Price Cutting Themselves.

[Beavis]

Man is is crazy in my area we have a few detailer's advertising that they will do a complete detail inside and out with wax and shampoo carpets and seats for $60. just don't understand how and why people would cut them selves out like this with the amount of time you spend on a car. Just makes you wonder what kind of work they do for $60 and how much time they spend on it.

[Just02896]

Man is is crazy in my area we have a few detailer's advertising that they will do a complete detail inside and out with wax and shampoo carpets and seats for $60. just don't understand how and why people would cut them selves out like this with the amount of time you spend on a car. Just makes you wonder what kind of work they do for $60 and how much time they spend on it.

Quick vacuum and dusting, windows, wash entire vehicle quickly with one sponge (no decon), quick dry with dirty towel, spray wax, tire dressing. Might take them 1.5-2 hours max. But hey, they will bring a proper detailer more business anyway! :-)

[parttimer]

I just fixed a local detailers job this weekend, girl paid $80 for an interior and exterior. When she got it back it may have been washed and still smelled. She contacted me, I did her right, funny thing, one guy on FB was trying to get in on my business a few months ago and posted he did it for $80 when I was posting. Apparently I know how he works now!

[RevitalizeAutoSpa]

You see this in a lot of industries.

My father-in-law owns a lawn care and snow removal company. He's seriously considered getting out of the mowing part for the past few years, because anyone that goes out and buys a nice zero-turn to do their lawn thinks "hey, I can put this on my trailer and charge people $10 to do their lawn". They don't have workers comp, insurance, and the numerous other expenses to worry about that a properly operated company does.

My wife is a photographer and deals with it too. The relative affordability of high-end digital cameras means anyone can go out and take photos with high image quality (notice I didn't say quality in general) without having to worry about developing film and processing costs.

You have to decide how you're going to set yourself apart. If it's going to be by price, you'd better be willing to do very fast work for not much money...

[Paul A.]

And there will always be those markets to exploit for those wanting the easy money. And plenty of customers for those folks to get. Great point PapaChop, those type of business are all over the marketplace in many different areas. I do believe it is a natural tendency for our free enterprise society.

However...I have seen the world of detailing rising in the consumers mind though. Just recently we talked about "educating" the customer and that yielded some spirited discussion with regard to how aggressvely we should put forth the effort towards that. One of the most sensitive "nerves" in that discussion was whether we should do a test spot for the potential client. I have done more and more of those in the past couple of years and only after FULLY advising the potential customer what that will do...show them in tangible ways what proper paint correction looks like and what it takes to do it BUT may leave them with an obvious contrast with the remaining untouched areas if they decide they don't want my services. Maybe 8 times out of 10 they want to see it and 7 out of those 10 want me to finish it out.

I'm doing what i can to educate some people in my area. Considering the fact they have foumd me in the first place means they may want more than what they've been used to or have been turned on to the expanding world of detailing. However, with 7.2 billion roaming the planet there are still plenty of those wanting the $60 "full" detail and plenty of those willing to give them one.

[TurboToys]

You have to decide how you're going to set yourself apart. If it's going to be by price, you'd better be willing to do very fast work for not much money...


or you could do an outstanding job, in a fair amount of time and let the results speak for themselves. i think anyone could tell the difference between a hack job detail and a real detail. once they see it for themselves.

[RevitalizeAutoSpa]

or you could do an outstanding job, in a fair amount of time and let the results speak for themselves. i think anyone could tell the difference between a hack job detail and a real detail. once they see it for themselves.

That would have been the first option. "You have to decide how you're going to set yourself apart."

[HUMP DIESEL]

PapaChop, my best friend is in the landscaping business, and he has been for many years. He and I affectionately call those types Yard Monkeys, because they are the guys who swing in and take customers. They are the guys who bought the mower and trailer from Lowes and work full time and then do the yards on the side. They dont have insurance or workers comp, but in this day and age, lots of people are looking for the cheap way out.
This friend has a large shop with lots of equipment, high end lawn equipment that cost money to maintain and run. It is a constant conversation he and I have. The detailing industry is the same way. I see guys all the time that work on a corner, have a bucket, some rags, and some slick tire dressing that advertise "Detail". These are not detailers and yes, we do have to educate the customer on what this type of person can and will do to their car. In the end, it is up to the customer to make the decision. We can only do so much toward education.
I also try to target my clients. Market to the people and vehicles that I want to work on.

HUMP

[Bunky]

As a customer of services at times, I will say a number of them are them are not very good at selling themselves and how they are better than anyone else. For services work, the price can vary dramatically. For example, in say a 10 hr job (yard, siding, roof) the labor rate of just $10 per hour can make a difference in the price. Let alone they do it right so if given a choice between a $100 and $150 job for many unless the $150 guy explains why he is good then the $100 guy gets the work.

[Pureshine]

People who are going to places like this are not my customers.When they get a hack job they call me to fix and do it right.

[VP Mark]

People who are going to places like this are not my customers.When they get a hack job they call me to fix and do it right.

I think this nails it on the head.

Guys, there will always be people that hack and there will always be a market for cheap hack work. Just work hard to improve your own business while educating and serving the clients you have.

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[brondondolon]

Production vs. Quality...

Some people will want the $60 detail job and they are happy with it. For instance if that guy did my father's hummer my dad would be stoked. If the guy did my ram I'd probably cry. Lol

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[Beavis]

Funny thing today I went to a customers house to do a job that he was referred to me by another customer. He was telling me after I was done that a friend of his told him he could have got it done cheaper than what I was charging. $50 for a complete .lol.. But my customer told me after I was done he was very pleased with my job and.

You are right brondondolon some people will be happy with that kind of job. I would love to know how much time these $50-$60 detailers spend on the car.

[parttimer]

So funny this topic came up, I just restored files for an end user today. One was "Mike's detailing order form." It was three check boxes, exterior detail consisting of wash, wax, tires cleaned, $40. Anything over 2 hours, $10 per hour. Interior detail, $30 and was vacuum, dash treated and windows, anything over two hours $10/hr! A complete detail was, yep, $80, anything over 4 hours $20/hr.

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[LRC3]

Most people don't know and don't understand what it takes to detail a vehicle properly, and can quite frankly can less about there paint. As long as there's "Arm A Oil" on the tires and the windshield is clean job well done, that's just the bottom line.

Same with lawn care, roofing, etc. Cheap will 9/10 times will be the deal sealer. Even if you explain to them till your blue in the face, do a power point presentation, coupled with a laundry list of references.

I believe the only thing you can do is roll up (if mobile) with you vehicle SPOTLESS and let that do your talking, and go hey look at this...