Possibly starting my own business
#11
03-10-2010, 11:35 PM
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Wentzville, Missouri
Posts: 4,528
How are you going to run the business- certain hours or by appt only? Are you going to do it full time or part time? What kind of services do you plan to offer?
I've seen people do this and go both ways with it.
I've had some friends get into it that were REALLY into detailing their own cars- did it out of the one guy's dad's mechanics shop (he had a spare bay), and mostly by appointment only. The bad thing is, they were so into doing a perfect job to try and attract the really rich people that they ended up realizing that the $/hr was terrible. They got a semi-supplier discount on the cleaning goods (buffing compounds and such), but they spent so much time getting the cars perfect that they were coming out under $5/hr once you actually took out all the various supplies (they were using pretty high end stuff). What made it worse is they didn't have a steady stream of cars, they'd do a couple every other day or so. Plus, it seemed like most of the 'normal' people who wanted a detail job would try and haggle them down because they thought the prices were too high (which were actually low for the time they spent on it)- so they ended up barely making profit on some jobs.
Now I did see a couple guys get some pretty good money doing detailing- they ran it out of the back bay at a shop where I used to install car audio. They rented the bay for pretty cheap, bought a used power washer- and bought a bulk supply of general wax, tire wet, and window cleaner. They started off doing the cars for the tiny car lot next door of maybe 15 cars (full detail when they came in, and then a wash on all the cars every couple days)- plus they did all kinds of advertising and got a good deal of local traffic on top of that (probably 4-5 cars a day).
After a couple months of hounding other local dealerships, they scored a contract with a larger used car dealer (probably 60-70 cars on the lot at a time), and they were doing probably 15 cars a day between the two dealers and walk ins. They did a mediocre job with the cars- the wax was just some short-term BS garbage, but that is all the lots cared about anyways. By the time their businesses ended, they were making some killer money- and had hired a few of their local friends to come in so they could do 2-3 cars at a time.
I guess the short version of what I was trying to say is if you're trying to do it for a serious business- try not to get super wrapped up in spending hours and hours on the cars like you would your own, unless the car's owner is specifically paying you big money for it.
Good luck!
I've seen people do this and go both ways with it.
I've had some friends get into it that were REALLY into detailing their own cars- did it out of the one guy's dad's mechanics shop (he had a spare bay), and mostly by appointment only. The bad thing is, they were so into doing a perfect job to try and attract the really rich people that they ended up realizing that the $/hr was terrible. They got a semi-supplier discount on the cleaning goods (buffing compounds and such), but they spent so much time getting the cars perfect that they were coming out under $5/hr once you actually took out all the various supplies (they were using pretty high end stuff). What made it worse is they didn't have a steady stream of cars, they'd do a couple every other day or so. Plus, it seemed like most of the 'normal' people who wanted a detail job would try and haggle them down because they thought the prices were too high (which were actually low for the time they spent on it)- so they ended up barely making profit on some jobs.
Now I did see a couple guys get some pretty good money doing detailing- they ran it out of the back bay at a shop where I used to install car audio. They rented the bay for pretty cheap, bought a used power washer- and bought a bulk supply of general wax, tire wet, and window cleaner. They started off doing the cars for the tiny car lot next door of maybe 15 cars (full detail when they came in, and then a wash on all the cars every couple days)- plus they did all kinds of advertising and got a good deal of local traffic on top of that (probably 4-5 cars a day).
After a couple months of hounding other local dealerships, they scored a contract with a larger used car dealer (probably 60-70 cars on the lot at a time), and they were doing probably 15 cars a day between the two dealers and walk ins. They did a mediocre job with the cars- the wax was just some short-term BS garbage, but that is all the lots cared about anyways. By the time their businesses ended, they were making some killer money- and had hired a few of their local friends to come in so they could do 2-3 cars at a time.
I guess the short version of what I was trying to say is if you're trying to do it for a serious business- try not to get super wrapped up in spending hours and hours on the cars like you would your own, unless the car's owner is specifically paying you big money for it.
Good luck!
If I get a lot of business in Troy then I can do it at my dad痴 shop but in Wentzville I知 still trying to decide where to do it.
Yeah thanks for telling me the story and all. Kinda puts it more in perspective I guess. Yeah the whole time thing I was planning is kinda like what you said. For people who are gonna pay more, I値l spend more time on. For like people who don稚 exactly care, I値l do the job good but I just won稚 take as much time. And I知 gonna try to have several packages for people to chose from or I may even let them do custom packages, I guess you could call them, where they chose exactly what they want done and then I値l price it from there. My main goal is to be as fair on the pricing as possible while still making a good profit. Idk like I said I知 still toying with it. I just thought of this idea like two days ago lol. But thanks for the advice and what not
#13
03-11-2010, 12:27 AM
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Wentzville, Missouri
Posts: 4,528
ha i actually really like that! it has a nice lil ring to it 
#15
03-11-2010, 12:50 AM
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Wentzville, Missouri
Posts: 4,528
lol i was gonna try to see if i could incorporate the monte carlo in the name since my monte is gonna be like the "spokescar" for the business but the only problem with that is that i'm afraid that people will think its only for monte carlos =/
Cort suggested Brittany's Best Detailing...??? Another good one.
Cort suggested Brittany's Best Detailing...??? Another good one.
#17
03-11-2010, 01:04 AM
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Wentzville, Missouri
Posts: 4,528
ooo thats good too. i didnt even think about incorporating the intimidator! shame on me lol
#19
03-11-2010, 01:09 AM
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Wentzville, Missouri
Posts: 4,528
like that one too. just nervous bout people that dont have chevys wont come if i have that name =/ this is so rough! i need like 4 or 5 really good name suggestions and then i'll have like a vote for which one is the best
#20
03-11-2010, 01:37 AM
Umm service? I’m still trying to decide what all I’m gonna do but I’m gonna probably focus more on the exterior then interior.