There is a huge difference between restoration and detailing. Your mechanic will charge you a heck of a lot more for repairing your engine or tranny than they will for waxing your car.

A 'clean-up' is a detailing session (and why do you oil inside of lugs? Felt wadding will do more to eliminate noise than oil will,) so you really can't charge much for detailing. Set a price that both you and the client are happy with. That is something you should do with him, not us. He's the one (the client,) that has to agree to it.

John

I've often pondered what detailing should cost. I feel like a good detailing probably around $100. I've never been unbusy enough to see how long it'd take to do it non stop though or at least 8-10 hr increments.

My opinion.

Curtis

Also even though you can set a basic price for things it's smart to leave it open should problems be found once your into things a bit further. Like a cracked lug, stripped insert/T-rod, re ring, ply seperation, bearing edge issues, dents, low spots, incorrect parts etc.... So you can set basic prices for cut and dry situations but the customer should always understand problems/issues can be found and can cost more to the repair. And address them as to which path they'd like to persue, fix or leave as is. It's good to review the drum with the customer present and photo before and after. There can be situations where the customer will not notice something, damage or wrong parts and cry foul. What starts out as a favor and pleasant situation and quickly go south when some of these things come to light.

If you're taking all the casings off, 200 bucks at least. Having someone else clean your drums for you falls squarely into a "luxury service" I'd say...:)

That's what I charged for a Bonham sized Ludwig kit, for a friend.

Mitch

I actually created a spreadsheet to calculate the time and costs to perform a complete detailing of a 12/13/16/22 kit.

I figured it would take about 12 total hours and at $16-$18 per hour, it would cost ~$200 to $225.

It includes:

[LIST]

[*]disassemble and bag/label all parts

[*]soak/polish/re-assemble lugs

[*]clean/polish wrap (minimum Novus 2 then Novus 1)

[*]clean/polish misc. hardware (legs/mounts)

[*]clean/polish all hoops

[*]re-assemble lugs/mounts/hardware to shells

[*]install heads/hoops and tune

[/LIST]

Detailing a personal kit may not seem like a big task, but when you brake down all of the steps and track the actual time, it all adds up.

I hope this helps.

-Tim

Thanks guys! I like the spreadsheet! Pretty much the same ballpark figures I was thinking.. Also for the record, I don't oil the inside of the lugs. I mean just lube up everything that needs it.

There's a certain amount of skill involved, so I would suggest $20 an hour. Set a maximum number of hours, e.g. 10 hours, and keep track of the time you spend. With the maximum of $200, and a chance that it will be less...

Love this.

i don't think bagging and labelling parts is really necessary, but the rest is spot on...