did some advertising for the first time today

[ride5150]

yup, i finally made the step to start advertising. i think ive done enough practice cars to start charging for detailing, wish me luck and i hope i get some clients soon!

i have my first car on tuesday, its a silver 350z. the guy wants to do a full exterior (wash, clay, one-step with poliseal on a GG polisher, dress rubber). my price is $100 for this, but since its a friend of a friend i told him id do it for $80. he might want me to do a headlight restore too, then ill tell him $115. apparently he has some friends that could be interested in detailing if he likes what i do:P

[maximus20895]

How did you advertise?

That price is a steal..might want to up your prices soon.

[LuxuryMobile]

Sounds like a good start. Make sure its flawless and he will be bragging to his friends and co-workers. Before you know it you will be scheduling a few weeks in advance.

[Nordic Lisa]

While he is bragging tell him not to talk about prices. You don't want to get a bunch of people wanting details for $80. It's not even worth your time at that price.

[maximus20895]

Yea, no kidding!

[southbeach]

All of that for $80. Man I can sub my work to u and still bank....

[LuxuryMobile]

To the OP...for what its worth, my first paying job was about a third of what I charge now.

It is important to be aware of how much you should be charging. My best advice to you is to figure out what YOU should be making per hour and then figure out how long a job will take you and price it from there.

Different detailers in different areas can charge different amounts, so maybe call some shops in your area to get a good feel for things. People assume that get what they pay for, so don't be too worried about being the cheapest.

[ride5150]

to answer the first question, im advertising by leaving flyers in peoples house door handles, and if i see a nice car parked on the street i slip a business card in the drivers side window.

is it really that much work? im washing, claying, and polishing waxing with poliseal and my GG DA with a white LC pad, and dressing. it should take me about 3hrs since the 350z is a tiny car.

at 3hrs of work thats around $27 an hr which i think is okay considering that this is more of a "promo" job. normally id be charging $100 and then itd work out to about $33 an hr.

i should add that im a college student doing this over the summer, none of my friends are making anything close to $33 an hr:P

[ride5150]

To the OP...for what its worth, my first paying job was about a third of what I charge now.

It is important to be aware of how much you should be charging. My best advice to you is to figure out what YOU should be making per hour and then figure out how long a job will take you and price it from there.

Different detailers in different areas can charge different amounts, so maybe call some shops in your area to get a good feel for things. People assume that get what they pay for, so don't be too worried about being the cheapest.

yup thats exactly what i did, i looked on some car-wash websites that are in this area and checked what they charge, my prices are very close to theirs.

[maximus20895]

Do you offer better service though? There are $100 full details here, but I don't think they offer the quality of service I offer. Some people want cheap and decent and others want modest pricing and excellent.

[Gondee]

Way too low. I did the same thing when I started. It was a ##### to say it had gone up if someone called or emailed.