North Conway, NH

 

damn.. middle of nowhere, i see...

 

more reasons to charge even more. where else they gonna go?

 

Not really the middle of nowhere but certainly not in the big city. North Conway has grown a lot in recent years with more people moving here and also the tourism industry booming. People visit from Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Quebec and many surrounding states for many different things including shopping, skiing etc.

The only thing about living in a tourist town is that people come here and act like they run the place when really my household income really doesn't rely on tourists at all. The people that travel here aren't the only ones here to enjoy it.

 

My $0.02 - 10 hrs work for $181 minus $60 cost of supplies and $10 or so for time and gas spent getting supplies nets you just over $100 in your pocket. No disrespect but I would have charged $50-$75 more, it would still have been a lot less than a detail shop.

 

As an independent detailer, I would have charged $275 for that service.

 

10hrs of detailing! craziness.

I've never got any of my car detailed. I hand wash/wax in and out 3-4 times a month. Well i live in the dorms and i have no where to clean, i drive up to a car wash and use my own bucket and spend 2-3hrs there. But shoulda took a before and after! JAMIN:

 

Hey snowtrax, ever ride at White Lake or Twin? I've been riding in those areas for last 10 years. May have crossed trax. Greenville is my #1. I'm from York Maine.

And you should raise your prices. You seen what the 2013 X packages are going for?

 

I don't have a sled anymore. I sold it to buy my G but I stayed right around North Conway while I did.

 

First you're not charging what you should for the work performed! Since this guys car is in such terrible condition and he doesn't take care of it I'd charge him no less than $250. He'll expect it to look like new so you may as well get paid what you deserve....Gary

 

10 hours of work??? $500+ (I have no idea what pitch is)

also, you shouldnt have gone through an entire claybar on that job. half at most. i usually get 10-15 cars from one clay bar. break it up into 3-4 pieces and keep kneading it over and over again while using on the car. use ONR for a long lasting clay lube, a soap like dawn will degrade the bar rapidly, so use a QD, car wash soap designed NOT to strip wax.

Seriously, you made $10 per hour for manual labor...totally not worth it! detailers need to have more pride in their work and be in the $40-100/hr range pending on the type of work that you do. There is value in this work...dont short change yourself.

 

Thats mean of you to take away the enjoyment of clay bar and wax from someone...

Jk! I just clay bared my new (to me) z. The paint feels "soft" now. mmmmmm. Its not a chore for me, I like spending the time making something better.

Good luck, sounds like you'll be makin some good money.

 

That is a ton of work on a large vehicle for not too much money. A thorough clay bar treatment on a larger vehicle like that can easily take 1.5 - 4 hours. If you want to save some time I'd highly recommend you use the NanoSkin AutoScrub Fine Foam Pad. Many detailers are using this step in place of a clay bar and it's saving them hours.

If you want to see what other pros are doing and charging check out our Ask a Pro Blog. Lots of great information there and you can see each author's business website here - http://www.detailedimage.com/Find-a-Detailer/. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll be happy to help.

Greg @ DI

 

While I agree that $10 an hour is too low, $100 is way too high for a side business.

$20 an hour is over $40k a year, so $40/hr (companies bill at 2x hourly as a rule) seems a much more reasonable fee if you think of it as a business. I think even $50/hr would be a decent price to quote people once you establish a customer base.

Granted, 10 hours is a long time but I doubt he was in a hurry and didn't have other cars to do since I'm seeing this as a side thing he does.

So figure it should take 4-5 real hours at $40 an hour, so $160 - $200 in labor. So $200 all in we'll say on the conservative side since he's a friend.

I'm an accountant so this is what I would advise someone in his position if they were to create a business model.

Remember, you build a cost structure based on what a job SHOULD take, delivery schedule is based on how fast or slow you feel like moving

 

That is a freaking steal for that job! 10hrs total, $12hr per hour (not including store time)! Wow! I need a friend like you

In all honesty, when I do work for friends I charge 50% of my rate of $65/Hr. Immediate family I never charge unless they are asses, then I tell them I don't have time to do their work and they should hire someone. Sometimes we barter which works out too.