Fair price for close friends?

[HD.Detailing]

Nah 150 is more than fair


Sent from my Alien ship

[ShaunD]

Close friends want to pay you what is fair and trust you. So don't second guess and try to break it down and over explain yourself to them. Just charge what is right. Most of my best paying customers/clients are close friends.
Why are you planning on putting 3 coats of wax on a 12 month sealant? You know it needs 8-12 hours to properly cure before any topping or exposure to moisture, right?...

[sadler]

yeo i know its a 12 hour cure. I am going to spend 1.5 -2 days on it. This car is parked outside at all times and is about to see winter. Like i said before they do run it through automatics once in awhile, so the extra coats of wax i think would help save the sealer for at least a month.

[Garyhw48]

Agreed.....not to mention it could be great word of mouth for future prospects...

This is the way I handle a close friend. Do them the favor, ask them to get you some more jobs and tell them to keep the price, you charged them, to themselves.

When they recommend you tell them to double the price and say that's what you get. They're telling the truth and what you charged them is no one else's business.

[sadler]

yup for sure. They know if they went somewhere and asked for what i am doing they would get sticker shock.

[Scott@IncrediblyDetailed]

I would be charging close to $550-600 for a full interior, wash, Clay, Polish and sealant.

I would charge $225. Wash, Clay, LSP. Full interior shampoo, steam and clean all surfaces. $325 total to use an AIO and $500 total to polish.

[JoeHotRod]

Great advice guys!

I run into this issue ALLL the time and am also trying to be as fair as possible. I work myself all day sometimes and have also done jobs for under $150 for friends while I know for the quality I am doing for them another pro detailer would easily be in the $200-$225 + range.

I see a good amount of you say $150 for a friend is more than fair for a wash, clay and AIO and after reading through I do agree the same.

However, in the case your friends cars needed much more work than a 1-step with more neglected paint, how would most of you break down the various multiple step prices for friends?

1-step - $ ?
2-step - $ ?
3-step - $ ?

Add sealer to any steps - $ ?

[FUNX650]

They run the car through automatics...

Like i said before they do run it through automatics once in awhile, so the extra coats of wax i think would help save the sealer for at least a month.

The extra coats of Wax, even if they would add any measurable amount of thickness, will be history: their first joyride down the conveyor line!

•If you're going to add something on top of the Sealant...
make it another coat of the Sealant.


Notes:
-$150.00 is more than a fair-friends'-price.
-"Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Into Tunnel Washes!!"

Bob

[Kurtopia]

I've charged a few friends two hundred dollars to do only their exterior.

That included a wash, clay, machine applied aio, and spray wax lsp. Tires dressed and door jams cleaned, as well as all the glass.

When they watched me work and saw the level of care I put into their vehicle(s) they were more than happy to hand over the two hundred dollars.

They also come back to me whenever they need more work. I did a friends car over the summer and at the time his headlights were pretty bad. We didn't have time to do it then so we planned for another day. Five months later and we got around to doing them - I told him to come over whenever he was free and I'd do them. We didn't talk about price, he's a good friend.

The restoration to his headlamps took maybe thirty minutes and I also washed his car and put tire shine on for him. He treated me to lunch and also covered my dinner and a case of beer for us to drink that night while playing music (we're in a band together).

Friendship is more valuable than money.

[VISITOR]

Friendship is more valuable than money.