Trying to help a friend

[2wookies]

Have a friend here in town that just switched from mobile detailing into a shop of his own. He was really backlogged on some vehicles, trucks...big diesel trucks with lifts. He’s chasing perfection on every job, IE spending 35+ hours on machine polishing. Brand new black Chevy 3500 that had some minor dealer installed swirls and blemishes, and going after it with a dual stage attack.

Now I’m all for making paint look amazing! I get it I do but he’s killing himself for $1200 jobs. I told him he needs to up his prices if he’s going to keep going at this level. But how do I try and make him take a step back and understand that the small things he’s after, and not getting paid for, the customer will never notice.

 

[vincec]

Does he ever do the math to see what he's actually earning after finishing one of these jobs? A $1,200 job at 35 hours is only $34.28 per/hr. That is not taking into consideration profit and overhead for his business. He needs to understand what it costs to run his business, his overhead, what he actually thinks his time is worth, his earnings, and what profit margin he has built in for keeping himself in business. I agree with what you said about increasing his prices and he also needs to understand his customer base. As you stated, he is chasing perfection and the customer will never notice.

 

[2wookies]

Yeah I broke down his hourly wage with him, told him he should be in 50-75 range to be successful. But also not spending SO much time behind the polisher.

 

[UncleDavy]

Definitely point out to him how much his hourly wage actually calculates out to be. If he doesn't know this already, help him calculate how much per hour it costs him to keep his shop operating for an hour. His fixed costs like rent, insurance, interest payments, salaries, utilities, equipment depreciation, will mostly determine that value. His variable costs will be soaps, chemicals, polishes, coatings etc. He may have a rough idea of how much product he goes through during a year.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Just to chime in,


I hear comments like this a lot from new detailers, that is,

It's taking me too long to detail a car


In fact, I shared this yesterday here in the context of guys that get all their training from YouTube

https://www.autogeekonline.net/foru...uestions-/125322-joining-ida.html#post1661479


I quit testing YouTube trained and certified detailers. They don't know enough.


But back to your friend. I hope he didn't choose and start out with a 15mm free spinning random orbital polisher as his primary tool of choice for this type of work.

He needs a BEAST or a Mille or a Makita PO5000C so he doesn't waste 2 kinds of time,

1: Pad stalling
2: I'm sharing the second type of wasted time at MTE in my 3rd class. I'll share here after MTE



2020 Mobile Tech Expo Class Schedule for Education Day on Thursday in Orlando, Florida



Can you share what he's using for a polisher?


Next - if he doesn't have multiple packages then he's doing himself and his customers a disservice. He needs to at a minimum, copy my model and I share it here.


When to stop buffing - Or - How far should you go to remove swirls and scratches?


And he probably needs to read the above article too. My guess is he's doing Package 3 work for Package 1 prices.

If his customers want a lot they need to pay a lot. If they don't want to pay a lot then - Package 1 and done.


I wrote this years ago,

Detailers that hang out on discussion forums know more than detailers that don't...


Instead of you posting this thread for him, (nice of you), he should be a member of this forum and asking for help on his own.


Besides the above, have him read these,


He could have read this 10 years ago

A few tips on starting a part-time detailing business

Making money doing production detailing by Mike Phillips


This article is about using a VIF BUT it's when you use the VIF that you figure out which Package is right for your customer.

How and WHY to use a Vehicle Inspection Form or VIF to document Pre-Existing Damage

The two reasons WHY you should always do a Test Spot before buffing out any car


The above is a lot of reading but I'm confident it will help him.

I'd like to see his packages too.