Part-Time Detailers, how do you do it!?

[ShaniV]

Hello fellow detailers, I hope everyone is doing well.


I have a question that's more directed towards the detailers doing there work part time or used to do it part time, on the side after their full time gig. So a little about my situation so you know where I'm coming from, I used to detail full time then decided to take up the trade as a automotive tech since I've always wanted to get in that field. I put most of my efforts toward that while I put detailing on the backburner. Three years later which is now the present I am strongly considering getting back into detailing as a business but part time. I have no intent of leaving my full time job. I enjoy both parts of the automotive field, dirty and clean. Problem is I am trying to plan my schedule out, and I'm finding it quite difficult to make it happen. I don't work weekends at my full time job, and I live on my own so the weekends I try to see friends and family. I'm willing to dedicate my weekends towards detailing but not all of it. During the week I can get about three hours a day towards detailing but working in a repair shop in itself can be quite draining. Trying to get out again to work in the sun is another challenge. To me it seems like the weekends is my only option. So how do some of you guys doing this on the side make it happen? I look forward hearing your replies and advice. TIA.

[TTQ B4U]

one car per weekend is all I want and occasionally I'll have someone leave the car overnight for me to work on in the evenings. this week I did a co-workers car, single step correction/polish with HDSpeed. They dopped the car off on Monday and picked it up this morning. I worked on it Monday and Tuesday night for a coupe hours each night.

[AutowerxDetailing]

I do this full time now but back when I was working a full-time day job and detailing part time I mostly scheduled stuff on the weekends. Also, for quickie wash and wax type services I might have scheduled a car in the evening. Sometimes I didn't have a single day off for over a month and on some days I only got 3 hours of sleep; however, I was working towards building the business into a full-time position for myself. Since you aren't trying to build the business and are just seeking an additional source of income (doing something that you enjoy) you can be selective about how you schedule clients and even what type of services you offer. Everything has an opportunity cost. Would you rather do a barf interior clean up or enjoy a Saturday off with some friends? That's what's great about detailing part-time... you have a ton of flexibility to enjoy life how you want to.

[lawrenceSA]

I only detail on weekend and I try and strive for 1 weekend on, 1 weekend off, to allow me some time with the family and friends etc, but because of demand I often land up doing 3 to 5 cars is a row before taking a weekend off - currently I am fully booked out until November.

Typically I will have the client drop their vehicle off on a Friday evening - this allows me to then make a very early start on Saturday morning and with the car having sat in the garage over night, it means things like the engine bay and wheels are completely cold, allowing me to start straight away on those. I then spend most of Sat morning handling engine bay, wheels, washing and decon. Sat afternoon into the evening is spent correcting. Sunday morning correction is completed, LSP, interior, glass, exhaust tips, trim and all the other bits, and the client collects Sunday afternoon.

I intentionally do not offer any wash n wax type services, and so all of my work is 'full correction' type details, so for me it is always only 1 car per weekend.

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

My full time job gives me off on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. Since my wife is a teacher, and before the baby came, Mondays and Wednesdays were my days to schedule details. I usually do jobs that don't require more than one day so this worked out great for me.

I can still squeeze in a detail here and there on a weekday if I can find someone to babysit, and it being the summer I try to do all I can during the week while my wife is off from school.

There is a rare occasion where someone will book a full correction and coating job and I usually try to have those cars dropped off Monday morning and picked up Wednesday night (the car would sit untouched in the garage on Tuesday while I'm at work), but I have done Sunday-Monday jobs too. The wife understands because those types of jobs pay well and I don't do them very often.

[idriveblackcars]

op I'm right with ya. I tried doing this part time to make some extra cash on top of my full time gig. But turns out I rather have my free time to myself and just work on my own car. Either I'm lazy, not money hungry or just enjoy time relaxing.

[wn1998]

I ENJOY detailing on the weekend! Some people like to read or Golf to relax, I LOVE detailing. I try to get 2 cars per weekend. However, 4th of july weekend I did 5 cars (Thursday-Monday).

I don't do much correction as my typical customer is a mom with a 2015 suburban that doesn't really car about swirl marks and just wants a shiny truck and a clean interior. I can knock out a suburban interior and exterior (decon, clay and sealant) is 6 hours.

[David Hayward]

I currently work a super odd 12 hour schedule where I work 2 days on 2 days off 3 days on 2 off 2 days on 3 off. So it works out for me to do 1 car typically a more major correction or cquartz coating on each of my groups of days off. For me I'm looking to transition some day into full time detailing. Unfortunately this forces me to over do it sometimes, but for me to try to get close to what I make now I really need to push myself to fill up spots and work extra hard. Hopefully it pays off but off not I'm making a killing doing it and my current job.

[zmcgovern45]

If you want to work full time & detail part time, sacrifices have to be made.... trust me, I have been doing that exact thing for a while now. You will sacrifice time with friends, time with family, sleep, time to eat, etc etc etc. You will have to miss out on some events, you will have to give up some other hobbies (I used to play golf almost every weekend, now I am lucky if I get a handful of rounds in each year)... but it doesn't bother me because detailing is also something I enjoy and the additional income allows for great financial freedom for my family.

I work full time as an engineer, and operate my detailing business mostly on weekends (I meet with potential customers on weeknights for inspections and quotes). Due to our limited availability and high demand for services, we are able to be quite selective in the type of work we do. We tend to only do paint correction work, which is where my passion lies. I have 1-2 guys helping me most weekends, and we do between 1-3 cars per weekend depending on the job and how much we want to work. Before I had any help, I would just schedule 1 job per weekend. I have cars dropped off on Thursday or Friday evenings so they can be cleaned & decontaminated. This leaves us the entire weekend for the correction & protection process.

In the end, it is a job, and you should be making enough money to make it worth your sacrifices... otherwise, what is the point? There is plenty of money to be made in detailing if you do it right. Good luck!

[parttimer]

I work full time, monday-friday, 7a to 4p, weekends and bank holidays off. I try to only schedule one car per weekend, I used to do 2 but its just too much to do with dogs and a girlfriend. She gets her kids every other week, the kid week I might do 2 cars on the weekend if I see fit. I will schedule an exterior or interior only one night during the week. On the weekends I try to request a Friday evening drop off so I can wash and decon the exterior, maybe get the tires dressed. Then its into the garage for a test spot. The next morning, off to the races to finish. She understands this is my side gig, she also understands it pays for all our vacations and blow off money. I'll bust my butt for a few weeks, then we spend a week in Florida all expenses paid. Not too many complaints that way!