Dunrite
New member
- Nov 7, 2014
- 31
- 0
Hey everyone. Wanted to start a thread to record my progress with my entry into the professional detailing world.
History: I've been doing detail work for myself for a few years and finally decided to expand my knowledge and offer my services to friends and family last year. I didn't receive a lot of work, but the work I did got good results and lots of compliments. That's what started me on my journey to where we are now.
Purchases: I had quite a bit of equipment of products prior to this year, but realized if I was going to do this 100% I would need to invest more into it with the intention of making my business profitable and well received.
My larger purchases were:
5x8 enclosed Haulin' trailer - $1695
Commerical powerwasher, water tank, booster pump - $1300
Trailer vinyls: $450
The small purchased add up very quickly as well. I had initially set a budget for myself of $4000 to get up and running and I think I'm a right at or just past that now.
Legalities: I lucked out and have a buddy who's a lawyer to help me with the legal paperwork. He did the work for free and said it's easy to do without a lawyer, but said he would have charged over $700.
Insurance: To insure my truck commercially, the trailer and to have a $1 million liability insurance policy costs me $275/month. My full coverage truck insurance was 180ish a month before hand to give you a reference. I received a few quotes from other companies that were way over what I ended up going with. Not sure why that is, but I went with Farm Bureau Insurance.
Promotion: I established a facebook page for my services last year and hadn't had any noticeable interest. This year, I created a website through Wix and began promoting on Facebook. I haven't found paying for facebooks advertising options to be effective. What I have found to be effective is promoting my services on local Facebook groups. I offered a $100 gift certificate to 1 random person, and I tripled my facebook likes within a day, along with many people asking about services and showing interest.
While I advertised that I provide fleet and commercial services, I anticipated mostly individual calls, maybe 5-10 cars a month. My Facebook attention caught the eye of a local used car dealer that was interested in using our services. I met with him, and we agreed on detailing 5-10 cars one day a week at $70-$100 per car. $70 for spray wax (hydro 2) and $100 for AIO (D151) I wasn't prepared for that volume of work, but hoping I can make it happen and show my wife some profit.
Future: I still need to finish the trailer. At this point I need to mount everything and add storage for bottles and containers as well as pads and microfibers. I still need to add an air compressor to my rig and that should be my last major purchase.
I plan on hiring 1 or 2 people to assist when doing the volume work. I anticipate 2 people can average 1 car/hour and I'll be able to pay a decent salary. This is going to be a play-it-by ear type thing.
I can't upload pics directly from my computer, but here's the trailer, the vinyl and the flooring. (I can't take credit for the flooring idea, but I cannot remember the name of the member that I seen do it first. I can't remember if it was this forum or another, either)
More pics and updates to comes as I move along here. Any questions or comments please feel free!
History: I've been doing detail work for myself for a few years and finally decided to expand my knowledge and offer my services to friends and family last year. I didn't receive a lot of work, but the work I did got good results and lots of compliments. That's what started me on my journey to where we are now.
Purchases: I had quite a bit of equipment of products prior to this year, but realized if I was going to do this 100% I would need to invest more into it with the intention of making my business profitable and well received.
My larger purchases were:
5x8 enclosed Haulin' trailer - $1695
Commerical powerwasher, water tank, booster pump - $1300
Trailer vinyls: $450
The small purchased add up very quickly as well. I had initially set a budget for myself of $4000 to get up and running and I think I'm a right at or just past that now.
Legalities: I lucked out and have a buddy who's a lawyer to help me with the legal paperwork. He did the work for free and said it's easy to do without a lawyer, but said he would have charged over $700.
Insurance: To insure my truck commercially, the trailer and to have a $1 million liability insurance policy costs me $275/month. My full coverage truck insurance was 180ish a month before hand to give you a reference. I received a few quotes from other companies that were way over what I ended up going with. Not sure why that is, but I went with Farm Bureau Insurance.
Promotion: I established a facebook page for my services last year and hadn't had any noticeable interest. This year, I created a website through Wix and began promoting on Facebook. I haven't found paying for facebooks advertising options to be effective. What I have found to be effective is promoting my services on local Facebook groups. I offered a $100 gift certificate to 1 random person, and I tripled my facebook likes within a day, along with many people asking about services and showing interest.
While I advertised that I provide fleet and commercial services, I anticipated mostly individual calls, maybe 5-10 cars a month. My Facebook attention caught the eye of a local used car dealer that was interested in using our services. I met with him, and we agreed on detailing 5-10 cars one day a week at $70-$100 per car. $70 for spray wax (hydro 2) and $100 for AIO (D151) I wasn't prepared for that volume of work, but hoping I can make it happen and show my wife some profit.
Future: I still need to finish the trailer. At this point I need to mount everything and add storage for bottles and containers as well as pads and microfibers. I still need to add an air compressor to my rig and that should be my last major purchase.
I plan on hiring 1 or 2 people to assist when doing the volume work. I anticipate 2 people can average 1 car/hour and I'll be able to pay a decent salary. This is going to be a play-it-by ear type thing.
I can't upload pics directly from my computer, but here's the trailer, the vinyl and the flooring. (I can't take credit for the flooring idea, but I cannot remember the name of the member that I seen do it first. I can't remember if it was this forum or another, either)
More pics and updates to comes as I move along here. Any questions or comments please feel free!
