Pro's...need help with a price quote!

[1 Clean WS6]

Hello all!!



Well...this is a bit unusual for me. I've been mobile since 2002 and doing exclusively private work from that time. Today I received a call from a prospective client that saw me out on a job site. He is a truck manager for a moving company and has nine 26' moving trucks that he was curious about getting washed. There would be no interior cleaning (except for the very first visit in which he requested a vacuum, panel wipe down and glass cleaning) but just a good exterior wash and tire dressing for all nine trucks. These trucks are similar to the big dawg U-Haul trucks built off one ton + truck frames. I've already spoke to a friend of mine that does some mobile detailing as a side job and he would be willing to help me. The closest I've done to "fleet" work is detailing a few speed demons for a local tuner shop (maybe 3-4 in a day) and honestly my rig is not set-up for this kind of work. However, with the help of my friend and his set-up I think we could knock them all out in one day. The only reason I am considering this prospect is because the client wants them done twice a month on a Sunday which would not interfere with my "normal" scheduling so the money would be an added bonus to my bottom line. I also know that I would be able to get MANY new private clients from this job (they are located in a very well populated and busy industrial park). My question to everyone is what do you think I should quote him for all nine trucks? Bear in mind that he wants these trucks done twice a month and that after the first visit they will be strictly exterior work. Also note that I will have to split the money...something I NEVER have to do.



Any help would be greatly appreciated!



Thanks,

Mike

 

[tpgsr]

how long do YOU think that it will take you and a riend to wash them?? I bet that if you bring a friend on the first day, that you wont need hom the sequential days. Washing really shouldn't be that hard. My best suggestion would be to use a powerwasher that dispenses soap, soap them up wipe them down and rinse, take a few WW, and dry. should be a fast process

 

[detailbarn]

That a tough one , being that this is a fleet account and that they are larger sized vehicles.



I couldn't tell by your post so I will assume that this is stricly a wash job no detailing , ie polishing or waxing. That being the case I personally wouldn't do it , and here's my reason why these trucks are going to be pretty drity and they will continue to get dirty and with no protection on them you'll likely be doing more work every time you clean them. Depending on the color (anything other then black) they will look ok if no prep work is done. The closet thing I have to this is a small fleet account of asphalt trucks , three white Chevy pickups. When I started this account I charged the owner $200 per truck to completly detail them and then signed a annual contract to detail them every week for $100 each. Being that these are just pickups you can't compare size and I'm doing a complete detail. I would say make sure he understand what you wash will entail and make sure he knows they won't look like the rest of the cars he's seen you detail. If he understands that and is good I would say give him a first time price of $100 for each truck and then each vist after would be $50 for each truck. I'm not sure what the prices are like on GA but that's what I would charge. It's a pretty big task to clean all those big trucks.





Doug Lucas

The Detail Barn

 

[joburnet]

I would say figure out how long it's going to take you and charge for time. If it takes the two of you 8 hours then I would want about $300 a day each so charge him $600 for all of the trucks. I would be carefull about your estimations though, don't want to charge that much for several days work.

 

[6']['9]

well ive done fleet washing one time and i did 3 wash n' waxes for $900 but that included washing, waxing, decal removal, & interior cleaning and wipe down. Most truck centers in the texas are charge about 150-175 for the front part of an 18 wheeler no bed. This guy that i them for has a truking company which transports dirt, gravel etc. Now if your getting all the bad *** trucks that transport clean things then you should be ok. just keep in mind your going to need a lot of



carwash

degreaser (concentrate if necessary)

armorall

glasscleaner

terry cloth towels.



check with some truck stations in the area and charge about 10% less.. be ware they are lot of work and falling is a ***** but once you get the hang of how to clean them you should be able to clean an interior in about 3o minutes. Also some but not all of them do have an air compressor hose around the drivers seat and you can use that to blow out any debris inthe area.