Search this question and you will find the same answer everywhere: one to two and a half thousand dollars. It is not wrong. It is just incomplete in a way that costs people their first season.
That figure assumes two things nobody says out loud — that you already own a suitable vehicle, and that every customer will let you plug into their outlet and run their hose. In South Florida, where a large share of the work is condos, gated communities and office lots, the second assumption breaks constantly.
Tier 1 — the driveway starter
Everything you need if you are working single-family homes and using the customer's water and power.
| Item | Cost | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Pressure washer, 1,500–2,000 PSI | $300–700 | Electric is fine at this stage |
| Wet/dry shop vacuum | $150–300 | Buy more suction than you think you need |
| Dual-action polisher | $150–400 | DA, not rotary, until you have real practice |
| Chemicals, pads, towels | $300–600 | Where new detailers overspend first |
| Hoses, reels, quick connects | $150–400 | Cheap connectors leak and waste your day |
Realistic total: $1,050 to $2,400. This is the number every guide quotes, and for this specific scenario it holds up.
Tier 2 — actually mobile
The moment a client says "I'm in a condo, there's no outside spigot," Tier 1 stops being a business. Independence costs this much:
Tier 2 total: roughly $2,100 to $3,700. That is the honest cost of being able to say yes to any address in Broward.
Tier 3 — the van build
Racking, partition, floor, lighting, reels, everything mounted. On a used van you already own, a documented 2026 build comes in at $1,630 for a DIY plywood-and-E-track setup with a 2,200W generator, or $3,900 with steel shelving, a partition and a 4,000W inverter.
Neither figure includes the van. That is the point at which this becomes a real capital decision, and it is the one most worth delaying — a build makes you faster, it does not make the phone ring.
The costs that are not equipment
| Item | Cost | When |
|---|---|---|
| Florida LLC formation | $125 | Once |
| LLC annual report | $138.75 | Every year, by May 1 |
| Local business tax receipt | $50–150 | Yearly, renews July–September |
| General liability | $54/mo | Before your first paid job |
| Commercial auto | $46/mo | Your personal policy will deny a work claim |
Garage keepers coverage is quoted separately and is the one that actually covers damage to a customer's vehicle — we go through why general liability does not in the guide on LLCs and insurance in Florida.
The real number nobody budgets
Here is what actually ends most detailing businesses, and it is not equipment.
You will not have a full calendar in month one, or month three. You need $3,000 to $5,000 of working capital to carry roughly six months of chemicals, fuel, insurance and your own living expenses while the book fills. Detailers who skip this end up taking $80 jobs out of panic, which sets a price they can never climb out of.
What this means for your prices
Once you know your setup cost, you can work out what a job has to clear. A detailer who starts at Tier 2 for around $3,000, with $100 a month in insurance, needs the work to pay at a professional rate from the beginning — not eventually.
In South Florida that means $60 to $75 an hour on site, and it means counting the drive and setup as part of the job. We break that math down service by service in what to charge for mobile detailing in South Florida.
For comparison, a fixed-location shop runs $25,000 to $80,000 and up once you add a commercial lease and buildout. Mobile is not the lesser version of that business. It is the one with a survivable entry cost.
Adding it up
Figures reflect 2026 pricing for detailers operating in Broward County, FL, gathered from published equipment and build costs, Florida state filing fees and national small-business insurance medians. Equipment prices move, and your own numbers will depend on what you buy and what you already own. Not legal, tax or insurance advice.