And 4+ per day is fine, as long as you don't get burned out along the way. The best way to look at production work is it's like going to school, and being an intern. (a UNPAID intern)
Take every moment as a chance to learn. Figure out what does what, what polishes, what cleans, what saves time and what wastes time.
I approached towing the same way when I first got started in 85. I left my job to go on vacation over the Christmas holidays in 84 and never went back. (They all knew I was leaving though, and did turn in my paperwork.) I started as a 'contract' driver for a huge insurance auction service. I'd get up early, and work late and was buying a new truck every two years. The first year I drove over 80,000 miles. Second year over 90,000 miles. The trucks were getting worn out in only two years and I was GROSSING decent money but as a contract driver I had a lot of overhead.
By the time I was halfway through my 3rd truck I grew a brain! :nomore:
In year 5 I started doing 'retail' towing. Towing for the insurance companies rather than the auction yard that towed for the insurance companies. Towing for the dealers, where the customer was paying. Doing PRIVATE towing, that paid real money.
In the 6th year I drove less than 50,000 miles but made MORE money. By the 16th year for instance I'd got to the point where the only time I left town was if it paid MY rate. I made more money in the 10th year than I did in the 1st year and I was driving less than half the miles. (
And the cost per mile was actually higher, BECAUSE I was driving less, yet I was making MORE.)
You can lose money and stay home, there is no reason to leave home and still go in the hole. :dunno: What I'm saying is while you're young, and you want to bust your hump to make some bank then *do it*, but DO NOT think that's the way you have to KEEP doing it. Always look for the customer that will pay you what you are worth. And don't think that you are ONLY worth what you can get doing production detailing. The service industry will survive, and detailing is part of that industry. Albeit more towards the disposable income end of it.
Stick to your guns though on what to charge on ALL cars that DO NOT BELONG TO THE DEALERSHIP. Just because they are giving you the 'work' that doesn't give them the right to give you the *shaft*. I mentioned doing CARMAX work, and trust me, NOBODY is cheaper than those guys, NO-BODY!!! Yet the (car) buyers never expected us to tow their cars for the dealership rate. NEVER! They knew all along what they paid, and what was expected. As well as the fact that a 'normal' rate was easily TWICE what the 'buyers office' paid.
:iagree:with the suggestion that an outside job should pay you a minimum of the equal value to 3 $60 jobs. That is truth carved in stone. That's not to say a basic wash-n-wax wouldn't be $60, but then again that's not anything that requires you to have a buffer in your hand.
Once you pick up a buffer that's a different story.
I'm wondering if you ended up with Renny Doyle's book? Just that there is a ton of good info there, by someone that has been there, done that, (if ya' know what I mean).
@ Art - Hernandez
PMFJI here but "undercutting" would be bidding a job cheaper just to get the work. Unless it's a really high end detail, in the hundreds of dollars, there is plenty of lesser work to go around. No need to prostrate your business (or yourself) for a few bucks just to steal a job from the next guy.
Pricing a monthly customer is a different matter. Nobody gets a 'full detail' every month. The term "full detail" in and of itself is one to steer clear of as it lends itself to ambiguity at the very least. Perhaps its more of a maintenance package, especially on daily drivers.... which honestly can usually be done just washing and with a decent spray wax. Breaking out the buffer is something that might be done once or twice a year.
If you were to get 2 of them a day, wanting a "full detail", and each of those did it twice a year.
Based on 260 work days in a year, half a year is 130 days, 2 per day, that means you'd need 260 customers wanting a "full detail" just to get through your year. If they were only getting the "full detail" once a year you'd need 540 customers to keep your days full, at ONLY TWO PER DAY. (fwiw,
Renny Doyle goes over this as well.)
It was 37 miles, door to door between those locations, and they paid THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS per car! We first started hauling 2 with a rollback, but @ $70 one way that really wasn't making any money. (Even when you came back loaded, which was $140 round-trip because it took an average of 3 hours.) I had a custom 42' trailer built so I could haul 3 to 4 at a time. Finally started making money with them.