For those that do detailing as a business, how do you guys calculating how much you charge for the detailing work? Do you guys offer customers different "packages" (ie wash/claybar/wax or wash/claybar/wax/interior etc) at different rates?

 

rates are the same, just the time it takes varies! There are factors that play to the time it takes: size of car, type of car paint, depth of defects, amount defects, results desired, outside conditions vs inside conditions...

A honda civic (soft paint) will clean up MUCH faster than a Mercedes with the cerami-clear (super hard paint), so naturally a Mercedes will require more/longer working time to achieve the same results = more cost!

and just because you mentioned clay bar, Ill give some input on that as well...
I know that some people think it takes 20-30 min to clay a car...well it does if you are working as fast as possible and skipping some "deep stuff" I have spent as little as 30 minutes claying a car and as long as 4 hours claying a car! Thats even with some of the more aggressive clay bars on the market and moving efficiently! I went through 1/2gal of clay lube on one car and two clay bars because the car always sits outside and in the sun all the time! There is no way to charge anything below 100 bucks for just the claying portion of that car because clay bars are upwards of $25 each, and the lube is not free! I spent 4 hours time and went through $60 worth of product just to get the paint smooth, not to mention the time and the costs of the compounds and polishes needed to restore the finish of the car...I was sitting at about $80 product use to perfect the car...10 hours later, no less than $600 would have been worth it from a business standpoint!

 

I have to see the car in person to give a quote, and even then, it can change. The price is based on the size, amount of defects, severity of the defects, and amount of contamination on the car. But, like I said, it can change. Defects can come out after you clay the car that was previously hidden by a glaze or filling wax, if the contamination takes too long to get off etc. I just eyeball a price in person, then if it changes for any reason I call the customer and explain why the price has changed, and if they would still like me to continue.

You will learn from experience, if you are going to start detailing do some lower priced jobs for family and friends. You'll get more accurate with pricing the more that you do.

 

I totally under stand that. I spent about 3-4 hours, 2 bottles of Meguiar's Quick Detailer, and 2 bars of clay on my Celica 2 years back clay barring the mess out of it due to some massive over spray left over by the bodyshop. I enjoy the clay bar portion of a detail the most, but not when it's as intensive as that was. bleh.

I actually do plan to start off that way first and eventually save up for a buffer to start practice polishing on a few spare fenders I have laying around.

I'm assuming you guys charge by the hour + the cost of material? How do you factor all of that in and what would be considered a good hourly rate to start offering people where you don't feel like you've worked more than you charged?

 

Polishing is a longggg process to learn, you'll have to have a wide array of polishes to combat deep scratches on the hardest clear coats and holograms on the softest of clear coats.

The average person has a VERY hard time understanding the time and amount of intensive labor it takes to detail a car. I currently work by the job, and not by the hour, I recommend you do that until you have more experience and then start charging by the hour. That's my opinion though, do whatever you like.

 

Thats why I have 3 different lines of compounds/polishes I work with on every detail...never know when one will work better than the other based on paint type, outside conditions, and machine matching...


I started by the job, wanted about $50/hr ended up at about $25/hr...way off my mark all the time!!! Now, with the experience I have, how much I have grown, and the quality of the results, per hour is the only fair way to price things out!