Detailing Survey

[Rider90]

No, no, this isn't a plug for myself, but I am interested in your thoughts on the topic. I'm considering setting more time aside for detailing, time is money, and time spent not working is money lost. I have a 40 hour week with work, school on the weekends, but my job starts at 1pm and ends at 9pm most often giving me an akward time to detail vehicles.

I'm actually considering a venture into this business field. I understand what it would take, I've talked with my dad about the topic - he started his repair shop when he was around 20 and kept it for 20 years and made some great money. We talked about costs, rent, overhead, taxes, everything, but what he could not provide me with is what I'm hoping you all can pitch a little my direction: Is it worth it to you? You MM owners love your car more than the average appliance-driving car owner, so I've already picked my crowd; enthusiasts. Are there enough? Enough to keep the demand steady, unfortunately I think not. And how about the rate? Once a year, if that?

Then another problem, convience. This is a major issue. If my job took 20 minutes and I left you on a chair with a magazine we could work with it, but my job can vary from 5 hours to 11 hours depending on the size and color of the vehicle. You can drop it off at my place and pick it up same time tomorrow, better? What about me driving to your home after work and detailing it while you sleep? A little strange, but it can't get more convient for the consumer right there.

I could also take up most of the post with a template I already produced, listing what I clean and what materials I use. But lets imagine the job is wonderful and your amazed, but is it still worth it to you? How much would YOU pay for a detailing? Does the idea of me coming to you make this more attractive?

I have a pretty good amount of vehicles that I've done in the past year. 15 so far, and four lined up - one a return customer and two others are referrals. Having trouble finding time. But before I take any big steps, would you be interested? I asked a lot of questions in this post, it would be greatly appreciated if you could respond or send a PM giving me a different point of view regarding the answers. Thanks ahead of time, for your time.

[STLR FN]

It's funny you bring this up, cause I'm thinking about doing the same thing. It's worth it to me. I also look at it this way, if the price is right and someone is willing to do the work(washing/detailing) for me so I can have free time to do something else, you got yourself a deal.

[Bradley G]

If you offer a good service, the people will come.

Good luck with the new business!

[ADE 1000]

Hmm. I did not realize you detailed. I had my MM detailed by a local of high repute and I did not find his work to be all that impressive.

I have been able to keep my vette in perfect condition after almost five years, but this has involved a lot of hard work. I put a lot of effort into the MM as well, but I do not have the time, skill, or patience to get such a big dark car perfect. The fact that it is my daily driver during winters seems to further complicate things.

I have yet to find a detailer in the Chicagoland that is capable of doing a job that I would find acceptable. My friends who are equally meticulous have the same problem. I'd be willing to pay a premium to someone who could do a job that I would be satisfied with. I paid $150 to get just the exterior and engine of the MM done. I'd be willing to pay more for a better job.

Anyone who expects a quality detail job understands that it will take time. I'm sure most would be willing to drop their cars off. Some detail guys also pick customer cars up and drive them home, which is convienient but involves a lot of liability.

[ckadiddle]

Wish you were in the Orlando area. I have looked into getting the exterior put back to "showroom" condition, or as close as possible. Estimate was about 200 bucks. Thsi did not seem excessive to me based on the size of the car and the number of times they will have to go over it with various treatments. I choose to do other things that I enjoy with my free time rather than cleaning and polishing cars. What I DO enjoy is driving around in a clean, shiny, new-looking car. I am willing to pay a premium price for it if I can find someone that is competent. I will be using a business where I constantly see high end cars taken care of. I know that you understand how much some of us love our cars - that makes you very valuable as a detailer! I think you would treat each car as your own.

[Mad1]

You could approach some other "custom" car type businesses, like a radio/tint/performance company and see about the possibility of a partnership/relationship where you piggyback customers and it lets them offer another service to their existing customers.

That way you can get a repeat/referral relationship going, especially if you can overlap services ... work on cars overnight or after they complete some custom install work. I've seen a lot of similar relationship that detailers have worked with places that offer parking (i.e. you sublet or pay a percentage of your work in return for a space to work ... then offer your services to their garage customers while they are at work.)

You should also look into getting insured/bonded, especially if you're going to be doing this work at people's homes. You don't want to be on the hook personally for any damage that happens to someone's car while it is in your care.

Good luck with your business.

Mad1
Jeremy

[BruteForce]

This site is very informative about the detailing biz. Has a pretty active message board too.

Starting an Automobile Detailing Business (http://www.web-cars.com/detail/business.php)

[Bluerauder]

... but is it still worth it to you? How much would YOU pay for a detailing?
My son provided me with a "detailing certificate" for my birthday on 10 September. The full detailing interior, exterior, and engine was $220. They did an excellent job all around and I definitely think that it was worth it. So does my son !! :D I plan on having my MM detailed once per year ... maybe I can work this as a birthday deal every year. :rolleyes: Sure beats ties, underwear, socks, and trinkets that I don't need (or necessarily want). ;)

Convenience for me is same day service. In this case, I dropped off the car at mid-morning (about 10 PM) and picked it up at 5 PM on a Sunday. Since my MM is my daily commuter, I need weekend service.

Good luck on your business venture. Hope my input helps. :up:

[gpfarrell]

I detailed cars from about age 14 until I graduated from college in 1993.

Here's some of what I learned:

-If you park S-class Mercedes Benzes all over the street in front of your mother's house, the most important thing to do is keep the neighbors happy by rubbing a scuff out of their car once in awhile... if you don't have a legit business address it's best to keep everybody happy so they don't drop a dime on you and put you out of business. I actually found it cheaper to keep everybody happy than to pay rent... which I paid plenty of over the years.

-Enthusiasts can be a pain to deal with. As you detail lots of cars you'll develop systems and products that work well for you. Enthusiasts are the ones most likely to ask for "special" stuff, that likely doesn't work as well as the stuff you normally use. Also, the risk of error/damage skyrockets when you're using cleaners you aren't famaliar with. I found it much easier to work for people who liked their cars than those who loved them.

-Realtors are great. Their car is their office; it's their first impression and they're always getting them dirty. I used to clean cars in the parking lot of the real estate office; usually one day a week they all meet and carpool to see the newest listings. This leaves many cars in the lot to clean, and word of a good job travels fast.

-You might get by working for dealers, but you won't get rich.

-Typically takes 4+ hours to play a round of golf... and about the same time to do a car... tough to make a formal arrangement with a private country club, but informally you might really clean up with a few of those.

-Find wealthy people. Somebody making $100k a year is much more likely to drop $100 on getting the car cleaned than somebody making $25k a year. Also, it's much more likely they'll have a car worth cleaning.

-Be careful who you hire; nobody will work as hard or be as productive as you.

-Driving the cars is fun, and very convenient for the customer... but a real liability nightmare.

PM me if you want to know more... detailing cars was one of the best things I ever did!

[LordVader]

:coolman: Detailing is a viable secondary choice of income. There are many people who will pay for this service, particularly if you do it at their place of work or at their home or do a pick-up/delivery service. For me it is something I try to have done to both cars at least twice a year (spring/fall). If you price it right..they will come!!

[wchain]

Fly down here and you can do all 4 of mine!

[ckadiddle]

Oh yeah...forgot to mention... there's a detail guy that works in the bottom of the parking garage I have to park in for work. I don't know what his arrangements are with the garage management, but he seems to stay fairly busy. This is a pretty big garage, total of nine floors now and will be handling cars for three good sized office buildings when the third one opens up soon. I have not used him, but it does strike me as awfully convenient to have it done while I am at the office for nine hours.

[Rider90]

Thank you for your input guys, you've all helped and now I have some more ideas to work with. Detailing someones car while they are at work sounds like a good plan, but a source for water, and some shade from the sun might be difficult. One of the first things I do after washing the car is pop the hood, then from there on the hood is the last area that gets touched. It is hot from the engine, and cools off by the time I'm done with the other panels. Getting the car in the shade sounds like a problem. Any ideas for that? Please keep the feedback coming, this is great, and thank to you those that have responded - you ARE helping me out. I would respond more specifically in this post but I gotta run, I'm just on break. Thanks!

[gpfarrell]

Getting the car in the shade sounds like a problem. Any ideas for that?

Dick's has easy-up pop tents on sale from time to time. 10 X 10s can be as cheap as $70... that would cover half the car and they're light enough that you could just wiggle it back as you went. Wouldn't want it on a windy day though!

Shade is key!

[Rider90]

Bradley@DynoPros: Maybe Dynopros wants to offer a detailing service to their customers, I know a good detailer :D
ADE 1000: If you are interested in the work I've done, feel free to drop me a line and I'll send you a link to a page I already put up with a list of the products used, what you get, prices, and pictures of customer's cars. Just let me know.
ckadiddle: I do treat each car as my own, thats a beauty of it. I can get lost in concentration of doing the job right and time flies by. I don't remember where the five hours I just spent on your paint went, but my shoulders hurt type of thing :D
Mad1: Excellent idea and I have a place in mind now. Thanks!
BruteForce: I've never seen that website, and its very helpful, so thank you. Got the gears in my head turnin...
Bluerauder: Your input did help, thanks
gpfarrell: Some very good ideas. Believe me, as a Manager, I know all about the productivity level between myself and the co-workers around the office. They work to work, I work to get things done. I don't think I'll be hiring anyone else soon though, but a PM is coming your way shortly!
LordVader: Thank you, the more I hear about this offering at work the more I like it. I need to do some research and plan it out some more.
wchain: I thought the last time we talked about this I was going to get the know the neighbors and camp out on lawns, right? Still seems like a good idea to me... :D
ckadiddle: The only parking garage around here that comes to mind is at a Cook County court room, something tells me my future customers aren't around there :eek:
gpfarrell: Thanks for the tip, I'll be looking into that.

[Rider90]

Every Wed. I work 5a-1p meaning I can detail in the afternoon. As soon as this got out four return customers jumped and here I am booked for a month. This is a good thing, right? :beer: