How much to charge to buff this car?

**bret3x** · 01-09-2011, 01:47 AM

Ive been buffing my friends cars and charging them enough to cover the cost of materials. I was approached about buffing a black 2010 camaro ss. My first thought was this should be a quick job...until I saw it...swirls galore. Ill post some pics below, what would you guys charge to correct this. My process will be something along the lines of:

wash
clay bar
makita rotary-wool pad-m105 or 3m 3000 extra cut
makita rotary-white pad-m205
Griots DA-grey pad- m09 wax

What would be an expected amount of time to complete this. Im really bad about throwing time into the wind and trying to make the paint perfect, but Im going to have to give in a little or I want be making jack hourly. Thanks in advance!

**350z00m** · 01-09-2011, 03:09 AM

depends on what the customer wants? do they want all the swirls/scratches out? if so for a car like that i would charge somewhere between 250-300..... are u just doin paint or u doin interior also? i was gunna say the clear is somewhat hard but since u have a rotary it should be too bad. i have a 2011 camaro ss and it seemed preaty hard.. using a Flex 3401...and i think using a rotary is kinda over kill also.. see what u can do with the DA before goin into rotary...

**slickooz** · 01-09-2011, 03:26 AM

You can get anywhere from 250-350. Usually takes about 8-10 hours if your doing interior also.

**BobbyG** · 01-09-2011, 05:48 AM

When estimating the price for your work, as a rule of thumb I'd use between $20 and $25 per hour. It's really up to you what you end up charging however to do a full paint correction and exterior detail plan on spending 6 to 7 hours. If you decide to tackle the interior then add another 2 hours.

As you probably already know, a rotary polisher will throw allot of product around. I would suggest you paper and tape off the entire car as if you were painting it. This wull save you allot of cleaning time in the end.

Tape everything off, overlaping the edges approximately 1/4 inch so the polish won't migrate underneath staining the trim.

Tape the seams to avoid cleaning polish and compounds from those areas later on.

Since you have a Makita I would take a good look at some Lake Country Kompressor pads. These pads have some nice features to them and I find they work well on my Makita 9227.

Lake Country Kompressor 6 Inch Foam Pads, foam buffing pads, slotted foam pads, Lake Country compressed foam pads

**Crazy Amos** · 01-09-2011, 08:31 AM

I'd you are doing a paint correction meaning multiple steps, I wouldn't charge any less than $500. You are looking at 8-10 hours worth of work there just on the outside alone.

That may sound like alot but when you really get down to figuring out what to charge, it comes down to how much you are worth. I don't care if you aren't insured or not, time is something that can't be replaced and if you are doing quality work and have references to back you it then charge professional pricing.

I am currently not insured but will be by march and I don't cut any slack on pricing. The way I see it is that they are getting a completely professional job the same as someone that is insured and I am spending MY weekend doing it that takes away from my time with my wife and daughter. My time is expensive but my work warrants it. If someone wants the works but doesn't want to pay for it, I send them down the road. Friend or no friend, doesn't matter. Family is different though.

Bottom line, what's your time and work worth?

**gewb** · 01-09-2011, 10:08 AM

Regards,
GEWB

**slickooz** · 01-09-2011, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by tfullercdi

I'd you are doing a paint correction meaning multiple steps, I wouldn't charge any less than $500. You are looking at 8-10 hours worth of work there just on the outside alone.

That may sound like alot but when you really get down to figuring out what to charge, it comes down to how much you are worth. I don't care if you aren't insured or not, time is something that can't be replaced and if you are doing quality work and have references to back you it then charge professional pricing.

I am currently not insured but will be by march and I don't cut any slack on pricing. The way I see it is that they are getting a completely professional job the same as someone that is insured and I am spending MY weekend doing it that takes away from my time with my wife and daughter. My time is expensive but my work warrants it. If someone wants the works but doesn't want to pay for it, I send them down the road. Friend or no friend, doesn't matter. Family is different though.

Bottom line, what's your time and work worth?

Can you charge that much if your not licensed or insured?

**LuxuryMobile** · 01-09-2011, 10:28 AM

You can charge as much as you want. Being license and/or insured doesnt allow you to charge any more or less.

Charge what you think your work is worth. It not easy to ask guys on a forum to put a price tag on your work. Be confident in your pricing and the client will feel he/she is getting quality work for what they are paying for.

**Crazy Amos** · 01-09-2011, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by slickooz

Can you charge that much if your not licensed or insured?

If your work warrants the price, absolutely. If you don't think that you can deliver then it would be a bad idea. You will make the customer feel cheated and most likely will not return. Also, when working uninsured, be prepared to pay to have a mistake, accident or whatever it may be, out of pocket.

The way I see it is simple, if someone wants a professional level job then they need to pay for it. Since you are not a company and not insured it may cause the customer to go elsewhere but at least you aren't giving the work away. But, to get the prices your work needs to be KNOWN. If not they will most definatley go somewhere else so in the case of not having references you may want to charge less to get your name out there. But again, what is your work and your time worth?

I however did start out charging next to nothing a few years back. I operated off of references and references alone. Back then ALL of my work was daily drivers and they were an absolute mess! They would bring the nasty cars to me because of the cheap price becAuse the local detail shops were charging much more due to the nastiness. After about the 15th turd I decided that the money was not enough. I was spending way too much time because of the interiors and I would average out to about $4- no joke! I started charging the regular prices after that-by that time my name was out and had returning customers. They didn't like the new prices but understood and paid anyway.

Nowadays since I am married with a little girl I hold off for the cars people "love" and they want the real deal through and through and pay to have it done. I don't enjoy doing AIO jobs or daily drivers and I try to stay away from it, but every now and again I will do a family members for them. The reason I have the luxury to wait for the "good ones" is because I have another job that pays the bills and detail/conditioning is not my main source of income. When I go into business legitimately and start advertising heavily it will most likely change in order for me to get my name out quick to the masses.

In the end when you are finished and sitting back and looking at the work you've done, you want to be proud and happy. If you spent 15hrs on a car and only charged $300 most likely you will be mad and wished you would have charged more. We detail because we have a passion for it, don't let the money kill it. At first if you charge less, it may not. But after a few it will.
One last thing, if you were to have someone do your car (a car you absolutely love and never let it see the road except for nice weekends) and had a guy quote $200 doing it out of his garage, and had another shop quote the same job for $600 which would you choose? What will you ask yourself? Is the guy doing it for $200 not as good, or why is t so cheap, are his products junk, does he not have experience etc? This particular case the guy with the garage queen will go with the higher price because he feels that the guy is more experienced and only wants the best for the car. What I am trying to get at is don't showcase yourself as "cheap" because most people with those types of cars will associate the "cheap price" with "cheap work". At least be close to what would be charged in a shop.
The easiest way to put it-charge what you think your time and work is worth. Quote high on one and see how it plays out....

Hope this helps, I can't proof read this because my phone won't allow me to scroll back through it and it may be unorganized and have a few mispelled words. I apologize in advance for that.

Good luck!

**bret3x** · 01-10-2011, 12:54 AM

Thanks for the input guys, I really am going to have to go up on my prices. Let me ask you this, I have had several people with daily drivers inquire about buff jobs. most of these have swirls and more all in the paint. These people dont want a 3 step buff job or even a 2 step. They want cheap. What product pad combo would you recommend I use on these daily drivers where the owners just want a cheap buff job to shine it up. I really dont like doing these, because Im never satisfied with the work, but Im going to have to in order to get my name out there. Thanks again