I'm 20 own 4 cars and have far more than that invested but whatever
Money is ALWAYS an issue! If it weren't you wouldn't be opening a detail shop. You'd be going on a cruise with supermodel. Your going to still need a loan to pay for the building alone. Now to answer your question:
1. A building. The biggest investment and one of the hardest choices. Keep in mind this is a buisness that requires people to come to you! So there are four major rules. LOCATION LOCATION price and LOCATION! If i didn't emphasize location enough i'm sorry. As i'm sure you konw the people with money are usualy very lazy. This means they don't want to drive very far to get there serivce done for them. So being located in a upscale neiborhood or in a comercial park where a lot of execs and ceo's work is a must. The area also has to be zoned for your buisness. It also can't be too near a competitor unless you plan on doing a hostile run over with your prices and services. It can't be too near a building that makes a mess either. If you pull a car outside and it gets covered in soot or something thereabouts in five min you might as well just give up then. Next comes price. This is even more dificult to "deal" with than the location. It has to be cheap enough where you are makeing money every month. If your payments are so high that on a slow month your losing money you just won't last long. Keeping in mind the building has to look very respectable and clean and be in a good area this is very difficult to come by. Property in a nice comerce park can coast 3-4 times what a very nice house coasts. And that's w/o a building on it yet!
2. Now you've go your building and your land. Your in a great neighborhood and have a fresh coat of pain on your lovely sign outside by the street. You need a bay or bays inside that building that can suit your needs. Is all your going to be doing is washing? Will you ever off more survices like oil changes or painting or etc.... Room for expansion into other areas can be a great source of adition income. For now we will stick to detailing only though. I'll lay out what one bay should have IMO and then you can just add more of them. The bay should have 3 walls or a wall and two curtains. A very slightly sloped floor that will drain water properly as well as a drain. Pleanty of shelving and cabnirty as well as a sink. Plumbing for a hose would be a must as well. Next comes lighthing. A huge! issue for a detailor. I would recomend getting florecent tubular lighting with color corrected bulbs that are used in paint spray booths that come close to matching outdoor light. Cram as many of these on the cealling AND walls as you can. Then comes paint. If you ask me there is one and only one option. White! It simply reflects light far better than any other color. This will aid in you being able to see everthing better. And an added bonus is that when it's clean it looks really clean. Wich is always a pluss if someone want to see your work enviroment.
3. A suplier.
This is an often forgot about step. Finding someone who can suply you with everything you need for a good price and in a timely fasion is an incredible asset. Someone local is always a bonus as they will lots of times stock everything you need and you can then just give them a call and they'll bring it out to you. I've gotten to know my local finshmaster rep very well
A mail order would not be a bad way to go either. Heck i bet dwayne could do a great job with this. There are drawbacks though. The biggest being time. Everything takes at least a couple days to get to you. You also then CAN'T run out of anything. You need to have a good inventory done all the time because if you run out of something in the middle of a car you can't just tell a costomer come back in two days because i'm out of a product i need. You could very easily have a back up suplier that's local but might not have all your products or as good prices as your mail order for this problem though.
4. Tools. You will NEED
a rotory
a hose
a vacume
a blower
Tools you will want very badly
a pc
a hose nozel
an extractor
a pressure washer
Tools that would be nice to have
A standard mechanics tool set with box. (this comes in handy for removing seats and trim peices and what not that can get in the way. Make sure it has all your torx drivers as well as metric and fractional sockets and ratchets. If you plan on aiming headlights for costomers you will need some inverse torx bits for some newer cars.)
An air compressor with a blowgun and various air tools
A jack and jack stands. (these would be used for removing wheels for better cleaning of the wheel wells and wheels themselves.)
5. Suplies
TOWELS!!!! oh boy towles. Towels for every ocasion mf's, terry you need it all.
Pads. You have a pc and rotory right? You need pads for em you konw. Cutting, polishing and finnish.
Aplicators. There are paces you can't get to with a machine. Hand aplicators are often much easier to use than ripping the pad of your tool. Foam, mf, terry, and others are all nice to have on hand.
Compounds
Polishes
Glazes
Sealents
Waxes
QDs
Dressings
APCs
Paint cleaners
Carpet and apolstry cleaners
lots of other misc cleaners and auto suplies. When you first start you'll be asking your suplier for something new your missing every day if not every 5 min.
I'm sure i'm forgetting lots of stuff so i hope other will chime in. I'm no expert either I'll admit but i have done my research and a lot of dreaming. Good luck with the buizz.
. This is a great buisness to get into and puts out a great amount of cash and introduces u to alot of wealthy people that can help you out later in life since you have gained there trust. Most of my customers have become good friend and we go out to Highway race early on sunday's.
He is just a co-worker and freind. I always call him my painter and he like's it i guess. Again sorry for the confusion.