Pay rates in a mobile detailing business, with the on-costs

What to take away

What a detailing technician earns

Rates vary by market, but the bands are narrow enough to plan against. A helper or lot porter runs $14 to $17 an hour. A technician who can run a full interior and exterior solo runs $16 to $22.

A lead who handles paint correction, ceramic coating or fleet accounts runs $22 to $30. Commission on top is common in shops that sell coatings.

These are working ranges, not published statistics. Confirm yours against the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage and employment tables, which break estimates out by state and metropolitan area.

The published row to read is Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment, SOC 53-7061, for your own metropolitan area. Local competition sets where in the range you have to pay.

From wage to loaded cost

Wage is what you advertise. Loaded cost is what leaves the account. Add these to the hourly rate:

A rough multiplier is 1.25 to 1.5 times the wage. At $20 an hour, loaded cost lands near $25 to $30 per paid hour. Two operations paying identical wages can land far apart here, because the multiplier depends on your workers comp class, your PTO policy and how long people stay.

Worked example. A $20 wage at a 1.3 multiplier costs $26 per paid hour. A nine hour paid day costs $234.

Six productive hours come out of that day, so the loaded cost is $234 divided by six, or $39 per billable hour. At a 1.5 multiplier the same day costs $270, or $45 per billable hour. The difference sits in the on-costs, not in the price list.

The divisor: productive hours, not paid hours

A paid day is not a billable day. Subtract, from your own records:

What remains is productive hours. A nine hour paid day often yields six billable hours. Divide loaded daily cost by six, not nine, and the real cost per productive hour appears. Operators who use paid hours as the divisor understate labor cost badly, and the error compounds every time a price is set from it.

Where to get local wage information

The BLS tables are the honest reference point for whether your assumptions are realistic where you operate. Read the estimate for your metropolitan area, then check what local employers of comparable physical work are offering.

Treat published data as one input. It describes employment patterns rather than what a specific candidate in your town will accept, and a small operation competing with indoor work and fixed hours may need to compete on other terms.

Comparing pay structures

Anything other than plain hourly needs two checks. First, the wage floor and the overtime rule. Second, an objective measure of the thing being rewarded, because a bonus tied to a subjective judgment produces resentment rather than performance.

Piece rate in practice. Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and weekly piece earnings divided by hours worked must reach it. If they fall short, you make up the difference.

Overtime is separate. The regular rate is weekly piece earnings divided by hours worked, and hours over 40 in the workweek carry half that rate on top of the piece earnings. Some states set a higher floor and add daily overtime.

The travel time question

This is the pay question specific to mobile work, and it has a legal answer rather than a customary one. Travel between job sites during the workday is generally treated differently from an ordinary commute, and how it is counted affects both what you owe and how you design the route.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, travel from home to the first job of the day is an ordinary commute and is not paid. The same applies to the trip home from the last job. Travel between customers during the workday is hours worked, so it is paid and it counts toward the 40 hour overtime threshold.

The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division publishes compliance assistance material for new and small businesses covering hours worked, overtime and recordkeeping.

A technician who drives the van home and back is usually on an ordinary commute. Any work required on that trip, such as loading, calls or paperwork, is paid. Put which trips you pay for in the offer letter.

Pay decisions the law governs

Pay is one of the areas where consistency is a legal requirement rather than a management preference. Differences in pay between people doing similar work need a defensible, documented reason. The EEOC's material for small business employers sets out the obligations, and small operations are not exempt from them.

Two habits. Write down the basis for each rate at the time it is set. Review rates on a schedule rather than in response to individual requests, because ad hoc adjustments are where inconsistency accumulates.

What labor cost does to the rest of the business

Loaded labor cost sets the floor under package prices. A package that does not cover the loaded cost of the hours it consumes loses money at any volume.

It also decides whether equipment pays for itself. A machine that saves minutes is only valuable if those minutes carry a cost. That is part of the purchasing logic in the equipment and setup guide.

It decides whether an additional marketing channel is affordable. Demand you cannot serve profitably is not worth buying. That point runs through the marketing and growth guide.

Reviewing pay without a spreadsheet crisis

Once or twice a year, and after any change in insurance, workers compensation rates or your service mix, work through four questions.

These rates support hiring decisions, including whether a second person is worth adding at all. See how to hire reliable staff.

Classification and coverage obligations for employing anyone are in the licensing and compliance guide. Paid training time is scheduled through the ladder in the hiring and training guide.

Common questions

What should I pay a detailing technician?

Start with the published wage estimate for your metropolitan area, then adjust for what you offer besides pay. A solo technician who can finish a full detail unsupervised sits in the $16 to $22 band in most markets, with leads and coating installers above it.

Is piece rate legal?

Yes, with conditions. Piece earnings for the week, divided by hours worked, must reach the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, and you pay the shortfall when they do not.

Hours over 40 in the workweek carry an overtime premium of half the regular rate, where the regular rate is weekly piece earnings divided by hours worked. Some states set a higher minimum wage and require daily overtime.

Should I pay for travel time?

The answer is set by law, not preference, and it depends on the circumstances of the travel. Travel between customers during the workday is paid time. Travel between home and the first or last job of the day is not.

How do I raise pay without raising prices?

Usually by raising productive hours rather than revenue: tighter route clustering, shorter setup, fewer return visits. That is where most of the recoverable money in a mobile operation sits.