[Smoke]

I need to make some extra cash and decided I will detail peoples cars. In my imediated neighborhood there happen to be a lot of expensive cars and a lot of people who dont take the time to wash them themselves. I want to send out a flyer offering my detail service. Basically I come to their house and do a complete interior/exterior detail including exterior wash, wax, polish and spray seal including a glass polish. Full Wheel and tire detail. For interior I want to shampoo and vaccum the carpets take out whatever stains I can and then remove all the junk in the cupholders (coins,papers etc) remove all coffee stains in the leather and plastic console and then finish everything off with a trim cleanser for the leather and plastic. I am very meticulous and decided that im going to use only the best car cleaning products available, there expensive as hell but if they work and last for a while its worth it in the quality . I cant decide which brand use though, my first thought was Zaino... they make pretty much every product I would need and they have a great reputation. Next I thought Ultima's stuff looks good and maybe Sonus. What do you guys reccomend? I would like to use one company for all the cleaners and polishes but mixing and matching will work just fine.

[Peleg]

How many cars have you detailed? You need some experience before you take on big jobs.

Big jobs = expensive cars.

What I'm saying is, you don't want to make your mistakes on expensive cars.

2. If you have a truck, it would be helpful. You have to carry a whole lot of stuff with you for this type of service.

3. In order to make this into a fulltime job, you need to build enough client el to cater to.

4. The more $$$ you charge, the more expectations the customer will have.

5. You need to research our your local competitors.

6. You need to come up with pricing and do the math so you're profitable.

E.g: If 1 detail requires 'X' amount of money and your price for the job is X+20, you will be starving to death.


I would start this as a part time weekend gig first, then see if it's something you want to dive into.

[Smoke]

Forgot to mention I have been washing and detailing peoples cars for a while now, just using Meguiars and stuff like that. Normally I just do it for people I know or my dads friends if they need it. Recently a neighbor me asked to detail his NSX and Audi RS6 for him when he was away for the weekend so I did and they came out nice. My family owns 4 cars, all of which I wash all the time so of course before I start using Zaino or something on someone elses car I would test it out on my own cars. Im not looking to jump right into this. I need to buy a whole bunch of supplies and get to work on perfecting detailing and polishing on my own before I touch other peoples cars for money. The local car wash does a full service detail starting at $250ish on up from there..im looking to charge anywhere from $100-$125...and also I am comming straight to the peoples homes to take care of their cars. They dont need to be home or take their car anywhere for me to detail it. I figured startup costs to be in the $400 range for products,cloths/applicators,a portable vaccum etc. I think it could really be sucessful, I am in school now but I have a lot of free time from like 3-6 everyday and weekends I could work all day if I have to.

[Schell]

Begin to take before and after photos of your work so you have a "portfolio" of sorts to show to your clients. Listen to Peleg, he has tried this many times and it's not always as easy as it sounds. Do a good job and your work will speak for itself.

[Smoke]

Originally Posted by Schell

Begin to take before and after photos of your work so you have a "portfolio" of sorts to show to your clients. Listen to Peleg, he has tried this many times and it's not always as easy as it sounds. Do a good job and your work will speak for itself.

My mom said the before and after pictures are great for advertising. Def gonna do that and show people the kind work that goes into these cars and how they come out in th end.

[Schell]

Originally Posted by Smoke

My mom said the before and after pictures are great for advertising. Def gonna do that and show people the kind work that goes into these cars and how they come out in th end.

How old are you? Not trying to insult you, although people may not want to let someone who is too young work on their cars. Some of the detailing supplies out there can be very destructive to paint, if not used properly.

[fullerton]

i don't know how you could be profitable detailing...

it just takes so damn long to do. i spent 14-16 or so hours on my car this weekend detailing it.

i would have charged someone over $500 to do what i just did. who's going to pay that?

[BoostJunkie]

Washing the neighbor's cars is one thing but if you want to start up a business you need to have the skills. You need to know about paint correction, properly using a rotary buffer, which tools and products to use for different paints and conditions, etc. There really is a lot to it. I do some detailing on the side but in the past I have worked for two well-respected detailing companies and learned from professionals who have been doing this for longer than I've been alive. When I first started I thought I was good but they showed me that I really didn't know anything. What I've found is that a lot of customers want some sort of paint correction (removing heavy swirls, scratches, overspray, etc.) so it's very important to be able to do all of these things confidently and do it right every time. Otherwise you can end up doing more harm than good. On the bright side, if you take the time to hone these skills you can charge a good amount of money for your services, especially once word gets out that you do good work.

Another thing, most professional detailers use products that are not as commonly used by the weekend detailer because they are either more difficult to work with or more expensive. For example, a pro should have polishes and pads with all different cutting powers for different degrees of paint correction, and know which one to use and when. All I'm saying is that if you want your business to succeed, you need to make sure you completely prepared before you start out. Detailing jobs actually can pay quite well, and you can also look at it as free training for the business you plan to start up later.

[lidrew]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned insurance. You need to be insured.

[lidrew]

Originally Posted by fullerton

i don't know how you could be profitable detailing...

it just takes so damn long to do. i spent 14-16 or so hours on my car this weekend detailing it.

i would have charged someone over $500 to do what i just did. who's going to pay that?

I would rather pay $500 than spend 16 hours of my time cleaning my Subaru. Thats just crazy.

[non-ricer]

i like klasse products as well...

[BoostJunkie]

Originally Posted by lidrew

I would rather pay $500 than spend 16 hours of my time cleaning my Subaru. Thats just crazy.

That's how a lot of other people think too, especially those with nice cars and a lot of money. Plus when you do it enough you get to be efficient and it takes a lot less time.

[Peleg]

100-125 is way under-charging.

A full detail is at least 250. Now if you're going against a local place that charges that much, you need to set yourself apart from the crowd so to speak. You can do so by:

1. Giving the client more services for that price. Like emblem and exhaust tip detail.

2. Show them you're giving them all the attention in the world, you're not trying to do a "mass detail" like these other places.

3. Use high quality stuff. (P21S for instance)

The portfolio idea the Schell brought up is huge, and I would take this further with setting up a small website and also get a business card.

If you see this is going well, get a business license from your city and keep track of all your expenses for tax time.

[halfelite]

If its anything like around here joe smoe starts up a detialing company and makes good money even when he destroys peoples car. I dont trust any of the come to you detialing service in my area. But I see them washing 80k+ cars all the time. for around $200

[BoostJunkie]

Originally Posted by halfelite

If its anything like around here joe smoe starts up a detialing company and makes good money even when he destroys peoples car. I dont trust any of the come to you detialing service in my area. But I see them washing 80k+ cars all the time. for around $200

That's exactly the problem. It's a pretty common thing for high school kids to start up a summer detailing business because it's good money, but most of them have no clue what they are doing and the customers don't know any better. It gives the good independent detailers a bad name. Luckily if you are good, your work will speak for itself and that establishes repeat customers. They tell their friends and so on, and it's pretty easy to build a customer base. I don't do it that much anymore since I don't have time but when I did, I found that word can spread pretty quickly.