Mazda paint correction first customer

**xtrimprotech** · 08-01-2013, 02:32 PM

Mazda paint correction first customer-imageuploadedbyagonline1375385294-603133-jpg

Mazda paint correction first customer-imageuploadedbyagonline1375385309-540143-jpg

Mazda paint correction first customer-imageuploadedbyagonline1375385325-817814-jpg

Mazda paint correction first customer-imageuploadedbyagonline1375385355-924935-jpg

Took me 9 hours excluding roof.
Car was after paint shop 3 weeks and customer did not like the way clear coat layed with orange peel and dust specks. It was my first customer since we open the doors to our new show

I only charged him 300.00. How much should I charge for this wet sand and polish jobs. Let me know cause I don't know. I don't want to be too expansive and inderbid my self. Thanks guys

**zmcgovern45** · 08-01-2013, 02:54 PM

Looks good.

Did you wet sand, cut, and buff the entire car or just the fender?

What products did you use?

$300 for 9 hours of work seems a little low IMO, but only you can gauge what you need to charge based on your expenses and based on your area. If you are having customers flocking to you ready to pay your $33.33/hour then you should be able to comfortably raise your prices to more accurately suit the demand for your services. If you are having limited amounts of business, your prices may be too high... you just have to feel it out.

**Harry Da Hamster** · 08-01-2013, 03:12 PM

9 hours of specialized work for only $300? That's too low! You seem to do good work, charge more or don't do it at all. Stop selling yourself short!

**inDetail** · 08-01-2013, 03:17 PM

Nice job. I would have never accepted that paint job from a body shop. It was complete hack before you worked it. It is also high risk because your fixing fresh paint. 3 weeks is fresh. I ask clients about body or paint work at estimate time and I won't touch a car under 90 days.

That seems fair hourly wage. You have to take into consideration your cost of doing business, water, electric, supplies. Add up all that stuff plus taxes. Then your income tax then you get an idea about how much you really got paid.

That all eats into your bottom line. For what you were able to do I would have charged closer $400 for that type of correction to cover expenses and most of all your time.

I would shop around the competition in your area. See what they charge. Check out the quality of work they do. If you are solo it's nice because the guy turning out a 1/2 dozen to a dozen cars a day pending what he is doing is not doing all the work himself.

You need to find a niche for yourself. Part of selling detailing is the experience that a client sees when a car goes from ugh to WOW!

Do not worry about being too expensive or too cheap. Worry about being a fair business person to your client and yourself. Getting paid good money to do something says only one thing. The work you do is worth it. If you loose a client over $50 I would not worry about it. One thrilled client can turn into another one then another one. That's how you build a client base not by being $50 cheaper. People who have cars done by detailers and not some chop shop have the money to spend. Otherwise they would be home doing it themselves or running the car through a car wash because it's good enough for them and they don't care how a 50k + Benz looks.

**chris.ganucheau** · 08-01-2013, 04:26 PM

looks like he did just the fender? That doesn't seem like enough time for what you did.... anyhoo that looks amazing!!! great work

**xtrimprotech** · 08-02-2013, 10:32 AM

No I did the whole car except roof. Thanks guys. I do think that wet sand and polish buff and seal costs little but more. But he was a first client so I wanted to at least start somewhere plus that $300 will buy me other compounds and polishes