Thinking about starting a detailing business

[tim]

I'm unemployed right now. I could get a job in my field but I hate it and I hate working for the man. I'm getting too old to chase the carrot, and I'd rather do something I like doing. I have money saved, and I know alot about car care. Am I nuts? I was thinking a high end hand wash/detailing/paintless dent repair shop.

I'd like to hear some pro's and con's

-tim

[western99]

Remember, you would be getting into a very labour intensive business to do a better than good job, which high end clients come to expect. As an example, I do detailing on high end cars on the side, and to be honest with you, I spend about 7-9hrs on a car depending on the side. You would have to make your margins attractive enough where you could live off of the profits while at the same time make the cost attractive. It could be difficult, but word of mouth is a powerful thing.

Brian



I'm unemployed right now. I could get a job in my field but I hate it and I hate working for the man. I'm getting too old to chase the carrot, and I'd rather do something I like doing. I have money saved, and I know alot about car care. Am I nuts? I was thinking a high end hand wash/detailing/paintless dent repair shop.

I'd like to hear some pro's and con's

-tim

[tim]

I was thinking about a basic self car wash setup, with a garage to offer say three tiers of detailing service ranging from say $50-$300, and specialty work like dealer and restoration by quote. Maybe 3 bays and 5 guys. Also offer basic maintainance items like fluids, air pressure, wiper blades, etc. A concession for detailing equipment, coffee, car accessories. Plus, on the side, I'd like to restore and sell pre-'95 bimmers, and use my own shop. Finally, if I had the space, maybe do some consignment sales by letting a portion of the lot as show space for fsbo'ers

[632 Regal]

I'll print your flyers and workorders and crap!

[winfred]

we have a guy come to do our sale cars, he shows up in a full size van with a good sized water tank in it and a small generator to run vac's and buffers and is pretty much self contained, looks like it could be a decent thing to run, run a flyer to small lots and bring the detailer to them

[632 Regal]

we have a guy come to do our sale cars, he shows up in a full size van with a good sized water tank in it and a small generator to run vac's and buffers and is pretty much self contained, looks like it could be a decent thing to run, run a flyer to small lots and bring the detailer to them

[liquidtiger720]

sounds like a good plan. i want to detail cars over my winter break....but i have a feeling nobody is gonna pay me 75 bucks to do their car. haha.

[632 Regal]

sounds like a good plan. i want to detail cars over my winter break....but i have a feeling nobody is gonna pay me 75 bucks to do their car. haha.

[liquidtiger720]

not really, my driveway works fine.


my usual detail includes these steps.

Detailing procedure
Wash with mothers gold class shampoo
Clay bar with pinnicle poly-clay
Rinse car
Polish with 3m Finesse it 2 (until swirl marks are un-noticeable, usually 2-4 passes)
- if un-removable on dark car, I will use 3m swirl mark remover for dark colors.
Rinse car
Polish with Klasse All-in-one
Rinse car
Apply Klasse sealant (synthetic wax) or Mothers Pure carnauba wax or Pinnicle Paste Glaz (light cars only). your choice


- All polishing will be done using a Porter Cable and Lake Country Polishing Pads.
- Wax, sealant, and others will be applied by hand.
- Window will be cleaned using Stoners Invisible Glass, followed by Rain-x.
- If car has black trim- I will use mothers back to black.
- Tires will be shined using Meguiars High Endurance Gloss or Wolfgang Tire Gel
Vaccum carpets
Dust interior

[tim]

liquidtiger-here in dallas the service you describe has a market value of $200.

[DanH]

That sounds like a good plan, but it will take a lot of time and capital investment to start a business of that size. Finding and keeping a number of quality employees that you can trust to build your reputation will be one of the more difficult parts.

Hard to please customers also will take a lot of the excitement out of the job. Doing something on the side for fun vs. doing the same type of work fulltime are often much different things.

Building up a consistent customer base in a smaller operation to begin with will allow you to refine your business skills before losing it all by trying to go big time... I'm not trying to discourage you though! (just offering a my two cents worth)

Good Luck in your business adventure!

[tim]

Dan,

You raise good points. A cheaper route would be to offer a more DIY type service until the reputation comes. A place where PLU's can go to wash their car, get it buffed, and maybe buy some stuff for the car as well, get some coffee. I definitely think it should begin with a site, rather from a van.

tim

[liquidtiger720]

Tim- really, all that for $200?

if i wanted, i could get it as cheap as $50, but some local dudes usually charge around $85-100. only thing close to $200 would be something like a navigator, because its so big.

anyways. good luck with your venture. i wish you luck with whatever route you choose.

[Springfield1952]

Tim,

15 years ago I threw myself out into the streets and started my own business. Here's my 2 cents worth . . .

1: Watch your cash - like a hawk. It's real easy for money to go out of your wallet and real hard to get it back in. I like the idea of starting small (I worked out of a bedroom for the first year) and building from there.

2: Sleep on every major purchase. If it still looks good in the morning, it probably is.

3: Opening your own shop will cost more than you can estimate. Taxes, insurance, rent, materials, employees. It adds up real quick.

4: Protect your reputation. If you do good work, people will come back and bring their friends. If you do a bad job, apologize more than once and immediately redo the job. Customer service goes a long way. It takes ten years to build a reputation and ten minutes to lose it.

5: Be prepared to work more hours than you imagined. When I opened my business I saw 1:00 in the morning more times than I wanted to. People who say, "Oh, you have your own business? You must be on the golf course all the time.", have no clue.

Good luck,

Curt.
www.compassdesign.com