New Detailer in North Alabama

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willyray18

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Hello all! My name is Will and I live in North Alabama. I am considering opening up a detailing business from my house. I so far have done details on my family and friends vehicles. Some that I have done work on has been Jags, Corvettes, Audi's, as well as a few SLP vehicles; Camaro, Tahoe's, Escalade, and I might in the near future have the chance to do a 2013 525 Sport Edition Chevy 1500 LT Extended Cab. All I do now is a wash, wax, clay, iron-x, dress tires, and the basic interior work plus spot shampooing.

My first job out of high school was working for a Buick-GMC dealership washing sold units and new units after they have been through PDI. After that I had a short stint as a delivery specialist at my local ford dealership that my uncle is the GSM of, which is also the third biggest Ford/Lincoln dealer in the US. After a few months I received an offer from our local Toyota-Scion-Chevy-Buick-GMC Dealership to become a sales person and I took it. The cleanup department hated me because I was so picky about what a car should look like when I hand the keys over to a customer. Half the time I was out there with my quick detail spray going over the cars one last time before I got the customers out of finance. Six months into it, our Chevy store went down due to horrible ownership and the new people were going to change the pay plan so I bolted out the door lol! Since I started washing cars out of high school I have wanted to open my own detail shop but either I didn't have enough capital or, when I did have the capital, I didn't have the time (this was when I was in sales). Now I am still in school and have a part time job but its only temporary. When I get my tax return check I will start my own business.

I have not used a rotary or a PC before, but I do have a griots garage in my shopping cart. Things I am also going to purchase will be a steamer from Harbor Freight as well as a new shop vac and I will be using my microfibers i currently have and I will also shop around online for the best deals on some more too.

While on the subject, I will be a LLC. I also received insurance quotes from Liberty Mutual for $840 a year for $120k Garage Keepers/General Liability, $582 for $60k Garage Keepers/General Liability and $450 for a one million dollar umbrella policy. So I will either be paying $1,032 or $1,290 a year for insurance. This business will be part time and will be worked around my school schedule, which my latest class gets out at 10:45am Tuesday and Thursdays and 10am MWF. I'm wanting to get this going enough so I can quite my current part time job. So if I can make after all expenses $250+ a week, I will be happy. My goal is to eventually offer a fully mobile car wash as well as have a detail shop and a handful of employees. I will learn how to use the GG polisher on my car and my family's cars before I use it on potential clients. I will also have a website and a Facebook page for the business too.

Sorry for such a long post, but I have been a long time follower of this site and can't thank everyone enough for all the useful posts that I have read while on the website!

Meguiars Hyper-Wash Gallon $27.99
Meguiars Hyper Dressing Gallon $37.99
Meguiars Degreaser Gallon $16.99
Meguiars APC Plus Gallon $18.99
Meguiars Wheel Brightner Gallon $18.99
Meguiars D151 AIO Gallon $36.99
Meguiars M105 32oz $27.99
Meguiars M205 32oz $27.99
Meguiars D302 16oz $15.99
303 Aerospace 32oz $19.99
Optimum- No-Rinse 32oz $15.99
Iron-X 33oz (1LTR) $32.99
Collinite #845 16oz $16.99
WhiteWall Cleaner 22oz $7.99
Stoners Tar 10oz $5.99
Stoners Glass 19oz $5.99
CG Lightening Fast Carpet 16oz $9.99
CG Fabric Clean 16oz $7.99
CG Metal Shine 16oz $12.99
DP Air Fresh (3pk) 5oz $15.99
Mothers Back-To-Black 6oz $6.99
PoorBoys SSR1 16oz $16.99
PoorBoys SSR3 16oz $16.99
XMT (3pk) 12oz $34.99 (swirl remover, pad cleaner, pad conditioner)
PoorBoys Natty Paste 8oz. $21.99
Wolfgang Pad Cleaner 8oz. $14.99
Foam Pads (3 Pads) 5.5 Inch $20.99 (3 of each orange, white, green, grey, red, plus another color so 18 Pads Total)
Foam Pads 4 Inch $34.99
Meguiars MF Cut Pads 5 Inch $17.99
Meguiars MF Finish Pads 5 Inch $19.99
Meguiars MF Pad Kit 5 Inch $89.99
Meguiars MF Cut Pads 3 Inch $12.99
Meguiars MF Finish Pads 3 Inch $12.99
Aquascrub Packs 2 Pack $25.99
Pad Brush 1 Brush $12.99
3 Inch Backing Plate 1 Plate $22.99
5 Inch Backing Plate 1 Plate $23.99
Backing Plate Washers 5 Washers $4.99
3.5 Inch Backing Plate $12.99
Guzzler Combo Towel Kit 2 Towels $27.99
Mothers Wheel door,Towel 1 Towel $7.99
Mequiars Wash Mitt 1 Mitt $5.99
Bone Wash Sponge 1 Sponge $9.99
Leather and Vinyl Scrub Brush 1 Brush $3.99
Wax Applicator Pack (Yellow) 6 Pads $9.99
Meguiars Wax Applicators 2 Pads $4.99
Microfiber Applicator Pads 6 Pads $9.99
Bug Scrub Sponge 1 Sponge $7.99
Meguiars Spray Bottles 6 Bottles $17.99
Meguiars Masking Tape (2in.) 1 Roll $6.50
ProForce Towels 24 Towels $13.99 (Sam's) (4 packs total)
Mothers Brush Kit (3 Brushes) 3 Brushes $14.99
Shop Vac 1 Vac $100.00 (Lowes)
Steam Cleaner 1 Steamer $103.00 (HF)
Griots Garage Polisher 1 Polisher $139.99

Equipment/Chemical Startup Total: $1,442
Hopefully there will be a 20% off discount when I make the purchase lol:dblthumb2::buffing:

Sorry for such a long first post,
Will
 
Welcome! There is tons of information on this board so make sure to be active and ask questions. This place is a wonderful resource so milk it for all its worth.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using AG Online
 
welcome..

look for 25% off coupon at harbor freight

spray bottles at sams club 6 for 6.97

window cleaner foam 4 bottles for less then $10 think called sprayaway

I'd look into the meguiars MF kit good correction and protection.. can get a kit for a good price.

that might save you a little money
 
I recommend getting a job at a detail shop to learn the ropes. A professional detail business is night and day different from cleaning cars at a dealer.

That's what I did before starting my own paint protection business. I worked at 3 of the best shops in Socal. Plus I was able to keep a rep with my old bosses. So I still do 1099 work for them at least once a week.
 
VP Mark said:
Welcome! There is tons of information on this board so make sure to be active and ask questions. This place is a wonderful resource so milk it for all its worth.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using AG Online
Click to expand...
VP Mark, I have actually read a lot of what you post and have learned many things from you!

firecorgi said:
Welcome Will and Good Luck!
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Thanks, I noticed the Auburn logo, are you from Alabama or go to Auburn? Roll Tide right here!

28ONE said:
Welcome to AGO Will!
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James, thanks for the pm, I will give him a shout in just a minute.


HD.Detailing said:
welcome..

look for 25% off coupon at harbor freight

spray bottles at sams club 6 for 6.97

window cleaner foam 4 bottles for less then $10 think called sprayaway

I'd look into the meguiars MF kit good correction and protection.. can get a kit for a good price.

that might save you a little money
Click to expand...

HD.Detailing, I am aware of the HF coupon, thats what I have my steamer price based on and I do have the Meguiars MF 5 inch kit on my shopping list. I was oblivious to the price of the spray bottles from Sam's, do they come with a sprayer? That alone saved me $11! I think I used sprayaway a few years ago at my Dad's house, and if Im thinking correctly, I loved it. Ill grab some cans to replace the Invisible Glass. I am a huge IG fan and like I said, if my memory serves me right, I loved sprayaway. Nobody local sells it here though.

PacificAutoFilm said:
I recommend getting a job at a detail shop to learn the ropes. A professional detail business is night and day different from cleaning cars at a dealer.

That's what I did before starting my own paint protection business. I worked at 3 of the best shops in Socal. Plus I was able to keep a rep with my old bosses. So I still do 1099 work for them at least once a week.
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Pacific Auto Film, the city I live in has about 40,000 people and the county I live in and our "sister" county combined has over 100,000 people. With over 60,000 living in the quad cities as we call it (You ca easily go from one city to the other without realizing it). Out of all those people, we have the cheap hand car washes that cost $12 for a in-and-out and use Dawn, one mobile guy who has a Facebook page but doesn't post the prices of any services and doesn't do a lot of marketing as it is, and a respectable car wash that my friend actually works at, Unique Car Wash. Unique does the basic wash, clay, wax, carpet cleaning but that's it. I have seen what they have "detailed" because one of the dealerships I worked for used them for a very brief period and there work with a buffer is not good at all. I see that business being shut down by the feds within the next few months, the owner does not pay his employees right. My buddy worked 58 hours one week and made only $185, and that's not the first time that has happened. But that's a story for another thread lol. So really, there is nowhere in the city I live in that offers paint correction, or paint correction I would want to be associated with.

TundraPower said:
welcome from Birmingham.
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Tundra, I love the layout of your website! What part of B'ham are you from? I also read a good bit of what you post too!
 
Thanks for the warm welcome guys! So by looking at my list, is there anything I missed that y'all can think of?
 
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