Should I charge?

[radkonn]

I am in to detailing more for a hobby than making money, but I don't want it to cost me moeny unless it's for my cars. They really don't ask me to detail their cars, but I have noticed a lot of defects on their cars and I need the practice. On one hand, they are letting me practice on their cars, but on the other hand, they are also getting their car detailed. I don't want money for my time just the products. Do you guys charge friends and family when you detail their cars?

[Boss_429]

Maybe you should try and detail a car or two on the side to earn some cash to pay for the supplies. Besides, if you are "practicing" on the friends and family cars, you really can't expect them to offer up anything. Although, you would think they might do that without asking.

Nonetheless, you are gaining valuable experience (if you are doing it right) that will pay off at some point in time. If nothing else, in your own personal satisifaction of "doing it right"!

[radkonn]

I've probably spent around $250 on supplies (including PC), and I just don't feel like spending too much more. I know they will probably offer me money, but I feel uncomfortable taking money from them. I'll probably just ask for enough to replace what I used on their car.

[scrub]

I started the same way. I felt they were letting me detail their car like it was some sort of privilege or some sort of favor to me. Well after 90 degree days working 8-10 hours for $60 I came to the realization that this is hard work and the time I was spending away from my family wasn't worth the freebie work. It was fun at first but the time came to get paid.

I remember my first real paying job. My wife was like "you charged that much? And they paid it too?" Point is I wasn't giving away just my time and products but time from my wife and little girl. It was time to charge for that time away from my family. The dirty looks of last season ("oh you're detailing all day again") are long gone when I bring home $300-450 extra from one weekend of detailing. Plus I get more satisfaction out of my work when I know I charged X amount and someone was willing to part with their hard earned money for my skills and service.

I don't know your family situation or work situation. If I had the spare time I would detail for free (almost free). Unfortunately I don't, so my time is worth a bit more to me.

I've been meaning to ask how you came up with your user name.

Good luck! And no its not a privilege to clean up someone elses dirty neglected car. Its an art and service.

[radkonn]

Scrub

It may sound odd, but I look for the satisfaction of the end results. It's almost like when you fix something yourself. I used to work full time and go to school full time, but now, I am trying to concentrate on school more. I don't like to sit around and watch tv or do unproductive things, so I'm always trying to keep busy during the day. Basically, I need to do things that keep my mind off school. That seems to contradict my original goal of concentrating on school, but I used to work 50 hours a week. Thus, I have too much time during the day on my hands. As for the handle, it was the nickname my friends gave me. I have a German name, so it is a mixed up version of my name.

Thanks for the reply.....

[mrnewguy]

Yes, you should charge. Why would you put out money for products, not to mention your time.

[Lt1Corvette]

You should always charge. When starting off I charged just enough to cover my supplies. I got a lot of practice in and became very confident working on different cars. Only bad thing is this is a word of mouth buisness and soon when I raised my prices people called expected to get what their friend got months earlier. That was anoying for some time.

[dnoraker]

I started charging about a month ago, first to pay for products I was using, then to pay for some audio upgrades I wanted for my truck. I charged $40 for the first car since it was someone who already gave me business in my other business and to get my first customer, then I charged $80 for the second which was for my sister who felt like she wasn't giving me enough. The third I just completed for $90, plus a $10 tip. This is for wash, clay, polish with DA, wax, trim detail, lens polish, and full interior detail. I'm aiming for about $100-110 for cars and $20 more for vans and SUVs. Plus, I have smaller "A La Carte" items like just a wash, wash and wax, interior only, exterior only, scratch removal, etc. I'm practicing on my cars with #83 and #80 with the DA to add that to my services.

I told the first few customers not to tell anyone else what I charged them because I was giving them a deal for being the first ones and to get the word out. The last one I did was a referral from a friend who's car I bought and he was impressed at how it looked better than it ever did when he owned it. This recent customer brought his brother who saw the work and now wants his two cars done. The referrals keep building!!

My advice to others considering charging is that people are busy and are happy to pay someone for the work. And, as long as you always give them a little more than they're expecting and treat their vehicle like you were going to buy it from them in the future, they will send their friends! I'm a "free-lance" music teacher and have a lot of free time in the summer and this is a great way to make some extra money. Don't make my mistake and under-value your work; people will pay! Any business will require some upfront capital expenses if you want it to be successful, but the nice thing about detailing is that you can offer basic services to make a little money and re-invest it back into your business. Open another checking account to put the money in and only use it for your business.

Thank you, Meguiars forum members- I feel like I'm stealing when I get all this great info and don't pay for it!

-Dan

[scrub]

Originally posted by dnoraker
I started charging about a month ago, first to pay for products I was using, then to pay for some audio upgrades I wanted for my truck. I charged $40 for the first car since it was someone who already gave me business in my other business and to get my first customer, then I charged $80 for the second which was for my sister who felt like she wasn't giving me enough. The third I just completed for $90, plus a $10 tip. This is for wash, clay, polish with DA, wax, trim detail, lens polish, and full interior detail. I'm aiming for about $100-110 for cars and $20 more for vans and SUVs. Plus, I have smaller "A La Carte" items like just a wash, wash and wax, interior only, exterior only, scratch removal, etc. I'm practicing on my cars with #83 and #80 with the DA to add that to my services.

I told the first few customers not to tell anyone else what I charged them because I was giving them a deal for being the first ones and to get the word out. The last one I did was a referral from a friend who's car I bought and he was impressed at how it looked better than it ever did when he owned it. This recent customer brought his brother who saw the work and now wants his two cars done. The referrals keep building!!

My advice to others considering charging is that people are busy and are happy to pay someone for the work. And, as long as you always give them a little more than they're expecting and treat their vehicle like you were going to buy it from them in the future, they will send their friends! I'm a "free-lance" music teacher and have a lot of free time in the summer and this is a great way to make some extra money. Don't make my mistake and under-value your work; people will pay! Any business will require some upfront capital expenses if you want it to be successful, but the nice thing about detailing is that you can offer basic services to make a little money and re-invest it back into your business. Open another checking account to put the money in and only use it for your business.

Thank you, Meguiars forum members- I feel like I'm stealing when I get all this great info and don't pay for it!

-Dan

Welcome to the board.

Outstanding approach to starting up a business. I agree 100%.

Thanks for giving back to the forum!

[dnoraker]

I was wondering what other people are charging for their services. I've seen around the Minneapolis area a full detail job going for around $140, but I don't know how much work they do with scratch removal with a rotary and so forth. I'm working with a DA polisher and getting head-turning results on my cars, but being that it takes several hours to get to that point I don't know what to charge.

My thoughts at this point are to charge $90 for cars, $110 for trucks, vans and SUVs for a thorough cleaning inside and out with the full range of Meguiars various cleaners, polishes, protectants (engine detail excluded) and for the paint just doing a wash, clay and wax. this takes me about 6-7 hours. Then, I was thinking of charging $15-20/hr for excessive clay work and using the DA polisher with #80 or even #83 if it needs it and they want it.

the referrals keep coming in an people who see my S-10 want there vehicle to look the same way; (Sorry I don't have a digital camera to post pictures). So, I need to get a more firm price structure set up. I don't plan on going full-time with this, though I want to perfect the art. I'm already happily self-employed with a couple other businesses and detailing is just a way to make up for slower income in the summers and to take out my insanely detailed nature on some vehicles rather than other people!

Thanks
Dan

[Mike Phillips]

Just to chime in...

One of the things many of us learn when starting a business, like a detailing business is that it's hard to raise your prices down the road, it's better to start to high and then lower them, than it is to start to low and raise them.

Even if you only want to detail cars part time, it's a good idea to get some business cards printed up, this will make it easy for your customers to send you business.


Also look at putting up a small website with pictures of your work, (before and after photos), a list of your services and prices, and contact information.

[OrangeRcode]

I have approximately $300 in supplies and DAP to date. I have been practicing on my cars, my folks car/truck and my step mom's car. I see cars where I work that are only a couple of years old but already have oxidized paint from the hot Oklahoma sun (especially the black and other dark colors) - don't even get me started on all the scratches. I know I could really make their cars look alot nicer. I need a hook to let them know their cars look terrible without offending them. I have thought about cards in the breakroom but am not sure how that will be received. How some of you others get started. I only want to do it on the side to make a little extra $ for mods and supplies.

[dnoraker]

I've done a couple of things with minimal effort.

1. I told some people I work with that I was starting a detailing business on the side. Some of these people had already seen my vehicles and knew my level of quality (this is huge!) I offered a small discount for the first few customers to entice them: "I'm offering a discount for my first month of $20 off" or something like that. From the three cars I've done now I've gotten even more referrals, and this is without doing any work with the DA polisher that I'm now getting better at (thanks to this forum! )

2. I just told people to look at my truck and most of them thought it looked brand new.

3. I would compliment them on their vehicle: "wow, this car looks great for its age; have you waxed it yet this year?" or "that's a great color, what do you call that? I bet that would look amazing all polished up." I just did this yesterday and it started a conversation that moved into talking about what I do and he said he would do it for a birthday present for his wife in June; he wants the full exterior service with the DA polisher. Another guy that was with us said, "hey, I have and RV that I want to sell; do you do RVs?" I've never done them, but said, "I'll take a look at it and see what I can do" So, he's going to bring it to me and if I can do the job, he'll go through with it.

4. Keep an ear open for people talking about selling their vehicle, especially if they're selling privately because the dealerships don't care as much (my wife used to sell cars)

I'm fairly new at this, too, so as I learn I'll try to keep posting what works. It's really not that hard; most people just don't have time to take care of their cars and many of them really do care. There are still plenty, however, that just don't care like a father of one of my students that I was chatting with about my business. I offered my services and he said that he saw cars as a necessary evil and it's not worth the trouble.



Hope this helps.

Dan