Detailing has always been a passion of mine; I worked at a privately owned for a small bit, then took a few years off and now work at a stealership in the detail department. As the stereotype goes, yes we are pushed hard to get work in and out as quick as possible while maintaining OK quality.
I'd say I'm about 80% satisfied with the quality we can accomplish, but I want to raise the bar and get myself to 100% on my own as a "summer" job on the side. Of course at the dealership we get product in large quantities, usually cheap quality products (car brite for the most part)
The problem I'm stuck with now is how much I should charge people to do their cars privately on my own time? Overhead is seriously low, it's basically electricity and supplies that's the only overhead...I'd like to put a bit in my pocket, and use the rest to increase my supply base.
At work, I can usually whiz through a car in about 3 hours, that's shampooing the carpets, seats, mats, blow out the vents, nooks/crannies, clean all the vinyl surfaces, dress vinyl, inside/outside windows, and a quick AIO polish just to shine the outside up a little. Of course I can do a full blown 6 hour cut polish jobber for a cost, but I doubt many will be interested.
I'm not the best businessman as I hate asking people for money. Most of my future customers will be family, friends, and co-workers, so I'm afraid to give them a figure incase it scares them away. Should I just bite the bullet and give them a price, and explain why it is what it is? I don't want to screw them, and certainly don't want to screw myself, but I want to offer something that makes us both happy.
I'm very confident in myself that I can achieve 100% satisfaction with my own work due to the fact I'll be able to give the car the attention it deserves because I'm not working for anyone but ME. I think I'm on the right track and just need to get the prices out there, and eventually people will come around and after 1 or 2 people bite on the service and word of mouth starts to flow because of the darn good job I did
It'll probably be easier to get all this done once spring rolls around...it's hard to polish cars when it's -20 out :|
Thanks in advance for the advice!
I'd say I'm about 80% satisfied with the quality we can accomplish, but I want to raise the bar and get myself to 100% on my own as a "summer" job on the side. Of course at the dealership we get product in large quantities, usually cheap quality products (car brite for the most part)
The problem I'm stuck with now is how much I should charge people to do their cars privately on my own time? Overhead is seriously low, it's basically electricity and supplies that's the only overhead...I'd like to put a bit in my pocket, and use the rest to increase my supply base.
At work, I can usually whiz through a car in about 3 hours, that's shampooing the carpets, seats, mats, blow out the vents, nooks/crannies, clean all the vinyl surfaces, dress vinyl, inside/outside windows, and a quick AIO polish just to shine the outside up a little. Of course I can do a full blown 6 hour cut polish jobber for a cost, but I doubt many will be interested.
I'm not the best businessman as I hate asking people for money. Most of my future customers will be family, friends, and co-workers, so I'm afraid to give them a figure incase it scares them away. Should I just bite the bullet and give them a price, and explain why it is what it is? I don't want to screw them, and certainly don't want to screw myself, but I want to offer something that makes us both happy.
I'm very confident in myself that I can achieve 100% satisfaction with my own work due to the fact I'll be able to give the car the attention it deserves because I'm not working for anyone but ME. I think I'm on the right track and just need to get the prices out there, and eventually people will come around and after 1 or 2 people bite on the service and word of mouth starts to flow because of the darn good job I did
It'll probably be easier to get all this done once spring rolls around...it's hard to polish cars when it's -20 out :|
Thanks in advance for the advice!