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[Sneaky_Pete]

Your screwing yourself big time! Even if you are only running part time.. you need to at the very least DOUBLE what you charge now! I wont do a car for under $120 and it goes up from there.. I dont do very many details.. I just do one here and there for some extra money.. Im in no way doing this to make a living at it.. I just do one or two here and there, if I need some extra cash.

I would assume that you are doing this part time to supplement your income from a regular job.. I would say its more of a part time job for you, more then a hobby.. Man... you definitely need to charge more!!

Either that, or buy some vaseline so your in a little less pain!


later

Sneak

[The Fuzz]

Hey pete... why don`t you take a time out while you learn to be a little more respectful and act less like a barn yard animal. That was rude and uncalled for.

[joe.p]

He isn`t running a full time business. It`s just a side job sort of hobby like most of the rest of us.

Try doubling your prices and see what happens. You simply aren`t charging enough. The guys that have told you this is a lucrative business are the ones charging three times what you are. You are the boss. If you aren`t making enough money then give yourself a raise. You have nobody to complain to if you aren`t making enough money. You have three choices... a) increase your price b) detail more cars or c) become more efficient so your hourly rate is higher. Pick one of those options and do it. I would suggest you look around you and adjust your rates accordingly. Your prices are reasonable for an hour`s worth of work, so either get faster or charge more. Don`t work for free and then complain about it.

Hi Fuzz/my little Buddy :wink:
very good advice and tastefully done i might add. now i see why your soo smooth with the ladies, it`s all how its said/worded. :naughtyD

[PhaRO]

There are a few things that you can do to increase your hourly rate. One thing you can do is make cleaning and dressing the interior an extra charge. Even if you stay low and charge $5-10 it will help. If you are charging a flat rate on any vehicle, make a higher price for suv, trucks, mini vans and such. The other things you can do are things that save time. If you are hand applying wax and then buffing it off with an orbital then unplug the oribital and do it by hand. There are products out there that will let you put wax on and take it off super fast. I one step most cars and tend to apply with a PC and take off with hand. I could do it all faster by hand but the pc does a better job and without much effort from me. It sounds like what you are doing is a maintenence (express) type detailing. Trying to achieve full detailing results at express prices won`t do much for your wallet. I think you could cut your time down to 60-90 minutes with some changes and lower over time. In low priced express work you have to force yourself to move. You can`t get a car with 12 months of brake dust and spend an hour cleaning the wheels. Not saying you leave them looking like crap either lol. Certain cleaners will speed that up. SA Detailer above turned me on to a brush that has been incredibly useful. Break things down into areas and figure out how to speed things up or improve in some way. I estimate I`ve cleaned 25-45,000 car by myself. You can always improve

[NEW AGAIN]

There is a great great article I would like you to read e-mail me @ newagain@rr.com I`m located in Wilmington,NC My hourly rate is 30/hour

[CharlesW]

- hand wash entire car, including bug and tar removal
- clean tires, rims, wheel wells
- dry entire car
- vacuum interior
- clean vinyl, leather, plastic, etc.
- dress all interior
- clean interior windows
- dress tires and wheel wells
- dress exterior trim
- apply wax by hand
- buff paint
*********** All that for $40**********

Too cheap, but.....
He is doing basically a wash and wax with the interior thrown in. He is not doing swirl removal or polishing the paint.
He definitely deserves more, but I`m not sure what he is doing would come close to being a $150+ job.

Charles

[The Fuzz]

If he can do all that in an hour then it isn`t a bad price for the work. Doing that and taking 3 hours in the process is where he is not making money. I wouldn`t necessarily pay 80 bucks for that job, but after 3 hours I would definitely expect my car to look like new. I probably wouldn`t come back or refer anybody if the car only looked like it had been washed and waxed and I had to wait 3 hours for it. For 3 hours I would expect clay and swirl removal at the very least.