Becoming more efficient while buffing? tips?

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heckhole

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I receive many Dealer cars that are heading off to auction, with many on their way to the front line on the dealership lot. So far the dealer is estactic with my ability to bring life back into paint. They have their own large detail shop but they send me the "good luck fixing that" cars.

I focus on areas that are closer to your eyes, over the doors, the hood, trunk, tops of fenders, top of doors for scratch removal & improvement. The bottom of doors, lower fenders, bumpers, don't get the same king of love unless the car will look exceptionally nice & dealer is willing to pay for the attention to details.

However, even the 'quick' cars are taking 4-6hrs. Compound/polish hoods/top of doors, pillars, top of fenders, trunk to high quality standards while bringing up the color and minimizing swirls on the rest of the vehicle . I feel like I'm loosing time reaching, bending, for compounds/polish, microfibers, wrestling wires, adjusting lights, swapping pads, inspecting my work. My estimate is I'm losing 10-15 minutes per hour wrestling wires, reaching for products or getting up for them & adjusting lights. I generally stuff my microfibers in my pockets, compound on the windshield, or on the ground next to me, sliding my bucket around, then slide my products, reach behind me and adjust the lights, ra ra ra, getting off the bucket to polish down low etc.

I am thinking of making 6 trays on casters, all about 3' tall, each will have my 4 favorite polishes & compounds I need. I'd like to take 5 minutes to set up each side/trunk/hood with its own work station. After a few cars working this way, I think I'd be able to reach for things while inspecting my work, or be able to move my seat, move wires or do whatever as the same time I'm reaching for pads/polishes, etc.

I've tried using aprons but I flip out quick when I forget to throw a bottle back in a pocket and have to search for it, or grab the wrong bottle, or whatever is in my pockets hits the vehicle, power wire gets tangled or grabs a bottle top


What are some other tips or suggestions for efficiency?
 
If you're sitting down while working on a dealer car you're doing it wrong.. These guys don't pay us enough to be using light stands to inspect the minor details. Efficiency is very important at my shop. I've been having my employees time their jobs all summer and I walk around once in a while and watch where most of the time goes. Unless you have a really large shop with an efficient layout you won't save a whole lot of time on the things you're mentioning. Instead get a rotary for quickly cutting out the stuff the dealer wants gone then use a cheap AIO and do 2-3 passes over the whole thing. I don't know how much you're getting paid but unless its a good hourly rate follow this advice. If the dealer is ecstatic about your work, you're doing too much. I get $145 inside and out for a dealer car. I'm never 100% satisfied with the work we do on them but I do just enough so that the dealer sends more. Most of the time it's wash. clay towel, spray wax, and a full interior detail. If needed I'll hit it with an AIO and maybe hit the scratches with the rotary. Just keep in mind, the dealer is always looking out for themselves, not for you. A dealer uses cheap bulk products and minimum wage workers, They are sending it to you because the amount they will pay you is cheaper than trying to do it in house. If you aren't grossing at least $25 an hour before product cost on a dealer car you've got to cut more corners.
 
FinishingTouchA said:
I get $145 inside and out for a dealer car.
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$130-$165 for FULL interior detail. Another $100 just to turn on the PC/Rotary + $35-45 for an AIO, car leaves AS/IS no room to complain. $50hr for the various stages as needed around the car.

This dealer is willing to pay for quality work.

There are 2 detailers in town, they do nothing more than quick in & outs for $130-160. I can't tell you how many cars have been delivered to me 10 minutes after they were picked up from one of these shops by the dealers.

The money has been good so far and word of mouth has started to bring in walk-ins.
 
FinishingTouchA said:
If you're sitting down while working on a dealer car you're doing it wrong.. These guys don't pay us enough to be using light stands to inspect the minor details. Efficiency is very important at my shop. I've been having my employees time their jobs all summer and I walk around once in a while and watch where most of the time goes. Unless you have a really large shop with an efficient layout you won't save a whole lot of time on the things you're mentioning. Instead get a rotary for quickly cutting out the stuff the dealer wants gone then use a cheap AIO and do 2-3 passes over the whole thing. I don't know how much you're getting paid but unless its a good hourly rate follow this advice. If the dealer is ecstatic about your work, you're doing too much. I get $145 inside and out for a dealer car. I'm never 100% satisfied with the work we do on them but I do just enough so that the dealer sends more. Most of the time it's wash. clay towel, spray wax, and a full interior detail. If needed I'll hit it with an AIO and maybe hit the scratches with the rotary. Just keep in mind, the dealer is always looking out for themselves, not for you. A dealer uses cheap bulk products and minimum wage workers, They are sending it to you because the amount they will pay you is cheaper than trying to do it in house. If you aren't grossing at least $25 an hour before product cost on a dealer car you've got to cut more corners.
Click to expand...


My dealer pays the recon department flat rate. I worked down there for about a year. I made about 45k my first year. I was always looking for ways to be better with the rotary. always using UC instead of their compound and glaze because its junk and doesn't do anything.

I do paint correction on the side with my DA and try and get from salesman and whatnot. Nobody around my area does correction. Just wash and waxes.
 
heckhole said:
$130-$165 for FULL interior detail. Another $100 just to turn on the PC/Rotary + $35-45 for an AIO, car leaves AS/IS no room to complain. $50hr for the various stages as needed around the car.

This dealer is willing to pay for quality work.

There are 2 detailers in town, they do nothing more than quick in & outs for $130-160. I can't tell you how many cars have been delivered to me 10 minutes after they were picked up from one of these shops by the dealers.

The money has been good so far and word of mouth has started to bring in walk-ins.
Click to expand...

Well that's awesome! Wish we had dealers like that around here. I have no tips other than maybe a detailers helper belt but I have one of them and haven't used it in 4 months, guess I'm too stuck in my ways.
 
When cars are trashed ,there trashed . if you want to speed it up there's 2 options,one step it and out the door,or do short cuts don't be so picky with your work.I gotta tell u that's pretty good money for steady volume work.You have to pick your battles,some cars are premo,while others may not .Its a balancing act,don't kill yourself.
 
I work at a dealership too, and i found a great shortcut, while producing great results! I use M205 on an orange pad with my Flex 3401. It reduces scratches, swirls, cobwebbing, etc. my bosses have been happy with the results.
 
Have you thought about getting yourself a detailing cart like this one?

grit-guard-detailing-cart-products.jpg


A few people have made their own too.
That way, you take everything with you and it's right beside you when you need it.

Also, do you have one of those seats on wheels? That may help...
 
I roll around on a seat too, after doing the roof/trunk/hood. I sometimes feel I could do less messing with things and more polishing. I have my lights set up in the garage and RARELY do light inspection other than what I have. The small dealer I work for sounds alot like the ones you do. Try to be a little less picky (I know its hard) and see what they think.
 
I avoid losing my place and inadvertently re-polishing an area

After polishing a section, I wipe off the polish reside, but leave a 1" line of polish at the edge of the freshly polished area

This line gives me a visual starting point for the next section
 
FinishingTouchA said:
Well that's awesome! Wish we had dealers like that around here. I have no tips other than maybe a detailers helper belt but I have one of them and haven't used it in 4 months, guess I'm too stuck in my ways.
Click to expand...

I'm very lucky. Very bad service from detailers locally & the mobile guys aren't doing any better. I've been able to corner the market a bit simply by doing a respectable job.
I'm not the best by any means, but we certainly do a quality job.

I have looked at purchasing carts, but I haven't quite found one that suits my needs. I feel like I will need to make my own. I would ideally like a cart at all 4 corners and on driver side & passenger side of the car.

I used rubber base board from HD and shaped those to wrap around the wheels to eliminate wires tangling and getting stuck under the tires. Cost just a few bucks.

Tractor Supply had furniture dollies, 6 for 50 bucks, so I grabbed 6 of those. I may just take the casters off and set them on legs about 31" off the floor. I'm so tired of looking around, walking, kicking over, or the magically vanishing products as I'm polishing. Sometimes I feel like a fumbling idiot.

Last night I did an AOI on a black Equinox and did a Compound & Finish on a blue Malibu. Took 6 hours combined. I can't tell you how many times I had to stop what I was doing to go find a bottle of product, new microfibers, pads & swapping machines. I'd bet it cost me 45 minutes overall.
 
dcjredline said:
I roll around on a seat too, after doing the roof/trunk/hood. I sometimes feel I could do less messing with things and more polishing. I have my lights set up in the garage and RARELY do light inspection other than what I have. The small dealer I work for sounds alot like the ones you do. Try to be a little less picky (I know its hard) and see what they think.
Click to expand...

I just ordered a seat. I'm considering an air lift to maybe get the car 5-6" off the ground and allow me to work entirely without having to get up & down to do the upper and lower doors & the rockers.

I've already established with the dealer that the roof hasn't been important to focus on. On my clients cars I used to go crazy on them, but slowly realized it's almost never the focal point and eventually realized I can just do an AIO and move along to the rest properly. I've learned that swirls/marring at the bottom half of the doors is real hard to see from a standing position. I haven't yet tried to slip any through the Dealer on any dark cars, but I have let several silver/white cars go with a single pass with a light polish at the bottom half as long as the color brightness matches.

At first I thought every car needed to be done to my standard and wasted a ton of time. But I've slowly been learning where the focal points are for the dealers & most clients. For clients I do disclose the areas where I 'cheat' and will tell them it'll save an hr of labor yet still look great unless you lay on your back and shine a 500 watt light at it.
 
It's hard to turn a hobby into a profession. Letting go of everything having to be perfect is hard to do.
 
AGOatemywallet said:
I avoid losing my place and inadvertently re-polishing an area



After polishing a section, I wipe off the polish reside, but leave a 1" line of polish at the edge of the freshly polished area



This line gives me a visual starting point for the next section
Click to expand...


Brilliant.
 
yes a seat and a good spraywax and cheat a little.
 
Dang that's a lot of work on a auction car. Hope they pay well, most detailers doing polishing shoot for at least $40 an hour. Never known dealers willing to pay for that. Personally I would wash, Clay, hit it with D151 on a white hybrid using a flex. 2-3 hours max.


www.JaxDetails.com
www.facebook.com/DentsAndDetails
I may be slow, but I do poor work.
 
He is up Against the wall he is getting good compensation from the dealer to remove scratches and performing a skill that the guys in house can't do.So he has to perform with removing scratches,quickly which is time consuming.A white hybrid pad won't give him the results the dealer is paying for.He has to cheat on the finishing work.
 
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