What does it take to successfully start a small detailing business?

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bkaup5

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Hey everyone, new member here!

So after reading quite a few threads and getting ready to order a few items, it struck me during a class that you can in fact do something that you love and make a living doing it (for me, this means car detailing and dealing with real life people who have the same appreciation as you on some level).

My question is this. Since I am working a full time job right now and going to school part time (only twice a week, but have almost every weekend + m, w, f to myself as well) and I am about to purchase a Griot's Garage 6 inch orbital, 5 1/2 inch backing plate with a few 5 inch pads and some products to use on it etc. What does someone starting out with just a few cars a month (hopeful to get up to 2-3 per week at some point) need to really know how to do? What I mean by this is what types of corrections do I need to really know in and out while starting out. I don't expect every customer that walks in will want 100% paint correction, especially with someone just starting out (I have a few friends willing to donate their cars to let me practice, and of course I would be using my daily driver wrx as a practice piece as well) and most will want just a wash/clay/wax and interior clean up as well as hitting the wheels with something like sonax full effect.

Sorry for the long post sooo

TLDR: Just starting out, buying GG6 and some products to cover my bases on a small detail, just quick wipe down interior, hit wheels with sonax, wash with 2 bucket grit guard method, clay or autoscrub, and wax (or polish + seal depending on what customer wants). What other steps do I really need to know to start out successfully?

Any other advice is greatly appreciated as I read through more and more :).
 
:welcome: To Autogeek Online!

Starting a business can be somewhat challenging but the quality of your work will sell itself. Word of mouth spreads quickly whether it bee positive or negative depends on you, the quality of your work, price, friendliness, and customer satisfaction.

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Welcome!
First off, you will find that there are about a dozen people who are going to want to sell you their "secrets" to starting a detail business. I'll let you decide wether or not you want to buy those. But know that everything you need to know is in this forum.
Since you are doing it part-time, I would suggest just getting the basics. I started with the Griot's Garage as well and still own and use it every day. I own other brands as well, but i just like the Griot's.
Using quality products is a must. Since you can't pick that stuff up at the local auto parts store, make sure to order enough.
Most importantly, do quality work and be polite to your customers. Educate them them get those add-ons.
Be patient, and good luck!!
 
Welcome!
First I would say read every article that Mike has written about anything that has to do with business, or starting a business, and any how to that you have not read before. even if you have detailed in the past when detailing as a business it is a different ball game.

Secondly, I was in the same sitation as you are for the last two years. working full time, CC student with classes two nights a week and wanted to detail for some cash. from my experince its not worth it for a few reasons.
not sure about your age (I' am 21) but school is important you would not want to fall behind in your schooling to make quick cash.
another reason is that the time and days you work at your full time job is set, the times your as school is set, the times you get people wanting to have details are not, as well as the time it takes to actually do the detail. This will cause conflicts in time to be social, time to relax, time to do anything else.

I want to be sure you know im not breaking down your idea and motivation, because i'am not, it can be done! 2 or 3 cars a week would be alot to shoot for right off the bat.

My suggestion is take one of those empty nights a week and find a business class to take, and shoot for doing a car every saturday( or one day a week basically) 4 cars a month thats giving you another $400 a month or so. My suggestion for business classes would be, creative sales, business marketing, or small business planning.

what you were talking about before can be done! its about how much you want to put into it and how much you can mentally and physically take. doing the full time work, full time school, side job is a grind.
 
Yeah! I've read/am reading almost all of those at the moment. My only concern is the insurance part (not that I wouldn't be able to get it..but for awhile I want to focus on taking my time and doing the processes right. I also wouldn't be offering full paint correction until I was sure I could replicate the same process time and time again with confidence. This is why I will be practicing on my own car as well as some friends and families.

To the above poster ^ no worries :)

This is why I plan on starting with a car per weekend (if I even have that, probably a car per week like you said since usually friends/family work weekends anyways so I'm used to staying home 90% of my free time anyways. The reason I chose this time to get into it (at age 22 and time wise) is because we bought a new place, and it has a big garage in a quiet neighborhood. Also, With my work paying for my school (like I said, only a few classes here and there so the work load is more than manageable) I have some free money available and this is something I would be buying to take care of my car paint anyways.
 
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As far as the insurance, that's a dicey subject. If you are wanting your customers to drop their vehicle off at your house and you're only doing 1 or 2 a week you may be ok not getting it. I would be honest with your customers though. Tell them upfront that you do not have insurance. If you decide to go mobile, then I would suggest going through the whole process of getting a business license and insurance. You just never know what could happen when you are at someone's home or office.
Like everyone has said so far. Customer service is very important!!
Good Luck!!
 
I see some people on here complain that they get no business. Then when the question is asked how they advertise they pretty much don't.

Word of mouth is always the best advertising but not the only way to do business.
Spend a little money and take an ad out in the local paper. Facebook ads can be good as well if you link it to a company facebook page. Get a huge decal printed for your vehicle for the side or across the back window. Put ads on craiglist or kijiji if you have that.

There are a lot of inexpensive ways to advertise. For myself I found a great way was to offer an incentive for your current customers to refer people. For every referral I get I take $25 off their next service. I have a lady right now who is very well known at her country club. She has sent me so much work she now gets a free "Platinum Detail".

Go the extra mile, set yourself apart from the competition (this means researching competition as well) advertise a little and soon enough your have people working for you.
 
^ This is a very good post and thank you :)

I was actually just thinking the same thing. If I do my work on my car and take my time and do it right, and put up some type of graphic with company name on it then not only is it a billboard, but an example of the type of work people can expect out of me.

Also, if business starts doing well, there is always the option of making shirts and handing them out to friends/family.

I wonder if comment/suggestion boxes still work as well. I'm glad I took some business management courses in college now aha.
 
I work out of my garage...I was about 1-2 cars a month part-time...now I'm fulltime avg 1 car a day just because word of mouth at 200-300 a detail
 
What is most of your detailing...wash/clay/wax?
 
bkaup5 said:
^ This is a very good post and thank you :)

I was actually just thinking the same thing. If I do my work on my car and take my time and do it right, and put up some type of graphic with company name on it then not only is it a billboard, but an example of the type of work people can expect out of me.

Also, if business starts doing well, there is always the option of making shirts and handing them out to friends/family.

I wonder if comment/suggestion boxes still work as well. I'm glad I took some business management courses in college now aha.
Click to expand...

Make sure your vehicle is clean all the time too. If you approach a business and they want to see your work. Either have an album of before and after pics or even take them out to your vehicle.

Word of mouth will always help and is usually the best advertising if you do good work.

I guess its more of a difference of having a small business or wanting bigger things.

For myself i'd love to make a large facility eventually and incorperate a small store in it. More or less just have something for my sons to take over eventually if they want.
 
Any plans to adopt? :).

So it sounds like practice practice practice and pay attention to detail, then just let most of it work itself out and advertise where you can.

How long did it take you guys to become proficient with using a DA and knowing exactly which products to reach for. I know you should always do a test spot, but there has to be a little memory and brain work involved.
 
lol dont do it. long hrs hard work will get a bad back. sure come on.out of 20 detailers 2or 3 may make a living
 
I havent fully started mine yet and am still putting it together. If/when i get mine all said and done I will have paperwork for them to sign to cover my butt. I started my own pc repair business as well (i know its no where near the same as detailing) and I have paperwork to cover me in case something were to go wrong. I would say make sure you do that and you should be good. Another thing you can do is make a website which will be fairly cheap and some business cards. Someone above mentioned a photo album which is a great idea. I hadnt thought about that but when i go to tattoo places i see they always have an album. Lastly I'd say keep your head up. You can do anything you set your mind to. It may be scary at times but ask around and I'm sure you'll be able to get help on whatever you need.
 
I would listen to the long hours and bad back thing but I'm sure there are ways to prevent both of those..more so the bad back since I won't be detailing too many cars.

Also, I would take both of those in a heart beat as opposed to working a job that makes you hate life. Taking care of my car is something I've already started doing 'properly' and even though the hours are long..I love the feeling of seeing your work progress from a first step to the last and being able to really see all your effort in front of you.
 
master detailer said:
lol dont do it. long hrs hard work will get a bad back. sure come on.out of 20 detailers 2or 3 may make a living
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I used to be a Samsung Rep. and I was doing auto detailing on a very part time basis but I have turned detailing into my full time job and Im my own boss. Im on avg doing a detail a day making $200-$300 a job. I love it...I had to take a 2 day break to catch up on rest because I did feel wore out and yes the back was getting tired...several hot bathes and rest fixed that. Im glad I made the jump to go all out and make this my business and so far its working out and I only see it getting better.
 
That's ^ the type of post that I like as well :).

If it's something you love, I have no problems giving up some other things to pursue it. Aren't there steps to take to either prevent or at least help prevent back pain? Thing's like using a chair for lower panels (something like bucket cushions) or just taking extra breaks between steps or panels.

From what I'm reading also, there are a lot of products that are able to really reduce the time per steps like the nanoskin autoscrub for claying. I guess because I'm used to doing everything by hand so it seems like things can only get better once I really master all the steps that I would need to know and also, have all the products I need to reduce time needed for a total detail.
 
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