Anyone doing washes for company employes with signup sheets?

Calendyr

Calendyr

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Hey guys,

I was just contacted by a company to submit a proposal to do washes for their employees on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule.

The company has over a 100 employees and they are located about an hour drive away from my house.

So, I have never done anything like this and I am not even sure I am interested. It would all depend on the kind of package I would be able to do.

So if you are doing this I have a few questions:

1. What kind of response do you typically get when you get on location? Are you doing 1, 5, 10 vehicles?

2. What kind of package work well for you, and what are you charging?

3. Is this something I could do as a single detailer or would I need to hire help?

4. Are there days to work better than others to do the work? ie. Would doing that on Fridays get a better response than doing it on Mondays?

5. Any advice is welcome.
 
Well I messaged the person back and he is thinking 20$ for cars and 25$ for SUVs. Don't think I am interested in that. I figure 1 hour per vehicle, so with commute and expenses that comes down to something like 10-15$/hour depending on how many cars I would need to do.

Would really like some feedback for this, none of you do this kind of work?
 
Aren't you just doing a simple wash/dry on each car? Or does this include tires, interior, etc..?

If you are just doing a simply wash/dry, I would think 15 minutes per car would suffice, even with a spray wax/drying aid to add some shine/protection.
 
I have never washed a car in 15 minutes :) I usually spend 40 minutes just to do the wheels ;)

Not sure how long it would take me to do a quick wash like that. I am thinking 10 mins to powerwash the car to remove the heavy dirt. I could follow with a rinseless to save time, so about 10 mins to do that I would think. Then doing wheels quickly would take about 10 more mins if I want to degrease them. Drying car off with spray wax an other 10 mins. And dressing tires 10 more mins. So I am at the 50 minutes mark already and the guy who contacted me was interested in vacuum of the interior so that's 15 mins more. I don't see how I can go to 15 mins doing all that. If I could Knock it off in 30 mins, then 20$ would be acceptable. I think I will have to try to do this on my own car and see how long it takes. My Express exterior detail takes me between 2-3 hours depending on the vehicle. So doing that in 30 mins seems a bit crazy to me. But I will give it a shot ;)
 
That's a tough one to make money on. Especially since most of the cars are probably neglected and have never had a clay bar or wax touch the paint which makes washing/drying a lot more difficult and time consuming. It usually takes me about 30-45 minutes to do a basic full wash including wheels and drying on a car I detailed and maintained by myself. I guess it depends how good of a job they want but if your like me (OCD) I can't leave a car half-assed.
 
I guess I was going off your original post where you said you were asked to wash some cars, which to me is washing and drying and could be done in 15 minutes per car.

if you are going to be expected to clean both tires and wheels, apply tire dressings, and vacuum out the interiors, and take an hour per car, then there is no way you should be taking this job for $20/25 per car.

Sound like they want a full detailing job at a car wash price.
 
Remember that most random people either tunnel wash or don't wash at all, so these aren't prized detailing customers. Cars are just appliances and status symbols. If you want to play in the low end of the market you have to focus on volume.

*Corporate Client Specials* (Minimum $400 for on-site services)
$20 standard touchless wash - foam, rinse, blow dry
$40 standard hand wash - foam, rinse, hand wash, towel dry
$60 deluxe hand wash - wheel detail, glass clean, dress tires, foam, rinse, hand wash, towel dry

*Additional Services Available*
$$ Interior
$$ Protectants and Coatings
$$ Headlight Restoration
$$ etc. etc.

If you're lucky, you might be able to upsell and carve out a couple future clients. If not, at least you made a few bucks without breaking your back.
 
don't sell ur time and skill short, at those prices ur not getting much meat on the bone....those ppl are gonna expect a lot for the little bit they're paying....combine that with the drive time and it just doesn't sound like a good deal.

hopefully maybe u can discuss a more favorable rate that'll benefit u.... GL
 
Here where I work they have car washes about every other week, they send a email out to us asking who would like a car wash, the minimum is 5 cars in order to have him show up at the place. Here we have about 75 employees in which if he cannot wash all of them he tends to come the following day or another day same week. He charges $20 for cars and $25.00 for SUV. Usually he has about 1 or 2 helpers helping him out. He has a wash, vacuum, and dressing the tires that about it.
 
Calendyr said:
Hey guys,

I was just contacted by a company to submit a proposal to do washes for their employees on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule.

The company has over a 100 employees and they are located about an hour drive away from my house.

So, I have never done anything like this and I am not even sure I am interested. It would all depend on the kind of package I would be able to do.

So if you are doing this I have a few questions:

1. What kind of response do you typically get when you get on location? Are you doing 1, 5, 10 vehicles?

2. What kind of package work well for you, and what are you charging?

3. Is this something I could do as a single detailer or would I need to hire help?

4. Are there days to work better than others to do the work? ie. Would doing that on Fridays get a better response than doing it on Mondays?

5. Any advice is welcome.
Click to expand...
Not to be negative but you asked. I've been down that road you will make no money.Meaning your profit will not satisfy all that work.They will drive you crazy calling you at 9pm grunt work.If you just started this business then its a fastrack to meeting people and marketing yourself.Try it and see,I do 2 washes a month 65.00 each and I don't commit to when I will be there next.
 
Calendyr said:
Well I messaged the person back and he is thinking 20$ for cars and 25$ for SUVs. Don't think I am interested in that. I figure 1 hour per vehicle, so with commute and expenses that comes down to something like 10-15$/hour depending on how many cars I would need to do.

Would really like some feedback for this, none of you do this kind of work?
Click to expand...
Tell him no thanks not worth it .What if you have 10 cars and need a helper you will waste a day.
 
mengelhardt said:
Aren't you just doing a simple wash/dry on each car? Or does this include tires, interior, etc..?

If you are just doing a simply wash/dry, I would think 15 minutes per car would suffice, even with a spray wax/drying aid to add some shine/protection.
Click to expand...

Impossible.
 
Calendyr said:
I have never washed a car in 15 minutes :) I usually spend 40 minutes just to do the wheels ;)

Not sure how long it would take me to do a quick wash like that. I am thinking 10 mins to powerwash the car to remove the heavy dirt. I could follow with a rinseless to save time, so about 10 mins to do that I would think. Then doing wheels quickly would take about 10 more mins if I want to degrease them. Drying car off with spray wax an other 10 mins. And dressing tires 10 more mins. So I am at the 50 minutes mark already and the guy who contacted me was interested in vacuum of the interior so that's 15 mins more. I don't see how I can go to 15 mins doing all that. If I could Knock it off in 30 mins, then 20$ would be acceptable. I think I will have to try to do this on my own car and see how long it takes. My Express exterior detail takes me between 2-3 hours depending on the vehicle. So doing that in 30 mins seems a bit crazy to me. But I will give it a shot ;)
Click to expand...

A some what quality job on a car quickly its 45 minutes.That includes wash vac dry glass tires spraywax.just to clean the rims. 15 minutes. Here is the kicker if don't do a good job people won't accept your business.You need valued customers not price shopping.
 
mengelhardt said:
Aren't you just doing a simple wash/dry on each car? Or does this include tires, interior, etc..?

If you are just doing a simply wash/dry, I would think 15 minutes per car would suffice, even with a spray wax/drying aid to add some shine/protection.
Click to expand...

It's 98 and baking in Florida (Tampa) right now, you'd drop dead after the first couple cars :autowash:

On my best day I couldn't do a half decent wash and dry on a car in 15 minutes.
 
Ernie Mccracken said:
Remember that most random people either tunnel wash or don't wash at all, so these aren't prized detailing customers. Cars are just appliances and status symbols. If you want to play in the low end of the market you have to focus on volume.

*Corporate Client Specials* (Minimum $400 for on-site services)
$20 standard touchless wash - foam, rinse, blow dry
$40 standard hand wash - foam, rinse, hand wash, towel dry
$60 deluxe hand wash - wheel detail, glass clean, dress tires, foam, rinse, hand wash, towel dry

*Additional Services Available*
$$ Interior
$$ Protectants and Coatings
$$ Headlight Restoration
$$ etc. etc.

If you're lucky, you might be able to upsell and carve out a couple future clients. If not, at least you made a few bucks without breaking your back.
Click to expand...

You will never upsell a 25 dollar job.I say ditch the washing gig all together. If Johnny the customer calls and say hey I need a classic car done on thurs and you're supposed to be washing on thurs what are you going to do.600.00 dollar job or work for little profit and work hard.That's where you get caught up now 5 out of 10 people are passed.
 
And your in Canada.your gonna wash a salted dirty as can be car or truck for 20 to 25 bucks.you should not even think about it.
 
Well, thank you all for the feedback.

I did a test today on my own car. Set everything I needed to do a quick cleaning (power washer, ONR 5 gallon bucket with microfiber towels in it, spray bottle of Wheel Brightener, Degreaser (for tires), Tar-X in case I see Tar, opti-bond, vacuum.

My car is pretty small (Kia Rio LX+ Sedan 2016). It's in almost perfect shape but it was rather dirty, been raining here for almost 2 months straight so I have not washed it in about 2 months.

So I sprayed the mags with Wheel Brightener then power washed the car and wheels (no foam bath, just removing as much as I can with water) then I did an ONR cleaning followed by drying with D156. Then I look at my timer and I was already at the 47 minutes mark. I dressed the tires and called it a day cause it was 32 celcius and I was sweating like crazy I figure I was right on my time estimates, having vacuumed would have taken at least 15 minutes and dressing the wheels most likely took me 10 mins but I did not time it.

So ya, that's 1 hour at least per vehicule. I inspected the work afterwards cause I was rushing during the process. Car was clean but not perfect. Some areas were still a little dirty. It makes sense that ONR would not be able to perfectly clean a very dirty car unless you scrubbed and I don't do that with ONR because I don't want to damage the paint.

So I agree that at 20/25$ it's just not worth it. What I will do is instead of telling him no, I will give him a big discount on my express detail service and I will cut some of the things that make little difference but take time (like polishing the exhaust tips). I figure that once the equipment is setup, it should save me a lot of time, so instead of taking 2-3 hours to do the detail, I could probably do it in half the time. Will see what he says. If he is not interested then no sweat, if he is then it might be a good experience to try.

I was sure someone here was concentrating on that market, I think it was Firehouse Mike who posted about it a year or two ago... can't remember for sure.
 
Do you do this fulltime?If so offer a package like 70.00 for a wash vac windows tires and the secret sauce spraywax.Don't tell them its a spray.Get a gallon of d156 and leave the car spotless.That you can do being realistic. Stray from SUV or trucks in general.If it needs clay leave that for the full detail sector or add on.
 
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