Production Detailing - Defined?

[Bates Detailing]

Hey guys :


I was thinking ALOT about the definition of production detailing today. I have read on here that if you have a shop you are labeled a production detailer to cover the costs of that shop. I am starting to disagree somewhat. While we a fully mobile with 2 units fully stocked, I have though and thought and thought about this term over the last week or so. We now have a total of 6 employees and are fully mobile. With this said, we dish out a total of around 2000 a week in employees, 1000 a week in fuel, products, and bills, and the rest goes into the B & B account. Does this make us provide production details? Well these are the facts :


1) YES - we need to at least produce 3000 a week give or take a few hundred to break even

2) After the break even point we must still provide for our families


I think ANYONE that uses detailing as their means of a full time gig can be considered a production detailing company. While I pay TONS out in business expenses, I still need to produce income for my family - this can make me a production detailer in many eyes. ANYONE detailing for MONEY should be considered a production detailer IMO. I thought about this for awhile - I KNOW that we are some of the best Detailers in the South East - even if we are considering business bills, we still provide top notch quality details. I believe production detailers should be reserved for those that push 30 + cars a day. I couldn't imagine doing more than 4 cars a day with quality turnarounds!. Anyhow, just wanted to point out that "production" detailers doesn't mean hack jobs. We may have to meet our quota to produce enough money to pay the bills, but we do still provide high quality details on top of all that!

[ProDetail]

:iagree:I couldn't agree any more! Very well Said:dblthumb2:

[Aaryn NZ]

:iagree: Nicely written B&B Tennessee! :props: I for one have my own shop & most of the time its just little old me. Whilst i am capable & often do full paint corrections, that i enjoy alot, it simply isn't understood enough in my market to make a living from solely doing these types of jobs. Detailing is my profession. Yes i need to make money to pay the bills but my job is also my passion. 90% of my customers aren't interested nor wish to spend the money on full correction details. Most are not able to be without their vehicle for that amount of time either. I do good honest "production" details for my customers & more often than not i go out of my way to make myself & my customers happy. I possibly don't make as much money with this attitude but my customers come back & i can be proud of my job.

[BobbyG]

Nicely put Anthony!!

Remember; Quality not quantity :props:

[steve swafford]

:iagree:well written

[Flash Gordon]

As long as the money is coming in don't worry about what others say. Their not going to be around in 20 years, right?

[storm100]

Hey guys :


I was thinking ALOT about the definition of production detailing today. I have read on here that if you have a shop you are labeled a production detailer to cover the costs of that shop. I am starting to disagree somewhat. While we a fully mobile with 2 units fully stocked, I have though and thought and thought about this term over the last week or so. We now have a total of 6 employees and are fully mobile. With this said, we dish out a total of around 2000 a week in employees, 1000 a week in fuel, products, and bills, and the rest goes into the B & B account. Does this make us provide production details? Well these are the facts :


1) YES - we need to at least produce 3000 a week give or take a few hundred to break even

2) After the break even point we must still provide for our families


I think ANYONE that uses detailing as their means of a full time gig can be considered a production detailing company. While I pay TONS out in business expenses, I still need to produce income for my family - this can make me a production detailer in many eyes. ANYONE detailing for MONEY should be considered a production detailer IMO. I thought about this for awhile - I KNOW that we are some of the best Detailers in the South East - even if we are considering business bills, we still provide top notch quality details. I believe production detailers should be reserved for those that push 30 + cars a day. I couldn't imagine doing more than 4 cars a day with quality turnarounds!. Anyhow, just wanted to point out that "production" detailers doesn't mean hack jobs. We may have to meet our quota to produce enough money to pay the bills, but we do still provide high quality details on top of all that!

:iagree: You can still provide a great service without sacrificing quality. Great post Anthony!

[Bates Detailing]

Thanx guys - As growth has become exponential, so has the bills. With that said, we won't sacrifice quality to pay the bills, those bills will get cut if quality is lacking. I just hired two guys from companies that are established in Middle Tn. They both said that they are not as busy as we are and that they had to turnaround a car in 30 minutes :/ 30 minutes! That's not a detail in my eyes! We told them that there is no hurry and that we produce quality turnarounds over quantity turnarounds. They both LOVED when I said that. Take your time and make the customer happy. With all this said, we can be considered a production detailing company due to bills - BUT, money is not my main objective, it is producing a top notch detailing company that can provide high quality turnarounds on every type of investment out there.

[arack]

You are running a business. You definitely have to make a profit.

It seems like your business is doing well. You are clearly running a quality operation, so the challenge is to keep up your profit margins while maintaining your quality.

Too many people make the mistake of not paying themselves while running a business.

One good way to monitor your progress as your grow is to watch your profit per job. You can graph this via excel and ensure that as you grow, you maintain an acceptable profit margin per job within your business.