Untapped Market?

Holden_C04

Holden_C04

New member
I wonder if this really is an untapped market for mobile detailing...?



YouTube - Scratch Removal Business Opportunity - $185/Hour



The reason I ask is because this video reminded me of this picture of a stainless steel fridge that had been cleaned with a brillo pad:





Five.jpg
 
I think about it every day.



It's funny cause I have a friend that use to work at an appliance store (sales) and sold fridges and he use to try to sell the stainless polish and they all complained about the price of the polish and most of them would not buy it.



The store use to have a few complaints with peopel complaining about poor quality SS and some of them were complaining about scratches. My friend said that most of the defects were Brillo pad marks that were installed by customers. A few complained that they used a car polish on them and the SS turned black in certain areas.



It may be so...Like I said I do think about it. It has to be way better than cars.



I wonder what they all look like now.
 
I can see the C&B's all ready now...Maytags, Amana's, Kenmore's, LG's, etc....



My assumption that Todd would be doing the exotics.... Sub Zero's.:grinno::grinno::grinno:
 
Holden_C04 said:
A good question is whether conventional compounds and polishes will work, or do you need a ss polish? Pads?
Click to expand...



I know you have to be VERY careful with SS. Some aluminum oxides will act as a smokefest. Like bleech and amonia mixed together.



You need something that is SS safe and designed for SS metal.
 
I've done quite a few repairs on brushed stainless steel.



Like the video described, the major problems are matching the existing scratch depth and keeping the marks at the same angle.



In a sense, it's like wetsanding. The difference is that you can keep going without burning through. Also, scratches come out fairly easily.



3M already makes a number of pads to repair brushed stainless steel. I have one for watch bands and it really works great. They're sort of like a Scotch-Brite pad. In fact, Scotch-Brite padscan correct certain brushed surfaces.



Here's what it looks like on an iPod:

ipd.JPG
 
Refrigeration meets Reconditioning- sounds like a money maker. I don't think it would be difficult to match the 'grain' with a squared up guide and a scotchbright holder with a straightedge.



When I used to do marine body restorations I always thought of tapping into gelcoat and fiberglass shower and tub repairs. Easy money and gelcoat spray guns are approx 10% the cost of an HVLP gun.
 
rydawg said:
I can see the C&B's all ready now...Maytags, Amana's, Kenmore's, LG's, etc....



My assumption that Todd would be doing the exotics.... Sub Zero's.:grinno::grinno::grinno:
Click to expand...





Yeah, then he'll be dragging it out into the driveway to get some direct sun shots.
 
How about "Home Detailing" in general?



There is a company in my area that does the rough equivalent of auto detailing in the home, clean, compound, polish, seal, refinish, shampoo,etc. Could be a nice day's pay.
 
G35stilez said:
How about "Home Detailing" in general?



There is a company in my area that does the rough equivalent of auto detailing in the home, clean, compound, polish, seal, refinish, shampoo,etc. Could be a nice day's pay.
Click to expand...





I guess if you carry a large water tank and pressure washer, you could pressure wash houses, driveways, sidewalks, pool areas, etc...



My neighbor got a quote for getting her house pressure washed, and they were going to include a carnauba protectant on the vinyl trim. I had never heard of that on a house before. Can't imagine it's too durable.
 
weekendwarrior said:
I guess if you carry a large water tank and pressure washer, you could pressure wash houses, driveways, sidewalks, pool areas, etc...



My neighbor got a quote for getting her house pressure washed, and they were going to include a carnauba protectant on the vinyl trim. I had never heard of that on a house before. Can't imagine it's too durable.
Click to expand...



Doing houses is another thing altogether. You'd need a good plunger pump rated for continuous duty, 150+ gallon tank and a low pressure spray to avoid spraying water behind aluminum siding. Concerns of creating mold would outweigh the profit I think, and the pro washers use 4GPM sprayers. Expensive.



I did quite a few RV washes this season and at $3-4 per foot it's real easy money if you've got the means to carry water. Most of my RV customers were at trailer parks where they did not have a water supply for washing or too old to climb the roof comfortably. Figure a small RV at 25' is $75/$100 and barely over an hours worth of work if you hustle.
 
G35stilez said:
How about "Home Detailing" in general?



There is a company in my area that does the rough equivalent of auto detailing in the home, clean, compound, polish, seal, refinish, shampoo,etc. Could be a nice day's pay.
Click to expand...



I was out near the NY/CT border doing an RV wash/wax and interior on a 26'- using the same principles of detailing and home cleaning. Just about 9 hours by myself and big money for basically remedial work.



I've heard of detailers using their steamers on tile grout and extractors as upholstery cleaners on the side. Essentially what the machines were built for and would be good side income during the winter months. I wonder what the pricing structure for jobs like that looks like? :D
 
Interesting topic. I never really thought about this, but have inadvertently performed a repair on a stainless fridge before. Well, not inadvertent, but I didn't realize there was a market for it. In any event, I "polished" the fridge in my house last year, it came out great. I treated it just like wetsanding a lip on an aluminum wheel. Maybe I'll ask my car clients if they need their sinks polished. :D
 
Funny you guys are discussing this. About once a month, I use s100 polishing soap to take any scratches out of SS kitchen sink. I also use turtle spray wax once a week in all my sinks to prevent water spots since I live in an area with very hard water.
 
Picus said:
Interesting topic. I never really thought about this, but have inadvertently performed a repair on a stainless fridge before. Well, not inadvertent, but I didn't realize there was a market for it. In any event, I "polished" the fridge in my house last year, it came out great. I treated it just like wetsanding a lip on an aluminum wheel. Maybe I'll ask my car clients if they need their sinks polished. :D
Click to expand...



This may be popular in your area, Kevin, come the colder months. It's much nicer to work indoors. It may be a bit tedious to polish an entire floor with a rotary, but this type of work, IMO, has a higher price tag, simply because of the coverage area.
 
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