Specialty
Detailing and Reconditioning
In short: Detailing a 45 foot coach is roughly three times the surface area of a large SUV and all of it is done by hand, which is why coach detailing is priced by the hour rather than by the package.
- Typical range
- $500 to $6,500+
- Labor hours
- 5 to 65 hours
- Updated
Detailing a recreational vehicle is a different proposition from detailing a car, and the difference is arithmetic. A 45 foot Class A has roughly three times the exterior surface of a large SUV, and every square metre of it is worked by hand.
That is why coach detailing is priced by the hour rather than by package, and why quotes that sound cheap usually mean a wash rather than a detail.
What we do
Exterior wash and decontamination. Two-bucket or foam cannon wash, chemical iron removal, clay bar for bonded contamination. Contamination has to come off before anything else happens.
Oxidation removal. Compounding and polishing on chalked gelcoat and degraded paint, which produces the most dramatic visible improvement available on an older coach.
Protection. Sealant or wax, or a ceramic coating for longer term protection. Covered in more detail under paint correction and ceramic coating.
Roof cleaning. With products appropriate to the membrane type, because petroleum-based cleaners destroy EPDM.
Awning cleaning. Which extends fabric life considerably.
Wheels, tyres and bays. Including dressing that does not sling onto fresh paint.
Interior. Vacuum, surfaces, upholstery cleaning, leather conditioning, cabinetry, glass, and odour treatment where required.
Engine bay on motorised units.
Headlight restoration. Covered separately under headlight restoration.
Oxidation, and what is actually achievable
Chalky gelcoat is the most common condition on coaches over about eight years old in Southern California, and it responds better to correction than most owners expect.
Gelcoat is thicker than automotive clearcoat, so there is material to work with. Heavy chalking usually needs a compounding stage followed by polishing, and the result on a coach that looked past saving is frequently startling.
The limit is depth. Gelcoat is pigmented through a layer, and where oxidation has progressed through that layer, correction reaches unpigmented material and cannot recover it. At that point refinishing is the honest answer rather than more polishing.
We assess before starting and tell you which situation the vehicle is in.
What it costs
| Service | Typical range | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Exterior wash and interior clean | $500 to $1,200 | 5 to 12 |
| Full detail with protection | $1,200 to $3,000 | 12 to 30 |
| Oxidation removal and restoration | $2,000 to $6,500 | 20 to 65 |
| Interior deep clean only | $500 to $1,500 | 5 to 15 |
| Fleet vehicle detail, per unit | $250 to $700 | 3 to 7 |
Detail labor is $95 per hour, the lowest rate on our sheet. See the pricing page.
Fleet programmes
Fleet detailing works better as a scheduled programme than as one-off work.
A rotation keeps vehicles presentable without taking several off the road simultaneously, spreads the cost predictably, and preserves resale value. On a fleet that turns vehicles over on a cycle, the resale difference across the fleet routinely exceeds the cost of the programme.
For branded vehicles it matters commercially too. A van with faded paint and dirty wheels is advertising something about the business whether or not that was the intention.
Maintenance between visits
Wash every four to eight weeks on a vehicle stored outdoors here. Use two buckets with a grit guard, or a pressure washer and foam cannon on something this size, and never a brush on a pole, which will put swirl marks into the finish faster than anything else available.
Deal with bird droppings, tree sap and bug residue promptly, because all three are acidic and all three etch into an unprotected finish within a warm day.
Cover the coach if you can. A breathable cover eliminates most UV exposure, which is what is actually destroying the finish while it sits.
Estimates are $150 and credited back against an authorized repair.
Interior work on a vehicle that lives in the sun
Interior detailing on a coach is a different job from a car interior because of what the environment does to the materials.
A closed vehicle in a California summer reaches interior temperatures that soften adhesives, outgas plastics and bake anything spilled into the surface it landed on. Dashboards and window surrounds get direct sun for hours daily. Upholstery in a window fades on the sun-facing side only, which produces a two-tone sofa.
So interior work here leans toward protection rather than cleaning. UV protectant on every hard surface that sees sun, conditioner on leather because a dry climate plus heat will crack it within a few seasons, and reflective window covering recommended for anything stored outdoors.
Odour is the other recurring interior problem, and it is usually a symptom rather than a smell. A musty coach that returns to smelling musty a week after an ozone treatment has moisture somewhere, and the treatment addressed the consequence. Where we find that, we will say so and point at the water damage question rather than selling another treatment.