getting paid

[Poorboy]

Don`t worry so much about what he`s making. You have to look at what your making. $75.00 for 8 hours of work is horrible. That`s roughly $9. an hour.

First of all a $150.00 detail shouldn`t take you any longer than 4 hours tops. I charge $50. per hour so I would spend 3 hours for $150.00.

He is providing a place to work and I`m assuming he provides the customers as well. That has value especially if your not good at drumming up business.

You still need to be making a minimum of $30. per hour to make it worth your time to do this. Otherwise your better off going to work for a dealership. I have seen guys make $20. per hour and get benefits as an employee.

Troy has a lot of good info here for you. You will have to learn to cut a few corners and pick up the pace. To work in your situation, you need to do at least 2 cars per day. Your arrangement is very similar to many hair cutters, they use some space and the facilities, and the owner supplies most of the customers. Getting customers at the beginning is not as easy as it looks, ask TexasTB, but after you have built a reputation, then it would be time to take your customers and either go mobile or find another shop. Having a shop and paying rent, utilities , taxes, etc and answering the phone is a lot of overhead when starting out. It may seem a like you are not making a lot, but it sounds like you have steady work, and if $225 is your top billing amount in your area, then your arrangement is not great but fair

[Fishpimp]

Another approach could very well be to become an employee. Arrange to be paid an hourly rate and let him handle ALL the over head. There is a happy medium somewhere in this situation. Then you could detail on the side at home or go mobile....

A rip off is only a rip off if you learn nothing from it. As your skills and experience increase so will your pockets...

I`m big on agreements rip-off or not if you agree to it then you are bound by it. It must have been a good deal at some point, otherwise he would have never agreed to it in the first place.

[JeffM]

Glaze and go.

[bigemike]

I would not work for less than $125 a day if I had to pay my own benefits and taxes. If you are a beginner then you should be at about $10-11 an hour, if you are expeirianced and fast then I would say $15 would be doable. If you could get to the point that you could knockout two $75 in a ten hour day that would be good pay. 8 hours seems a little long for a $150 detail IMO How are the other guys in the shop doing, maybe you are doing too good of a job and you need to start blowing through these cars a little quicker.

[RTexasF]

It appears to me that you are paying them for the privelege of working there.

If you supply everything what is the $50 "chemicals" charge for? Sounds like you`re paying part of the water bill.

The 50/50 split bothers me the most. Who decides the price of the detail, you or them? Perhaps renegotiating the percentage more in your favor would work.

Side Note:

It`s easy to say "I charge this" or "I wouldn`t work for that amount" but different areas of the country dictate different fees. In Austin I based all work on $40 per hour and turned down those that wanted to haggle. Where I live now that dog don`t hunt.....$25 per hour is it with a few exceptions. There`s just too much cheap labor here. Do they do a professional job? No, of course not but understand that here a wash & wax IS considered a detail and it`s about $45 FOR A SUBURBAN!!!!!!

In short I think they are getting to you but not knowing your situation makes suggestions difficult at best.

[Brenton]

If I were to pay by piece/commission, it would be 40%, with no cost to them. That`s just me.

[Tex Star Detail]

Getting customers at the beginning is not as easy as it looks, ask TexasTB

Ain`t that the truth!
I actually had to get a part time job to pay bills. Now I am looking to hire a 2nd person. (Looking)

[Troy@Protekt]

Side Note:

It`s easy to say "I charge this" or "I wouldn`t work for that amount" but different areas of the country dictate different fees. In Austin I based all work on $40 per hour and turned down those that wanted to haggle. Where I live now that dog don`t hunt.....$25 per hour is it with a few exceptions. There`s just too much cheap labor here. Do they do a professional job? No, of course not but understand that here a wash & wax IS considered a detail and it`s about $45 FOR A SUBURBAN!!!!!!

In short I think they are getting to you but not knowing your situation makes suggestions difficult at best.

Good point but he is working in a shop that sounds like it is pretty busy and the prices aren`t expensive but they aren`t cheap either. It also sounds like, based on the shop he`s at, he should be doing better in that area.

I see the main problem is in the amount of time being spent on each detail. Best case scenario is cutting time down to 3 hours on a $150.00 detail which after expenses nets about $20 per hour in this situation. I suppose that is acceptable if you do atleast 2 details a day. Not the greatest way to make a living though. Your not building a business your just working for a wage. Coming up with your own customers is not only better money at the time but you are also building a business which becomes an asset which is worth something as well.

Another solution if you want to detail, but you don`t want to deal with the customers, is to partner up with someone who likes that aspect of the business. You manage the work load and he/she manages the business side. This way your atleast building a business for yourself rather than helping somone else grow their business.

I guess you can tell I`m not a big fan of being an employee, especially with no chance for moving up in the company. IMO this is even worse than being an employee because you are eating expenses and paying more taxes.