sacdetailing
New member
tell me how did you started detailing? then customers?
how DID YOU got started?
- Thread starter sacdetailing
- Start date
alwaysbored786
New member
I got my first nice car (bmw), and i wanted to make it look nice. I invested a decent amount of cash in the detailing stuff, then i realized i can make money back if i detail peoples cars. And now im here...
imported_NRZ
New member
8 - 9 cars in the immediate family and at $100 bucks a pop to pay someone else to detail them was going to be outrageous. My friend polished a M3 I had and when I saw how user friendly it was to do on my own, I took the plung. Now I do many friends and all the family cars throughout the summer....and I love doing it!
XL Advantage
New member
I love cars and I love making mine look better. I haven't done any in awhile. I'm looking forward to getting back into it.
Tim
Tim
I worked in a detail shop for two years. Everything was at my disposable. After I left there, I wanted to keep my ride clean (95 Buick LeSabre, nothing special, but I kept it clean). Like alwaysbored786, I invested some money in equipment and supplies and went from there. It gave me a chance to experiment with different products that gave the best results.
After a while people complemented me on my car so much they would ask me could I make their car clean like mine. I had one guy telling people you could eat of the carpets of my car. Once I built up the confidence, I started doing paid jobs.
Even though I do this aside from my 9-5 gig, detailing cars gives me a chance to network with different people, perfect my craft, and make some money.
After a while people complemented me on my car so much they would ask me could I make their car clean like mine. I had one guy telling people you could eat of the carpets of my car. Once I built up the confidence, I started doing paid jobs.
Even though I do this aside from my 9-5 gig, detailing cars gives me a chance to network with different people, perfect my craft, and make some money.
brwill2005
New member
Started out 15 or so years ago with my own car and my families car's. Did details on the side throughout high school and college. Went full time with the business after college, around 5 years ago.
imported_advs1
New member
about 20 years ago i worked at an audio shop. we would have to clean customers cars after we did a high end install as a courtesy. one of the owners was a painter, he showed me how to color sand and buff old school style. there were no porter cables, flexes, just rotaries. so i learned and started doing the shop cars first, then the customers cars. took a long break and about 9 years ago i started detailing again to help friends with show cars, word got out and i was doing friends of friends cars. finally decided to go full time and its been about 2 years now. still struggling at times with keeping busy, but i picked the worst point in our economic history to start lol. just my luck
ntwrkguy1
New member
Ironically, I got started when I was 9 or 10. My parents bought me a Schwinn bike (back when they were actually built in the US) that had chrome fenders -- yes, chrome fenders on it. For some reason, I equated "being cool" with "keeping the chrome clean", so I would try my best to keep them clean.
Then, the neighbor living next door introduced me to #0000 steel wool, and I was hooked. That stuff left the fenders looking like mirrors, and it was only a matter of time before I started waxing the paint on the bike, and it just took off from there.
By the time I was 16, it was all over. I bought a one-owner 1966 GTO the day I turned 16 (yes, I used the Jedi Mind Trick on my father, convincing him that it wasn't a fast car), and spent the next year waxing it constantly. Later that summer, a friend of mine got us both hired as "detail guys" for his father's wholesale car business. We averaged 4 cars a day (extremely active wholesaler) of paint details, and left the interiors to two other guys. It was nothing but wool pads and rotarys, working on cars with no clear coats. You learned quickly -- and I do mean quickly -- to have an extremely light touch!
Fast forward too many years for me to remember, and now I just detail for a select group of customers (the day job pays too much to give up), as well as my rather demanding wife and kids!
Then, the neighbor living next door introduced me to #0000 steel wool, and I was hooked. That stuff left the fenders looking like mirrors, and it was only a matter of time before I started waxing the paint on the bike, and it just took off from there.
By the time I was 16, it was all over. I bought a one-owner 1966 GTO the day I turned 16 (yes, I used the Jedi Mind Trick on my father, convincing him that it wasn't a fast car), and spent the next year waxing it constantly. Later that summer, a friend of mine got us both hired as "detail guys" for his father's wholesale car business. We averaged 4 cars a day (extremely active wholesaler) of paint details, and left the interiors to two other guys. It was nothing but wool pads and rotarys, working on cars with no clear coats. You learned quickly -- and I do mean quickly -- to have an extremely light touch!
Fast forward too many years for me to remember, and now I just detail for a select group of customers (the day job pays too much to give up), as well as my rather demanding wife and kids!
sacdetailing
New member
ntwrkguy1 said:Ironically, I got started when I was 9 or 10. My parents bought me a Schwinn bike (back when they were actually built in the US) that had chrome fenders -- yes, chrome fenders on it. For some reason, I equated "being cool" with "keeping the chrome clean", so I would try my best to keep them clean.
Then, the neighbor living next door introduced me to #0000 steel wool, and I was hooked. That stuff left the fenders looking like mirrors, and it was only a matter of time before I started waxing the paint on the bike, and it just took off from there.
By the time I was 16, it was all over. I bought a one-owner 1966 GTO the day I turned 16 (yes, I used the Jedi Mind Trick on my father, convincing him that it wasn't a fast car), and spent the next year waxing it constantly. Later that summer, a friend of mine got us both hired as "detail guys" for his father's wholesale car business. We averaged 4 cars a day (extremely active wholesaler) of paint details, and left the interiors to two other guys. It was nothing but wool pads and rotarys, working on cars with no clear coats. You learned quickly -- and I do mean quickly -- to have an extremely light touch!
Fast forward too many years for me to remember, and now I just detail for a select group of customers (the day job pays too much to give up), as well as my rather demanding wife and kids!
Hey :LOLOL that was funny !!! :har:
you made my day! Once i was trying to convince my dad to borrow me money to get a BMW m3 e36 from my cousin when i was 16, (After i sold my BMW 328i which was automatic) i couldn't convince him that it wasn't that of a fast car though...
Detailed my fire-truck red suburban 6 hours at a time with autozone products. Figured I could make a profit off of it.
Spent 25 grand on a trailer, training and chems.
Had the slightest clue about running a business.
Realized the training was solely based on one company's products, chemicals and methodology. Based on a cyclo and rotary.
Found Autopia, again, and saw how much more I needed to learn.
Cried, loudly, then whimpered.
Now picking myself back up and getting back out there with better techniques, polishers, pads, chems and continue to gain more experience.
All of that in (about) 3 to 4 years.
I really don't want to be one of the hacks.
Spent 25 grand on a trailer, training and chems.
Had the slightest clue about running a business.
Realized the training was solely based on one company's products, chemicals and methodology. Based on a cyclo and rotary.
Found Autopia, again, and saw how much more I needed to learn.
Cried, loudly, then whimpered.
Now picking myself back up and getting back out there with better techniques, polishers, pads, chems and continue to gain more experience.
All of that in (about) 3 to 4 years.
I really don't want to be one of the hacks.