Detailing and Pricing feeler

lambchop

Member
Hi All

So as most of you know I detail cars in my spare time
Now i get a span of PM's and requests to details cars
I even get referals
but thats where it stops. I even have the same issue on a couple of other forums aswell

What exactly do you guys expect to be charged ?

TIA

 

P1000

///Member
lambchop said:
I details cars

I had to lol.

On a more serious note:

Please explain more detail :) what you do, and how many ours you spend on the car. I because as you know, some car washes can "detail" your car, although that is not at all the service you give, but not everyone knows that.

I think most people have a bit of a shock when they first see what it cost for a full detail, but they do not realize the amount of time and effort that goes into it.

I think you should think about how much your time is worth to you, and charge people accordingly. You should also keep in mind, you can charge whatever ridiculous prices you want, you don't need to be the cheapest, you must just be able to sell it to someone.
 

lambchop

Member
P1000 said:
lambchop said:
I details cars

I had to lol.

On a more serious note:

Please explain more detail :) what you do, and how many ours you spend on the car. I because as you know, some car washes can "detail" your car, although that is not at all the service you give, but not everyone knows that.

I think most people have a bit of a shock when they first see what it cost for a full detail, but they do not realize the amount of time and effort that goes into it.

I think you should think about how much your time is worth to you, and charge people accordingly. You should also keep in mind, you can charge whatever ridiculous prices you want, you don't need to be the cheapest, you must just be able to sell it to someone.


Thats P1000 i can like to :bawling:

Well on a normal detail 12-15hrs worth of work is the norm or "Ours" as you said
Its all manual labour and as you said its my personal time used

Iv got my pricing and to be honest i think its rather reasonable
espacially when you add up the cost of the products Vs time and effort used to obtain the result

im sure MiniMike/Don/Calypso could also there comments
As stated in the post its just a feeler to see what you guys are willing to pay
 

freerider

Honorary ///Member
One of the main reasons I stopped detailing was hours + labour to income ratio, which just does not make sense. Detailing is hard work and takes focus and attention to detail (see what I did there) :)

I still get asked to detail cars and politely decline for the simple reason that when you quote what you are going to charge, people turn around and say "but so and so car wash only charges R150 for a full detail, what makes yours so special". I'd honestly rather not bother explaining because if that is how you see it in the first place there is not much I'm going to say that will convince you to spend 10X that for a starter detail.
 

lambchop

Member
freerider said:
One of the main reasons I stopped detailing was hours + labour to income ratio, which just does not make sense. Detailing is hard work and takes focus and attention to detail (see what I did there) :)

I still get asked to detail cars and politely decline for the simple reason that when you quote what you are going to charge, people turn around and say "but so and so car wash only charges R150 for a full detail, what makes yours so special". I'd honestly rather not bother explaining because if that is how you see it in the first place there is not much I'm going to say that will convince you to spend 10X that for a starter detail.


Thanks Don

Im actually starting to go the same way
The amazing thing is some folk pay R500k + for a car and get scared off by the price to keep the car looking in tip top condition


 

moranor@axis

///Member
Official Advertiser
i was under the impression that a full proper detail cost 2k minimum i dont think many people are prepared to pay that but i think its a fair price for the work/materials that go into it... unless you want to do charity work its not really worth doing it for much less... i think if you want to get paid what its worth you really need to find the right client base...
 

lambchop

Member
moranor said:
i was under the impression that a full proper detail cost 2k minimum i dont think many people are prepared to pay that but i think its a fair price for the work/materials that go into it... unless you want to do charity work its not really worth doing it for much less... i think if you want to get paid what its worth you really need to find the right client base...

Yep Spot on with the price Moranor
Obtaining a paying clientbase isnt exactly easy

at least my car is clean :)
 

freerider

Honorary ///Member
Megesh and I literally had too much work here in CPT, it came to a point where we were doing one car on Saturday and one on Sunday starting at 7am and sometimes working to 9pm, we would look forward to Monday just so that you could get back to the office and sit down.

As lambchops says, at least my car is clean :)
 

calypso

///Member
Problem is that valets now call themselves detailers now, and its a different service. Soon the word detail will replace carwash too.
And there are plenty of fly by nighters too.
 

Coisman

Administrator
Staff member
:pimp:
ok, so where are you, is Pretoria in reach, and what price you ask, cause my baby really needs some tlc. :)
 

Spy007

///Member
ok My 2 c worth.

Plumber R450 per hour or part there off.
Lock Smith R200 per hour or part there off.

Just using these as an example.

Start here. Work out what you are prepared to be paid per hour, as you state it is a manual labour job. (No not Manuel as in Basil and Sybil) but you do not use that much machinery.

So lets say you are prepaired to work for R10 per hour, add R2 for consumables used= R12 per hour.

No take if you work from Home or go to client you can add a call out fee? Base price R10

So a 10 hour job will be
R12x10=R120
R10 Call out
=R130.

Just an example but I think why guys are scared is that some Detailres give a price and can not justify the cost, but if I new in advance that you charge X per hour and the job will take Y hours etc etc.

Hourly Rate Snapshot for Electrical Engineer Jobs
Updated: 15 Apr 2011
1-4 years R39.31 - R204.49
5-9 years R233.87 - R509

Office admin with Graphic design diploma R61.00 per/h plus minus

So It is a tough question to get answers to.

So answer these questions and it might help.
1. What is your time worth?
2. What time is an avg detail job?
3. Are you doing this for money, extra income, love of the job, favour?
4. Can you brake :clap: down the detail into different categories?
5. How much Skill do you need to do the actual job? (no disrespect meant)
6. What actual machines do you need to buy to do it?(Running cost or capital outlay)

Putting my neck on the line I would say for me looking at costs etc I would be prepared to pay R30-R45 per hour or part there off, or I can just take a day of work and do it myself. As at some rates it will be cheaper.
There is no way I am gonna pay some one more for 8 hours work than my wife earns who is Qualified with a degree, and lets be honest that is what it boils down to. I do not mind paying fair pay for fair job.


And I will be honest if some one tells me they are gonna charge me x to do a job and they charge more per hour than what I earn I am gonna be looking at changing jobs and become a detailer. :)

Let me be clear, this is just my opinion as I know you get detailers and you get car washes. I think this is a valid point that is being asked and there is no sense in me not being honest.
So don't kill me but take what I have said in the way it was intended. Who knows if you are fair I might just make an appointment.
 

zaleonardz

Well-known member
lambchop,

Your prices are failry reasonable from what I can remember, the only reason why I did not choose your service was the weekend thing,

I would have paid a bit more for somebody to come out to my office and do it during the week, but alas I understand its a hobby/passion, and not your day job, so perfectly understandable..

Anyways :)
 

P1000

///Member
zaleonardz said:
, the only reason why I did not choose your service was the weekend thing,

I would have paid a bit more for somebody to come out to my office and do it during the week, but alas I understand its a hobby/passion, and not your day job, so perfectly understandable..

I think you will find that a guy who does this in his spare time has more passion for the job and will pay more attention to detail than the guy who does it day in, day out...


Well on a normal detail 12-15hrs worth of work is the norm or "Ours" as you said

lol
 

lambchop

Member
Spy007 said:
ok My 2 c worth.

Plumber R450 per hour or part there off.
Lock Smith R200 per hour or part there off.

Just using these as an example.

Start here. Work out what you are prepared to be paid per hour, as you state it is a manual labour job. (No not Manuel as in Basil and Sybil) but you do not use that much machinery.

So lets say you are prepaired to work for R10 per hour, add R2 for consumables used= R12 per hour.

No take if you work from Home or go to client you can add a call out fee? Base price R10

So a 10 hour job will be
R12x10=R120
R10 Call out
=R130.

Just an example but I think why guys are scared is that some Detailres give a price and can not justify the cost, but if I new in advance that you charge X per hour and the job will take Y hours etc etc.

Hourly Rate Snapshot for Electrical Engineer Jobs
Updated: 15 Apr 2011
1-4 years R39.31 - R204.49
5-9 years R233.87 - R509

Office admin with Graphic design diploma R61.00 per/h plus minus

So It is a tough question to get answers to.

So answer these questions and it might help.
1. What is your time worth?
2. What time is an avg detail job?
3. Are you doing this for money, extra income, love of the job, favour?
4. Can you brake :clap: down the detail into different categories?
5. How much Skill do you need to do the actual job? (no disrespect meant)
6. What actual machines do you need to buy to do it?(Running cost or capital outlay)

Putting my neck on the line I would say for me looking at costs etc I would be prepared to pay R30-R45 per hour or part there off, or I can just take a day of work and do it myself. As at some rates it will be cheaper.
There is no way I am gonna pay some one more for 8 hours work than my wife earns who is Qualified with a degree, and lets be honest that is what it boils down to. I do not mind paying fair pay for fair job.


And I will be honest if some one tells me they are gonna charge me x to do a job and they charge more per hour than what I earn I am gonna be looking at changing jobs and become a detailer. :)

Let me be clear, this is just my opinion as I know you get detailers and you get car washes. I think this is a valid point that is being asked and there is no sense in me not being honest.
So don't kill me but take what I have said in the way it was intended. Who knows if you are fair I might just make an appointment.


Long story short Spy - Dont ask me to detail you car....EVA :)
You will end up charging me to have it done

:)


 

Spy007

///Member
:bawling::clap::spit:

To work on Gopher should be privilege enough.

I don't mind paying more for something But unfortunately in these times I am gonna demand my pond of flesh for every penny I get charged. Trust me i just laid out R60k to a contractor and I am a patient man but want my monies worth. This job 3weeks now going on 2 months and he wants balance payment. I owe him R7000.00 and told him today, finish you get the money but there are so many small things he charged for but not done yet and I gave him a 50% deposit, no questions asked.
 

lambchop

Member
Spy007 said:
:bawling::clap::spit:

To work on Gopher should be privilege enough.

I don't mind paying more for something But unfortunately in these times I am gonna demand my pond of flesh for every penny I get charged. Trust me i just laid out R60k to a contractor and I am a patient man but want my monies worth. This job 3weeks now going on 2 months and he wants balance payment. I owe him R7000.00 and told him today, finish you get the money but there are so many small things he charged for but not done yet and I gave him a 50% deposit, no questions asked.

A pond of flesh !!! hectic stuff :)
 

Coisman

Administrator
Staff member
REPOST:
ok, so where are you, is Pretoria in reach, and what price you ask, cause my baby really needs some tlc.
 
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