Need Advice

[gotgone]

My wife and I went to a dinner a few weeks ago. We ran into a couple we hadn't seen in years. While talking to the woman I mentioned that I had retired early to take car of my terminally ill son. Since he had passed 18 months ago, I felt like I needed to find a job to occupy my time. She asked what I wanted to do. I told her I loved detailing my vehicles and thought I would like to try that. She turned to her husband and asked if he knew anyone needing a detailer. His reply was I need one. Turns out he has 14 vehicles. He offered me the job a few days later. He also wanted to do things at an hourly rate. He wanted me to start on his 69 jag first. He wanted it cleaned front to back. The wire wheels had rust on them as did the dual exhaust. The engine was dirty with a moderate amount of grease here and there. The interior was probably the best. It was mostly dust. Anyhow he has a warehouse with water and an air compressor. He said he was in no hurry and I could work whatever hours I wanted. He gave me a key and turned me loose. It took me 10 hrs to get the engine where I thought it should be. The engine could obviously been done quicker with a power washer, but he wasn't too thrilled about one being used. I also cleaned the the underneath side of the hood at the same time. The whole front end tilts forward from the firewall and whoever repainted it had left overspray all over. There were several places under the hood that had some surface rust showing. I sanded them and primed them. His painter is supposed to get me some paint. It took 3 hrs to get the wheels cleaned up using wheel cleaner a toothbrush and orange blast for the grease followed by chrome polish. 4 more hours were spent cleaning and conditioning the leather and vinyl interior. I spent 12 hrs with a pc and by hand polishing the paint with SSR 2.5 followed by SSR 1.0. I put a coat of Collinite 845 on it. I polished and waxed all the chrome. He stopped by when I was halfway done with the polishing and seemed happy. He said it looked fantastic. One of his comments was that I was more meticulous than he is. Total time spent was 41 hrs. I felt guilty and didn't invoice him for all of the hrs I worked. I also told him the hourly rate was too high. I told him I felt I needed to prove myself to earn that much money. Monday I am sure he will stop by and give me his opinion. I took my time because I wanted it done to my satisfaction. I would appreciate any suggestions on cutting time. As I said power washing would have saved quite a bit of time. What would you folks have done differently? I am supposed to start on a 70 mustang next week and would like to speed things up. Sorry for the long post and thanks for any suggestions.

[conan777]

What was the hourly rate you guys were talking about? I am like you in that I'm much more critical of my work than the client is. You may just want to talk with this guy and do a set price for each car whether you take 3 days or 5 hours. If you are doing this more to keep busy vs. need the money that may be the way to go. I have filthy rich clients that don't even notice horrible holograms and swirls all over their Exotic super expensive cars and don't want to pay even $500 for a full correction and then You get the guy with his Honda Civic who really wants perfection and will pay for it?? It's all relative...What does the client want and or expect? Work out a price and go from there. Time saving tips...there are many...clay the car while its still wet from a wash, use filtered water, etc etc. If the client really doesn't care what the engine compartment looks like then save time and do a quick degreaser and move on, or leave it be altogether. Good Luck

[ScottB]

I think you were more than fair to him, ask for referrals, and remind him it is the most flattering way to say thank you.

[Jimmie]

Your times will come down automatically. The most obvious time eater this one was the engine. What was your process? These guys or myself may be able to save you some hours.

[gotgone]

Thanks for your responses. I am trying to do things right and be fair to the guy.
I used Gunk engine brite to clean the engine. I sprayed it on and let it dwell for a few minutes and then used a brush on the heavy grease. I rinsed with a light stream of water and repeated. After most was clean I used orange blast to remove the residue. I used a soft scrubbing pad to get the overspray off the intake. I then used some 4xxxx sreel wool to polish the aluminum.
The day we met he told me money was no object and that he would like to do an hourly rate. I agreed to the rate at that time but said I needed honest feedback on my work. After he left I got to thinking that was too much for a rookie. I told him the next day that I wanted less per hr till I proved myself.
When I started on the paint, I taped all the trim and checked the paint closely. I found several places where the painter had sanded through the clear. I put small pieces of tape to mark the spots so I could hand polish those areas.. He stopped by when I was halfway through polishing. His first words were it looks fantastic. He asked about the pices of tape and I explained what was wrong. He seemed impressed. He said I was more meticulous than he is.
When he was showing me what he wanted done to each car he was concerned most about the mustang. There was red overspray on the fender mounting bolts. The inner fenders have undercoating on them with white spots. I think it may be overspray or rubbing compound. He was most concerned about old wax or compound in the body crevices and around the trim. There are some light sratches and swirls in the paint. From what he said I think he is meticulous about his vehicles. That is why I am so careful. I did tell him I treat his cars the way I treat my own.
For what it is worth the invoice was for $435. There is a little nitpicking left to do on the jag. I will do that on my time.

[Rsurfer]

You made just over 10 bucks an hour plus cost of products. If your doing this to keep busy and not for the money, thats fine. However, if you intend to make more than 10 bucks an hour, you need to get the job done faster or raise your price.