Help on starting an on the side detailing business!

[KJW Detailing]

Hello Everyone!

I guess i will start with a little background information about myself.

My name is kieran and i live in south jersey, where i am a student at rowan university and working as a detailer for lexus. I love my job, more so then prolly any other detailer there. I have also had a pashion for cleaning cars and i choose to keep my car looking spotless, from my 1st car (94' White Eagle Talon, to my previous lease of an 03' Sonic Blue Mustang that looked showroom floor new after 4yrs and 60k miles, to my current car - 07' Fiji Blue Pearl Honda Civic Si)...i also detail my families cars...i just really enjoy cleaning and detailing cars!

B4 working at lexus i knew how to wash and wax a car really well...i basically knew all of the little things! But now almost 2 yrs later, i have learned many things that go into a true detail and i have been given countless good feedback on my work.

I have been kicking around the idea of creating my own little detailing business, as a second income. When school gets out this spring for my summer break i would finally like to put this idea into motion. But i need some help with a few things and i was lucky enough to have good friends on another forum direct me to this forum.

I guess this first post will be an into of myself and what i would like to do...

I will create a second post of my true idea, the chemicals i will be using (at the moment anyway) and the equipement i will be using (also at the moment)...I say at the moment b/c i am sure to come across some great materials here on this forum that far outway that of the products i personally own and the products i use at lexus.

Thanks, Kieran

[KJW Detailing]

So the plan - i would like to detail on the side...thats simple enough...haha!

I'm thinking that if i could get 3 poeple a week this would be a good investment. Knowing what we chage at lexus (200 for cars and 250 for the trucks)...i desided that i would begin charging what is cost our employee's 100$ for a full detail. Even if the car took me 4 hrs its still 25$ an hr...

I have also thought of doing simple wash and wax...kinda like what the car wash does, just at a better quality...not sure of the price im thinking somewhere inbetween 25-50$...

Over time i will work on pricing towards cars and there conditions...

I am detailing my little brothers truck (90 something forest green ford ranger) b-day present...i know that alot of his friends and there parents want the work done so i can use his truck as advertisment. He currently works for a pepboys, and he told me yesterday that his boss want me to detail his moms car and then if i wanted to i could also do his car and use him as another advertising/word of mouth person (he wants to know if i will do the detail for free but i think i will charge him something like 50$ as for i need money to start this up and im just not going to do a free detail to just another person outside of my family)...but in both instances these are easy advertisment/word of mouth.

I was also going to make up a few flyers. My parents said that they would take a flyer into work and post it in there break room. I also figured i could setup a few at school and see if i could get some hits there. A friend suggested i should make a few business cards to give to my little bro and his boss so if people are interested then here is a card. Another friend suggested doing a myspace page b/c everyone seems to have a myspace and its also free...

I need alot of help in this category of setup and running and charging...

I have also given alot of thought to the fact that i will have to create a waiver b/c i am not going to be insuared...thats to expenive for me to do and i dont expect this to be some huge business...but a waiver is a must b/c i am not going to have some one come after me!

After posting all of this, i need some help from the individuals out there on this forum that understand what i am trying to do and what all i need to do and look at and into.

...to come later...i will post a product list that i personally own and a product list in which i can easily get from lexus!

Thanks

[k20z3kid]

bump for this guy because i am planning on doing the EXACT same thing haha its kind of nuts. ironic enough i have an 06 civic si lol. im interested in the waiver part.

[P8ntballer597]

Hey! I'm also in the process of creating an "on the side" detailing business. I still am trying to calculate my pricing. I'm having trouble figuring out how much product I'm going to go through. I plan on doing about 2-3 cars a week. As for flyers/brochures, I'm just using microsoft word. They have some pretty good baisc templates you can use and then modify to get the result you want. Just save it to a disc and take it to kinkos to have them printed. The waiver is a good idea too. I'm going to look into that as well. Thats the last thing I need....someone coming after me. I'll keep you posted soon as I get my prices narrowed down. That's my task for tonight, so by tomorrow morning I'll get back to you. Good luck!

[shineFXdetail]

I am a full time detailer if you want to stay busy and just starting out.Go to a upscale gym make sure not a franchise but a gym with 1or 2 locations. And talk to the owner and offer to keep his vehicle clean and you will then have a place to detail and all the clients you can handle. Beleive me i have 2 gyms i detail for and i get more cleints than i know what to do with, no looking for customers no driving no marketing. Use rinseless and their electricity. Customers love the conveince. And remember this "Live by Price Die by Price".

[abrcrombe]

^^^ Awesome Idea!!

[shineFXdetail]

Just make sure you can do a wash in a hour the time it takes them to workout the rest of your services they understand will take longer. alot of washs so charge a premium.

[shineFXdetail]

Dont wimp out on price some people will just see if you are willing to and when you dont they will do it anyway. Just tell them i am 10x better but only charge 3x more they will laugh and you laugh and say when is better saturday at 2 or sunday at 2. It works.

[Jimmie]

I am a full time detailer if you want to stay busy and just starting out.Go to a upscale gym make sure not a franchise but a gym with 1or 2 locations. And talk to the owner and offer to keep his vehicle clean and you will then have a place to detail and all the clients you can handle. Beleive me i have 2 gyms i detail for and i get more cleints than i know what to do with, no looking for customers no driving no marketing. Use rinseless and their electricity. Customers love the conveince. And remember this "Live by Price Die by Price".

Great Idea.
How do you do rinseless tires/wheels/wells? It's a tough concept to grasp.

[shineFXdetail]

Try to see if their is a hose hook up. You may need sometimes Just dont want a bunch of water everywhere not good business for you or owner. Rinseless is best the least amount of water the better. sometimes if bad mud use water.

[orngez]

back when i detailed full time...the best for me was HIGH end apartment complexes. I made a schedule with three different complexes and rotated by each one every weekend. During the weekends i offered a wash and wax service and then the clients could schedule a full detailing service with me during the week....i never ran out of business and had the ability to take a week off every month. high end apt complexes are always full of bmw/lexus/big suvs/etc and these owners are usually the most willing to pay for your services. detailing in their parking bays attracts attention and complexes always have new people moving in on a daily basis. pretty soon i had so many referals i actually had to call another detailing friend just to keep up with the demand...some weeks i could only offer wash and wax...no detailing....because i was so busy...talk with the lease office managers to offer your services as a "seasonal" amenity...two of the complexes i detailed at would even print up flyers and put it up on a community boards my schedule and contact info free of charge...it makes the apt community more desireable to potential renters

[shineFXdetail]

Great idea i am getting ready to approach some in my area.

[orngez]

the other thing with apt complexes...waterless wash like onr becomes your best friend and so do really long extension cords

[shineFXdetail]

Where i detail there is about 5 condo/apts with about 2400 units total all high end right across street. I am getting excited thinking about it money money money.:righton:

[Nuke33]

I to want to start a biz. this summer it think its a great way to earn some cash