Thanks for all the "welcomes" guys. I am really enjoying all of the reading so far although I don't agree with all of it but everyone has their opinions.
Blk45, nice car and wheels. I worked for a BMW dealer for a number of years and detailed my fair share of Bimmers. We also had Range Rover and Jaguar as well. Boy did I hate doing Jags.
And there is not a statement more true... "It's all in the prep"!!!!
There is a saying that the luckiest man in the one who loves what he does so he doesn't need to go to work. That is how it was for me. I really enjoy detailing cars, I was fortunate that I was able to pick and choose the vehicles that I would work on and only deal with people that are willing to pay what a GOOD detailer is worth. One of my major frustrations was and is that there are too many guys out there that will get a bucket, some dishsoap, an assortment of towels, a can of wax and shop vac and call themselves a detailer. Then go out and undercut the price doing cars for anywhere from $60-$100. Obviously with lack of experience and know how. IMO this has had a negative impact on our industry. They end up doing more damage to the paint in the way of swirls or leave the interior soaked leaving the customer dissatisfied with the job. Then it is that much more difficult to sell them on the benefits of getting their vehicle and keeping it detailed. Often times when trying to sell a detail the potential customer will say. "I have a guy that will do it for $100" It got to be somewhat frustrating to try to explain that you get what you pay for and there is a huge difference in what you would get from a "backyard" detailer to a professional detailer.
As we all know not everyone can detail a car correctly and get positive results. It is an art and a talent that takes skill. Any electrician, plumber, carpenter etc gets a decent wage for their skill, why shouldn't a detailer that has the ability to take a high end vehicle and turn out a great end result get that same type of wage? As I said I think that there are too many guys that got in on the low end and have done some damage to this industry but I am glad to see that there are sites such as DC that are bringing the professional side of this industry to the front.
