Turning Down Work

Like many of us, when I first started detailing, I was not charging enough for my work. I was eager to get more customers and as a result found myself saying yes too often to jobs I shouldn’t be doing, and to jobs the customer wasn’t willing to pay more for. In hindsight, I should have turned down those jobs by graciously telling them that I understand my services aren’t for everyone and moved on.

The problem with undervaluing your worth and undercutting yourself is that you’re establishing your price range and reputation in your market. You don’t want to be known as the cheap guy. Not only will you attract the low-end work and extra filthy cars, but it will be hard for you to raise your prices too. It’s important to determine your worth early on, set fair prices for both you and your clients, and stick to them.

It’s not all about the money, it’s about your self-worth. When you work for too little, you will appreciate the money, but you will regret the time and effort invested in the detailing project. Before you know it, you will be burnt out, frustrated and looking for ways to quit!

Yes, by charging what you are truly worth you will lose some clients, but you will soon realize there are plenty of clients that are willing to pay your prices. You simply need to focus your marketing resources on reaching your target market and ideal client.



When you find those clients that are willing to pay your price, instead of resenting the job, you will value both the job and your customer more, which you’ll take great satisfaction in the services you provide.

Enjoy some of these real-life before pictures of some disgusting cars members of our Detail Mafia submitted for this article…