1. Anchor pricing to airframe size
Every quote starts with the aircraft. A King Air 200 is a different job than a Citation X, which is a different job than a Gulfstream G650. Most operators build a size tiering — light, mid, super-mid, heavy — and set base prices per service per tier. SparrowHawk's catalog ships with these tiers preconfigured.
2. Convert services to labor hours
Behind every price is an estimate of crew hours. A premium exterior wash on a heavy jet might be 6 crew hours. A full polish might be 28. Quoting in labor hours lets you scale by crew size and price competitively without losing margin.
3. Layer in materials & consumables
Ceramic coatings, polishing compounds, and pH-neutral wash chemistry are real line items. Mark them at cost-plus or bundle them into the service price — never absorb them silently.
4. Adjust for location & access
Hangar vs. ramp, indoor vs. outdoor, daytime vs. overnight — all affect crew productivity. Build location modifiers into the quote rather than discovering them on the job.
5. Contract & fleet pricing
Recurring monthly or quarterly appearance programs justify a lower per-visit rate in exchange for predictable revenue. Track these as fleet contracts with per-aircraft pricing tiers.
Key takeaways
- ›Tier by airframe size first, services second.
- ›Quote in labor hours, then convert to price.
- ›Materials are line items, not absorbed cost.
- ›Build location & access modifiers into the quote.
- ›Fleet contracts trade rate for predictability.