Project Planning - Car Detailing

[wildjyoung]

Hello Everyone,

By day job I am a project manager to develop new products. Planning a project is critical to ensure I am successful. I was thinking it may be beneficial to the people on the boards if a project plan template with times was posted for everyone to use when detailing. Obviously there would be several different templates for 1-step, 3-step, wet sanding, etc.

It's just a thought. If some people will be willing to provide the steps I can put together the templates and post them.

Josh

[Perfections]

There's a ton of variables, the principals are the same, but it seems like each car has it's own needs since everyone takes care of their cars differently, also one detailers wash and vac service for instance may be totally different from another guys, and once you get into true detailing they will be totally different. An example is my wash and vac is equal to another persons detailing services in my area so a template for me and them would be totally different, but I'd like to see what others say, maybe there's a way to simplify this.

[silverfox]

What a great idea...being a project manager, I can appreciate what you are proposing...and it will help a lot of others as well (once they see it unfold).

Its true that all projects are different once you drill down into details..however every project has a beginning, middle, and end...so think it more as a guideline.

[wildjyoung]

Excellent, I am glad someone else understands my line of thought.

I agree on the variables. No two of us do things in the same manner. However, like Silverfox stated just having a framework could help a lot of people. We could couple the project plan with flow charts to show decision points and things to review when detailing.

[C. Charles Hahn]

Its true that all projects are different once you drill down into details..however every project has a beginning, middle, and end...so think it more as a guideline.

I'm envisioning what you're talking about to basically be a drill-down list of sorts so that as you work on any particular task, you can check off the steps you've done and know at a glance what still needs to be completed.

That would be particularly useful in a production detailing environment where the job is done exactly the same way 95% of the time, possibly with multiple people working on a single vehicle at once.

I use something similar with vehicle check-in reports where I can mark off any areas that I know will need particular attention; when I'm done with the job I go back and make sure I've addressed each notation I made on the report before returning the vehicle to the customer. Works well for me, at least.

[DLB]

Just for reference, here's a checklist that has a pretty good start.
Start Your Own Automobile Detailing ... - Google Books

(Page 15 if it loses the bookmark for some reason).

DLB

[ShaunD]

Just for reference, here's a checklist that has a pretty good start.
Start Your Own Automobile Detailing ... - Google Books

(Page 15 if it loses the bookmark for some reason).

DLB

Great link/book for a beginner or someone that is going from detailing as a hobby to a biz. I have been doing the whole initial walk around checklist and writing out my detailing task and keeping track of when I do them and how long they take me for each vehicle. With this info I gather on my own detail job I planned on making a flow sheet/step-by-step checklist that I can follow and customize per vehicle/job.
Everyone has there own ways and some have techniques that are unique to there detailing. But, like stated everyone has to have a start/end and what they do in the middle. There are a lot of steps that/procedures that are going to be the same/very similar regardless who is detailing whatever. What wildyoung is proposing is something that can be used as a template and customized per detailer. We all go it wether we know it or not, and wether we keep it in out head or write it on paper. To become more efficient and consistent with detailing IMO a professional project/detailing plan is required. If you didn't know it, many companies pay big money to have professional planners/managers come in and evaluate their steps in everyday procedures and see what is slowing them down(time is money), and what steps are being executed efficiently of not. It is awesome to have people like this at our disposal that are looking out for us on this forum. I am in on having wildyoung draw-up a plan/template that we all can at least start off with.
Starting at the first step of evaluating the vehicle you are going to detail can be different for many, but, needs to be consistent with each job you do. Knowing what you are going to look at/for each time you look at a vehicle and in what order will expedite the start of every detail job. I was just thinking about having some pics/forms printed out that has the layout of several vehicles like the rental car co.'s have when they mark damages on a car. I would use this to walk around with the client and attach it to my detail plan with notes and steps/procedures that need to be down to correct/detail that vehicle. I think this would look very pro and clarify to the customer and anyone else working with you on the vehicle, what needs to be done/has been done. Of course, the write up on this needs be clear/well written out to reduce confusion. I will assist in more steps later, that I do for specific details.
Thanks to everyone that adds to this thread/project to help all of us out.

[Perfections]

I would love to add something useful to this.....and I'm just going to stick to exterior.

Starting with wash.

Evaluate debris on paint surface to come up with wash process. If the surface isnt that dirty I ONR the car. If its dirty I'll go with a foam cannon while foam is on the car start my 2 bucket wash. Before I start washing I do the wheel wells, then the tires, then the insides of the wheels, then around lug nuts, then the face of the rims. Then start my washing, starting with the top down, then dry. Then evaluate the paints surface to come up with a process to bring it to the results you want. Here's my services, an aio wax, if im going to polish either 1 step and beyond I'll clay then begin the steps, always starting with the least aggressive method doing a test spot. My old method when I was going be doing any polishing/compounding was to tape off the trim, high spots, cover the glass, any spots that you can damage pretty much. But now with the Meg's mf da system I'm not taping jack and getting amazing results, although if I had a special interest vehicle I'd still tape off everything because accidents do happen even if your a pro. Before you start polishing if your gonna polish the rims do that first and add your protectant to the tires/wells before you start your LSP, incase you have any wind that brings your dressings onto the paints surface.

Onto polishing using products that have no fillers, and this can vary depending on detailer, some will polish then remove the product even if it contains no fillers to inspect their work, some will just continue the process.

1 step

Clay, mild abrasive polish that leaves no visible marring under varying lights, protect

2 step

Clay, moderate abrasive polish or compound, followed up with a lesser abrasive polish to get rid of marring from previous step leaving no visible marring under varying lights, protect

3 step

Clay, Compound, lesser abrasive polish to get rid of marring from previous step, then a finishing polish to get rid of marring from the previous steps leaving no visible marring under varying lights, protect

Stand back and marvel in your work!