Cost for detailing

rowdy13

Active Member
I have a question. Since I bought my motorcycle lift, I have polished and cleaned the crap out of my K-9, and have enjoyed it very much. I literally have no place on my bike that I can polish anymore. I was thinking about detailing others bikes, and was wondering what I should charge to do it? If I were to do a complete detail on someones bike, how much should I charge? Anyone have their bike detailed, and how much did you pay? peace
 

Gas Man

Cool isn't cheap
Calendar Participant
I applaud you. No way in hell I would want to do more polishing.

I'm not sure... I just found a guy locally that will do a complete chopper for $106. STUPID CHEAP. My buddy is taking his AIH there... I'll see what it looks like after he's done...
 

Raywood

The Pirate
Staff member
Calendar Participant
Troop Supporter
I'll give you a hundred bucks to come detail mine! It doesn't shine much anymore so would be a large job. If you would put me on payments and allow me to pay you say a dollar a month........

Just kiddin. :D

An older lady drove around to all the custom shops down in San Diego and offered a detailing service. I can remember that she was always busy doing someone's bike. She had a small trailer she pulled that had all her gear in it. Don't know what she charged but would think that if you want to get bang for the buck then you would need a lot of electic drills. Otherwise it seems it wouldn't be worth your time.

Good luck,
Ray
 

Oscar Maldonado

Guru
Calendar Participant
I do it myself. The companies her will charge anywhere from 100 - 175. It's amazing though a lot of people here use Windex:bang: :bang: :bang:

Tell me - - - - WTF! why would you use that shit?:confused: :confused:
 

CCRainman

Well-Known Member
It all depends onwho you deal with I guess. I 've gotten quotes from 125 all the way up to 225. Good luck, some of these guys are really picky as hell. The deatil guys that I spoke to says they have problems wit customers once in a while, because everyone wants a miracle.
 

Reaper

Well-Known Member
I would rather do it myself, that way I know it's done right, and to my satisfaction not someone elses.
 

bdmridgeback

Low Down Chop Shop
I owned my own detail shop for almost 9 years. What type of a detail job is the customer wanting? a wash and wax; wash/wax/polish chrome; wash/wax/polish chrome/polish alum.?
My buddy just had his AIH Chopper done down here, didn't get any aluminum polished, wash/wax only and it was $125.
I priced from the same person on having just my wheels polished so they look like new and he quoted me $150 for both wheels only.
So... Detailing on our bikes with all the polished aluminum can range anywhere from $75-$300 depending on if they want a 1 hour detail job or a whole day detail job.
Charging on detail work should pull about $50 hour if you are quick at it and good!
 

Reaper

Well-Known Member
Charging on detail work should pull about $50 hour if you are quick at it and good!
So you mean I am screwing myself out of $50.00 and hour by doing the work myself! I'm going to have to have a word with myself about this crap.
 

PROFLYER

SWOLE
flitz and a drill and a six pack-40 bucks

next time around you just need the six pack. I seem to polish better slightly buzzed anyway...

But to answer your question, my buddy owns a detail shop and is always asking me to detail my K9. I let him to my truck all the time, but it's not like I take the bike off-road and he wants 50/hr to polish billet and I think I do a better job anyway...
 

Reaper

Well-Known Member
If you are going to Detail one of these Bikes, I don't know about you Guys, But it's a Minimum of 6 Hours.
It takes me four to six hours easy. It's worth it to me to always ride around on somthing that looks like a custom show bike. Plus it would drive me nuts just knowing it was dirty. Yeah I know :loony:
 
I've been kinda thinking about detailing bikes myself...cause..well I'm unemployed at the moment...I could start a detailing/tighten up everything that's loose/check all fluids/ etc. service....don't want to really wrench on anything anymore other than what I have to...but it seems to me that if you could get your bike cleaned, checked out, everything tightened, etc it might have some demand...cleaning your own bike is the first step in providing maintenance cause thats when you find stuff that needs attention, but if you had someone you could trust to do it for you and not charge you an arm and a leg...it might just be worth it....
Course I'm not sure you could do enough of them to make a living at it, I'm way too thorough to get rich at it..but it might be a way to make a few bucks...
Oh, by the way I've got a bunch of Wizards products if anyones interested.
Vickie
816-356-0931
913-269-5137
 

slowrower

2007 Mastiff
Wizzards is great stuff - and Vickie knows!

If I make it dirty, I am cleaning it -- I'll spend the 6 or so hours and check for loose things like Vickie says so I know whats going on with my dog. Same for my cars, I wash and wax and detail myself - therapy!
 

rowdy13

Active Member
The good thing is, I am elligible to retire anytime I want, so the detailing thing would just be for fun. But I'll tell you one thing, after detailing my bike, there is no way I'm spending the time it took me, on someone else's bike for $100.00. It would be starting at $200.00 on up. I take that back. I'll rub a rag over the bike for $100.00. I spent $100.00 in Q-tips doing my bike! It's not easy, but I did enjoy it. And for Hardley's, it starts at $500.00. Just kidding.
 

Gas Man

Cool isn't cheap
Calendar Participant
I almost Puked when I started reading this thread. Not to put anyone down, but if you don't clean your own Shit, Sell the Fucken thing. I don't even understand when people don't do their own maintenance, I'm not talking about Large Mods or Motor work, But taking your Bike to a dealer for Service is IMO taking away from the experiance.

Far as doing other peoples, I've often thought about opening my own MC/Repair, Service thing, I can Right now, Turn my Garage into a Full Service Station, But, My Bike is my escape from reality, to Have to do it, would drastically turn it into a Job, at which point, your Fun is no longer your Fun, it's work.........There is not enough Money in the world to make me turn this into a Job. JMHO.


Other thing is, If you are going to Detail one of these Bikes, I don't know about you Guys, But it's a Minimum of 6 Hours. Thats Polished Everything. If I took My ride to someone and it is less then I can do, He just wasted 6 hours of his time, cause he aint getting paid.
Great post Blitz.

6 hours at least!!

I have found more stuff wrong with the bike cleaning the bike than doing anything else. That's what happens when you clean it a few times a week. It really helps in the long run.
 
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