Is the real money in lower end detailing??

Re: "Is the real money in lower end detailing"??

If a person is one of the "lower-end Detailers"...
Then the answer would almost assuredly have to be: Yes...For them.

Now, if only I knew the true definition of a "lower-end Detailer"...
Can anyone here :help: me with that definition? Thanks.

Bob
 
jankerson said:
The job market sucks and it will suck for a long time.....

Just don't rush things and you will be fine and making a really good living in the long run...

Rush it and get the wrong type of clients and you will be done inside of 5 years....

Don't worry about what other people are doing...... BIG MISTAKE....

It's your future that you are building that matters.....

Take your time and with the right clients you will be making more steady income that you would expect and possibly be able to expand and hire people to work for you in the future.

Or you can rush it and be like most of the small business that fail inside of 5 years.....
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Good advice. Just anxious, always trying to do something to make myself or business better. Not dumping money into random things but just trying to learn about products, techniques, etc. Learning how to operate a business and all that. A lot to learn.
 
I've been having a hard time selling my "maintenance details" which go from regular wash and wax up to wash clay seal and every package includes glass, dash and center council wipe down, and vac. Which is surprising to me because I live in a low income area. Every customer I get wants the paint correction they want their car to shine without caring for the interior. Or they say its not something that I can't do myself. I hate doing interior work but it is a money maker my interior package starts at $50. Not sure if people think that's to much or don't trust my work all of my work is posted and I haven't had one single negative remark about my work. How do you guys sell your low end packages or do they sell themselves what might I be doing wrong?
 
HighAngleHell said:
I've been having a hard time selling my "maintenance details" which go from regular wash and wax up to wash clay seal and every package includes glass, dash and center council wipe down, and vac. Which is surprising to me because I live in a low income area. Every customer I get wants the paint correction they want their car to shine without caring for the interior. Or they say its not something that I can't do myself. I hate doing interior work but it is a money maker my interior package starts at $50. Not sure if people think that's to much or don't trust my work all of my work is posted and I haven't had one single negative remark about my work. How do you guys sell your low end packages or do they sell themselves what might I be doing wrong?
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If all your doing is paint correction then you should be making good money then and selling maintenance washes at least. You need to educate your customers so they will sign up for maintenance washes. Say you hate doing interiors then why did you even start a detail business I make a lot of money from interior work.
 
I throw the word hate around a lot haha I don't hate doing interiors as if they are my number one enemy. They can just be a pain but are indeed get money makers when I can sell the package. Detailing isn't my main source of income I have 2 other jobs and detail on my down time if you could call it that lol. When I do corrections I let my customers know that now that their paint is corrected that I offer maintenance details to keep the car looking that great along with cleaning up the interior a bit (unless they request the interior package). But a lot of them just don't seem to care even after telling them your car isn't going to stay this shiny unless its kept up with. I don't know if its a money thing with some or they just decide they want to do it themselves.
 
i think are money everywhere, you just have to see them and know how to get them.
set-up your business and skills right and money will follow.
lower end usually get`s on volume side that can be productive if you don`t do the work :)
 
HighAngleHell said:
I throw the word hate around a lot haha I don't hate doing interiors as if they are my number one enemy. They can just be a pain but are indeed get money makers when I can sell the package. Detailing isn't my main source of income I have 2 other jobs and detail on my down time if you could call it that lol. When I do corrections I let my customers know that now that their paint is corrected that I offer maintenance details to keep the car looking that great along with cleaning up the interior a bit (unless they request the interior package). But a lot of them just don't seem to care even after telling them your car isn't going to stay this shiny unless its kept up with. I don't know if its a money thing with some or they just decide they want to do it themselves.
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I have customers that just have me do paint correction every spring and don't have me maintain it. When I charge they pay $700 to fix it every spring I'm good with that.
 
Very great input from everyone. Love these types of threads. Inspires me to go back and revise my business plan. Thanks all.
 
Do you pros who offer a wash & wax use anything to strip the old LSP before applying the new? I'm still confused when it comes to LSP stripping :dunno:
 
Challynger said:
Do you pros who offer a wash & wax use anything to strip the old LSP before applying the new? I'm still confused when it comes to LSP stripping :dunno:
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the LSP stripping in my books is when i coat the car , other than that i don`t know what lsp stripping is :dblthumb2:
 
kantonburg said:
Not that I'd every start detailing on the side. There is a guy in our town that advertises on our facebook yardsale site. Wash, wax, interior, windows, and tire shine.

$25

He does use a spray wax which is fine. But he does 3 vehicles every afternoon. This is after his full time job. My parents had him do both of their cars and he does an excellent job. He could easily charge $100, but our area wouldn't pay that. Small rural town.
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Gotta know your market.

I live in a small rural area too. I have no desire whatsoever to detail professionally. I just enjoy doing it with my own vehicles. But nobody would pay for it out here. Cars are frequently dirty and seeing 5 year old cars with clearcoat failure is not uncommon out here. Maintaining and caring for things seems to be a lost art out here. Many homes in some areas covered in green moss/mildew or caked in dirt. How hard is it just to hit it with a power washer?
 
Romans5.8 said:
Gotta know your market.

I live in a small rural area too. I have no desire whatsoever to detail professionally. I just enjoy doing it with my own vehicles. But nobody would pay for it out here. Cars are frequently dirty and seeing 5 year old cars with clearcoat failure is not uncommon out here. Maintaining and caring for things seems to be a lost art out here. Many homes in some areas covered in green moss/mildew or caked in dirt. How hard is it just to hit it with a power washer?
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I work in an area like that (My Reg Job) so i really know what you are talking about...

They can't even keep up on the mechanical maintenance or put tires on their cars. Most of them sound like they are falling apart and they aren't really that old either. Forget about washing them too other than running it though the automatic that is right across the parking lot with the quick oil change place, and most don't even do that....

The cars that are maintained are owned by people who don't live there for the most part.... They just work out there like I do.

What they do have money for is drugs, booze and lottery tickets, car maintenance is way at the bottom of the list if it even makes the list at all. Food is bought with food stamps etc so that should give one a general idea of the area. Bills are paid using Western Union and or Bill Pay at the Local Food Store.

McDonald's is busy almost all day everyday.

I live over 25 miles away from there and things are much different...
 
Great input from everyone here and it shows how different each person's market is. I have a handful of customers with "better" cars, but my bread and butter this summer has been the daily driver to higher end family truckster. I have no complaints about doing either and have no issue being handed a dirty interior as long as I know going in (I had a couple of unwelcomed surprises upon arriving at jobs this summer). I think in my area what a lot of my customers don't understand is that I don't charge by vehicle brand. I have the 3 "S's" - Size, Services and Severity. What it all comes down to is how much actual time I believe will be spent and how much material will be used. I have base prices and work from there but once the vehicle is inspected with the customer I'm averaging out to about $40/hr which, as a p/t business is just fine with me and my customers don't feel like they're getting ripped off. Most recently I was asked to "clean up the scratches and make it look nice" on a new customer's Volvo. It looked great when it was done and he introduced me to his garage full of "high end" cars that I'll be seeing in the spring. One of those cases where the market is NOT necessarily what it appears to be. I also have a repeat customer who brings 2 cars to my house 3x/year and gets a great price on wash/wax (has zero desire to do the interiors inexplicably) because they're in and out in 3 hours. I could do those all day and charge more but in the long run I'm keeping this customer by fitting his budget AND schedule.
 
garyg7133 said:
Great input from everyone here and it shows how different each person's market is. I have a handful of customers with "better" cars, but my bread and butter this summer has been the daily driver to higher end family truckster. I have no complaints about doing either and have no issue being handed a dirty interior as long as I know going in (I had a couple of unwelcomed surprises upon arriving at jobs this summer). I think in my area what a lot of my customers don't understand is that I don't charge by vehicle brand. I have the 3 "S's" - Size, Services and Severity. What it all comes down to is how much actual time I believe will be spent and how much material will be used. I have base prices and work from there but once the vehicle is inspected with the customer I'm averaging out to about $40/hr which, as a p/t business is just fine with me and my customers don't feel like they're getting ripped off. Most recently I was asked to "clean up the scratches and make it look nice" on a new customer's Volvo. It looked great when it was done and he introduced me to his garage full of "high end" cars that I'll be seeing in the spring. One of those cases where the market is NOT necessarily what it appears to be. I also have a repeat customer who brings 2 cars to my house 3x/year and gets a great price on wash/wax (has zero desire to do the interiors inexplicably) because they're in and out in 3 hours. I could do those all day and charge more but in the long run I'm keeping this customer by fitting his budget AND schedule.
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Its nice how one car can turn into several, it seems that word of mouth and customer satisfaction is really paramount in this business. I really don't think there is a better way of marketing, unless you are a car wash or something like that. The Lehigh Valley is a great area, you can really cover any level of detailing in that area, it pretty much has ever niche. I would say my bread in butter is the mid range price point but I want to start squeezing in some higher range but the volume is nice. The mid range is nice though because it takes anywhere from 2.5-4 hours depending on the car. By myself I believe I could safely do three cars a day and live up to my standards for the client I am trying to reach. I try to treat my clients right, they all seem happy but business is slow. I mean, I officially just started but I am so anxious. I am always trying to figure out what I can do or how I can do something to make my business grow.
 
motoo344 said:
Its nice how one car can turn into several, it seems that word of mouth and customer satisfaction is really paramount in this business. I really don't think there is a better way of marketing, unless you are a car wash or something like that. The Lehigh Valley is a great area, you can really cover any level of detailing in that area, it pretty much has ever niche. I would say my bread in butter is the mid range price point but I want to start squeezing in some higher range but the volume is nice. The mid range is nice though because it takes anywhere from 2.5-4 hours depending on the car. By myself I believe I could safely do three cars a day and live up to my standards for the client I am trying to reach. I try to treat my clients right, they all seem happy but business is slow. I mean, I officially just started but I am so anxious. I am always trying to figure out what I can do or how I can do something to make my business grow.
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Mitch, I see you're right nearby. Have you ever google'd detailers in our area? I have 5 within about a 3 mile radius but nobody seems to have heard of any of them . I agree with you on the word of mouth for sure. It's been about 85% referral work this summer and a handful of "out of nowhere" calls. How about you?
 
I find it kind of funny people are doing full details in 2.5-4 hrs. I can't imaging whats really getting done in that time. I guess it depends what your calling a full detail. My complete detail takes 6-8 hours and there is now way todo it quicker unless your cutting corners.
 
garyg7133 said:
Mitch, I see you're right nearby. Have you ever google'd detailers in our area? I have 5 within about a 3 mile radius but nobody seems to have heard of any of them . I agree with you on the word of mouth for sure. It's been about 85% referral work this summer and a handful of "out of nowhere" calls. How about you?
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I have tried to learn as much about the competition as possible. There are two in my town, at least what I would call detailers, honestly I am surprised there isn't more. The one is definitely a volume operation, the other is mobile.

My business, not even a month old, has been a combo of people that found me through internet forums and a few friends. I picked a terrible time to start, didn't I? Unfortunately I cannot find any other sort of employment and I enjoy this tremendously so here I am.

I haven't gotten the outpouring of support I hoped from friends and family, which seems par for the course. People always want help but when I need their help everyone disappears.

Hoping that eventually people will take notice, I am on the locals for yahoo, bing and google. Have my website up, I have a bunch of prospects, which I truly hope lead to more business and so on. November could be great or it could be nothing.
 
Pureshine said:
I find it kind of funny people are doing full details in 2.5-4 hrs. I can't imaging whats really getting done in that time. I guess it depends what your calling a full detail. My complete detail takes 6-8 hours and there is now way todo it quicker unless your cutting corners.
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You should at least quote my post since you are referring to me. Our 'complete' packages are similar and that is just the time it takes me. I will say, I generally work and have worked on newer, smaller cars which I am sure plays a huge part in it. This coupled with the fact I don't have a carpet extractor yet make it quicker. I don't cut corners, ask my customers, I take a lot of pride in my work.
 
Kristopher1129 said:
It doesn't matter if they don't understand claying. You're the professional...they expect you to know things that they do not. Just tell the customer what comes with the package, and if they ask...then educate them. If anything they'll appreciate the info, or not ask.

I think $100 is cheap. But, then again I forget what it's like to start out. If that price is competitive in your area...then it's fair.

I know for me, I get anywhere from $79-$99 for just a wash and wax. That's a paint only service with light claying, no tire shine, no windows, no trim, none of that special stuff. It's literally a wash & wax. So yeah, I think throwing the interior in with that for only $100 is WAY too cheap.

Don't cheat yourself. An interior alone is worth at least $100 in my opinion.
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I agree totally i charge $100 for interior only you can spend 2hrs on an interior depending on several factors. Also if your a real business you have cost to pay like insurance, gas , up keep on everything and you have to pay your helper or employee and supplies i dont use cheap products so i charge accordingly.
 
Pureshine said:
I find it kind of funny people are doing full details in 2.5-4 hrs. I can't imaging whats really getting done in that time. I guess it depends what your calling a full detail. My complete detail takes 6-8 hours and there is now way todo it quicker unless your cutting corners.
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I guess it does depend on what you consider a 'full detail', because theres hardly ever a time I spend 6-8 hrs on a full detail.

To say there's no way to do it in less time unless they're cutting corners is absurd at best and condescending at worst. You have no idea how hard any other detailer works, nor how effecient they are.
 
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