Time it takes for a full detail...

LedZep · 12-12-02, 10:00

I was wondering how long it should take a 2 man crew to detail something like an explorer on average. It takes me and my partner 3 hours. Shineshop said I should charge $40 an hour, so with the 2 of us working that would be a $240 detail? When I mean a full detail, heres what I mean.

Wash
Tires dressed
Paint Claybarred, polished, and waxed
Carpets and matts shampooed
Leather conditioned
All vinyl and plastic cleaned and dressed
Windows cleaned
Engine bay pressure washed and degreased (basic)

We charge $130 to do this to a car, and $160 for a SUV/Van/Truck

What do you guys think? Thanks

-Daniel

Dale DeSteno · 12-12-02, 10:07

$240 seems like a lot, but I think you can get more the $130 for a car. I would say $150 for a car and $200 for a truck and $300 for a Hummer. Don't want to underestimate yourself...

LedZep · 12-12-02, 10:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Dale DeSteno
$240 seems like a lot, but I think you can get more the $130 for a car. I would say $150 for a car and $200 for a truck and $300 for a Hummer. Don't want to underestimate yourself...

How do you think we do on time?

stanger99 · 12-12-02, 10:13

i dont think its a good guideline to simply say that you'll charge $40 an hour. if you work really, fast, then people will be getting a great price. if you work really slow, then people will get ripped off. it all depends on how long it takes you...but i'm sure others will disagree.

detailbarn · 12-12-02, 10:14

What do you mean when you say $40.00 an hour?

As far as how much time to detail an explorer size vehicle , it takes me 4 hrs to do a S class Benz.

Price has a lot to do with were you are located and what kind of clientle you have , I have two Lamborghini's I do on a regular basis. One is a Diablo & the other is a new Murcielago. I get $500.00 for the Diablo and $800.00 for the Murcielago. I could never charge anything close to that even for something like an AMG Benz. But the Lambo owner is willing to leave the car for two days and have me all but disassemble it to detail in properly.

I say $150.00 is a nice number for the average car , now define average. lol

Hope I helped , I seemed to ramble alittle.

LedZep · 12-12-02, 10:23

Quote:

Originally posted by detailbarn
What do you mean when you say $40.00 an hour?

What I think Shineshop meant is that I need to get $40 an hour for my work. That seemed hard to do to me though.

As far as how much time to detail an explorer size vehicle , it takes me 4 hrs to do a S class Benz.
.

Is that you all by yourself? If so, you must work quickly, because with 2 of us a S500 takes 2.5-3 hours.

detailbarn · 12-12-02, 10:35

yes i do work rather quickly. I'm not superman or anthing , I contibute my speed to having a system for the detailing process and also a very organized shop. When I can grab right what I need when I need that saves me time. I have been detailing for some time and it's only in the last few years that I have my system down good. On a bad day it can take me 5hrs to do an S-Class.

I understand what you mean about the need to get 40.00 an hour for your time. I would say you need to charge at least $150.00 for a car and up for trucks ect.

One more question are you mobile ar fixed?

LedZep · 12-12-02, 10:37

We are mobile

detailbarn · 12-12-02, 10:44

Ah I see , I use to be mobile and it would take me six hours to do an S-Class so you're on the money in my book as far as time is concerned. I think it always takes longer to do a car on location.

I think you just need to charge more , I personally found I was losing business to a comptetior because people thought because I was cheaper that my work was too.

You have to remember you're adding a level of convience to the customer by coming to them , I would say you shoud charge $160.00 for the average car.

LedZep · 12-12-02, 10:51

Now when you price out cars, trucks , etc. do you have mutiple catagories? We just have car and truck. I know some detailers have about 5 catagories since there are variations of car size and truck size.

detailbarn · 12-12-02, 10:57

Yeah I have a basic tier system ,small car , large car , small suv , large suv and pickups are different in a catagory by themselves. I drive a crew cab so I know that most trucks go thru alot of abuse and my customers want the bed cleaned and the tool box and there is usally like 6" of caked mud on the carpet or mats.

I start at $150.00 for the small car ie Mercedes SLK.

LedZep · 12-12-02, 11:06

How does the price increase as you move up the tier? What do you charge for pickups? This is really helping me out. Thanks