Want To Start Up

[CanadianCharlie]

Hello all, nice forums I've been reading now for the past 2 weeks now.

Ok, here is my question. I wanna start my own detailling bussiness part time, you know something on the side. Bussiness out my way isn't too good and if I was to do a car every 2 weeks that would be fine with me as I wouldn't be charging much ($50) for a wash, wax, tires, wheels and interior. I'll be posting some flyers at work to see how it will go, but I only have 1 problem. I offer a car pick up and deliver when its done, I know alot people around here won't go for that and if I was to do it at thier place I'd have problems with transporting water or using electricity.

Any suggestions?

[GregCavi]

Welcome Charlie! I am sure you will enjoy your stay at DC. You will want to do a search on mobile detailing and maybe starting a business as this topic has been discussed before.

One quick thing I can say is that you can do the car right at the clients home if they let you use their water and electricity. That is how I have done it and I have had no problems.

Greg

[Jngrbrdman]

If you only want two cars a month then I wouldn't bother advertising with flyers. Two cars a month isn't part time or even part part time. Don't advertise unless you are prepared to handle the volume of customers it may generate. Just start out with word of mouth around the neighborhood, work, and family.

I would also consider adjusting your price a bit. $50 bucks for two or three hours worth of work doesn't seem like it is worth getting out of bed for. Detailers don't make that kind of money unless you are working for someone else. Self employed detailers charge upwards of $30 - $50 per hour. I'd evaluate how much time a car will take you and how much you want to earn doing it. If you undercut every other car was and detail shop in the area, then people will wonder why you are so cheap. Some might assume it is because you don't use the same quality products or tools. It's something to think about...

As Greg said, do some searching on this. I posted something on making money detailing from my site awhile ago. It might be helpful.

[CanadianCharlie]

Thanks for the info, forgot to mention that I'm in Southern Europe and $50 is what regular folks who work in factories make a day. Asking for more will drive away bussiness

[joyriide1113]

Originally Posted by CanadianCharlie

Thanks for the info, forgot to mention that I'm in Southern Europe and $50 is what regular folks who work in factories make a day. Asking for more will drive away bussiness

WELCOME!

Another good reason to add your location to your User CP

[Jngrbrdman]

For some reason I assumed you were in Canada. Gee... wonder what gave me that impression.

Regardless of what people make in a day, you should probably look at what other detail shops are charging. If there aren't any detail shops around then you might want to reevaluate this as a part time job. When nobody is interested in getting their cars detailed then it usually isn't the best idea to invest money in starting up a side business.

[PhaRO]

If you need to carry water, a simple 12volt shurflo pump and anything you can hold water in would work. The pumps run $50-100 US. Alternatively you could use something like QEW or a similar product. While I generally do a traditional wash (bucket and hose), I've washed quite a few vehicles with QEW and have had no problems. I use a two gallon garden sprayer right now with it and find that to work well. You can use customers water and electricity also. I did that for many years and rarely had a problem. I've also used cheap little 12volt vacuums and small invertors with small vacuums. All got the job done, some just took longer than others.

[Brenton]

Hi, I'm Brenton from PEI (Canada).
Welcome.

Find what works for your economy, get the right products to do the job efficiently and beautifully, and work hard.
I would suggest, though, doing friends, family, neighbours, etc. for $50/car for a year or so. Then do flyers geared toward higher end customers and leave behind jobs that don't pay as much, if it is only casual, once you have practice.
It's tough to make a living at this in some economies.