. We used to do marketing when we didn't have any scheduled customers, but eventually we didn't have any time because we stayed booked two to three weeks out. It would take two of us 3-3.5 hours on average for a full detail, and we did three a day. I would say it averaged to be $700-900 a day in revenue for the business. My buddy was giving us $15/hr so spending $300-400 a day in payroll, and bringing in $300-500 a day in profits all while he was active duty Navy hanging out in the maintenance office at work.
 
VP Mark said:
Nonsense, why does Starbucks charge $3.25 for a $.99 cent cup of coffee? Perceived value. Your value to your clients is what they perceive it to be, even if the difference between you and your competitor is less than 1%.
Click to expand...


THISSSSS. VALUE is what drives business. What VALUE are you bringing to your clients? You know why people charge $1500, $2000, or even more for a paint correction? Because they're the BEST at it. THEY BRING VALUE TO THEIR CLIENTS. That's what running a successful business is about. What is it that your bring to the table? We can sit here and bicker, back and forth, about what he should charge, but the honest answer is this: Charge what YOU feel is comfortable, and what your skill set allows.

AuroraDetailing said:
100% swirl mark removal is 100% swirl mark removal. They don't have different flavors to be judged on, nobody cares which product you used to remove them, they just want them removed. There is no value in paying more for the same objective result.
Click to expand...

This is false. People pay for the experience, the customer service, and the overall service. Johnny's tire shop is filled with assholes who do nothing but yell at clients when they walk in the door. "Yeah, what do you need?" "I need a new tire on this wheel. It's got a hole in it." "$100 + disposal fee. Sit down, and I'll tell you when it's finished." VS. Willy's tire shop that is filled with people who care about their clients, express gratitude, and are genuinely there to provide the service they're so good at. "Hi Sir, welcome to Willy's tire shop. How can we be of service to you today?" "I need a new tire on this wheel. It's got a hole in it." "NOT a problem sir, have you tried X, Y, or Z yet? Here, let me go take a look at it, and see if we can just patch that for you instead of replacing the tire. It'll be much cheaper, and will be perfectly fine for the remainder of the tires life. If that's the case, don't worry about it, it's on us. We'll take care of it for you. Thank you for stopping in." See the difference here? They both provided the same service, perhaps the same product, but 1 got the job done, and the other didn't. It came down to client experience, and customer service. You know what's going to happen now? Willy's tire shop is going to be promoted because they just fixed Susie's tire FREE OF CHARGE! AND! They were excited to do it for her. Johnny's is going to be put on blast because they were assholes, and didn't provide a dang thing.

There's ALWAYS a reason to pay more for the same product. It just has to be justified. Competition is healthy. Don't let that fool you. Competition shows you whether or not you can make it in the industry. If you're getting blown away by your competition, that's a wake up call. You need to figure out why they're so successful, figure out what they're doing, and you're not, and fix your issues. That's how you improve. Go listen to Andy Frisella over @ THEMFCEO Podcast. He's one of the BEST business coaches you can find. Shawn Thomas over @ Askamillionaire is too. Both of these guys have gone from nothing, to multi million dollar companies. AND they both provide FREE advice and business tips on literally every social media platform.
 
People keep saying "product". There is no charging by the hour for product. I'm talking about the "service" portion. Like what would you charge per hour for swinging your arm back and forth for an hour. Ability doesn't mean anything to a brand new customer that knows nothing about you. Quality of customer service is free. It costs a business absolutely nothing to be polite, maintain good communication, a being honest. So a business charging $30/hr can match the customer service quality of any business charging $100/hr at no additional cost. But I'm not talking about the high end services of detailing. What you are taking about certainly applies to that. I'm talking about going below half of the industry standards. It can and will de-value the service in an area.
 
Jacksonville is a tough market. You can't throw a rock with out hitting a detailer. I have a neighbor 2 houses down that does it also. I live on the Westside and that is a lower income area. The closer you get to the beaches, the more you can charge. I did raise my prices by about 30% when I moved here from Detroit a couple years ago. It's all depended on your market. Believe me if I could get business charging $100 dollars an hour I would. But this really is my hobby and not my main source of income so I'm honestly not trying to squeeze every last cent out of my clients. I often talk people out of my more expensive packages when I feel they just don't need them.


www.JaxDetails.com
www.facebook.com/DentsAndDetails
I may be slow, but I do poor work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top