Shop? Mobile? Or both?

Kristopher1129

Kristopher1129

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I'm just curious how many of you detail for a living.

If you do...do you have a shop? mobile? or both?

If you have both, do you have a tough time running both sides of the business?

I have a busy shop right now. I am adding a mobile van in the spring. I usually answer the calls, do all the exteriors (I hire interior guys), and deal with the customers. I'm a little concerned with having a mobile van out there at the same time, may be overwhelming. Thoughts??
 
I was actually going to ask about a shop... so great timing on this post!

The clients I have right now LOVE the fact that Im Mobile and that is one of there main reasons for going with me. I think it would be a great addition to any shop, because the schedules of clients vary so greatly and is sometimes hard for them to leave a car at a shop for 8 hrs. I think it would be a great step forward to meeting the needs of your customers.


What I have been wondering...........

Is the overhead of renting a place worth it? I have seen some wonderful locations near me that rent for 2000 to 3000 a month. I am wondering what a shop can pull revenue wise and then profit wise after expenses and employees. Just don't know if it is worth it?!?!??!

Being mobile has been awesome for me. It eliminates the boundaries of how far a customer is willing to go as well as mentioned before about the time they are willing or able to leave their automobile with you.

I figured if I do take the jump to owning a shop leap that I would offer a pick up or drop off service - that way you can have best of both worlds - eliminating those boundaries and having everything you possibly need at your finger tips.

Important things about being Mobile :

*Even if you think you don't need it, bring it! I have wasted a lot of gas and time because of this before.

* Must adapt to your surroundings : When I go to other company shops, I learn the rules and regs and abide by them - so not to upset my client in any way.

Also, I have had to detail vehicles on grass, gravel, steep grades,etc. Must inform employees of safety precautions - can't assume they already know. Drop a microfiber on gravel - common sense, don't use it......... trust me, not all employees know this! Steep grade, chock equipment - don't let roll down hill to its death! Simple things like these that they are not used to having to practice.

Once again, I know Mobility will be good to add to a shop, but would adding a shop be worth it for a strictly Mobile Business?
 
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I don't detail full time, but I detail 25-30hrs a week. I don't believe any of our members are in this category, but caution to mobile detailers. Most of my business is from people getting burned or unhappy with the mobile detailers. My clients complain that attention to detail was lost somewhere in the process vs. me picking up their vehicle and giving it my undivided attention. Now I'm not implying that any of our members practice this type of business, because there's a lot of passion here, but giving a little caution. :dblthumb2:
 
It's going be very hard to run both a store and mobile unless you have a partner that is equally as good or better. So one of you can do mobile while the other person stays in shop and work on exterior.

Are you running the shop by yourself? If you are I would find it very hard to run both unless you can find someone you trust to work on people cars. Its your name on the line not theirs.
 
I detail part time and I don't have an actual shop that I detail out of but I use my garage and house as my shop. I also offer to travel to someone's house. I don't have a mobile set up as of yet.

I think it's a great idea, and I'm assuming you have people working for you that you trust. So, if they are out making money being mobile and you can make money in the shop it's a win win. At least the way that I look at it. It widens you customer base and enables you to get the customers who can't leave their car with you for hours on end.
 
You could always reserve the full details for shop only, and have your mobile service for the faster jobs - basic packages. Your shop could very well slow down when regular customers prefer you to come to them, leaving your shop open for the larger projects. Maybe add a $5 fee to go to them - bet they wouldn't mind the additional charge.
 
I am thinking that the paint corrections be done only in the shop and the mobile rig be outfitted for the maintenance of your already detailed customers and wash and wax only. That way the mobile outfit can benefit from a volume of quick work without the worry of an employee creating any buffer damage.

I believe that regardless of their pay scale, nobody will care as much as you do about your image.
 
Kristopher1129 said:
I'm just curious how many of you detail for a living.

If you do...do you have a shop? mobile? or both?

If you have both, do you have a tough time running both sides of the business?

I have a busy shop right now. I am adding a mobile van in the spring. I usually answer the calls, do all the exteriors (I hire interior guys), and deal with the customers. I'm a little concerned with having a mobile van out there at the same time, may be overwhelming. Thoughts??
Click to expand...

Renting a Commercial piece of property will wear your bottom line out if your working solo (w/ ocasional helper sometimes/maybe) By the time you pay rent, utilitys, ins. You will need to clear around 2k here a month. Thats before you even eat, much less try to pay a home mortgage and all the cost associated with that. If you have kids, you might as well forget it

If you want to hire 3 or 4 + employees to work wholesale accts to offset the costs, then your problems really begin. "If" you can find goods ones that will not only show up regularly, but also e able to preform "Consistantly" then you are not only responsible for your responsibilities, your responsible for "all" theirs too.

Best thing is to be able to work from your home, and when necesary, work from your clients home.

I could right the manual on this subject


jimmyjam said:
I don't detail full time, but I detail 25-30hrs a week. I don't believe any of our members are in this category, but caution to mobile detailers. Most of my business is from people getting burned or unhappy with the mobile detailers. My clients complain that attention to detail was lost somewhere in the process vs. me picking up their vehicle and giving it my undivided attention. Now I'm not implying that any of our members practice this type of business, because there's a lot of passion here, but giving a little caution. :dblthumb2:
Click to expand...


Yea, Jimmyjam. I've seen and heard some real doozers out of the parking lot guys around here. I know it doesn't represent all of them, but its easy to get lumped in with tha hack 4 sure
 
Wow awesome feedback guys. Thank you. I am in a rush at the moment, and can't respond to everybody. But, I will be back later...after the Pats win of course!:dblthumb2: I'll answer everyone back. There's some details I'd like to share that may bring some different views. I'll explain what exactly it is I'm doing. Thanks!
 
Flash Gordon said:
Renting a Commercial piece of property will wear your bottom line out if your working solo (w/ ocasional helper sometimes/maybe) By the time you pay rent, utilitys, ins. You will need to clear around 2k here a month. Thats before you even eat, much less try to pay a home mortgage and all the cost associated with that. If you have kids, you might as well forget it

If you want to hire 3 or 4 + employees to work wholesale accts to offset the costs, then your problems really begin. "If" you can find goods ones that will not only show up regularly, but also e able to preform "Consistantly" then you are not only responsible for your responsibilities, your responsible for "all" theirs too.






Yea, Jimmyjam. I've seen and heard some real doozers out of the parking lot guys around here. I know it doesn't represent all of them, but its easy to get lumped in with tha hack 4 sure
Click to expand...


Well - after hearing the kid comment that I may stay Mobile lol - I've got my 5th kid on the way!!! But I should have a great crew here in 10 years lol!!!

I feel the quality employee deal - I have had three very good workers but will loose them within the next 2 weeks - right before Spring!!! One just got a job as an aircraft mechanic up north - - - - another landed a paying internship as an accountant @ $20 hr (can't match that ) - - - - - and the other is pregnant! They all showed up and worked as hard as me and were very experienced - gonna miss that. Now Im forced to find people I have never dealt with and could very well be lazy or never on time. Someone made the comment about polishing - I totally agree with that........ Even though my guys were experienced, I did ALL the polishing - couldn't trust anyone with that!


Crazy to hear these negative comments about mobile detailing - I've never had a complaint and seriously 80% of the time a client tosses an xtra $25 for jobs - no joke around 80% of the time!!! Sad to hear that cause people may dismiss my services cause of other mobile detailers.... that's gotta change!
 
I personally would always think that a shop is worth. My shop is my biggest advertisement. It's great cause customers always know where I am, and can reach me easily. Of course there's telephones. But, I find that people like to meet face to face a lot of times.

In the spring, summer, and fall when my shop is cranking out 4-5 vehicles a day, 6 days a week, and the bays are wide open. That's fantastic advertisement! Especially next to a busy road. Not to mention, that when a customer stops in to ask questions...they can see we are busy and people come to us often. It's a big statement to have a busy location.

If you can find a good location, and a decent rent price...it's not a bad idea. Especially if you are good at drawing clients in, and you have a little cash to spend on advertisement. I'd say go for it. Although, paying $2000-$3000 is a bit much to start off in my opinion. Unless you have a ton of clients...I'd start smaller. Thanks for the mobile tips too!!
 
slickooz said:
It's going be very hard to run both a store and mobile unless you have a partner that is equally as good or better. So one of you can do mobile while the other person stays in shop and work on exterior.

Are you running the shop by yourself? If you are I would find it very hard to run both unless you can find someone you trust to work on people cars. Its your name on the line not theirs.
Click to expand...

I will be running the shop. But, I won't be alone to do all the work. I do have two very trustworthy guys to handle the mobile. I've got my usual interior guy (who happens to by my girlfriends little brother), and my best exterior guy (a friend of over 10 years). So, I am not the least bit worried about the quality of work. Both of these people have been trained by me as well, so they do what I expect of them.

My plan is to basically just hire someone to be with me at the shop. That way, if something goes wrong I'm there to catch it. Also, if someone needs training...I would gladly teach them the interior ropes. I would actually rather get someone with no experience than someone with experience, ha

I've come to find that people with "experience", are typically only experienced in doing things the wrong way. I'd rather start with a fresh mind than have to tell someone they're doing things incorrectly, or have to argue as to why I won't let them touch exteriors. I've had to deal with my fair share of egos. As soon as someone comes in looking for a job, and they start bragging about how they can do this and that...they don't get a phone call, ha. I just don't wanna deal with it. :xyxthumbs:
 
SeaJay's said:
I detail part time and I don't have an actual shop that I detail out of but I use my garage and house as my shop. I also offer to travel to someone's house. I don't have a mobile set up as of yet.

I think it's a great idea, and I'm assuming you have people working for you that you trust. So, if they are out making money being mobile and you can make money in the shop it's a win win. At least the way that I look at it. It widens you customer base and enables you to get the customers who can't leave their car with you for hours on end.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on that. I think it will start out tough, just because we are all used to working out of the shop. But, once we get a system down...I think it will work out really well. Plus I can get double the income! Which would be really nice :dblthumb2:
 
B&B Tennessee said:
You could always reserve the full details for shop only, and have your mobile service for the faster jobs - basic packages. Your shop could very well slow down when regular customers prefer you to come to them, leaving your shop open for the larger projects. Maybe add a $5 fee to go to them - bet they wouldn't mind the additional charge.
Click to expand...

I thought of that too. But I think it would be best to bust out the full details. There are things that will have to be done at the shop only. Basically because my guys aren't trained to do certain things. Stuff like headlight restores, and paint correction, graphics removal, oxidation, etc will be shop required appointments.

But, I do have faith in my two mobile guys. They are more than able to do top notch interior, and exterior work. But, the tough stuff can stay with me. Besides...I like the tough stuff :xyxthumbs:
 
tuscarora dave said:
I am thinking that the paint corrections be done only in the shop and the mobile rig be outfitted for the maintenance of your already detailed customers and wash and wax only. That way the mobile outfit can benefit from a volume of quick work without the worry of an employee creating any buffer damage.

I believe that regardless of their pay scale, nobody will care as much as you do about your image.
Click to expand...

That is sort of my main concern. I want to make sure that my guys handle themselves as I would with customers, and the service. I think the two guys I chose will do just that. They're long time friends and are actually pretty excited to start up in the spring. Should be interesting...
 
Sounds like you have a good crew working with you and you shouldn't have any main worries. Since I have started I have been at every job but 1 - and I was uncomfortable the whole time. But with expansion comes risk and it seems that your risk is fairly low with the quality guys you have. I don't believe that getting overwhelmed would be a bad thing - just means add another to the payroll and bring in more profit.

I talked to a company in New Jersey that apparently had 2 or 3 shops and they decided to sell them all and become completely mobile - why they did this I'm not sure, but they did tell me that everything was great until winter hit. They wish they had their shops back then. I think it is always a good idea to diversify which sounds like you are doing that. Will be a good move - good luck and toss any Mobile questions my way man!!!
 
I will be more than willing to move up to NH and help you out. Oh wait, it snows there...nevermind Kris.
 
B&B Tennessee said:
Sounds like you have a good crew working with you and you shouldn't have any main worries. Since I have started I have been at every job but 1 - and I was uncomfortable the whole time. But with expansion comes risk and it seems that your risk is fairly low with the quality guys you have. I don't believe that getting overwhelmed would be a bad thing - just means add another to the payroll and bring in more profit.

I talked to a company in New Jersey that apparently had 2 or 3 shops and they decided to sell them all and become completely mobile - why they did this I'm not sure, but they did tell me that everything was great until winter hit. They wish they had their shops back then. I think it is always a good idea to diversify which sounds like you are doing that. Will be a good move - good luck and toss any Mobile questions my way man!!!
Click to expand...

Thank you very much! I appreciate that.

I agree...it sounds like the main risk to going mobile is basically who you have doing it for you. I feel I covered that base very well.

About the guy with 3 shops switching to mobile. That was always something I wondered about mobile guys. I didn't get how they survived the winter. For me, winter really sucks as well. But, I can still do a vehicle or two a day inside the shop. So it's not SO bad. I really can't imagine having to stop working completely and wait till the warmer weather. Especially up here in New England! I mean it gets pretty cold in November.

One thing I would like to ask you though. I assume you have set rates for certain services and packages. But, I would like to get your opinion on this. I have my set shop rates. I was planning on adding $50 for the mobile service to come out. I felt that was a fair rate being that I already have a shop...and mobile isn't a must for me. Plus, there's not many, if any at all, professional mobile detailers around here. You think that's too much to ask? Cause I also thought of maybe charging $25, but then charging $50 if I have to run off my generator and water tank alone. What do you think?
 
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