Where do you draw the line on a "basic" cleaning?

I just got done the worst dog hair job I have ever had .....or seen for that matter. I will post before picts when I get a chance but I was so tired when I got done that I didn't even like getting the camera out. The interior took me about 4 hours total and most of it was dog hair. It was so bad because I would clean one section at a time and from all the hair everywhere everytime I cleaned one area there was hair where I had cleaned already.



I did not charge extra because it was a 1st time customer with 3 cars for me to do....all full details without correction. Since they use 2 out of the 3 cars for business they said that they are interested in monthly details on those 2. SO, I I did not charge extra. Any other customer would have been at least $50 extra for all of the hair.



I did find a great way of getting it out of hard to reach spots though. The hairs were about 2 inches long so they were deep into the carpet and seats. Masking tape....like the old way of taking lint off your clothes. Roll it up on your hand and push on the area needed. It worked great and saved me a lot of time. I did use the surgical glove method for the top layer but it was BAD.
 
Jean-Claude said:
I've come across quite a few jobs where the car was totally neglected on the inside. Spending 30+ minutes just to get a thorough vacuum job done kinda-work. Sand and heavy soiling.



I personally have a hard time cutting myself off. Vacuuming is such a "basic" on interior cleanings. How in the world do you handle situations where it's so filthy but a time-consuming vacuum job would take care of it? It's one thing when I am already charging $45 for a basic interior cleaning. It's another when I quote a group of folks $45 for basic int/ext on a small car and each one needs an hour and half for the "basic" due to being neglected.



Is there a point where you tell them you only spend so much time on an area like that?
Click to expand...



This might be a little off, but do you use solely a vacuum cleaner to vacuum? We use mainly carpet brushes, the vacuum is mostly used just to suck up the pile of dirt the brush made. The reason I say this is because I've found a brush to work almost just as fast on heavily souled areas as clean areas because they work so well.
 
I have one of these to take care of dog hair... I brush it all into a pile and vacuum it out.

pet_hair_brush.jpg
 
I figured out the rubber glove trick as well by accident...basically I was using a lint roller which was becoming a tedious process. Well I was sort of piling it all up together after rolling over a section and realized...it picked up everything and clumped all the hair together....



I ditched the roller and just started using my hand...went much faster
 
Jean-Claude said:
I've come across quite a few jobs where the car was totally neglected on the inside. Spending 30+ minutes just to get a thorough vacuum job done kinda-work. Sand and heavy soiling.



I personally have a hard time cutting myself off. Vacuuming is such a "basic" on interior cleanings. How in the world do you handle situations where it's so filthy but a time-consuming vacuum job would take care of it? It's one thing when I am already charging $45 for a basic interior cleaning. It's another when I quote a group of folks $45 for basic int/ext on a small car and each one needs an hour and half for the "basic" due to being neglected.



Is there a point where you tell them you only spend so much time on an area like that?
Click to expand...



I completely see myself in you when reading this. In years past, my feeling was it needs to be perfect. There are many great ideas that I have read within this thread before it went to dog hair removal.. haha, but we all learned something and I can't complain about hearing some insight from the fellow masters. My main thought is that to make it easier on yourself and assume that your clients know nothing about cleaning a car. Instead of asking someone how dirty it is, or when they last washed it, you have to handle it. I go about it in a way that I find works best. For my regulars, it is assumed that their vehicle will look perfect, minus severe staining. I always communicate with my clients if more needs to be done so that I leave the decision to them. Of course it can be a difficult task at times, but they will see value if you provide good work. Why not take the appt and plan on doing the car, if its the first time give your self extra time after so that in the event it is rough you can upsell and make it as good as you can within your timeframe. When I see a rough car, most times the customer knows that its rough and I give them a really easy option. The option is I average about 25-35 mins an interior on my basic wash, so I can split 35 mins by however big the car is or I can offer a detailed vac at an added fee or go straight to hourly. Whatever way works best for you will come down to what you feel comfortable with. I am switching my pricing around starting the 1st of September for reasons of increasing what I offer, higher expenses, and to handle vehicles like the one you described. Example, I had a Volvo SUV I detailed and the lady told me that she had 3 kids and the car needed a detail because it had only been washed at car washes. I got there for the detail and it looked as if a circus had used it to transport food and animals to and from locations!!!:down I was beside myself how someone could even sit in the car. One of my associates said that it was brutal. There is a definite difference between reasonable and unreasonable expectations. You get what you pay for. This woman was understanding that I am not a magician but that the car would look much better. Ultimately the car looked much nicer, but had it been under the pricing that we have in place starting the 1st, I would have been much happier about it. For me detailing is a passion and I truly love what I do. People see it and that is what sells me. I feel that if your going to have customers that are price driven you can always use the basic principle that the vehicles appearence averages about 20% of the total value. Lets make it easy, for a $10,000 car you can expect 2,000 dollars to account for the looks. I say $250 over 4 yrs gets you 10 grand poss higher, verses 8 grand or less when u neglect it. The other customers will know from your character and work quality that you are worth every penny. Before I write a novel, best of luck and I will be more than happy to offer any additional advice.:bigups
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top