Detailing as a side job?

I want to be competitive with the local competition. I'm a little confused as to how "less expensive" means charging more..
 
you dont give any background info

what area do you live? do you have other reputable detailers around you? how is your market? will you be home-based or mobile? you wanna be competitive in your area, is that against the $10 wash guys or the guys putting out concours/show level cars?

you need a solid business plan
read up on marketing/sales books
look up Renny Doyles book 'How to start a home-based car detailing business'
choose products
 
Wow,

I did my first paid detail in 2012 to a 2004 Mercedes CL65 AMG. Spent 14 hours on it and was paid $250.00. They loved it.

Bruce
 
For those of you who suggest to do friends and neighbors first..

I recently moved to a new neighborhood and While out detailing my car yesterday I had a few people approach me saying "you shouldn't have let me seen you doin that , now I'm gonna have to see if you can do my car!" Lol

I already washed and dried and cleaned the wheels of an elderly woman next door.. I didn't ask for anything , she gave me 12$ and I was stoked. Was just trying to help her out, she's asking for a wax and i asked if she'd like her headlights restored.

I don't know what answer to say to the other neighbor who asked, she has a 07 328i in black.

With friends and neighbors did y'all ask for donations or a minimum amount? I figured donations since you're just getting started then they could spread the word, but I don't want the word going around that I take donations lol..
Thanks!
 
itzzjordan_ said:
Hey guys! So I am looking to detail on the side around my area. I plan on doing mainly light work like washing, waxing, light upholstery cleaning and other basic things. I have purchased basically everything I should need besides a buffer. I want to keep my prices pretty low so I can beat out the local competition. I was wondering what some of you guys charge for various services and how did you go about promoting your work?
Click to expand...

So what happens when you get tired of performing 'light work' details and want to raise your prices and some new detailer comes along and undercuts you?

You're going to do this part-time, but what happens when you get too many clients to do it part-time at a cheap rate? So you're busting your rear and not making any money?

You might want to think this through.
 
I detail as a side gig. I've done 2 complete details for the same person. Raked in $450 and they have another complete detail scheduled with me next month.
My advice. Go the extra mile on your first few customers. You want them to talk you up. Plus doing so will make you stand out from the others.

DO NOT GO CHEAP!! I price my services at $40 per hr. Sometimes a detail will take longer than expected sometimes less.
 
So I find this topic to be of interest as well... I have a full time job, but would not mind doing detail work on the weekends something like one car. However my question is do I need a business license and insurance? My fear is that until you factor in items such as a licence, insurance, materials, and time that doing one car on a weekend as a side job want even let your break even. What is that fine line if one even exists between being paid for a "hobby" and running a "business". To me I just view this as a weekend hobby and I don't want to make a ton of money I just want to be able to cover the cost of my new toys. lol

Thoughts?
 
RubbishReview said:
So I find this topic to be of interest as well... I have a full time job, but would not mind doing detail work on the weekends something like one car. However my question is do I need a business license and insurance? My fear is that until you factor in items such as a licence, insurance, materials, and time that doing one car on a weekend as a side job want even let your break even. What is that fine line if one even exists between being paid for a "hobby" and running a "business". To me I just view this as a weekend hobby and I don't want to make a ton of money I just want to be able to cover the cost of my new toys. lol

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
IMO C.Y.A.

Say your doing a car and you burn through the paint and you do not have the insurance to cover such a heart sinking feeling? You customers expect that you hvae the tools and knowlegde to take care of what they love (their vehicle) without doing any harm to it in the process. The more vehicles you do the more of a chance you run that something will happen. Take the precautions to cover yourself properly and save yourself the headaches later.
 
Evan.J said:
IMO C.Y.A.

Say your doing a car and you burn through the paint and you do not have the insurance to cover such a heart sinking feeling? You customers expect that you hvae the tools and knowlegde to take care of what they love (their vehicle) without doing any harm to it in the process. The more vehicles you do the more of a chance you run that something will happen. Take the precautions to cover yourself properly and save yourself the headaches later.
Click to expand...

That is pretty much what I have been thinking which means that doing this as a hobby with other peoples cars is not going to happen. Really even doing this as a side job would be hard esp if you planed on only doing it on the weekend that means you might be able to do 1 to 2 cars a weekend. Until you factored in cost for time, supplies, and insurance premiums I don't think you would make anything or even brake even.
 
RubbishReview said:
That is pretty much what I have been thinking which means that doing this as a hobby with other peoples cars is not going to happen. Really even doing this as a side job would be hard esp if you planed on only doing it on the weekend that means you might be able to do 1 to 2 cars a weekend. Until you factored in cost for time, supplies, and insurance premiums I don't think you would make anything or even brake even.
Click to expand...


Insurance is very cheap and can cost you very little per year. Call your insurance company and explian what you want to do. They will give you a price you may have to shop around but is not as much as you may think.
 
Evan.J said:
Insurance is very cheap and can cost you very little per year. Call your insurance company and explian what you want to do. They will give you a price you may have to shop around but is not as much as you may think.
Click to expand...

But even with insurance you are not 100% protected, you would most likely need to have a business that is listed as an LLC. Which once again for a weekend side job I don't think you could make enough money to cover all of that. It is an interesting thought though I may call my insurance company just to see what it would cost.

However on the plus side of things if you did create the business and turned it to a LLC and got the insurance, you should be able to write must of all of this off as an expense including most of your tools... Hmmm never thought of it like this... this may be something to look into, time to find an accountant.
 
If you do it strictly as a side gig for some extra spending cash, you would still get ins.?Also also incorporate urself?
 
Somewhere I got the idea that about 3% of the people who own cars will have them, "detailed"; and I cannot remember where I read that. If accurate, that can give you an idea about the detailing market in your area.
As I see it, how much is it going to cost you to do a car? Car Wash, (Clay, Clay Lube), wax- these things need to be replaced. If you polish- it needs to be replaced, and what about pads?, towels? These things cost you money to do the job and need to be factored into what you charge. Someone did a post on the cost of car washes a while back. Washing a car with "boutique" car wash and drying it with a microfiber guzzler will cost you more, which you pass along while the other guy is using a bottle of Ivory and a beach towel; it doesn't cost him anything. Figure out your cost, then figure our how much you're going to charge for your time/expertise.
Over the years I've bought an air compressor, PC 7424XP for 5" pads & PC 7424 for 3" pads, Detailer Pro wet/dry vacuum (great machine by the way), quite an assortment of pads and bunch of microfiber towels. Those costs are mine.
It's been a while but the last time I calculated the cost of doing a car wash, clay, and wax was maybe than $5 in product (although the clay cost is a variable). It takes me 1 1/2 hours to wash & clay a daily driver with "normal" dirt on it and wash the wheels. It takes an additional 1 1/2hours to wax a car, put on tire dressing and do all the final "little things". So, $5 in product replacement and 3-4 hours work.
 
BlackRam said:
If you do it strictly as a side gig for some extra spending cash, you would still get ins.?Also also incorporate urself?
Click to expand...

You really don't have much of a choice otherwise you take a lot of risk... Lets say say that you are just working on a friends car and you screw up the clear coat some how on the hood and you have to have the hood repainted. You nor your friend have the ability or money to have the hood repainted. So your friend does the next best thing which is he turns it in to his personal car insurance and they agree to pay for it. However there is a really good chance that they are going to want there money back which means that his insurance with or without his blessing will most likely sue you to get there money back. In a perfect world no I would not get the insurance or the INC, but its the only way that you can protect yourself. That being said you can set up an INC for around $100 so that is not a huge expense, I have yet to find out how much the insurance is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top