How do detailing pro's make money doing this?

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Dcon67

New member
I just detailed my parents car and while it wasn't a horrible car, it wasn't in good shape either...for a 3 year old car anyway. But I figure it's the a-typical neglected car. Oh, it's a 2003 Toyota Camry V6, in a metalic beige.



I spent 7 hours on it, just on the outside. I didn't even touch the interior.



9:30am - 11am - Dawn wash, Eagle wheel cleaner (spent nearly a half an hour on one wheel that was really bad, I think the brake caliper must have been stuck at some point, after doing that same wheel 10 times and scrubbing the wheel cleaner into it each time, it still never got it completely clean of the crud...I finally gave up on it because it was taking too long) and had to go over the front bumper and lower rear quarters several times. Oh...and I sprayed the engine compartment with a degreaser, gave it a quick scrub and rinsed.



11am - 12:30pm - Clayed using Clay Magic clay and Megs QD as lubricant. On my own car this normally takes about 1/2 hour...but on this car, it took nearly an hour and a half and it LOADED up the clay. Partially due to my not having tar/bug remover, so the clay was doing most of that work too, and partly just from the time it was taking to remove all the paint transfers from various door dings and a mirror that had a close call with something red. Re-washed with Gold Class.



12:30 - 2:45pm - PC'd with Poorboys SSR2.5 using SFX2 pad, and only had time for the hood, trunk fenders and the tops of the doors...skipped the roof, bumpers and lower door panels due to time constraints.



2:30 - 3:30pm - AIO...by hand, wax on/off method...also rain-x'd all the glass.



3:30 - 4:30pm - KSG...also by hand wax on/off, wiped jambs, dressed tires, CD2'd engine and wheel wells.



And NO, I didn't take a lunch break. I took two 5 minute soda breaks that whole time...that was it.



I had to be somewhere a half hour away at 5pm, so I knew I had to be done by 4:30pm when I started. So that's why I had to cut some things short, and skip others since I knew I wanted at least one coat of KSG on there before I had to go.



Things skipped:



- aforementioned areas of the car that I didn't have to time to hit with the PC and SSR2.5

- would have liked to have hit the whole car again with SSR1.

- AIO/SG wheels

- Gotten that bad wheel completely cleaned of the crud.

- there were numerous scratches that could have used some time spent on them.

- Plast-x headlight lens's

- I would have like to have wash/dried the car after the SSR2.5 to remove dust from the crevices...skipped that and went straight to the AIO.



Sooooo....tell me how you guys can do this, profitably, plus squeeze and interior clean into the mix, or where I took too long or could have saved time or a step...or anything you would have done differently. On an Autopian's already clean car, I can see it. But on a typical car that someone washes once every 2 months and has NEVER been waxed or detailed..holy cow, is it a LOT of work bringing it back to life, or maybe I am just slow....I don't know. At least on this car, underneath all the grime/swirls there was pretty nice paint. Wish I had taken some before/after pics.



I think my dad thought I was kidding when beforehand, I told him I'd barely get it done in a day.
 
for me on a car like u described i would upsell the cusomter into other multiple services that u did and i would get paid alot extra for that service too!...



my standard detail on that size vehicle runs almost $200...but that is if it is already fairly clean and doesnt need any sort of special treatment...



example: each pad i hafta use on my Cyclo, on top of my standard 2 pads that come with the detail, is $50.....so if u get into scratch removal and wool pads the customer is lookin at another minimum of $100-$150 just to compound it...



you add the extra cost of these services to a base price for the detail and the price jumps quite a bit...and adds up very fast!



from reading up on what you did i would say sumthin like that with an interior detail would run up close to $350.....roughly?...plus once you have detailed cars for awhile and you get a routine down you can cut your time in half on some of these vehicles
 
a couple tips:



For the bad wheels: a strong wheel cleaner can be worth it's weight in gold. Simple green and a dish sponge work fairly well too. get the wheel wet, spray it on, let it sit. Come back to it later.



Bug and tar remover is a necessity, it'll save you hours of hard labor, and it's cheaper than clay.



Speaking of clay, don't bother claying paint transfer spots. Buff them out. It's much easier, and you actually get better results.



Oh, and clay while you wash. Don't bother with the spray. Go over the whole car once really well with the car wash soap and your mitt, rinse, then apply soap with the mitt and clay it then. 100x faster, and you make sure you get the whole car clean cuz you're washing it twice...



Besides that, the only problem I see is that you're doing things by hand. Why? The PC could lay AIO and SG MUCH thinner and faster than you can by hand. Especially when using SG, thinness makes removal 10x easier.



2 hours and 15 minutes to polish the paint is wwaaaay too long, unless the car is trashed. How do you use the PC? What speed? How slow do you move it? When using things like poorboys, I have it cranked to 6, and am constantly moving it over each panel. Probably 5 minutes per panel, if it really needs help. 5 minutes is a lot longer than you think when you're holding the buffer.





The SSR2.5 and the PC will clean the plastic head lights just as well if not better than the plastx.



Here's my typical process.



wash/clay/dry - 30 minutes - (2 bucket method, spray the car, coat wheels and wells with wheel cleaner, start high by hitting roof and all windows, go around again hitting all body panels, rinse and repeat with clay. Move clay in fairly rapid motions with the grain on surfaces, making sure to keep excess water and soap around. Clean wheels with wheel brush, using cleanser as necessary. Rinse car 75% dry with an absorber.





Interior prep - 30 minutes - Move to interior while car dries to 100%, cleaning door jams, vacumming interior, brushing vinyl with soft brush. Spray carpet cleaner, scrub stains. If leather, clean with leather cleaner.



Polish/seal exterior - 1 to 2 hours - compound/polish/wax. Use PC for all steps, removing with hand. Only do as much work as necessary. Spot compound with seperate pad if possible. Typically cars get 2 steps, as 3 isn't needed unless car is in bad shape. Use a diminishing abrasive such as Chemical Guys laserbuff, Optimum IP, or DACP. This allows you to work out the swirls, then as the product softens, polish to a shine, all in one step. Then seal with the LSP of your choice, with the PC. Apply wax to rims.



Spray wheel wells, tires and dress exterior trim before removing LSP this protects against overspray.



Remove LSP.



Protect interior vinyl, clean glass.



You're looking at 3-4 hours max.





But you have to work in a manner that benefits your time spent not working on certain areas. For example, when i'm doing the interior, the exterior is drying. No wasted time. When i'm dressing the tires and such, the LSP is curing, etc...



tomorrow i'm going to finish 3 cars, full details, in one day.



Yeah, i'll be busting my ***, but if I keep myself organized, I'll get it done...



:spot
 
Here's a few spots where I've found time saving tips:





9:30am - 11am - Dawn wash, Eagle wheel cleaner (spent nearly a half an hour on one wheel that was really bad, I think the brake caliper must have been stuck at some point, after doing that same wheel 10 times and scrubbing the wheel cleaner into it each time, it still never got it completely clean of the crud...I finally gave up on it because it was taking too long) and had to go over the front bumper and lower rear quarters several times. Oh...and I sprayed the engine compartment with a degreaser, gave it a quick scrub and rinsed.



I use an acid-based wheel cleaner (Meguiars Wheel Brightener) that burns off heavy dust. Also, I use a foamgun to wash, it speeds up the process significantly. I'd be done with this step by 10:15, including use of a bug and tar remover. Also I like to open the doors, spray the doorjambs with degreaser, then hose them out very carefully.



11am - 12:30pm - Clayed using Clay Magic clay and Megs QD as lubricant. On my own car this normally takes about 1/2 hour...but on this car, it took nearly an hour and a half and it LOADED up the clay. Partially due to my not having tar/bug remover, so the clay was doing most of that work too, and partly just from the time it was taking to remove all the paint transfers from various door dings and a mirror that had a close call with something red. Re-washed with Gold Class.



I've saved a huge amount of time here by replacing clay with a decontamination system. Also, I leave paint transfers for the polishing step. I'd be done by 11:00, would do step 1 and 2 of FK1's system by hand, then spray the car down with a foamgun for step 3 and dry.



12:30 - 2:45pm - PC'd with Poorboys SSR2.5 using SFX2 pad, and only had time for the hood, trunk fenders and the tops of the doors...skipped the roof, bumpers and lower door panels due to time constraints.



Correction is where a rotary is a must-have - if it didn't need compounding I could hit it with FPII/finessing pad and be done in an hour, if it was a little bit worse Optimum/polishing pad takes about an hour 15 (gotta go over some spots @1700 once and then @1250 to knock out hologramming). For a car in that condition, PO106FF/RMG mix on a polishing pad would provide excellent results in maybe an hour and 10 minutes tops. 12:10.



2:30 - 3:30pm - AIO...by hand, wax on/off method...also rain-x'd all the glass.



3:30 - 4:30pm - KSG...also by hand wax on/off, wiped jambs, dressed tires, CD2'd engine and wheel wells.



I'm not a fan of the K-twins - they just aren't user friendly enough for daily work. I like FK Pink Wax applied by cyclo and wiped off with AquaWax as a QD. Then I Aquawax the windows. I hit the wells and tires quick too, not a whole lot you you can do to be faster there, a good tip is to hit the wells and trim while the wax is hazing, so any overspray will just wipe right off.





Things skipped:



- aforementioned areas of the car that I didn't have to time to hit with the PC and SSR2.5

- would have liked to have hit the whole car again with SSR1.

- AIO/SG wheels

- Gotten that bad wheel completely cleaned of the crud.

- there were numerous scratches that could have used some time spent on them.

- Plast-x headlight lens's

- I would have like to have wash/dried the car after the SSR2.5 to remove dust from the crevices...skipped that and went straight to the AIO.





I like to Aquawax the wheels, lasts a pretty long time and it's a lot faster than the K-twins. I also use non-dusting polishes like Optimum to avoid having to wash twice. Using a filler like Vanilla Moose as your finishing polish will replace SSR1 and hide a lot on the deep scratches, plus add a really nice wet look. Using a carnuba will give great results that are less prep-picky and IMO better looking than using a sealant. A good acid cleaner with a pressure washer will completely knock out the bad wheel.



However, for a rookie, you did great. The first time I detailed my GTP it took 11 hours, last time I did it it took 4 hours including interior, and it had gotten pretty bad (I left for a month and my sister washed it frequently :() Over time, you'll learn little tricks, and you'll find what products and combinations work for you (there are about a million ways to a great result, and everyone has their own personal opinion).
 
Wash, clay AND drying in 30mins?



I can see this happening maybe when the sun is down, but even then it will be hard. If the car is even moderatly dirty, say the rims, 30mins will no longer be do-able.



Maybe I just get the disasterous cars (BMW's and MB mostly), where the intricate, solitified brake dust wheels alone takes me 30mins. (Non-acidic wheel cleaner)



I hope I find 'cleaner' cars in the future!
 
BMWWW said:
Wash, clay AND drying in 30mins?



I can see this happening maybe when the sun is down, but even then it will be hard. If the car is even moderatly dirty, say the rims, 30mins will no longer be do-able.



Maybe I just get the disasterous cars (BMW's and MB mostly), where the intricate, solitified brake dust wheels alone takes me 30mins. (Non-acidic wheel cleaner)



I hope I find 'cleaner' cars in the future!
Click to expand...



well, yeah, that bmw brake dust is the exception to the rule... That stuff is mean!



But you can still cut down by quickly spraying the wheels with water, then with your strongest wheel cleaner while you stage the rest of the wash.



On bad wheels, I get the wheel cleaner on there first, then bust out my buckets and soap and water, and start getting ready. By the time I'm through washing, the wheel cleaner has been soaking for 20 or so minutes, and has worked through most. If I notice it drying up or not working as well as i'd like, I'll spray some more as i'm washing, just to keep it going...



with claying, maybe 45 minutes... but definitly less than an hour.



Also, keep in mind that if i'm doing a full detail, I don't sweat the drying so much. I get must of it, then let gravity and evaporation do their work while i'm working the interior... This saves me 10-15 minutes alone...
 
A smart detailing professional makes money doing this by fully understanding the difference between maintenance detailing and reconditioning detailing.



Maintenance detailing is all about taking care of vehicles that are amost always detailed on a regular basis, usually two, three and four times per year. Of course, it takes a lot less time to completely detail a vehicle that has been maintained on a regular basis. The advantages of doing maintenance detailings are, 1) Less time per vehicle, 2) More income revenue per vehicle.



Reconditioning detailing is taking care of vehicles that are seldom washed and almost never polished and waxed. They take a lot longer and there is a lot more involved in bringing them back to life. The disadvantages of reconditioning detailings are, 1) More time per vehicle, 2) Less income revenue per vehicle.
 
like anything id say its repetitions. some cars ive done lately seemed to breeze through and others i feel i get stuck on and drag them on for several hours. i would study where timmah paraphrased your post and try to keep all the time saving tips in mind next time you do a car. you did a thourough job it looks like, keep gettting the hang of it and youll figure out all sorts of time savers yourself.
 
Thank you....lots of good info on time saving. A few biggies! I think if I had just quickly clayed as I washed and used the polish to remove paint transfers I could have knocked off an hour easily. More aggressive wheel cleaner, and a bug/tar remover would have saved another 30-45 minutes....and if doing this for a living a rotary would make a huge difference time-wise doing the polish stage on a car like this. Although, the swirls really weren't all that bad...probably because it's so rarely washed...it was the tar/bug and other contaminents that were a pain to remove. The paint litteraly felt like sandpaper when I started....even after the dawn wash.



Also, really good point on maintenance details vs. restoration. As with every job, you gotta take the good with the bad. One nice thing doing a restoration like this...the before/after is jaw dropping and leaves a nice feeling of accomplishment.
 
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