Summer Business Start-Up

[Gad]

Hello AutoGeek Forums!

This will be my first post here, so I figure I'll just do a little spiel about myself. My name is Craig and I have always been into keeping my car clean. As of late, I have been getting into detailing in an obsessed manner. Been doing tons of research and a lot of purchasing. I have detailed some relatives cars and friend's of the families cars and they have all been really impressed. I consider myself a perfectionist and perfection is my goal.

Anyways, summer is coming up and I plan on running a little mobile detailing business over the summer to make some money to go back to college with. I know there has been an influx of these types of posts as many people (I feel) have the same aspirations as I do for the summer. I have put together some rough packaging and pricing options that I wanted to get some feedback from by professionals and people who have been doing this for a lot longer than me!!

Any and all input/feedback is appreciated!

Any font that is in red are my thoughts or explanation of a certain item/thing.

Packaging Options:
Basically I have split interior and exterior up into 3 levels of package.

Bronze:
Package Description: Pristine Clean - This package is designed to get your car looking immaculate. All dirt and grime will be gone!
Exterior: (Price $60 - $80)
+ Exterior Wash & Decontamination
+ Wheel & Wheel Barrels Cleaned
+ Tires Dressed
+ Glass Cleaned
+ Wheel Wells Cleaned
+ Exhaust Tip(s) Cleaned & Polished
+ Hood Jambs & Behind Gas Cap Cleaned
+ Exterior Trim Dressed & Protected
+ Spray Wax (I don't want to turn a car back over to a customer that has it's paint completely unprotected, I would feel guilty. My goal is to inform the customer that a spray wax is going to have short durabilityand that they can have me wax the car for like $10 - $15 extra. I didn't want to include this on the sheet because I didn't want to get too wordy and what not.)

Interior: (Price: $60 - $80)
+ Meticulous Vacuuming of All Carpeted Areas
+ Glass Cleaned
+ All Trash & Debris Removed
+ All Plastic, Rubber, & Vinyl Cleaned
+ All Surfaces Cleaned of Dust, Dirt, & Grime
+ Door Jambs & Trunk/Rear Hatch Jamb Cleaned
+ Floor Matts Washed and/or Cleaned

Silver:
Package Description: Premium Protection - This package was designed with protection in mind. Paint and glass will fight water spots and interior will be protected with SPF 45 protectant.
Exterior: (Price: $80 - $100)
Everything in Bronze Package
+ Rain-X Applied to All Exterior Glass (Any other sealant/coating that I could put on the class fast and effectively that will last? Ideally this product would be easy to use and not very costly)
+ Wax Applied
+ Wheel Wells Dressed
+ Exterior Metal/Chrome Sealed (if applicable)
+ This package seems a little lacking. Any thoughts on what to add?

Interior: (Price: $70 - $90)
Everything in Bronze Package
+ Tedious Attention SPent to Cleaning Every Single Surface (Pockets, Air Vents, Cracks, Crevices, Seat Belts)
+ Plastics, Rubbers, & Vinyl Protected

Gold:
Package Description: Maximum Appeal - The clay bar will remove particles and contimination fused to the paint, helping bring back shine. Interior stains will be gone!
Exterior: (Price $100 - $130)
Everything in Silver Package
+ Clay Bar
+ Iron Particle Removal (Wheels & Paint)
+ Exterior Rubbers Protected
+ Rims Waxed
+ Add Paint Sealant for 1/2 Off!

Interior: (Price: $90 - $100)
Everything in Silver Package
+ Carpet Stain Treatment
+ Fabrics Protected
+ Add Steam Cleaning for 1/2 Off!

Special Options:
Exterior:
+ Paint Sealant - $40 - $60[/B] (Too high/too low? I plan on using Menzerna PowerLock)
+ Headlight Restoration - $30 - $40[/B] (Too low? Not really sure about this one yet, I will be doing the headlights on my brother's, dad's and mom's cars when I get back home to practice the technique. Plan on getting the 3M kit that uses the drill and using PlastX with the Griot's to "polish" then seal with PowerLock. Thoughts? This is probably the process I've spent the least time thinking through.
+ Soft Top Convertible (Vinyl or Fabric) Cleaning & Protection - $25 - $30 [/B](Will be picking up both RaggTopp kits for this. I know my Aunt wants her Z3 done when I get back)
+ Engine Detail - $20 - $30
+ Badge Removal/Dealer Sticker Removal - FREE (I hate seeing the dealer stickers when I drive around, see them everywhere. However, I dunno if I want to offer this at all because of potential risks in damage paint/clear. I've removed the badge on my old car and it was fine, but I don't know about other cars. Should I just toss this?)

Interior:
+ Carpet Steam Cleaning - $35 - $50
+ Pet Hair Removal - $10 - $15 [This will cost extra if Pet Hair is Present]
+ Leather Cleaned & Protected - $10 - $20 [Free With Gold Interior Package]

I have some notes attached to the flyer I want to circulate, those are as follows:
+ I WILL COME TO YOU! AS long as you have a hose hook-up and electrical outlet that is accessible.
+ I use Premium Products that are effective and safe on your vehicle
+ I use a price estimate because no car is going to be exactly like the next when it comes to detailing. Depending on level of contamination and size of vehicle, this is going to create more work and/or surface area
+ I am willing to work with you to get exactly what you want done with your car. I have created packages to act as building blocks to help give an idea of the services I offer. I can do less than the Bronze Package is you wish, but I want my work to reflect the perfection I strive for. Ultimately, I want the customer to be 100% satisfied with my work and make sure I haven't missed anything!
+ PLEASE feel free to call or e-mail me about the services offered and products used. If there's anything you want done that's not offered, PLEASE ASK! I am more than willing to tailor to your needs or do the research necessary to answer your car care questions.
+ Ask about Referral Discounts! (I plan to offer referral discounts up to 15%, 5% for each customer a person refers, up to a max of 3 that will go towards the discount. I also am going to do an "introductory price" in which the first 10 - 20 people's cars I do, I offer them a 15 - 20% discount for my services. This way I can get people in and have them start getting the word out!)
+ PLEASE NOTE: Vehicles with excessive contamination are liable to exceed the quoted limits.


Interested to get some feedback from you guys. I know my Silver Package is a little weak, so looking for something to either add or shift from another package option to that one. My overall goal is to make about $20 an hour, which seems fair for someone just starting to detail other people's cars and who is a college student.

NOTE: I am at college right now, but I got my 6" Griot's DA sitting at home that I can't wait to try out. Before I offer paint correction, I want to be confident and have my technique down. Don't want to offer something I don't have the confidence in. So if you're wondering why I don't have that offered, I should hopefully be able to offer it within a couple weeks of being home. I plan to charge $20 an hour for that.

Also, I can list the products I have/have ordered if that will help find anything that I can add to my list of services.

[Scott@IncrediblyDetailed]

These service comparison charts will help you organize your packages and be more appealing to your customer because it's easy to see what you get and what you don't.

Example: Auto Detailing Service Comparison Charts | Incredibly Detailed (http://www.incrediblydetailed.com/services/service-comparison-charts/)

You'll probably need a business license, insurance, Tax ID Number, etc.

My first couple months were SLOW, are you sure you will be able to make your money back on products just over the summer?

How will customers find you? What about a website? How are you going to advertise?

Just some things to think about it.

[wrb_subie]

I will say that at least your prices are on par with what you're doing. I seem to see a lot of "Full paint correction" for 100 bucks. Just do a bang up job on the first few and the work will find you.

[GreatAvalon]

I think you have prices laid out very well. The steps up aren't drastically different from the last.

So as a consumer, if I were looking to get my car done, and I was contemplating between bronze and silver, yea, I'd spend the extra $20-30 to have rain-x on my windows and get a real wax put on. And wheel wells dressed. So I already went from wanting it done cheap, to saying, what's another $20? (That is because for $20 more I feel like I am getting a lot for my money. I think that is a good thing for you!).

Well, if I'm at the silver for $80, how much more to get the best offered and what is included? Hmm, so the gold includes clay, iron decon, exterior rubber treated, and rims waxed. For $20 more than silver - yea, that seems worth the $20.

So BAM, you just went from making $60 to making $100. I think you have your package tiers laid out very well.

[Gad]

These service comparison charts will help you organize your packages and be more appealing to your customer because it's easy to see what you get and what you don't.

Example: Auto Detailing Service Comparison Charts | Incredibly Detailed (http://www.incrediblydetailed.com/services/service-comparison-charts/)

You'll probably need a business license, insurance, Tax ID Number, etc.

My first couple months were SLOW, are you sure you will be able to make your money back on products just over the summer?

How will customers find you? What about a website? How are you going to advertise?

Just some things to think about it.

Ah, the Service Comparison Chart is a great idea. I had originally came up with that idea, but it was hard for me to get stuff down on paper when I was working out all the services that I offered. Now that I'm pretty satisfied with the list, I will probably set it up like this.

The business license, insurance, and tax ID are things I have known about, but I haven't looked into the process of doing this yet. My Dad is going to help me with this, so hopefully it shouldn't be too bad.

I already have some people that have been really pleased with the work I've done... and this was before I went nuts with the supplies and technique. Right now my start-up costs are under $1000, probably right around $600, even less out of my pocket considering the Griot's DA was a birthday present a long with some other things.

I have a couple places that have agreed to let me leave flyers at already. I plan on offering the referral discounts as an incentive for people to refer people and come back for business. I might try and convince certain customers into having me do "monthly maintenance" jobs that will be just a very basic cleaning and beautification.

My friend is going to hook me up with setting up a website when I get back home.

Any thoughts on my prices? Services offered?


I will say that at least your prices are on par with what you're doing. I seem to see a lot of "Full paint correction" for 100 bucks. Just do a bang up job on the first few and the work will find you.

That's good to hear! pricing has for sure been the hardest part of the whole process. They've slowly been going up, but I think they're basically right where I want them now. Too much more I might scare people away and have no business. I live in an area that is fairly wealthy (right off a golf course), so I want to try and advertise there.

I do consider myself a perfectionist, so it is almost impossible for me to do a bad job. I never plan to leave a job half done or half-assed. The reason my Bronze package is basically a meticulous clean is because I would feel guilty turning a car back over to a customer that still is dirty. However, for people desiring a cheaper service, I can drop certain things if that's what they desire. I want my work to speak for itself. People notice a perfectly clean interior and exterior, so hopefully if friend's of the customer see this and like it, they will be referred.

[Gad]

I think you have prices laid out very well. The steps up aren't drastically different from the last.

So as a consumer, if I were looking to get my car done, and I was contemplating between bronze and silver, yea, I'd spend the extra $20-30 to have rain-x on my windows and get a real wax put on. And wheel wells dressed. So I already went from wanting it done cheap, to saying, what's another $20? (That is because for $20 more I feel like I am getting a lot for my money. I think that is a good thing for you!).

Well, if I'm at the silver for $80, how much more to get the best offered and what is included? Hmm, so the gold includes clay, iron decon, exterior rubber treated, and rims waxed. For $20 more than silver - yea, that seems worth the $20.

So BAM, you just went from making $60 to making $100. I think you have your package tiers laid out very well.


WOW! That's incredibly reassuring to hear from someone! This was exactly my aim. I figured with the smaller increase in price people would be more willing to just say "Eh, why not?" Originally I had 3 quite different levels of package, Bronze being at a sort of sub-par level for my standards. I changed this once I realized that I would hate turning a car back over to a customer at a level of clean that wasn't up to my high standards. I also figured that I may lose some customers at the lower end of the spectrum, but those that are willing to pay will basically go through the thought process you just did. Additionally, it is easier for my work to do the talking if my Brozne package is going to basically leave your car spotless, people will (hopefully!) notice this.

Ultimately my goal is to leave the customer satisfied and to make money. I can probably only do one car/day because the Bronze Exterior & Interior combined will take me ~5-6 hours, give or take. However, with the old pricing I described, I'd probably only be doing one customer a day anyways, so this way at least when I am working, I am making it a full day with a good pay.

[GreatAvalon]

Yea, you definitely gotta do it to your liking! I agree with you - I couldn't send a car out that wasn't spotless either!

1 car a day, bronze int. and ext. is good money for a college summer job. Over $100/day for ~5-6 hours. If you get 4 cars a week that is decent money for a college summer job. I'm not trying to say get complacent - more so I am trying to say if you don't have 7 cars in 5 days I think you will be alright!

How do you plan on marketing/advertising?

I see you're in Southern MD...are you near the DMV area? I'm up in Northern VA!

[Gad]

Yea, you definitely gotta do it to your liking! I agree with you - I couldn't send a car out that wasn't spotless either!

1 car a day, bronze int. and ext. is good money for a college summer job. Over $100/day for ~5-6 hours. If you get 4 cars a week that is decent money for a college summer job. I'm not trying to say get complacent - more so I am trying to say if you don't have 7 cars in 5 days I think you will be alright!

How do you plan on marketing/advertising?

I see you're in Southern MD...are you near the DMV area? I'm up in Northern VA!

Yeah, I did some rough guesstimates that I'd probably (read hopefully) be able to do at least 3 cars a week (this again, should hopefully be a minimum). I hope to avg. about $120 per car (assuming the customer gets both Bronze Interior & Exterior) and @ 3 a week that's $360/week, $1440/month and $4320/3 months. Now obviously, with overhead costs of supplies, taxes, insurance, whatever, I'm probably looking at only about $3500 for the summer. This is more than I've made in past summers, but not as good as some of my friends working internships. However, by the same token, this is going to be a lot more fun for me. They have to get up at 6am 5 days a week!

For marketing I'm going to advertise at the local country club (I will be working part-time at the pool - boring!) and I need to go talk to the owner of the golf course's Pro Shop and hopefully I can put up a flyer there or some hand-outs. The woman who cuts my hair also said she had no problem allowing me to advertise at her place (lots of older women come in here - aka they aren't going to do this themselves). Also, the people I've done cars for in the past have been very pleased, so hopefully they can help spread the word a long with new customers. Like I mentioned, I plan on doing referral discounts (5% per person referred, up to 15% off). I also plan to hand out a couple business cards to people when I am finished working so they can hand those out to their friends. This should hopefully get people in the door. I also plan to offer the first 10 - 20 people this summer a 15-20% "introductory discount" to get people in the door as well.

Yep, where I live is about 1h10m to 1h30m outside of DC/NOVA area. I really like the NOVA area, got some family there and a lot of friends from school.

[GreatAvalon]

A lot more fun and better than an unpaid internship! Lmao. So count 3500 from detailing + what you make working at the pool. I always call it a win if I make 5g in a summer between semesters.


Ah, gotcha. That marketing sounds like a good idea and with the referral program hopefully your customers will recruit more customers, making it easier on you :D

[EVOlved]

My one odd ball question is what are you decontaminating at bronze or silver if your not using clay bar like you are in gold?? I think you definitely need to take the word decontamination out of bronze because when someone asks you what clay bar does what are you going to say just makes your paint smooth?? Something similar could be said about the iron decon.. Just my nitpicky points sorry looks good though and GL if you decide to pursue it.

[thebamboo23]

There's a lot of stuff you need to work on. And honestly, since you're only doing this for the summer, I would stick to very very basic services. No paint correction, no 1 step correction, nothing

Wash $20
- wheels, tires, undercarriage
- wash car
- dry
- clean glass
- dress tires

wash and wax $65
- as included in was, plus:
- clay bar to promote better adhesion for the wax
- wax
- dress trim

quick interior $25
- thorough vacuum
- wipe down of dashboard and instrument panels
- glass cleaned
upsell stain removal

complete interior $150
- thorough vacuum
- clean all carpets, seats, headliners, etc..
- clean windows

[Gad]

My one odd ball question is what are you decontaminating at bronze or silver if your not using clay bar like you are in gold?? I think you definitely need to take the word decontamination out of bronze because when someone asks you what clay bar does what are you going to say just makes your paint smooth?? Something similar could be said about the iron decon.. Just my nitpicky points sorry looks good though and GL if you decide to pursue it.

Great point! I switched the wording to "Exterior Hand Wash." The decontamination was an uneccessary word and frankly misleading. Thanks for the input!


There's a lot of stuff you need to work on. And honestly, since you're only doing this for the summer, I would stick to very very basic services. No paint correction, no 1 step correction, nothing

Wash $20
- wheels, tires, undercarriage
- wash car
- dry
- clean glass
- dress tires

wash and wax $65
- as included in was, plus:
- clay bar to promote better adhesion for the wax
- wax
- dress trim

quick interior $25
- thorough vacuum
- wipe down of dashboard and instrument panels
- glass cleaned
upsell stain removal

complete interior $150
- thorough vacuum
- clean all carpets, seats, headliners, etc..
- clean windows

Some good points. The thing with my packages right now is I want the customer's car to leave 100% clean. I plan to offer some lower end services like that, but I really don't know if it's worth my time. Especially if I have to go 45 min across the county just to do a basic wash. Not worth the $20 - $40 dollars in my opinion. I'm willing to do it if a customer wants something more basic, but I'm going to advertise that via talking directly to the customer. I have the note at the bottom stating the packages are merely building blocks and I will do exactly what the customer wants, if that means taking options from one package or another, they can do that and I'll make sure to charge accordingly. I probably need to make that a little more clear, but I'm working on that and should hopefully have everything finalized within the next week. Thanks for the input!

[GreatAvalon]

There's a lot of stuff you need to work on. And honestly, since you're only doing this for the summer, I would stick to very very basic services. No paint correction, no 1 step correction, nothing

Wash $20
- wheels, tires, undercarriage
- wash car
- dry
- clean glass
- dress tires

wash and wax $65
- as included in was, plus:
- clay bar to promote better adhesion for the wax
- wax
- dress trim

quick interior $25
- thorough vacuum
- wipe down of dashboard and instrument panels
- glass cleaned
upsell stain removal

complete interior $150
- thorough vacuum
- clean all carpets, seats, headliners, etc..
- clean windows
Ehhh, I disagree. Who cares if its just for the summer. If he has the tools, knowledge, and abilities/skills, then that is all that matters. He should offer all services he has the ability to deliver on.

[thebamboo23]

Some good points. The thing with my packages right now is I want the customer's car to leave 100% clean. I plan to offer some lower end services like that, but I really don't know if it's worth my time. Especially if I have to go 45 min across the county just to do a basic wash. Not worth the $20 - $40 dollars in my opinion. I'm willing to do it if a customer wants something more basic, but I'm going to advertise that via talking directly to the customer. I have the note at the bottom stating the packages are merely building blocks and I will do exactly what the customer wants, if that means taking options from one package or another, they can do that and I'll make sure to charge accordingly. I probably need to make that a little more clear, but I'm working on that and should hopefully have everything finalized within the next week. Thanks for the input!

well as of now, your services are pretty basic. My point is if you're only going to do this over the summer, then do quality production work. You'll make a lot more money like that.

you can finish a basic wash on a sedan in 25 minutes. Do 2 in an hour and you're at $40 an hour minus ~$2 in products used


Ehhh, I disagree. Who cares if its just for the summer. If he has the tools, knowledge, and abilities/skills, then that is all that matters. He should offer all services he has the ability to deliver on.

there's simply not enough time to get enough ROI on it. if he wanted to do this for the next 4 years, then yeah

[Gad]

well as of now, your services are pretty basic. My point is if you're only going to do this over the summer, then do quality production work. You'll make a lot more money like that.

you can finish a basic wash on a sedan in 25 minutes. Do 2 in an hour and you're at $40 an hour minus ~$2 in products used

Yep! Quality of work is not the issue for me. I'm a perfectionist, so it's a guilt trip for me if I do a bad job. I've done cars before and people have been impressed and that was before I had all the proper tools and supplies!
Quantity of work is my only concern! I just hope I don't hit a wall over the summer and find a falling off of new customers. If that's the case I'll have to get creative.

Yeah, that would work. It'd just be a matter of lining the two up so I could be efficient in time & gas. I plan to work from my house or the customers house, whichever is their preference.

As far as pain correction goes, I will basically only do that if the customer asks and if I feel I am proficient enough. I got the Griot's 6" sitting at home right now, but I don't get back until May 14th. Plan on practicing as much as I can and wouldn't consider offering the service if I feel I couldn't do the job well. I got a bunch of cars I can practice on, including the one I totaled, so I'll probably start there!