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mattmann

mattmann

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So I have been detailing as a hobby for a little while now. I’m only 32 and with a wife and 3 kids, I stay pretty busy. Me, my brother and father own a decent size construction company and make a good living off of that. I always see me doing this for a full time job. I thoroughly enjoy what I do and it provides a good living HOWEVER I always have day dreamed about doing car detailing as a full time job. I was listening to a podcast the other day on people starting “micro businesses “ and it got me thinking. These are people who work a typical “9-5” job but during the afternoons or their “off times” they do some other small work for extra cash. On a whim I asked my wife what she thought about me doing a car every now and then and of course being the type of woman she is, she said it would be cool if I could do that. I called my uncle who owns a small town used car lot today and ran the idea by him for his cars he’s getting at auctions. He has a guy now who does these for him but he said it could take 2 weeks sometimes to get one car back due to his schedule and the bad part is they are at his shop 1 hour away so he can’t even show people when they come by his lot. The idea would be that I take it home, wash it and dry it then he said I could use his air conditioned small shop to detail them. Now I asked him how much he pays now and what the guy does. He said he does “a typical wash, dry, light buff?? And wax”. He also has a paint less dent removal service which I don’t have. He typically charges about $200 to do a car. He charges about $50 to restore headlights and what not. Now I have a lot of chemicals and your basic kit. Gas pressure washer, foam cannon, buckets and strainers, lots of rags and mitts and brushes and GG 6. I love using HD speed and am familiar with this as well. I know right off the bat I need more rags and pads but one thing he does I don’t do is carpet shampoo. What’s the easiest/cheap way to get the materials for this? Is this a terrible idea?? The idea would be to wash and clean here at the house then spend a few hours for a couple of nights and knock out the detail. Perks for my uncle is he knows me, I’ll do it a bit cheaper. Be able to potentially turn them over quicker AND he can show the car because it will be at his shop. I’m wanting to know:
1) opinions on this idea and opportunity as a side job for extra cash, good practice for the future and I enjoy it.
2) what materials should I plan on buying?
3) what I need to begin in carpet shampooing
4) what the process should look like to get in, get done and get pain quick and efficiently.

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance!!


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Manual shampoo mode = shop vac + brush. 1) Spray till wet/damp enough to work. 2) scrub with brush 3) vacuum right away 4) wipe with mf towel. I've used this method for a long time with fantastic results. I've used the Bissell autocare heated extractor, but it's not the best tool for professional detailing.

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I think learning to do interiors will profit you a lot. At least with me most people call to get their interiors detailed rather than the exterior more than half of the time. If I were you id get some scrub brushes, detailing brushes(if your doing trim also), and a bissell little green machine for spot removals if you're starting out. I use chemical guys lightning fast extractor and works great or use Folex which works great as well. I usually start using compressed air to blow in between the seats where i cant really get to with a vacuum and blowing the seats out, dry scrubbing the carpet to loosen dirt and then vacuuming it all up. then i go to the seats and clean those ..i only use the carpet extractor for really stubborn stains
 
It sounds like you are well on your way to knowing what needs to be done. And also sounds like you have a lot of the tools already to get started.

As was mentioned about cleaning the interior, a Shop Vac, cleaner for carpers/upholstery, and a brush is all I've used too with good results. I use a boot brush on everything, because they are still kind of soft, but firm enough to clean, and it isn't ripping things apart.

I don't see any reason to do detailing for your uncle any differently than you would your own vehicle. Although, I would look into business insurance or the like, in case something happens while your in possession of another vehicle.

While I don't have a business doing this, I have always thought it would be very cool to do, as I like detailing.

Good luck!

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Do you have access to compressed air at any place?
There is tools that works great with that. Or it's a thought of save up to a great shop vac that can be used on wet surfeces. This is one of the most needed tools to get effective. Then the addition of an extractor. And if you get one with a chemical tank you want one that the chemical don't go through the head pump. Then you have the one tool many likes which is a great steamer. Till you have saved up to those tools or are certain of you get to do this in the long run. The brushes and mf towel and a couple of different strenghts of APC and degreasers works good too. It's when the detailing becomes a business it's also time is money comes into play.

When it comes to you feel like the polishing needs to be more faster. An upgrade to a longthrow polisher or direct driven orbital polisher is something to look into. To chose between them is the hard part. I think that if you are comfortable with your free spinning DA technique the longthrow polishers is a great investment to do. And if you want to power through and just use one polisher on the most parts of the vehicals a direct driven orbital polisher is a great choice too. If you have alot of compounding on very neglected vehicals to do. The craftmenship of polish with a rotary polisher safes alot of time.

Otherwise it's important to have your workplace organized to be as effective as possible to save time.

You have gotten a great input with your uncle business to get the business up and running. Then it's easier to expand to take in other customers vehicals to do.

I would look into the threads of show and shine here where many share their work. You can get an insight what they are useing. And ask questions in the threads you wondering about how they do things. Then start some threads where you have questions about specific parts of the detailing work.

Good luck! And a very interesting time for you to take on a detailing business.

/Tony
 
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