Hi guys,
Really need some clarity here as all my research has really led me to being more confused than ever.
I am starting my own full time mobile detailing business, but would like to focus on paint correction and protection.
At the moment, I am a hobbist/weekend warrior with a 15mm throw free spinning DA.
To make the business profitable, I don't really have the luxury of spending forever on paint correction as I do now, so I am in the process of investing in tools that will make me correct paint faster and be profitable.
The issue is, I don't want to buy every tool under the sun, but only want key tools that allow me to do a high quality job in a full days work.
What tools will be valuable for speed and quality whilst remaining profitable?
- fixed rotation Rupes Mille or 3401?
- rotary buffer such as the flex pe-14?
- larger throw 21mm DA?
- Makita 2 in 1 PC05000?
- A few of the above?
Any advise from mobile detailer out there doing this for a living would be really valuable and appreciated. Even if you want to share your personal arsenal or other recommended tools that would be great.
I would like to keep my overheads to a minimum, but have a setup that allows me to tackle all jobs in a reasonable amount of time.
Thanks in advance.
Sent from my CLT-L29 using
Autogeekonline mobile app
I could write 20 pages on the subject so the difficulty here will be to give you the most pertinent information in a shot manner.
So, for me, doing full correction jobs (2 step or 3 step) is not something I aim for because as a mobile detailer, I want to be done in a single day, and don't want to make 16 hours days. My typical detail job is 10 hours and that is perfect for me.
So, what you will see is that most people who call you have daily drivers. So doing a full correction with a compounding step, a polishing step and a jewelling step makes no sense for that clientele. A week after you will have made their paint perfect, they will be at the local hand wash car wash or the tunnel wash and trash the paint again. So for me, as a mobile detailier, the one thing I always push is an AIO polish. I explain to the potential client that this will bring the shine back to what it was, and remove a reasonable amount of defect and most importantly it will remove the oxydation that makes the paint dull. In 7 years I have done 2 steps only twice, and hated it each time.
Now it's up to you, but trying to fit a 2 step correction in a single day is very challenging. And you might burn yourself out buffing for 8 to 10 hours a day. An AIO takes about 3 hours of buffing time, so it's very managable.
In terms of tools, here is what I carry:
Dewalt Rotary polisher: I never use it. Maybe if I get around to train with it I will love it, but everytime I have tried it I saw no improvement over what I can do with my long throw machine
Rupes 21ES 21mm polisher: This is my main buffer. I replaced the backing plate with the 5 inch one for better performance and more cut. The newer models are even better.
Boss G15 15mm polisher: Picked that one up while my Rupes was in the shop for repair. Not as good but it works better on curves pannels so I use it on Porshes and other vehicles with lots of curved panels.
Meguiar's 8mm polisher: This one has been assigned to carpet and seat cleaning with a soft brush attached to it.
Torx 10X: An other one I picked up while my Rupes was in the shop. It's a 10mm orbit I believe, might be 8mm... I use it for applying sealants. It's very light and never bogs down so I love working with it, almost no vibration too.
Porter Cable 8mm : This one has a 3 inch backing plate attached and I use it on small panels where the 5.5 inch pad is just too big.
Griot's Garage 3inch polisher: Replaced the backing plate with a 2 inch one and use it on even smaller spots that the 3 inch would struggle at
Rotary has it's own skill set. If you don't know how to use one, I would simply stick to a DA, they can do almost everything a Rotary can and the stuff that it can't do is not something you should be trying to sell anyway (see above).
Now between forced Rotation and Long Throw, both are amazing for different reasons. Long throws don't vibrate much and work extremelly well on flat panels. Forced rotation will beat you up over time, they are more tiring to use but their ability to work on any panel shape without loosing cutting power can save you time on some vehicles. It's a matter of choice really.
As for secondary machines, you should definatelly have a 3 inch machine of some kind. If you don't you will have a lot of problems on some panels. Long throws are very bad at having only part of the pad in contact with the surface, you will destroy a lot of pad if you are forced to do that... since pads are expensive, get a cheap polisher and put a 3 inch backing plate on it. The 3 inch machine from Griots lack power, you should use something else instead. Just make sure it has a standard backing plate screw in, so either the Griot's garage 6 inch machine or a porter cable, or anything similar. Torx have their own backing plate interface so that would not be a good choice. Same for Rupes and Boss machines.
As for packages. I suggest you bottom package (in terms of price) is a complete exterior detail that would include a detailed wash, paint decontamination (chemical) and maybe mechanical (clay bar) as well but the issue here is putting marring and micro scratches in the paint without a follow up with a polishing step for I don't do mechanical in my basic detail. The apply a sealant. For sealants you can go traditionnal like PowerLock or Insulator Wax or do spray sealant instead to have lower prices. I suggest you start at 99$ if you can come up with a package that make sense timewise and product wise. Anything lower and you are not making any money. And when you sell that 99$ package, make sure to do an inspection of the vehicle with the client and point out any issue you can correct and try to upsell when you are there. Sometimes this can be super profitable, you get there to do a 99$ package and before you know it you are repairing 4 scratches for 80$ and applying Aquapel for 30$ on top of the basic plan.
Other than that, coatings are super profitable. I use McKee's 37 2 year coating as my base coating offering and this year I added Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light with a in house warranty of 5 years. I add and extra 120$ to the price of the package for the warranty and I ask people to do a yearly manintenance with me to keep it valid. The maintenance is a detail with only chemical decon and I use a ceramic sealant to top off the coating.
So here are the most important things you must know:
1. Finding clients at first is very hard. Make sure you have a good website and work on the SEO, It takes time but once you start to get to the first page and the first place on the page, you will start to get more calls for free.
2. Instead of doing like I did and all other detailers do, don't spend all your money on tools or products. Spend it on advertizing. Facebook is great, it allows you to target the group of people you want. And the group of people you want have nice luxury cars and plenty of disposable income. The guy with the Subaru STI might love his car, but he will detail it himself. The lawyer or doctor who works 80 hours a week won't want to bother and can afford your services.
3. Try to focus on only a few packages if you can, but adjust depending on the client's need. I used to have 3 interior packages, I cut it down to one. I do have several combo packages to focus on interior and/or exterior.
4. If you don't know yet, try to learn additional services that would good upsells when you meet the clients. Things like headlight restoration, engine details, etc can add a lot of money in your pocket. These are not things I try to sell on the phone unless they call me for this specifically. If you make a big price tag on the phone, the person might decide to shop around. So on the phone I try to sell a package for either detailing or polishing and when I get there I try to upsell. Been working well for me.
5. When people call you and tell you that the car looks good and the interior is not that dirty, always imagine it 10 times worse than what they are saying. So don't give them a big discount because you won't have much work to do (in your mind). Everytime a client tells me that, it's one of the worst condition car I have seen. People don't have the eye for it and some are simply dishonest. Don't fall in that trap.
6. If you have not done so, make a spreadsheet to calculate your packages and services prices. You have to take into account the following:
- Your time at an hourly rate that is good for you
- Product costs
- Driving time and cost
- A profit for the company (all that time doing advertizing, web editing, talking to potential clients on the phone, etc)
Probably missing a lot of good info but I think this should get you started.
For your tools, try to get the minimum needed to do the job. When money flows in you can start buying all the toys you want, but when you start out, advertizing is where you want to put your money. Facebook allows you to advertize for as low as 5$ per day. Take advantage of it!
