I want to hear from those of you that do this for a living or anyone that has taken the time to do the math. As the title says... have you ever figured out the expense that goes into a full detail? I know it would be hard to determine an exact number. However, what would be your best guess on a full detail, engine, interior and paint correction. The reason I am asking is I have friends an family asking me to do their cars. Plus I am toying with the idea of a side business. :thud: :giggle:
Well there are many variables to this Tonya, I mean it comes down to the products you are using. I can only share what my experiance has been and for me using as much top notch product as I normally do it's going to cost a bit more compared to others...hmmm...it's a good question I'm curious to hear what others have to say.
Hey Tonya, I think if this tread is purely on expense vs. profit, it would be better if you used your normal DAYJOB income and broke it down by the hour vs the number of hours you put into the detail and see if its worth the opportunity costs. Because of how little product is used to detail a car, the cost of used product is a very small % to the total cost and is not going to make a huge difference compared to the labor intensive process of a detail. my 2 dollas
I don't think the costs are that much once you have your inventory of equipment and supplies. Of course, mf's wear, things get dropped, etc but all in all the costs are pretty low. We are our own worse enemies b/c the more income you get, the more stuff you get to try and duplication, triplication inevitably occurs. That's the fun though, if you ask me..getting to try new stuff.
Calgarydetail I thought for sure you would post a dollar figure!!! :giggle: I notice in some of your product reveiws you break down the price per oz. Come on... I bet you are detailed enough you have a best guess :giggle:
I have also thought about this...and as mentioned the wear and tear i think is what can bite you, cuz that is usually one lump expense and then i guess you can figure it after something breaks, hard to before you start as a job. Sure shop vacs last 4 years when you use them on the weekends and such, but what about for an hour every single day. that is a totally different story. I figured out that my soap is about a quarter a wash and i charge decently well for a good hand wash. I think in this business u can really turn a profit because for the most part the margins are large, a 50 dollar wash costs .25 in soap, but as we all know there is more to it...water, electricity, MF, and such. I think i could make more money if i didnt turn around and feel like that i single-handedly keep some companies alive by buying up product lol:shakehead:
Oh I do this with about every high end purchase I make. Very satisfying when you hit X number of vehicles and you know everything after that is gravy!
I think it is a little more then 5$ Im thinking 25 maybe. I have to do out the math. I think P21S would kill me It costs about $1.07 to do a car with ONR. That is with the smaller bottle. Im going to figure menzerna out next time i detail a car.
It was Calgarydetail that peek my interest when he broke down the price per oz on a product review. I started to wonder if anyone ever figured it out. (ball park) I know it would be hard to judge things like water usage, electricity, wear and tear on the shop vac, pads, brushes, MF equiptment (rotary, flex, pc whatever) and product expense. I understand everyone uses different products. However I thought someone might have been crazy enough to try to figure it out. :giggle: Just wondering, no big deal :thumb:
This is a great question Tonya. It will take someone better with math than me to answer this. At the present, I figure 30% for overhead costs in each job I do. This may not work for everyone. On the other hand, I just did an exterior detail on a white Chevy 4x4 where I went thru approx. $40 in clay bars and QD alone. Hope this helps. :shrug: Dave
