specific questions about starting a side car cleaning company.

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powerpunk5000

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ok, first off I'm 18 and work 30+ hours at my job and i hate it tbh. I'm in the process of getting my certificate for personal training. I love cars its one of my passions. I would love to have a steady or decent amounts of clients built up in the sumer so i could quite my job spend time on focusing on getting my certificate and spending time with my family. So i want to start a business in detailing with one of my friends or alone. I want to target average joes nothing high end, but i do have experience refinishing paint. wars, clay, compound, wax, steam cleaning ext. I also have some experience tinting but am no wear near the point wear i could charge money for it. So what i have at my disposal is a vr2500 briggs pressure washer a generator i could barrow from my father cheap buffers and a 6 cyl chevy truck and my friend has a doge mini van. So our main questions are what we need to hook the pressure washer up to a tank. Will a need a pump and how powerful will the pump have to be? also intend of buying a expensive tank is it possible to buy like a storage tub at walmart 50 gallons or so and make that work as our tank, and if so how should that be done? those are our main obstacles we are facing right now. We want to be mobile but not spend a huge amount of money.
 
Sorry I took so long, I went to go get a sandwich :D

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKBnJAmoE0w]Joe Fernandez-- High end detailing, detailing for the affluent! - YouTube[/video]

^ Check this video out
 
powerpunk5000 said:
ok, first off I'm 18 and work 30+ hours at my job and i hate it tbh. I'm in the process of getting my certificate for personal training. I love cars its one of my passions. I would love to have a steady or decent amounts of clients built up in the sumer so i could quite my job spend time on focusing on getting my certificate and spending time with my family. So i want to start a business in detailing with one of my friends or alone. I want to target average joes nothing high end, but i do have experience refinishing paint. wars, clay, compound, wax, steam cleaning ext. I also have some experience tinting but am no wear near the point wear i could charge money for it. So what i have at my disposal is a vr2500 briggs pressure washer a generator i could barrow from my father cheap buffers and a 6 cyl chevy truck and my friend has a doge mini van. So our main questions are what we need to hook the pressure washer up to a tank. Will a need a pump and how powerful will the pump have to be? also intend of buying a expensive tank is it possible to buy like a storage tub at walmart 50 gallons or so and make that work as our tank, and if so how should that be done? those are our main obstacles we are facing right now. We want to be mobile but not spend a huge amount of money.
Click to expand...

If I were you I would focus on getting more clients then tying up all your money on a Rig. Use your customers water/electricity. If using $2 worth of electricity causes them concern you are better off without them. Stay away from people who only want car washes too

I've found people who take care of their bodies typically take decent care of their cars. You should maybe hit up people at your gym. Maybe even ask if you could leave biz cards somewhere? Personal Training/Physical Therapy is a very smart business to be in. Get out of this one as soon as you can. I wouldn't want a biz partner in this either. One will give more then the other
 
There are tons of other treads here on those subjects. Just do a little reaserch.
 
Flash Gordon said:
If I were you I would focus on getting more clients then tying up all your money on a Rig. Use your customers water/electricity. If using $2 worth of electricity causes them concern you are better off without them. Stay away from people who only want car washes too

I've found people who take care of their bodies typically take decent care of their cars. You should maybe hit up people at your gym. Maybe even ask if you could leave biz cards somewhere? Personal Training/Physical Therapy is a very smart business to be in. Get out of this one as soon as you can. I wouldn't want a biz partner in this either. One will give more then the other
Click to expand...

Interesting observation! Makes sense to me.

:xyxthumbs:
 
so is your target audience "average joes?" or are you saying you dont want to do high end work?

because not many "average joes" will fork out more than $20 for a wash.

but if you want do do high-end, quality work, then the "average joes" wont pay for it.. at least ime.

Quality volume will be a nice way. If you and your friend are hard working individuals, and study up on business, 2 guys can run a mid volume operations.

Charge a huge SUV $200 for an AIO and finish it in 3.5 hours (only clean the face of wheels, no polishing on roof, no removal of deep scratches) that will average to ~$57 an hour. just a thought.

Mike finished an SUV in 4 hours: http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...ality-production-detailing-mike-phillips.html
 
Do more research. You'll be better for it in the long run as opposed to us spoon-feeding you and you still not really knowing. Then try things on your own.

First thing is to find out how 'involved' you want this to get. Is it weekends only? A lot of people want details the day they call. What will you do if you are working? Wait until the weekend or your off-day? Things to consider.

Prices. What will you charge?

Equipment. What do you need? Chemicals, polishes, compounds, cleaners, clay bar, tire dressing, adhesive remover, leather conditioner, pads, clay lubricant, window cleaner, waxes, metal polish, micro fiber towels, etc. etc.

I'd pass on the water tank. You really don't need it. Use Optimum No Rinse and 5 gal. buckets. (And that means you wont need the pressure washer either).

Keep us informed of how you're doing.
 
i want to get into personal training asap, but this would be a great summer job. me and my friend both get off at noon everyday because of our jobs and for the most part are off weekends. if we were able to get up to the level that we could quite our jobs we would. i probably make a little over $350 every two weeks, after taxes. so if i could get anywhere near that level id be happy. but i know it would take time. we are trying different prices based off of competition in the area. we would like to be fully mobile just because it seems unprofessional to use the customer electric/ hose, and we are worried about if we advertise we come to you if they'd except use to use there utilities. these are some of the prices we are thinking about using and what they include .



*All Clients over 10 miles from our current location please add a $15 surcharge

BRONZE

Cars $25
SUV/Vans $35
Large Vehicle* $40
100% Hand wash and dry
Clean interior glass & mirrors
Thorough interior vacuuming (floor mats, carpet, trunk, and seats)
Wipe-down of each door panel, dash, instrument panel, cup holder, interior plastics
Wheel & tire detail plus door-jams




SILVER
cars $30
SUV $40
larger $45
cludes Bronze Package
Spray wax for a showroom shine
Cup holder and dashboard detail.

GOLD
car$60
SUV $80
larger$90

includes silver package
application of tire dressing, trim, bumper
machine wax and buff.


and if we buy a hot water carpet extractor we plan to have a premium option that will include that.


there is a competitor thats mobile that is offering this sale


$39 for a 60-minute Express auto detail (up to a $125 value)

Hand wash and dry with cleaning of wheels, wheel wells, and tires
Vacuum interior, ashtray, and trunk
Spray wax that leaves surfaces shiny and protected for about one month
 
Flash Gordon said:
If I were you I would focus on getting more clients then tying up all your money on a Rig. Use your customers water/electricity. If using $2 worth of electricity causes them concern you are better off without them. Stay away from people who only want car washes too

I've found people who take care of their bodies typically take decent care of their cars. You should maybe hit up people at your gym. Maybe even ask if you could leave biz cards somewhere? Personal Training/Physical Therapy is a very smart business to be in. Get out of this one as soon as you can. I wouldn't want a biz partner in this either. One will give more then the other
Click to expand...

i quoted my prices below
 
DaVinciAutoSpa said:
Do more research. You'll be better for it in the long run as opposed to us spoon-feeding you and you still not really knowing. Then try things on your own.

First thing is to find out how 'involved' you want this to get. Is it weekends only? A lot of people want details the day they call. What will you do if you are working? Wait until the weekend or your off-day? Things to consider.

Prices. What will you charge?

Equipment. What do you need? Chemicals, polishes, compounds, cleaners, clay bar, tire dressing, adhesive remover, leather conditioner, pads, clay lubricant, window cleaner, waxes, metal polish, micro fiber towels, etc. etc.

I'd pass on the water tank. You really don't need it. Use Optimum No Rinse and 5 gal. buckets. (And that means you wont need the pressure washer either).

Keep us informed of how you're doing.
Click to expand...

i know what i need my main question was if i am able to use that modle of pressure washer off of a tank and if i can turn a storage tank into a water tank and how to do it
 
powerpunk5000 said:
i want to get into personal training asap, but this would be a great summer job. me and my friend both get off at noon everyday because of our jobs and for the most part are off weekends. if we were able to get up to the level that we could quite our jobs we would. i probably make a little over $350 every two weeks, after taxes. so if i could get anywhere near that level id be happy. but i know it would take time. we are trying different prices based off of competition in the area. we would like to be fully mobile just because it seems unprofessional to use the customer electric/ hose, and we are worried about if we advertise we come to you if they'd except use to use there utilities. these are some of the prices we are thinking about using and what they include .



*All Clients over 10 miles from our current location please add a $15 surcharge

BRONZE

Cars $25
SUV/Vans $35
Large Vehicle* $40
100% Hand wash and dry
Clean interior glass & mirrors
Thorough interior vacuuming (floor mats, carpet, trunk, and seats)
Wipe-down of each door panel, dash, instrument panel, cup holder, interior plastics
Wheel & tire detail plus door-jams




SILVER
cars $30
SUV $40
larger $45
cludes Bronze Package
Spray wax for a showroom shine
Cup holder and dashboard detail.

GOLD
car$60
SUV $80
larger$90

includes silver package
application of tire dressing, trim, bumper
machine wax and buff.


and if we buy a hot water carpet extractor we plan to have a premium option that will include that.


there is a competitor thats mobile that is offering this sale


$39 for a 60-minute Express auto detail (up to a $125 value)

Hand wash and dry with cleaning of wheels, wheel wells, and tires
Vacuum interior, ashtray, and trunk
Spray wax that leaves surfaces shiny and protected for about one month
Click to expand...

you need to do a lot more research, business plan, goals, objectives, plan of attack, marketing, advertising, quality, customer service, crm, etc..

ill start you off with a couple questions:

Who is your target audience?
How will you reach them?
What type of work do you want to put out?

:dblthumb2:
 
thebamboo23 said:
you need to do a lot more research, business plan, goals, objectives, plan of attack, marketing, advertising, quality, customer service, crm, etc..

ill start you off with a couple questions:

Who is your target audience?
How will you reach them?
What type of work do you want to put out?

:dblthumb2:
Click to expand...

we have actually put a lot of work into thinking this out. We have a broad reach of ideas for marketing. like i said before we want to target people that are middle class, were not after the super high end clientele who expect paint correction. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves or bite off more then we can chew.
we plan to reach them in different marketing ideas. We have talked with friends and coworkers. One guy owns his own gym and said he'd advertise with us and wear a shirt and tell his clients about our company. I work at Dunkin Dounuts and have a established relationship with a lot of the regular customers, i could advertise there with business cards word of mouth ect. we also know some other small business owned by friends that would let us place cards in there busines, one being a hair dresser and the other a bakery and maybe a bike shop. We also plan on getting a website and using a coupon for google adwords for $100 free advertise. We were thinking about putting a deal on groupon. we also have boards at our college we could put flyers in. but i am open to any ideas of advertising that you may have.
 
Starting a business and spending time with your family don't mix very well.

Also, your main obstacles are not equipment or how to's. . .

It's figuring out how to run a business. Get your $h!@ straight dude. Figure out how you will do your accounting. You need to decide if you are going to be sole proprietorship or partnership (which I think is a bad idea) or an LLC. There won't be enough money coming in at first to support a partner.

How will you market? Word of mouth won't cut it anymore. It's your best business but the smallest percentage of your business. Learn how to market online and get an EXCELLENT website up.

All the things you are asking, are all the things that don't really matter so much...

You WILL NOT turn a real profit for the first couple years.
 
Stay away from groupon. It has the capability of putting you out of business.

If you are insane enough to run a groupon deal, set the maximum details that you sell, very low.

Sell too many and you'll never catch up. You'll have to hire somebody and the expense of that WILL WILL WILL put you out of business.

I saw that happen to another detailer in my city.
 
statusdetailing said:
Stay away from groupon. It has the capability of putting you out of business.

If you are insane enough to run a groupon deal, set the maximum details that you sell, very low.

Sell too many and you'll never catch up. You'll have to hire somebody and the expense of that WILL WILL WILL put you out of business.

I saw that happen to another detailer in my city.
Click to expand...

never thought of that. also i took accounting in school and my friend is taking college business classes as well. were not trying to start a huge thing just a part time side money type thing
 
powerpunk5000 said:
never thought of that. also i took accounting in school and my friend is taking college business classes as well. were not trying to start a huge thing just a part time side money type thing
Click to expand...

thats what im saying.. if you just want a few bucks, then offer a wash, wax, and interior vacuum for $50.

wash, spray wax, interior vacuum, done.. buy everything in gallon size, buy the towels at costco, etc..

if you want a quality business, not just a job, you're gonna have to invest 200% of your time and efforts into building it.

If you think small, you're gonna make small amounts of money.
 
I've never seen any side cars in my area. I can't imagine there is much money in cleaning them. :laughing:
 
thebamboo23 said:
thats what im saying.. if you just want a few bucks, then offer a wash, wax, and interior vacuum for $50.

wash, spray wax, interior vacuum, done.. buy everything in gallon size, buy the towels at costco, etc..

if you want a quality business, not just a job, you're gonna have to invest 200% of your time and efforts into building it.

If you think small, you're gonna make small amounts of money.
Click to expand...
$50 seems high for what your saying. and compared to around the area
 
How are you washing cars?? How long does it take? Then doing the interior how long does that take? Now is it worth $50?? I did forget how much did the materials cost? I wouldn't do it for less than $60 if it were me. .

Sent from my SCH-I605 using AG Online
 
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