Turn your labor, overhead, travel and product costs into a suggested price for every service. Excel + Google Sheets + printable PDF. Pay what you want, $0 minimum.
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Step 1: Pick three core packages, not ten
Customers compare options quickly. Three packages is usually enough: an exterior or maintenance wash, an interior detail, and a full (interior plus exterior) detail. Paint correction, ceramic coating and engine bays work better as quotes or add-ons than as menu items, because their time varies so much from car to car.
For each package, write down exactly what’s included, step by step. “Interior detail” means different things to different people. “Vacuum, wipe down all hard surfaces, clean glass inside, shampoo floor mats, condition leather seats” doesn’t.
Step 2: Time each package on a few real cars
Price comes from time. Time each package on a few typical sedans from setup to packing up. Use a normal pace, not your best day. If your times vary a lot, use something close to the slower end; that’s the job that eats your afternoon.
Step 3: Turn time into a cost, then a price
For each package add labor (hours times your labor rate), products and towels, and an overhead share. Drive cost is handled separately in Step 6. Then price for margin:
Package price = Package cost ÷ (1 − target margin)
Dividing by 0.70 gives a true 30% margin. Multiplying by 1.30 gives less than you think.
Our mobile detailing pricing guide walks through labor rate, product cost and overhead in detail.
Step 4: Add vehicle-size tiers based on time
Most detail menus show a price by vehicle size: car, small SUV or truck, large SUV or minivan. Set the steps from your own timings. If a third-row SUV takes about 40% longer than a sedan on the full detail, the labor part of that package should rise by about 40% too. Products rise a bit as well.
| Package | Car | Small SUV / truck | Large SUV / van |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maintenance exterior wash | $60 | $70 | $85 |
| Interior detail | $150 | $175 | $205 |
| Full detail | $250 | $290 | $340 |
Step 5: Price add-ons by the minute
Add-ons are where long jobs get paid for. Common ones: pet hair removal, heavy soil or sand, odor treatment, seat or carpet extraction, headlight restoration, clay and sealant, and engine bay. Give each one a time estimate and price it at the same rate per hour as your packages. For conditions you can’t judge from a photo, such as pet hair, say “starting at” and explain on your booking page that you’ll confirm on site before starting.
Step 6: Set a travel rule and a minimum
- Service radius: pick an area you can reach without losing money, often one where your drive cost is already covered by your package prices.
- Travel fee beyond it: a flat fee per zone, or per mile beyond the radius. Both are easy to explain.
- Minimum per stop: a small job far away can cost more than it pays. A minimum covers setup and the drive.
- Multi-car discount: a second car at the same address skips the drive and setup, so discount the second car, not the first.
Grouping jobs by area cuts the drive cost behind all of this. See how to plan a detailing route.
Step 7: Write the price list customers will read
- Name each package for what it does, then list what’s included.
- Show the size tiers in one small table.
- List add-ons with prices or “starting at” prices.
- State your travel area, travel fee, minimum, deposit and cancellation rule.
- Say what you need on site: water and power access, or that you bring your own.
Step 8: Review it every few months
Check your real job times and product spend against the numbers you priced from. If one package always runs long or makes much less per hour than the others, raise it, shrink what’s included, or drop it.
Templates for this
The pricing calculator works out cost, profit and a suggested price for each package and vehicle size. The route planner shows what a day of those packages earns once drive time is counted.
Template: Mobile Detailing Job Pricing & Profit Calculator
Enter your labor rate, chemical cost, travel cost per mile and overhead once. See true cost, profit, margin, profit per hour and a suggested price for each package, plus a one-job quote tab with vehicle-size multipliers and add-ons.
Excel + Google Sheets. Regular price $14; check the listing for current price. Example data is labeled; replace it with your own numbers.
Get the template on Payhip Or on Gumroad
Template: Mobile Detailing Route & Daily Schedule Planner
Plan a week of stops in driving order. Enter service, price, job hours and miles from the last stop; the planner chains arrival and finish times, adds your buffer, and shows drive cost and profit per stop, plus profit per day, profit per hour and the share of the day spent driving.
Excel + Google Sheets. Regular price $12; check the listing for current price. Example data is labeled; replace it with your own numbers.
Get the template on Payhip Or on Gumroad