Dismal day for my detailing business

M

magictouch24

New member
I'm graduating high school next week and have been detailing for the past few years to pay for college. I do good work, use good products, I'm very professional, but I do all of the work out of my house or in rare instances, on location. This is mostly because I don't work very much in the winter, and in the past I haven't been able to work during the week because school is my first priority. Basically, I have a one car garage with a one car driveway and a covered car port over it, and my house



Anyway, things have been fine and I usually have about 2, maybe 3 cars a weekend (last summer I had about 10-12 cars a week). These numbers of cars are fine since I am only supporting myself, but I don't have the volume to open a full shop. This morning I got a call from the town's zoning inspector and he said that I need to stop running a full time business out of my house.



My question to all of you professional detailers is have you ever encountered a situation like this, and if so, what did you do? Any suggestions on what to do would also be appreciated - I've been searching all day for a local, low-rent garage or bay that I could use until the end of August, and I'm also toying with the idea of continuing work but doing less cars so its more of a personally sustaining hobby.



On an unrelated note - last week I did a monthly on a black MB S-430. I detailed it exactly one month before the monthly appointment, and when I washed it I noticed there was absolutely no wax on it (Meguiar's Hi-Tech Yellow Liquid Wax) and there were fine, long marks all over it. They looked like car wash marks, but the client said she hadn't been through the car wash nor had anyone washed it since me. Anyone have any explanations for this? My only thought is that there is major construction near her house, and something could have settled on her car and combined with the rain, the wax was stripped.
 
One of your neighbors blew you in. Inspectors don't just drive threw the neighborhoods looking for illegal businesses. Sorry dude go mobile.
 
That's why I keep as many cars away from my res as possible. It also gives you more exposure to go other places as people see you show up to clean their neighbors cars and want theirs taken care of so that they can "keep up with the Jones'." Go mobile or hide!
 
ask how many cars you can do so as not to be considered "full time".



As for the MB, ask if it had been serviced? If so then the dealer may have washed it.



Anthony
 
Superior Shine said:
Become a plummer.
Click to expand...



Or, a plumber...:) , ' course that would require licensing , also.



Zoning regulations exist for a number of valid reasons.



Good Luck.



Jim
 
Lucky for me that my home is zoned for business. About the only restriction is I can only work between 8am and 5pm. And I can't have water run off going into the storm drain.



If your getting busy, do it right or get out of the business. Do your home work and purchase all the equipment you will need to go mobile or make an arrangment with a shop or selfserve wash to do your work there.
 
Can you pull the cars into the garage/cover to work on so that they're hard to see from the street? I'd suggest doing that, and hope your code enforcement officer isnt too big of a hardass. Also, find out which neighbors don't like you, and deal with them appropriately (I might suggest notproud.com's "Anger" section for ideas;)).



Going mobile can work too, but believe me I know what a hassle it can be. Working at home really has its conveniences.



slightly OT P.S. Know a good (read: cheap) PDR guy in Mass? My aunt dinged up her car bad and her guy wants 950 bucks for it. PM me back if you know anyone.



-Tim
 
The only reason I didn't "do my homework" and "do it right" is because I knew I wasn't doing enough cars to sustain a shop. I absolutely hate mobile detailing and I've placed the option just above closing down completely.



The thing that baffles me is that all of my neighbors like me, and the inspector said that the complaint was about used cars sitting on my property (there's been one used car with no stickers on it at my house in 9 months, and it was 2 and a half months ago for about 2 days). This makes me think that a competitor, or more likely, my old boss from a dealership, is the one who reported me. I left on bad terms because he refused to pay me and I had to contact the Attorney General, and he always threatened me about stuff like this.



Anyway, thanks for the responses. themighttimmah: I PMed you some info, let me know.



edit: I've been searching all over my area of garages for rent and may have found 2 bays at a local dealership/service center in exchange for doing their cars at a discount. Hopefully that works out.
 
I agree wit the majority "Go Mobile" it's a simple solution to the problem at hand. just carry smaller bottles of the stuff you use on a regular basis.



also your customer might have lied to you. I have been known to have #26 last up to 2-3 months and that is washing on a weekly basis. the only way I can see complete wax brake down/failure would be one of those cheep-o drive through car washes, and those light scratches point in that direction also
 
A number of things could cause the wax breakdown. Parking under certian trees, tunnel washes, hand dawn washes, etc. I really would blame the #26 failure on the customer, but I wouldn't tell them that :). Just rewax, make them aware of the aformentioned dangers, and hope they dont mess it up again.
 
magictouch24 said:
This morning I got a call from the town's zoning inspector and he said that I need to stop running a full time business out of my house.
Click to expand...





The negative road blocks you encounter while growing a business usually lead to positive opportunities.



Think about it this way. How long did you really think you would be able to continue to operate your business out of your house? Okay, so you were not ready for this situation, however it does create an ideal opportunity for you to figure out what changes you need to make in order to move forward with your business plans.



One last thought. Personally, I would go down and talk with the zoning inspector. Let that person see that you are also a real person just trying to grow a business. Ask for their professional advice about what options you have so that you can take the next step in moving your business into the real world of commerce.
 
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