how long......

B

bullett

New member
on average do you guys spend detailing a car. not your own, one you are paid to do?



i can spend days going over my car and its still not to the standards of the boys on here.so how long would a "job" take on a reasonble condition car.inside and out detail.?
 
it depends on the condition, what the owner wants spefically done, etc... there is really no definite answer as each individual case is usually different... some can do a detail in a few hours, and others over a few days span...
 
say,exterior inc clay,glass etc,rims,exhaust,interior excluding shampoo,and engine bay basic detail?



1 day total or more? on a regularly washed car but not waxed for instance?
 
It really depends on condition of the vehicle and what the owner wants done.



This may take three to four hours or the whole day.
 
It not only depends on the condition of the car to begin with but it has alot more to do with the equipment you have to use. I myself have Heated powerwashers Heated carpet extractors. Rotarys and D/A's. I invested a good chunk of money for top notch equipment to do one thing and one thing only.. To save me time. I personally couldn't imagine the sheer amount of time it would take to detail a car if I showed up with say a couple of buckets and a garden hose. I mean the wash alone would take an hour or more. But with my equipment I have no problems busting out the wash and prep in about 20 minutes. I can very easily do an average car in about 4 hours or less. SUV's and bigger vechiles obviously take a little longer. Hell I did a corvette with a 3 stage polish from start to finish in about 2-1/2 hours. All possible becuase I use high end very effective equipment to do so. So having the skills to do it is one thing having the most effective equipment is the other crucial key factor to the time of a detail.
 
If I can't have a vehicle for atleast 2 days, I don't like doing it. The amount of time I like and feel I need to spend on it can't be accomplished in a 1 day session any more. On the other hand, when I was doing quickie dealer details, each one of my detailers could easily do 3-6 complete details per day. Case in point, I'm now charging more for 1 vehicle than I was back then for 10. Big difference.
 
Jakerooni said:
It not only depends on the condition of the car to begin with but it has alot more to do with the equipment you have to use. I myself have Heated powerwashers Heated carpet extractors. Rotarys and D/A's. I invested a good chunk of money for top notch equipment to do one thing and one thing only.. To save me time. I personally couldn't imagine the sheer amount of time it would take to detail a car if I showed up with say a couple of buckets and a garden hose. I mean the wash alone would take an hour or more. But with my equipment I have no problems busting out the wash and prep in about 20 minutes. I can very easily do an average car in about 4 hours or less. SUV's and bigger vechiles obviously take a little longer. Hell I did a corvette with a 3 stage polish from start to finish in about 2-1/2 hours. All possible becuase I use high end very effective equipment to do so. So having the skills to do it is one thing having the most effective equipment is the other crucial key factor to the time of a detail.
Click to expand...







there lays my answer.thank you.



i do everything by hand.i use two buckets,hose,and the usual water magnets.

i dont have the access or the means to buy the power washers etc yet,then i am only really doing my car and my mates' cars.although i have thought about getting into it properly.

i spent literally all day yesterday detailing my father-in-law's land rover discovery to get it ready for sale.but in fairness i t was fairly bad.washed only.never polished or waxed,never had the plastics blacked etc.i didnt even get to do the engine bay as the rest took that long:eek:



maybe i'll do some research into the items you have mentioned.what makes are you using?i may have to hunt as im in england.



thanks for the help.now i need the learn to cut my time down if i decide to go into it as a business.
 
Well remember time is probably the last concern of detailing. Doing the job right is always first priority. But as far as what I use. I have a Landa Gold Series 1400 Heated power washer (at the time it was about $3000 if I recall correctly) and then my carpet extractor is a Mytee HP 100 Grand Prix model (these are really dropping in price lately and can be picked up at a huge bargin) I have both a Dewalt and a Makita polisher. The makita is more beginner freindly and not a bad polisher at all. The dewalt is my personal choice favorite and a real work horse of a polisher. my D/A machine is the Dewalt brand as well. Can't change the heads on it like a UDM or PC but my supplier had it on the truck when he stopped in and I picked it up for the ease of it. The main thing when plunking down cash for equipment is buying something that makes sense for you. Heat makes all the difference in the world when it comes to powerwashing and getting stains out of carpets. Regular PW's are in the low hundreds... Where as heated power washers in the thousands of dollars... And there' s a legitmiate reason for that.
 
I'm working my way up to the 12-15 hour range for many cars... I find that I have to cut small corners to make it in 8 hours, and I am rarely personally satisfied with the long-term result.



The biggest issue with shorter times is that holograms tend to come back if you skip steps (e.g. orange foam to blue foam or wool pad to finishing foam), so most correction details turn into 3 or 4 steps plus time for rewashes, wipedowns and inspections.



Even almost new cars can take up to 8 hours to fully correct and protect, in my experience.
 
JAKE, thank you.i really appriciate you time and advise.i have always tried doing everything by hand.and i have no problem in taking hours and hours doing a car but if i was to try and make a business it make sense to be time efficient,but not at the expense of quality.



i have always struggled with carpets the most to be honest.do your machines pull the gritty sandy nastiness out as well as the stains?as i find no matter how many times i hoover im still not happy if i have my head near the carpet.......anal i know but thats me.
 
The heated extractor will help with that. but there are other techniques out there that are just as effective. How powerful is your shop vac? If it's over 5hp you should have no issues getting the carpeting spotless. Not sure what you're current method is But I'm sure I can help you out getting better results.. I think my work speaks for itself on that one LOL. (just take a look at some of the interiors on my webpage listed in my info there)
 
i just use a normal house hold vacum.and meguiars carpet cleaner.:(



sorry to sound stupid,but where is your website link?

im not too hot with computers
 
I Pm'd the link over to you just so I don't get in trouble on here. But if you're just using a regular vacuum from your house you should at the very least get a shop vac of some kind. They really aren't all that expensive. Definatly look for at least 5hp. I use a 6.5 myself.
 
cheers jake.pm received and had a quick look.



looks like i will be looking into a far better vacum.your results are amazing fullstop

and your engine bays are stunning.

looks like i have a lot to do to get to your standard.
 
Ehh I just do it because I have a passion for it. Lots of guys on here just as good as I am. Once you start getting into it you'll be right here with the rest of us in no time.
 
i hope so. im starting to get used to the site and looking at a few others' work.there's alot to get through.



hopefully i will learn alot and get to a good standard ike ive seen so far
 
Jakerooni said:
(just take a look at some of the interiors on my webpage listed in my info there)
Click to expand...





I was curious if you dyed the carpets in some of your interior pics.



Edit: Maybe I should have read the captions first :doh. I'm very impressed by the Buick. Was the civic also dyed?
 
A little of topic. But is that your cossie bullett?

Looks killer in the avatar picture. :P

A friend of mine has a british racing green one that Im just about to detail. They are truly Beautiful cars.
 
Jakerooni said:
It not only depends on the condition of the car to begin with but it has alot more to do with the equipment you have to use. I myself have Heated powerwashers Heated carpet extractors. Rotarys and D/A's. I invested a good chunk of money for top notch equipment to do one thing and one thing only.. To save me time. I personally couldn't imagine the sheer amount of time it would take to detail a car if I showed up with say a couple of buckets and a garden hose. I mean the wash alone would take an hour or more. But with my equipment I have no problems busting out the wash and prep in about 20 minutes. I can very easily do an average car in about 4 hours or less. SUV's and bigger vechiles obviously take a little longer. Hell I did a corvette with a 3 stage polish from start to finish in about 2-1/2 hours. All possible becuase I use high end very effective equipment to do so. So having the skills to do it is one thing having the most effective equipment is the other crucial key factor to the time of a detail.
Click to expand...



I agree! You have to have the right tools for the job! Working smarter not harder! The correct tools can drastically decrease the time it takes to do a detail. I think the time varies because of speed,process,products used, and weather. Just my 2 pennies!
 
Yea the civic was dyed per request. The buick I really had no choice in the matter. I'd have to double check but I don't think anything else up there is dyed though. I literally have a few thousand pics I still need to upload. I'm trying to figure out how to do it without bogging down my website anymore than it already is. Anytime I get more than what's there it takes forever for pics to load up. Annoying and not streamlined to what I want potential clients to expereince.
 
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