Joined the site... and your friends are a trip... im the same name on there as on here... chat with you later... and we can talk about the detailing business

 

Yeah, they are kinda funny, I found that site on here one time a while back actually.....I know I haven't been around lately, though they'll tell you I'm always around, but I fired 33% of my staff yesterday and the chit has hit the fan

 

Detailing nasty non-maintained vehicles is a lot of continuous hard work, especially when they expect it to look exactly like your properly maintained vehicle inside and out, but don't wanna pay accordingly for it.

I used to do my bosses work truck, it has a tar sprayer in the back, and you can imagine all the tar over spray on the truck (big crew cab non the less). Every time you wash the truck, clay bar is necessary! 3700psi Troy Bilt pressure washer doesn't even nudge it! And you have to work your *** off even with the clay to get it clean (it takes over twice as long as my vehicle just on the clay bar step.) Now imagine the interior mess with loading up the truck with workers daily who do asphalt paving (can you say fresh tar stains on everything?)

Most I've gotten from him is $150 (normally only get around $125) and spent over 10 hours straight on it! I don't even work that hard and continuous doing paving all day and I make a lot more! And then after all that, he still complains it doesn't look as mint as my non daily driven Lightning that never gets driven in the rain let alone fresh tar inside and out daily! I just told him recently don't even bother to ask me to do it anymore, $300 is the new minimum price for a crew cab full detail, possibly $400 for a severely dirty work truck. I could care less if he's my boss and personal friend, you bust your nuts, you should get paid for it!

I COULD NOT see myself ever doing a detail business although I get a lot of people wanting me to do their vehicles just by seeing me doing mine every weekend. I like doing my own vehicles that are maintained well and frequently (and that in it self makes it a lot easier to deal with), but to deal with some of the nasty non maintained or taken care of shiat people have that also don't realize how much work it is to start at the condition they leave me their vehicle to do and get it looking like mine in one day and don't want to pay you what you're worth, forget that, lol.

The only way I would do it is like that guy across seas that does the $5000 detail jobs that works only on exotics, lol.

 

I've got a friend who runs his own carwash and mini-detailing shop. He's got 3 rules listed all over his joint:

1. Flat-rate $25.00 detailing job.
2. Detailing includes:
a. Wash, hand wax vehicle, tire shine wheels.
b. Vacuum seats, floors and add pine scent.
c. Clean and protect dashboard.
3. Nothing else is included and we do not do anymore than what is listed above.

He gets decent business, and no one has ever given him a hard time. He said if they even think about arguing or asking... he just points to the sign. Not to mention he's pretty quick. He can get vehicles in and out in about 15 minutes or less. He even told me the reason he set it up that way... it's because it is haggle/hassle free, most people want a quick detail and a lot of shops have a 1 hour quick detail, and most of all he makes decent money and honestly too.

 

One of the single most difficult parts of have a business like detailing is having to deal with the public.

You will get all of the screw ***** that will complain that you didn't do a good enough job, did a bad job, accuse you of stealing something out of their car, you broke something that was already broke, you scratched the paint that wasn't scratched before. You will get accused of driving the car while you had it.

You wouldn't believe some of the complaint you will get.

 

Never thought of that... guess thats what the insurance is for...

 

Thats no good...

I can't get onto the wlw site from work