Hobby, Full Time or Part Time

Hobby, Part-Time, or Full-Time?

  • Hobby

    Votes: 87 61.7%

  • Part-Time

    Votes: 34 24.1%

  • Full-Time

    Votes: 20 14.2%
  • Total voters
    141
rzatch

rzatch

New member
Todd Helme-Edit: Nice thread, I just turned it into a poll.


I was wondering just how many of you are hobbyist like myself mainly your own stuff, full timers for a living or weekend guys for extra money?
 
Definitely a hobby. I had my fair share of detailing full time, and that was probably enough for me. I take care of my cars, and a couple of other family members cars occasionally.
 
I can relate I did it 5 days a week 8 hours a day for almost 8 years and barely got paid. And people wonder why I don't do it on the side.
 
Tell me about it. It's not the easiest job in the world either. It is somewhat rewarding though, because most of us here love cars and really enjoy making them look better than new.
 
For me it's both a hobby and a full time job. I worked in a call center for over three years while detailing on the side for a small number of clients, friends, and family then decided I had enough with the call center (actually they fired me, but still best thing that's happened to me lately) and started a business with some money I'd been socking away for a rainy day. Building the business has been a test of commitment and patience, but I aim to be a well-known top tier detailer in my area (and beyond) catering to those who are willing to notice, appreciate, and spend a little more $ to benefit from the enormous difference a competent detailer can make. Suprisingly enough I continue to come across people who are looking for this kind of work and haven't been able to find it very easily where I live. I still have much to learn and experience to gain, but I want it bad enough that I'm willing to continue putting in 12 hour days to make it happen.
 
Poll: Hobby, Part-Time, or Full-Time?

Is detailing a hobby for you? Something you do for yourself and maybe a couple lucky family members?

Is it a part time job? Or are you a full time detailer?
 
Part time for me! I have a couple other jobs, as well as going to school. I don't have my own shop either, so if it weren't for my other jobs I wouldn't have any income during the winter months!
 
Full time for me, been doing it on the side for a lifetime, was involved in automotive Painting for awhile, loved it, but hated the health issues; after airplane urethanes came out, I said I am gone from painting.
Started doing it full time a few years back in my 2-car garage, got all the legal stuff, insurance, license, etc., and actually turned a small profit the first year and each succeeding year.
It is not easy, expenses are the killers always, shipping costs are the worst for me since all the good stores are on the East Coast, but I have a steady stream of vehicles all year around, and a huge amount of never ending Bimmers from a really great Independent shop that are some of my biggest fans.
The hours are extremely long for a 1-man shop, you have to do everything, right? :)
But, I really like making vehicles look new again, the restoration part that goes into this, and the look on Client's faces when they see their "new" car for the first time!
I know very well that volume is what makes this work best, so am going to sit down with my Finance gal, and see how I can make this happen better this year than last.
Would love to have a shop space somewhere, so I can really work and not get the hundreds of interruptions I get from working at home with kids, dogs, wife, UPS, Fedex trucks, neighbors, Inspectors, etc.., its almost like a revolving door out here sometimes. And as we all know, any work stoppage, just adds that amount of time to the end of the project, right ? :)
Glad for all of you guys for doing what you do so well, and willing to take the time to share your great Reviews, Pics, and all that stuff !

Dan F
 
At this moment, I just do detailing as a hobby. Clean up my families cars and sometimes some friends. I was thinking about going part time this summer to make some more money, being I would rather detail than work at McDonalds. The other thing is there are no good Auto Detailing shops close enough to me that I would drive there everyday. But being a 16 year old some customers might be turned off by that and not wanting some teenager working on their car. I think I'll give it a shot anyways though. But for now, I'm just a hobbyist.
 
I voted Hobby...


But I am more of a hobby / Part-Time. I really do it for myself as I enjoy it. But have branched out and begun doing it for a select few customers as well. I don't do any soccer mom vans or crappy DD's.
 
As full time as I can when I'm not on other car related projects to bring money in. Having a shop is nice but feeding it's costs is expensive and always there before you get your check.
 
Part-time for me...at least in the Spring, Summer and early Fall months. I work a non-detailing job full-time, M-F so I typically get as much business as I can handle in those months with still trying to have some freetime sprinkled in. I noticed that I'll get a lot of referrals from someone once I do their car so I rarely have to work very hard to drum up business.

I'd love to detail full-time, but the climate (both weather and economic-related) in the Detroit-area won't really support it unless, perhaps, you can find a great location AND do things like stereo/alarm installation, window tinting, rustproofing, and whatever else for the colder months. As it is, I tend to average around $20/hr. when many of the full-timers around here pull double or triple that...and some even more than that.

I work out of my 2.5 car garage. It's done up pretty nicely with an epoxy floor (which will need to be redone within the next few years), a radiant heating unit, a bathroom (have to turn off the water in the colder months), an air compressor, a refridgerator and some other nice features.

-J
 
Sounds like you have a pretty nice set up in your garage. Is your radiant heat a portable one for when your out there only?
 
rzatch said:
Sounds like you have a pretty nice set up in your garage. Is your radiant heat a portable one for when your out there only?
Click to expand...

Thanks!

No, it's not portable. It's mounted up near the ceiling, attached to a gas line and a thermostat. It's enough to take the garage from 35 degrees in the middle of winter to a nice working temp of around 60 degrees. It'd probably get it warmer but I don't like to be too hot when I work, so I've never really tried. It's not an attached garage, so when I need to be in there during the colder months, I'll run out and turn it on and then come back out in an hour and start working. It's definitely not efficient enough to run 24-7 though!

-J
 
I started around the late 60's part time and still going strong after all these years. Even after 20 years in the military, I still enjoy it and making folks happy to see their rides like they should be.
 
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