Paint Correction how much do u guys charge an hour?

[Eddie 4.2]

Paint Correction how much do u guys charge an hour? and what do you know about paint work and whats your back ground? its sum one on here used to come down my bodyshop knew fk all about paintwork etc and now is charging big money to run a mop over a car lol



Ed

Edited by Eddie 4.2 on Thursday 18th March 23:42

[domster]

I am not a detailer but I know a few. I guess the hourly rate would be no more than bodyshop rates of 25-30 GBP per hour, given the time they take and what they charge (assuming a good job as well).

Some shysters may charge massive amounts and do an incomplete job, but the guys doing proper paint correction charging serious money often take days over a single car, and long days at that. Some real world detailers may chip in.

Background wise, some are 'self taught' valeters-to-paint-correction-experts, and others are ex bodyshop techs. The bodyshop guys sometimes have bad habits and cut corners or are very brutal and the ex valeters often take too long or don't do the job properly, so it is swings and roundabouts. All down to the actual detailer in question. The skilled and trustworthy detailers who manage peoples' expectations are always busy

[GTDetailing]

I think most detailers will charge in the region of £20-£25 per hour as a general rule for paint correction, but dont forget before any correction there needs to be a good few hours of prep (de-tarring/claying etc) before a buffer goes anywhere near the paint.
On a personal note, i got into detailing because correction itself fascinated me, im not a valeter who machine polishes as an extra service. In fact im not the quickest valeter at all because of this so i tend to avoid quick valets etc.

HPH

Gav

[Envy Valeting]

For machine polishing I charge £30p/hr. I'm not the most expensive (by a loooong way), but not at rock bottom either.
Best wishes
Tim

[waxaholic]

same as that ^^ , but prices will varie with location,

[Eddie 4.2]

£30.00 and under is a bargin coz its a lot of hard work and back breaking at times lol



Ed

[Auto finesse]

We charge £45 an hour for paint correction aloe, simply as its hard work, using expensive products and expensive paint measuring equipment.

[waxaholic]

Not to mention rent and rates that etc..that change with location.
Location plays a big part in prices charged, no matter how much you
spend on products.

[Eddie 4.2]

Auto finesse said:

We charge £45 an hour for paint correction aloe, simply as its hard work, using expensive products and expensive paint measuring equipment.

Cool does paint measuring equipment do fiber glass?


Ed

[Eddie 4.2]

waxaholic said:

Not to mention rent and rates that etc..that change with location.
Location plays a big part in prices charged, no matter how much you
spend on products.

Yeah true mate

[kds keltec]

Eddie 4.2 said:

Cool does paint measuring equipment do fiber glass?


Ed

This one does , and will measure on any surface and also showning upto 3 different layers , so can show the primer coat / base colour coat / and top lacquer coat .

But is tricky to use on some surfaces due to using ultrasound




as well as measuring on steel as shown next to its brother paint depth gauge for metals surfaces only

this one is far easier to you and very simple to use and calibrated




These alone cost near on £4000 for the advanced models

to add to that i totaled at least 20k of equipment for machine corection and detailing , without materials for the job .


Kelly

Edited by kds keltec on Sunday 21st March 19:18

[Eddie 4.2]

kds keltec said:

Eddie 4.2 said:

Cool does paint measuring equipment do fiber glass?


Ed

This one does , and will measure on any surface and also showning upto 3 different layers , so can show the primer coat / base colour coat / and top lacquer coat .

But is tricky to use on some surfaces due to using ultrasound




as well as measuring on steel as shown next to its brother paint depth gauge for metals surfaces only

this one is far easier to you and very simple to use and calibrated




These alone cost near on £4000 for the advanced models

to add to that i totaled at least 20k of equipment for machine corection and detailing , without materials for the job .


Kelly

Edited by kds keltec on Sunday 21st March 19:18

Can I ask what you spent 20k on?


Ta Mate Ed

[domster]

You could spend a grand on a top notch rotary complete with backing plates and pads, Kelly has air sanders galore and compressors, not to mention a number of Snap On cabinets, chests, three lifts (so he can detail doors standing up) and a van. A hot pressure washer can be a grand or two on its own. Sun Guns are 300 GBP. Paint Depth Gauges are 3000-4000 for top of the range equipment. A grand on waxes, cleansers, glazes, clays and polishes for all the paints you will deal with... It soon adds up.

Now you could have a go with a garden hose and a Silverline and some pads bought for 100 GBP all in, but I think the point is that you can fully equip a garage for big money if it is your life's work. Now Kelly could probably do a good job with a Silverline, but he can do a great job in comfortable and perfectly-equipped surroundings.

[kds keltec]

Thanks Dom

Just edit to remove my long list of equipment , guessed not the best thing to list each item on its own with valve had second thoughts and i got to 35K on the list without the other general items below .

So new answer is yes have lots of nice bits of equipment so very expensive

This means we can lift from a tiny light weight lotus to a 4x4 to a 5.4 ton long wheel base van , by means on wheels , sills , lifting points and chassis like tvr's

Laptop with diagnostics is needed once you start lifting cars as the lastest cars can bring up error messages for suspension and tyre pressure monitoring .

and then you still have things like water hoses , water butt pump , air line hoses , axle stands , trolley jacks , 50 odd donor wheels so while car is in with us we can still move the car around while wheels are being refurbed or just cleaned , electric extension leads , large wash tent outside for use in bad weather , loads of polishing foams and wool pads of various sizes and cut i guess around 40-50 , different sanding blocks , packs of wet and dry from 1000 grit - 4000 grit , different brushes for all types of cleaning jobs , wheel covers , seat covers , floor mats .

And lastly the materails like compounds , waxes , sealents , panel wipe , tar and glue remover , shampoos , degreasers , leather cleaners , leather feeds , clays , quick detailers , window cleaners , trim cleaners , microfibre clothes , wash mitts , drying towels , masking tape ,fine line tape , double sided tape ,tyre pressure gauges ,torque wrench , wire brushes , glues , bonding sealents , and the glass cabinets to store all the stock for sale to the public .



In house washing machine just for microfibres .

Then as Dom said got loads of secure tool cabinets bolted to the wall to store all of the valuable equipment , then add the cost of insurance for all of the ewquipment plus customers cars and road risk , fire certificate ,Top alarm , CCTV , anti ram raid posts , high security doors and windows , flood lighting this all makes the unit very secure but comes at a big expense .

But i would not be without my tools of the trade or the unit from which a can do what i do best
Proberly one of the only company's around that can offer and carryout so much all under one roof with regards to all things cleaning and detailing.


And i still get the odd person who walks in and says "i do what you do from the boot of my car on the weekends" CLEAN CARS really



kelly

Edited by kds keltec on Monday 22 March 16:01

[Eddie 4.2]

Sun Guns?? whats that? or did you mean stun guns lol



Ed

[Mermaid]

kds keltec said:

......to add to that i totaled at least 20k of equipment for machine corection and detailing , without materials for the job .


Kelly

So is paint correction really the crucial component of any detailing/valeting/cleaning. i.e if you have not paint corrected, the rest is not of much value?

Edited by Mermaid on Monday 22 March 18:12

[kds keltec]

Eddie 4.2 said:

Paint Correction how much do u guys charge an hour? and what do you know about paint work and whats your back ground? its sum one on here used to come down my bodyshop knew fk all about paintwork etc and now is charging big money to run a mop over a car lol



Ed

Edited by Eddie 4.2 on Thursday 18th March 23:42

Ed , my back ground covers far more than just paintwork , but keeping this on subject of detailing and paint learnt what i know today by repairing and painting all sorts of cars while at my fathers accident and repair bodyshop , this is from near on 20 years ago now , some of my own cars from a long time ago


























Now that we have established that

Eddie 4.2 said:

Sun Guns?? whats that? or did you mean stun guns lol



Ed

As you have said the person that worked at your paintshop knows sweet FA and now charges alot of money to run a mop over a car , I would guess that you would know that a 3M sun gun is used as a light source designed to show colour match or should i say differences in colours and shades while repainting vehicles to make sure the car leaves the correct colour .

Detailers use the same light due to it shows up flaws aswell as marring and holigrams from machine correction stages , with the use of a 3M sun gun and site lights and led lights you can quickly check the paint is flawless after machine correction , and this will stop any surprises when the car is viewed in direct bright sun light







kelly

[Laser Sag]

Eddie believe sun guns are the zenon torches they use to show up swirls and defects and whilst I will probably be corrected on this I think paint correction is like most jobs if you do not do the preparation right then you will not achieve that perfect finish.
having said that I did see a very good polish on one of the threads that masked swirls etc remarkably well but that will wear off after a time whereas the correction will last for a long time if the proper wash and maintenance routine is followed.
The guys who do this type of thing well really do earn their money, the company i have used in the past and many others from reading their write ups put in some long hours as well as the financial outlay mentioned above

[kds keltec]

Mermaid said:

kds keltec said:

......to add to that i totaled at least 20k of equipment for machine corection and detailing , without materials for the job .


Kelly

So is paint correction really the crucial component of any detailing/valeting/cleaning. i.e if you have not paint corrected, the rest is not of much value?

Edited by Mermaid on Monday 22 March 18:12

Yep you have hit the nail on the head , its my biggest bug bare as so many of the public get sucked into the "this wax makes the metallic pop" "this waxes make the colour deeper" "this wax makes the paint look wetter" , WHEN the paint is machined corrected properly the paint WILL be at its best before any product ie wax , glaze , sealent has been applied .

Products after machining are there to protect the paint , if you do a quick machine correction and then use products such as glazes and sealents with fillers the work will look good , but then as these products degrade down from washing etc you end up seeing the average machine correction in its true form once the filling properties are gone from products .

Even more so you can get excellent results of paint finish without any machine correction at all but of course as these prodcuts will need topping up to keep it looking good , as you will end up with what you started with at some stage .


ITS all about the prep work , not what products you put on afterwards , many of my photos of customers cars will be bare paint after machine correction just wiped down with solvent to remove any residue from the machine polish stage .


The amount of private emails from PH and detailing world asking how did you get such good reflections shine and wettness on your cars then they send me this long list of 4-10 products one layered over the top of another asking have they got it in the right order , or would you change some items for another product , the answer is the pictures show paint with nothing on its surface , and you can over do this one after another stage of products as each extra layer can mute the colour as products are not opticaly clear

Here

http://www.kdskeltec.co.uk/waxing.phtml

and loads to keep you going here , i am due to update most of these pages to answer in more depth , but that wont be until the cold dark winter days now ,

http://www.kdskeltec.co.uk/guides.phtml

HTH


kelly

[Mermaid]

kds keltec said:

Yep you have hit the nail on the head , its my biggest bug bare as so many of the public get sucked into the "this wax makes the metallic pop" "this waxes make the colour deeper" "this wax makes the paint look wetter" , WHEN the paint is machined corrected properly the paint WILL be at its best before any product ie wax , glaze , sealent has been applied ........



Here

http://www.kdskeltec.co.uk/waxing.phtml

and loads to keep you going here , i am due to update most of these pages to answer in more depth , but that wont be until the cold dark winter days now ,

http://www.kdskeltec.co.uk/guides.phtml

HTH


kelly