First Paying Detail-White BMW

9

91LSMAN

2002 Chevrolet Corvette
Well, it happened. I did my first "out of the family detail" with my PC. I spent 4 hours on the car and charged $150. Here was my process:

Wash
Clay
SSR1
EX
Spray and Gloss
Natural Look on entire interrior (no pics)
BnB on tires/wheel wells
Shampoo with Little green machine on floor mats

Sound like a fair price?
It was hard to tell how happy the lady was with the results. She got a little nit-picky with part of the trunk hinges, but I didn't spend a lot of time on that portion because I didn't get the impression that was important to her due to the fact that the paint was peeling on the front bumper, the drivers side side maker was rusting out and there were rust spots on the hood. Oh well-I hope she was happy and felt she got her money's worth.

The pics with the top up are befores and the pics with the top down are afters. Let me know what you think.
 
4 hours and you got all that done? You must have been flying!! To make sure she comes back, maybe a followup call in a week or so may not hurt? She should see some great water beading for a while with the EX...I've noticed that is what people look for when they don't have a clue about anything else. :car

Looks good, any close up pics?
 
Mikeyzr said:
4 hours and you got all that done? You must have been flying!! To make sure she comes back, maybe a followup call in a week or so may not hurt? She should see some great water beading for a while with the EX...I've noticed that is what people look for when they don't have a clue about anything else. :car

Looks good, any close up pics?
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She's the niece of my boss at the "day job" so I'll probably hear what they all think. Yeah, I was flying thought it. Sometimes I can be too much of a perfectionist, so I tried to limit myself to 4 hours. I worked from 9-1. I could have spent 2 or 3 more hours to make it even better-heck I could have spent another hour just on those freakin BMW rims. LOL

No real close pics-here are some "zoom ins"

The black marks are where the sideskirt has been kicked many times.
 
I think anytme you can make $150 in 4 hours detailing you are in the money. $37.50 an hour ain`t half bad! I think the more you charge the more people in general get picky. Everybody loves a bargain.
 
TraderB said:
I think anytme you can make $150 in 4 hours detailing you are in the money. $37.50 an hour ain`t half bad! I think the more you charge the more people in general get picky. Everybody loves a bargain.
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Yeah, I know-but what do they expect? The longer it takes the more it would cost. If I were to charge less, and take longer-heck then it's not worth my time. I think I'll get better though if I do more cars that are not kept up all the time like the ones in my family.
 
Yeah, I sure as hell wouldn't argue making that coin on the side. If she likes the job you didn, and she hopefully will, she'll tell her freidns that's how much it costs. You may have the start of a good little side business going. You can then pay for all your detail toys and products too! Nothing like having a PC, Rotary and every new product on the market to play with!!

:shift
 
Holy cow, 4 hr? That's pretty darn fast. :rockin
Man, I done a 2004 Evo-8, it took me 6 hours. Even though this was his 2nd time detailing, I thouhgt I can do it in 4 hour mark, but nooo...
 
klnyc said:
Holy cow, 4 hr? That's pretty darn fast. :rockin
Man, I done a 2004 Evo-8, it took me 6 hours. Even though this was his 2nd time detailing, I thouhgt I can do it in 4 hour mark, but nooo...
Click to expand...

Yeah, like I said in another post, 4 hours was my goal so I wouldn't make myself crazy.
 
Wow, Nice job -especially in 4 hours! I don't know how you guys do it! I find that the polish/seal/wax steps take me the LEAST amount of time. It's cleaning out the interior, wells, rims, door jams, and prepping the surface for polishing that end up taking a lot of time for me.
 
I am always amazed by people who own expensive cars being cheap - a guy in my neighborhood has a black 6 series and washes it with a towel!! - saw me one day detailing and jokingly asked "how much?" - I told him 100 bucks. He laughed told me that was way to much when he could get it done at the car wash for 40. I asked him if that is where he gets it done now..he said yeah, why? Ahhh, I said, that is where those swirl marks come from...

LS she got her money's worth and then some from what I can see :) -
 
Yeah, nice work. Yeah, I hate people who are cheap. They spend the money on the car, but nothing to maintain it. My neighbor has a 2 year old Dodge Ram 1500. He keeps it up pretty nice. One day, his wife asked me how much to detail the truck. I told her, for him, inside and out PLUS the engine? $100. She just stared at me llike I was the Anti Christ or something! Man, I was like, " That's a deal nobody would match!", but the look on her face said it all. It made me have second thoughts about going into business on the side. I have done everything except market the business, so I am still debating. It would really suck though, I have put a lot of money into this. :(
 
Suggestion.... Give each client a detailed list of what you did plus what each step does in terms of benefits for the car. Car wash....explanatory....claying...explain how it gets rid of small particles and preps and scrubs the paint, etc.....PC use with/without SSR's...ditto, explain this.....Polish/AIO...ditto.....sealants....let them know benefits of sealants, specific type you use, how long it will last, beading properties, etc.

If they aren't knowledgeable to begin with, they may just think you washed it, buffed it, and waxed it like the days of old. Let them know you did alot of work and alot of different steps (at least 3, maybe as many as 5) and that they ALL contribute to protecting and maintaining the car's finish.

Congrats and good luck!
 
Thanks everyone for the encouraging words.

After I was done, I actually walked around the car with her and told her what I did. I even felt the paint with her to show her it was smoother.

Hopefully she didn't take it out today though-weather SUCKED around here. Even my Legend is filthy. LOL

Thanks again for the encouraging words.
 
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