Boat Detailing: Labor Hours From Length

All versions

Pricing by the foot tells you what to charge; hours per foot tells you when the crew will be free again. Multiply the length by your minutes-per-foot pace and divide by 60 to schedule the day honestly.

Quick formula: Length times your minutes-per-foot, divided by 60, rounded to a tenth of an hour:

=ROUND(B2*C2/60,1)

A 28-foot cruiser at 9 minutes a foot is 252 minutes — 4.2 hours on the schedule.

Functions used (tap for the full reference guide):

ROUND PRODUCT

The example

Three boats, each with a length and the minutes-per-foot pace for that kind of hull.

	A	B	C	D
1	Boat	Length ft	Min/ft	Hours
2	Runabout	21	8	2.8
3	Cruiser	28	9	4.2
4	Pontoon	24	10	4.0

The formula

Minutes per foot times length is total minutes; divide by 60 for hours:

=ROUND(B2*C2/60,1) // length x min/ft = minutes, /60 = hours, rounded to 0.1

How it works

Three moving parts:

B2*C2 multiplies the boat length by your minutes-per-foot pace — total working minutes.
/60 converts minutes to hours so it lines up with a shop calendar.
ROUND(...,1) keeps it to a tenth of an hour, which is close enough to book against.
Keep a different minutes-per-foot for wash-only versus a full cut-and-polish — the pace, not the price, is what changes.

Multiply the hours by your loaded shop rate and you have a labor cost to sit underneath the per-foot quote.

Try it: interactive demo

Interactive

Enter the boat length and your minutes-per-foot pace.

Length (ft)

Minutes per foot

Variations

Two-tech job

Divide the hours by the number of techs on the boat to get elapsed clock time.

=ROUND(B2*C2/60/2,1)

Labor cost

Multiply the hours by your loaded hourly rate.

=ROUND(B2*C2/60,1)*65

Pitfalls & errors

Oxidation, heavy staining, and bottom growth blow past a length-based pace. Add a flat time bump for those rather than hoping the minutes-per-foot covers it.

Track your real minutes-per-foot for a month and update the number. A pace guessed once and never revisited is how shops fall behind schedule.

Practice workbook

📊

Download the free Boat Detailing: Labor Hours From Length practice workbook

Edit the yellow length and minutes-per-foot cells; the hours recalculate.

Frequently asked questions

Why minutes per foot instead of a flat time?

A 30-footer has meaningfully more hull, deck, and rail than a 20-footer. A per-foot pace scales the time estimate the same way a per-foot rate scales the price, so long and short boats both get an honest slot on the calendar.

Where do I get my minutes-per-foot number?

Time a few real jobs of the same service level and divide the minutes by the boat's length. Keep one figure for a wash-and-wax and a higher one for a full compound-and-polish.

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Function references: ROUND PRODUCT