To all you young detailers

[240SX]

Hey guys,

I'm 17 and looking to get started in detailing as a quick way to make some summer spending money. I don't know how to wax or polish (work in progress), but thats not really one of my issues right now and I don't think theres that many people in my area that will pay for that. So to all the young guys out there:

How do you guys advertise your business?

How many cars do you usually get in a given week/weekend?

What products do you use (Meg's Pro stuff or just regular Consumer Line)?

Do you impose an extra charge on bigger cars?

Any tips/tricks on how to improve efficiency without hiring somebody?

Thanks alot

[cardriver]

Re: To all you young detailers

Did my first job over the past two days and it turned out quite nice. I undercut myself pretty hard on the pricing, but I told my boss "Get me while I can while the price is still cheap, because the price will only get higher as I improve!"
I'm doing it hourly for now. I spent 12 hours on his BMW, and he gave me $120. Him and his wife were impressed, and now I have his wife's car lined up, plus two other managers' vehicles from work lined up as well. Point is, word of mouth spreads, so do an outstanding job every time, and you only get one chance to make a first impression . Do a ton of research (you never stop learning) before you actually begin, too.

I also spent about $700 on supplies and a DA to get me started. I work full-time and am in school F/T as well, and this hobby keeps me going when I'm free. It takes money to make money! Good luck.

Hourly works for me, because depending on the job (size of vehicle, condition of vehicle, how thorough of a detail, all other factors considered), I can propose a length of time to have the vehicle (very minimum 7 hours), and it's easy to calculate the amount of money for the job based on the hours spent.

[Calais]

Re: To all you young detailers

I am also 17 and I hope to start detailing for dollars this summer. I intend to pick up a G110 by early July and a few more bottles of Meg's products. I've been getting better and better at detailing as I practice on my car once a week. I also plan to hand out 3 complimentary details (one to each of my two uncles and one to a friend from the car show) and word-of-mouth should do the rest (also some pictures). I want to also maybe hand out some kind of poster or business card or something. Just drive around and show off your detailing skills by showing off your results. Briefly explain your methods.

(I do a Dawn wash, clay, five step wash, polish, wax) I want to charge ~$140.

[240SX]

Re: To all you young detailers

Thanks cardriver,

I'm in the process of designing a flyer and plan to put some "package deals" on the flyer. I will also offer "a-la-carte" detailing, but would prefer to leave that out of the flyer. Just wanted to know if you guys think these prices are reasonable.


Mini - Detail — $35
Exterior: Includes hand washing all exterior surfaces and hand drying.
Interior: Includes quick dusting and dressing of dashboard and console, windows are cleaned.[/CENTER]
Express Detail — $85
Exterior: Mini-Detail plus: tire/wheel dressing and application of RainX on all windows.
Interior: Mini-Detail plus: vacuuming, slight spot removal, all leather/plastic/vinyl is cleaned.[/CENTER]
Super Detail — $170
Exterior: Express Detail plus: removal of paint contaminants and Carnauba waxing.
Interior: Express Detail plus: meticulous cleaning and conditioning of entire interior.[/CENTER]

I plan to wash using Mother's soap, seeing as I have 8 jugs laying around. For interior dusting its just going to be a static or MF cloth. I will use #40 as a dressing. For the express detail and the super detail, its going to be a Woolite/Water mix as opposed to just dusting. I have Hot Shine Tire Spray as a tire dressing and Invisible Glass for all the glass cleaning stuff.

[rgcurtis]

Re: To all you young detailers

Detailing is a word that has various definitions depending on who you talk to. Guys, like Tuck, Presidential, ClearlyCoated, Lavish and Bounty do major corrective surgery on vehicles to correct everything. Others just simply wash, clay, clean, and wax with a good engine and interior cleaning. The point is if you do not have the equipment yet, you might need to stick to the basics to raise the capital in order to get into the heavy corrective surgery. The funny thing is the average person is willing to pay about $50-$100 for a good wash, wax, engine and interior cleaning. The other thing is if you do a good job on a few cars and your price is reasonable then people will spread the word about you. Also ALWAYS make sure your ride is SPOTLESS and fully detailed to show off your work. Finally, scout your location for other detailers; see what they are charging and see what their work is like. If you are going to do all of it by hand be competitive to the other detailers in the area. Good luck and I hope it all works out. Remember what cardriver said "It takes money to make money."

[rgcurtis]

Re: To all you young detailers

Oh, check out this site:

ADS

Rick is awesome and I have ordered about $1k worth from him in the last month and half. Again, good luck.

[240SX]

Re: To all you young detailers

Oh, check out this site:

ADS

Rick is awesome and I have ordered about $1k worth from him in the last month and half. Again, good luck.

Unfortunately I'm in Canada, so ADS doesnt really work out for me, unless you can recommend a good freight forwarding company.

[rgcurtis]

Re: To all you young detailers

My bad dude....didn't even see your location. You might want to email him. He is cool and will tell you if he does or doesn't ship there. Sorry. You can look at his site to get a guesstimate of product prices. Again, sorry. GOOD LUCK!!!

[240SX]

Re: To all you young detailers

The site says that they only ship within the US, so I'm gonna go with that

[cardriver]

Re: To all you young detailers

The other guy mentioned that "detailing" is a term whose definition varies depending on who you're asking. That is very true. As I've become more involved with the hobby, "detailing" to me almost always includes corrective paintwork with the DA (or Rotary etc, for those experienced enough).

For the $120 and 12 hours for my boss's BMW (my first customer ever, yesterday), I presoaked w/ NXT (he had no wax protection to begin with), washed w/ NXT (2-bucket grit guards), tires w/ Bleche-White, Wheels w/ Wheel Brightener, 2 passes of m105 on yellow SB2 pad, 2 passes of m205 on yellow SB2 pad, 1 coat of NXT SB2 black pad...
Interior vinyl & plastics & carpets cleaned w/ APC 10:1 (4:1 for carpets & mats) & treated w/ M40, leather cleaned w/ BlueMagic leather cleaner, treated w/ Gold Class leather conditioning wipes, all interior followed w/ MF wipedown to promote "matted" sheen, Q-Tips/M40 in all the cracks and vents, tires dressed w/ Hyper Dressing 4:1 twice (rubber compound sucked it up, so followed up w/ 3rd coat of M40), wheels coated w/ NXT, exterior plastic trim treated w/ M40 and much elbow grease, engine bay w/ APC+ 4:1 & dressed w/ Hyper Dressing 4:1, exhaust tips treated with Brasso (! Didn't have a proper auto metal polish yet, but it worked) then finally exterior topped with a coating of DC3 carnauba, then touched up with UQD before delivery.

This was done in two days, where I worked on the vehicle for 6 hours each day. And I still wish I had 4 more hours time to do 2 more polishing steps, perhaps with 105 again and #7 to deepen the lustre of the clearcoat since I was only able to achieve about 80% correction in his 1999 Dinan M3 mangled clearcoat...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Point is, I'd recommend building one's experience first on friends & family's vehicles first before actually charging clients for money. I still have a long way to go and am still learning every day, but as you see from me, I went a long way in researching and spent a lot of money on proper materials and supplies from the Detailer Line, Consumer Line, and Mirror Glaze Lines of Meguiars and practiced for free on family cars...before I set out on my first customer job.

Obviously, everyone's idea of "detailing" is different and indeed you would likely find many customers who would be pleased with the results you currently achieve, but you may also come across other clients who hold a different, more thorough standard and could be unhappy. That's why I suggest bringing your experience level up as far as you can before you enter the market. Best to build that fundamental experience beforehand, rather than do sub-standard work on the market now, and potentially ruin your word-of-mouth reputation. Not saying that's what you do, but I'm trying to illustrate the concept if you know what I mean .

[john m.]

Re: To all you young detailers

Well only tips I can give you is for your first few customers really push it. It also helps to know guys in car clubs, I went to a local car show recently and there were a ton of classic T-Birds there, saw a guy I knew and talked to him about his car and got him interested in sending me the car when I recieve my Flex.

As for charging, call around locally and see what other people if anyone is charging. Im 19 and i wasnt sure if people would pay and if they would spend it with a 19 year old even though I can do it. I chose to charge what I need to to make money, if people want it than great but if they say its to much i dont wanna do their car anyway.

So for me its like different packages, I started by paying myself 10 an hour and then thought about how much product I use and the amount needed to pay off the expense through all the cars. For example, for a wash and wax with a quick interior detail I start the price at $125, this would go up for cars that need extra care, suv's, or heavily soiled cars that need more time. Also, for anykind of correction work I wont charge less than $200. But most of the time will charge more than that unless the car is in very good condition. I like to quote them higher than normal so that when I tell them the price they like that it is cheaper

[240SX]

Re: To all you young detailers

The other guy mentioned that "detailing" is a term whose definition varies depending on who you're asking. That is very true. As I've become more involved with the hobby, "detailing" to me almost always includes corrective paintwork with the DA (or Rotary etc, for those experienced enough).

For the $120 and 12 hours for my boss's BMW (my first customer ever, yesterday), I presoaked w/ NXT (he had no wax protection to begin with), washed w/ NXT (2-bucket grit guards), tires w/ Bleche-White, Wheels w/ Wheel Brightener, 2 passes of m105 on yellow SB2 pad, 2 passes of m205 on yellow SB2 pad, 1 coat of NXT SB2 black pad...
Interior vinyl & plastics & carpets cleaned w/ APC 10:1 (4:1 for carpets & mats) & treated w/ M40, leather cleaned w/ BlueMagic leather cleaner, treated w/ Gold Class leather conditioning wipes, all interior followed w/ MF wipedown to promote "matted" sheen, Q-Tips/M40 in all the cracks and vents, tires dressed w/ Hyper Dressing 4:1 twice (rubber compound sucked it up, so followed up w/ 3rd coat of M40), wheels coated w/ NXT, exterior plastic trim treated w/ M40 and much elbow grease, engine bay w/ APC+ 4:1 & dressed w/ Hyper Dressing 4:1, exhaust tips treated with Brasso (! Didn't have a proper auto metal polish yet, but it worked) then finally exterior topped with a coating of DC3 carnauba, then touched up with UQD before delivery.

This was done in two days, where I worked on the vehicle for 6 hours each day. And I still wish I had 4 more hours time to do 2 more polishing steps, perhaps with 105 again and #7 to deepen the lustre of the clearcoat since I was only able to achieve about 80% correction in his 1999 Dinan M3 mangled clearcoat...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Point is, I'd recommend building one's experience first on friends & family's vehicles first before actually charging clients for money. I still have a long way to go and am still learning every day, but as you see from me, I went a long way in researching and spent a lot of money on proper materials and supplies from the Detailer Line, Consumer Line, and Mirror Glaze Lines of Meguiars and practiced for free on family cars...before I set out on my first customer job.

Obviously, everyone's idea of "detailing" is different and indeed you would likely find many customers who would be pleased with the results you currently achieve, but you may also come across other clients who hold a different, more thorough standard and could be unhappy. That's why I suggest bringing your experience level up as far as you can before you enter the market. Best to build that fundamental experience beforehand, rather than do sub-standard work on the market now, and potentially ruin your word-of-mouth reputation. Not saying that's what you do, but I'm trying to illustrate the concept if you know what I mean .

Jeez sounds like you spent ALOT of money on supplies.

I understand perfectly what you mean. Now that I think of it, learning the ropes thoroughly would be a much better than just jumping straight into it with minimal experience. Thanks for the help

[01GPGT]

Re: To all you young detailers

I'm 17 also and looking into getting into the biz. I just don't know if my area is into the kind of thing. Plus I do not want to start with out being able to do a full detail and turn people off. I can do it all other then paint correction and junk. So I can make it shinny but I can not get swirls out and stuff. So I am thinking I might just start the thing after I learn to do it all.

[Bounty]

Re: To all you young detailers

This was done in two days, where I worked on the vehicle for 6 hours each day. And I still wish I had 4 more hours time to do 2 more polishing steps, perhaps with 105 again and #7 to deepen the lustre of the clearcoat since I was only able to achieve about 80% correction in his 1999 Dinan M3 mangled clearcoat...

Just as an example, a 12-hour job for me would run in the $370 range if it was straight time. More than likely I'd charge for an basic exterior wash/cleanse/wax ($105), basic interior detail ($35), basic engine detail ($35) and then hourly/per pass for the paint correction. That has the customer at $175 before I break out any tape, polish, or machine.

When pricing out paint correction I prefer hourly because it affords me the opportunity to get the level of correction I'm satisfied with. I'll do an all-out test spot for a customer and then approximate the job with the caveat that to get the rest of the car to look that way it will take at least "x" amount of hours. Some customers do not like an hourly charge because they feel it's too open ended. In that case I charge $200 per pass. In other words if I had to go over the car with the Flex/CCS Orange/M105 once followed by Flex/CCS Green/M205 that would be two complete passes or $400. If I have to go over it with a PFW pad prior it would be another pass and now $600 in paint correction alone. I've had two four-pass jobs in my life and that would obviously be $800 in addition to the aforementioned $175 for a total of $975.

Of course more complete interior and engine detailing services can bump that up by another $140 or so. You have to factor in a lot of things besides just your man hours. Wear and tear on your machine, pads, polishes, liquids, towels, applicators, and the necessary clean-up and maintenance of those items. Educate the customer as to the very specialized and typically expensive machines and detailing products you are using and the specific expertise you have. When you look at it that way, my $35 an hour rate really is nothing compared to what mechanics charge ($75 to $125 per hour).

Although the numbers may look big to some remember a two or three pass job can stretch to three days and if you're gong to keep me for the greater part of a week I need to be compensated accordingly. As far as the philosophy of underpricing to start out I am totally against it. I understand you want to establish yorself. But try another approach. Why not set your prices at what you'd like to get. Then offer a discount for first-time customers or the month of June or something. Say 20% so that a $200 job is given for $160 then a month or so down the road the actual non-discounted price is established and your hard work is remembered. Word of mouth spreads but at your actual pricing. How do you think the customer feels when you charge him $150 and two or three months later $300 just "because"? If he knows he's getting a one time deal he'll be even more likely to tell others what a good deal he got for an extensive service and recommend you. Just my two cents...

Hope it helps...

[john m.]

Re: To all you young detailers

You hit it spot on man! I was just about to start a thread asking how everyone is figuring out what to charge people cuz a lot of what im about to get into is garage queens and some old muscle car guys. You answered my question before I asked it