2011 camry .. First paid customer as a detailer!

Yes guys I have done it. After a long time of planning to be a mobile detailer, I have successfully finished a detail of my first customers 2011 toyota camry xle. It did not involve paint correction just a full on detail with exterior hand wash, claybar and then wax.
So here is the process:

Exterior:
Wheels cleaned with Sonax FE wheel cleaner and wheel woolies ( These woolies are amazing)
Tar and buy removal using 1Z bug and tar removal spray
Presoak with a mix of Adams APC and Adams Car shampoo
Two Bucket hand wash using Uber Wash Mitt and Adams Car shampoo
Claybar using Griots Garage Clay and GG Shine for Lubrication ( Found GG products in Advance Auto Parts... They just started carrying those including the DA's as well)
LSP using Lusso Oro Caranuba Wax

Interior:
Wiped down surfaces with 1:5 Adams APC
Steam Cleaned the leather.
Finished with 303 Cockpit

Dressed Tires with Turtle wax tire dressing

Exhaust Tips Polished using Adams 1 and 2 metal polish.

Enjoy the pics and thank you for looking!



















Finished

 

How much did you get for a straight forward detail like that if you dont mind me asking?

 

It took me 5 hours to do it all and I charged 80. Thats the price I have listed on my website for a detail like that! My photography skills aren't the best but I gave it a shot using my 8 mp sony camera!

 

Looks great, congrats on the first of many happy clients.

 

Nice work. That customer got a deal for $80. Might want to look into raising your prices for the work you're doing.

 

Thank You very much for that!

Well, I did a lot of research and even though price is not what I am competing on, I want it to be good yet affordable!

 

I clayed a black with blue flake Toyota Celica and it marred a little, I usually prepare to polish after clay.

Is that part of your pricing in case of marring?

 

Charge what the market rate is in the area you live in, and then add a bit, but at this stage it is more important to build a client list then turn them off with higher prices.

It is the options that should be the pricier aspect of your service range. I think what you charged (not knowing your market) is fair, if you were to add correction on top of that with a high quality LSP, or coating then for sure charge more. And in some cases by the hour. But again, whatever your market tolerance is.


WHeelz makes a very good point too, always account for having to correct your mistakes IE, marring.

 

Great work

 

Hmm Not really. I did not notice much of marring but again it was my first customer detail. Do you think I should drop claybarring from my routine for just wash and wax? I cant link my website to you on here as it is condered advertising but I have included clay in my charges.

I did a lot of research I am glad that you think 80 is a fair price. I dont want to scare potential clients away with crazy pricing.

 

on something as basic as what you charged for, 80-100 is acceptable. How long did it take you?

 

He said it took 5 hours
Dan F

 

What Dan said. It took me 5 hours.

 

Nice work!

 

If that is what your market will bear then so be it. If I remember correctly, Buffalo has been rough economically for several years now so if your market bears $80 for the work you did then that is where you should be. Basically, what you charged and the time invested works out to gross $16/Hr. Factor in your products, gas, etc. and that $16 goes down quickly. That was my thought process behind it, and, I don't mean to offend. As Kilo said, doing great work and providing your customers value should pay dividends.

 

That is really good for 5 hours of work......

things will grow, as will your profit margins. Again congrats on the new client, hopefully he will bring you more business.

 

I totally understand $80 being your price for that car, it really all depends on your area, competition, market segment, etc. What I might suggest doing is to have your prices "start at" $80 (or whatever they may be for that particular service), and then you can be a little more free to set the price based on the condition of the car. Once you get the hang of it a detail like that probably won't take you an entire 5 hours to do a car like that--you'll probably be able to do it in 4 so $80 for the detail means $20/hour, which is about what I like to keep my pricing at. But you want to make sure that the customer knows your prices can change. That Camry didn't look too bad but if someone brings you a car that hasn't been cleaned in 14 years (It's happened to me before) then you want to be able to say that you're gonna have to charge more as it's going to take more time. In the same way I've been known to drop my prices if someone comes to me with a small car. I'm not gonna charge the same to detail a small 4-door car as I am to detail a Miata or similar car.

Just my .02 worth, I'm not an expert by any means. No matter what you do with pricing, it's obvious that you do great work and will have some very happy future customers

 

Thank you very much for the suggestion. I am still in the process of designing my handout brochure so I will definitely take this into consideration. I have been directing people to my website for my work and my pricing. But Thank you for your input rusty!

 

While building a client base is very important at first, you also have to remember that people will come to know your name and associate things with that name. Make sure "cheaply priced work" is NOT one of the things associated with your name as you will end up doing a lot of work for little pay. Since you are still new to the game and haven't yet picked up "speed" or "habit" in your details, you could wait a little, but I suggest doing this sooner than later: take a look at the average time you take to complete a specific type of detail, then, charge a per-hour price for the detail.

Example: Here it took you 5 hours. With a bit of practice, you will eventually bring that down to 4 hours. Now assume you have an hourly rate of $30 for "custom" jobs, then your package should reflect that and be $120 (4 hours x $30) and so forth for all your other packages.

It's very easy to get "stuck" with undesirable clients who only shop for a price and will even try to negotiate you on your already-low price..so I advise you to not start too low. Look at what other detailers in your area are charging, and try to stay a little bit under that, then gradually make your way up with experience.


On topic: the car came out great. I think the client was happy and that if you keep up the good work, you will have many others. The best publicity is from happy clients. (okay, Google helps a lot, but still )

Keep up the good work:thumb:

 

per hour weeds out alot of the BS price shoppers. I totally agree.