Hi Guys . I have been a lurker on this forum for a very long time. I am in school to be a physical therapist and since the program runs on a fixed curriculum, I was pushed back in the program. I will still be working in my clinical setting for the next 2-3 months but I am planning on starting up a small detailing business in the meanwhile. I am relatively new to detailing but I know the basics of car washing and interior detailing. I have the following items at my disposal.: A Hose A Gilmour II Foam Gun Wheel Woolies Waffle Weave Towels Uber sponges buckets with grit guards Uber boars hair brush Uber wash mitt Tire dressing Steamer A 6" and 3" groits DA with all the pads Menz PF2500 Sonax wheel cleaner Adams car was shampoo 6" Nano skin autoscrub pad with glide adams APC Menz power lock and a powerful car vaccum Now I have only done 1 step 1 paint correction before and it was on my own car and the results were good. I live in Buffalo, NY and want to offer customers interior and exterior detailing services and may be hand waxing. I want to start doing this asap so that I can start generating some income. As pro's what would be some of the packages and prices you would recommend. I have read up a lot on here and on autopia and I have some first time business Jitters. There is a lot of competition here. There is a chain of car washes here called delta sonic that offers touchless car washes ranging from 5-8 dollars with 5 dollars for a 5 minute spray on waxjob they offer interior cleaning for 10 dollars. There is also another place here in town called Bubble Boys that offers full detail with hand wax but no paint correction for $100.00 I want to come up with something simple yet cost effective and would like to know some strategies to get started with this small venture. What are some of the ways I can put myself out there? Its the winter months and I dont have any car shows or meets to advertise myself and my work. What kind of advertising strategies would you all recommend. Kindly provide me some input as I have seen and used the input on this forum to learn the basics of car detailing. Thank you for looking at this thread and for providing me your input. Prakash
I wouldn't classify those 5$ car washes as competition. Good work and even better customer service is probably the best form of advertisement. A website where people could see your work is very helpful Like restaurants, if the food is good. Word will spread and people will come. Figure out what type of customers your after and do that. Quality or quantity? It'll be hard to do both on your own I'm no pro. Business but I'm an hobbyist doing ~1 car/week and 2-3 during the peak season. Just my two cents.
“Becoming a Professional Detailer” - http://www.autopia.org/forum/detail...ng/136438-becoming-professional-detailer.html If you have any questions about this article or the techniques used, please let me know or feel free to send me an email
I would suggest when using up your existing stock to buy products like Meguiar's that are more concentrated and come in gallons . They can be a lot more cost effective than the specialty brands. What you want are customers who want something better than a $5 car wash and willing to pay for it.
Agreed!! To be honest, not trying to discourage but you are in a tight spot between the two sides of detailing. Obviously you can not compete with the $5 guys...not going to happen, and you don't even want to try.Yet you may not have the experience or comfort to try and take on the $100 guys or even go better... That is one thing, you need to set your prices according to your work. Now, that being said, not everyone has a filthy car that is all scratched, and needs it to be 100% perfect, many people in the cities DO like a good simple clean, one step and wax as their cars are daily driven. You may want to look into having a good polish for more intense jobs, but I would even consider only using a high-quality All-In-One. It will work well when you explain to the customers it will not do heavy correction, but is a cost effective way of polishing it up some, while adding a good layer of protection. I will not get into advice on packages as I dislike that route, I just look at each car, see what each needs and give every customer an individual quote. You do not see packages at a body shop or most mechanics...the way I see it is there is no point, it gets confusing and difficult...somebody shows up wanting package "A", but their interior is perfect, well now do you tell them it is still the same price, because you have set prices, or do you eliminate something from the package and offer a different price...if you always use packages, how do you determine what to change the price to? I just feel an hourly scale based on the type of work as well as products and equipment used is more beneficial to you and the customer. As far as what to offer, I would offer what you know, good cleaning, hand wash and wax, detail the interiors, and offer a "light polish" and seal. Pricing on that depends on MANY different factors. As I said earlier, how long will it take you? How much is your materials cost? Are you factoring in the use of your equipment, as each use brings it closer to breaking and you needing a new one. You also have to consider your client, their vehicle, your competition, as well as where you are detailing. If you drive to them, it should cost them more. And after EVERYTHING else is accounted for, you still have to consider how much cash you want to go into your pocket!
