The Cost of Professional Detailing

[Brook]

I've seen some amazing before/after photos of detailing work here on the forum. Perhaps this question is too broad, but what might one expect to pay per hour for a professional detailing job?

[Superior Shine]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

$50 - $80

[tcope1]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

The detailers weight in gold.

Might be a little "old school".

[Mary S]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

Maybe it would be better if you mentioned what detailing services you would be interested in, for instance, exterior? interior? engine? and some idea about the size and condition of your vehicle, and people could give you an idea by the job of what that would cost. The hourly rate is going to depend from person to person, but some detailers may also do a job more quickly than others. My guess would be a complete interior and exterior detailing that included paint correction to an almost new condition might start at $225 or so on a small to medium sized car with the paint in fairly good condition. But that of course will depend, including on your location and a number of other factors.

Someone correct me if I am way off base.

[Brook]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

I understand that there's no firm answer but $225 is far less than I would have thought. Based on the work I see in the before/after photos I would have thought a minimum of $1000 or so would be a beginning point.

[Andrew C.]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

I understand that there's no firm answer but $225 is far less than I would have thought. Based on the work I see in the before/after photos I would have thought a minimum of $1000 or so would be a beginning point.

It really depends on what you want done. Any specific threads you have in mind so we can get a better estimate on what is being done in your version of a "Full detail"

Some of those huge projects do cost a minimum of $1000 or so. The guys who really know what they are doing when it comes to paint correction can work wonders, but it takes a lot of time to do so, hence why the price tag increases.

What is included in these details that you are talking about?

[ColonelCash]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

$50 - $80

I hope those are California dollars.

[Mary S]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

I hope those are California dollars.

The ones that pay the California mortgages...

[Brook]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

I don't have any professional work that I want done on my own cars--yet.

It's just that in starting to detail my own cars and discovering that it's a lot of work and sweat requiring a great deal of patience and skill, I thought to myself, "If I had to pay someone else to do this I bet it would cost me a lot of money."

Then it occurred to me that if I was going to work that hard day in and day out doing detail work, I'd charge people a lot of money to do so--espcially if I got the results on some of the "before" cars that I've seen posted here.

[Tuck91]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

I don't have any professional work that I want done on my own cars--yet.

It's just that in starting to detail my own cars and discovering that it's a lot of work and sweat requiring a great deal of patience and skill, I thought to myself, "If I had to pay someone else to do this I bet it would cost me a lot of money."

Then it occurred to me that if I was going to work that hard day in and day out doing detail work, I'd charge people a lot of money to do so--espcially if I got the results on some of the "before" cars that I've seen posted here.

It just depends on what it is that you are detailing. Obviously a maintained Lexus is going to be easier to detail than an older work truck.

[DetailFreak517]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

It's just that in starting to detail my own cars and discovering that it's a lot of work and sweat requiring a great deal of patience and skill, I thought to myself, "If I had to pay someone else to do this I bet it would cost me a lot of money."

Too bad more people don't come to this realization or understand that about professional detailers. Most people have no clue how much work it is and how much skill and experience is required to get the kind of results professionals are able to achieve.

[Ryan_Bihun89]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

It usually cost about $150 here in DR. which is around $4000 DOP (Dominican Pesos).
That includes Engine, Interior, Wash, Polish, Wax.

People find it really expensive, but as Brook said and DetailFreak157 agreed, it takes a lot of work and people don't think about it. Thats why i always explain to my customers what im going to do and why it takes so much time.

(Also why it is so "Expensive")

[Mary S]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

Unfortunately, how hard the work is does not necessarily drive the price. It comes to supply and demand, and there are few people who would be willing to pay $1000 for a detail, even an ultimate detail that would take 2 days.

Part of detailing is an art and a skill, part of it is manual labor that doesn't take much training, and semiskilled manual labor is not that expensive, so a detail shop could hire workers for a reasonable wage (especially in this economy). So you have to take into consideration what your competition is charging. Also, how much would it cost to repaint the vehicle? Some vehicles could be repainted for around $1000, so the value you add by detailing to make the paint look new must be compared to the value/cost of a paint job.

So as people have mentioned, there are exceptions where around $1000 can be charged, but those are probably mostly either expensive or vintage cars where a lot of work needs to be done.

[Cole Ziegler]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

It really depends on the job. We're definitely on the less expensive side of the business, but it's still not cheap.

Here's our price packet: http://www.mediafire.com/file/jemmyz...omerPacket.pdf

Of course, bigger projects would be subject to different pricing. We price per job instead of an hourly rate.

[Superior Shine]

Re: The Cost of Professional Detailing

I've seen some amazing before/after photos of detailing work here on the forum. Perhaps this question is too broad, but what might one expect to pay per hour for a professional detailing job?

I do not understand the replies about it depending on what the original poster wants. If I do a multistage polish your car or if you hire me to only clean and dress the valve stem caps on your wheels my rate still applies.