I got a call about 2 weeks ago from a contractor. He was working on the roof of business complex and got some light tar overspray on several vehicles in the parking lot. He wanted to know if I could look at them and give him an estimate. He gave me the number of the office manager at the complex.
I called up the office manager and told him I was asked to give an estimate on the tar removal for the contractor. Turns out the complex was right up the street from where I was working. I finished where I was and went by to see the vehicles. The office manager asked me how long I had been in business and what type of vehicles I have done (he had a Jaguar S Type and I guess he wanted to know if I had done anything like his car). I told him I had been in business for 10 years full time and pulled out one of my photo albums for him to look through....which seemed to more than satisfy him.
He then showed me his car and said it had the most tar on it. I looked at it and could immediately see it was very light and hadn't seemed to solidify in any way. I sprayed a little Quikshine on his trunk lid to clean it and most of the tar wiped off at that point. I took some Vanilla Moose and rubbed it across the trunk, wiped with an MF towel and the tar was completely removed. He seemed very impressed and said if I could figure it out that quickly, he wanted me to take care of the vehicles. I asked him to call the contractor and let him know I would be acceptable and that I would call with my estimate.
I figured a QEW wash and once over with Vanilla Moose would get the job done. No need to use a tar remover than rewax in this case. They had 1 truck, 1 small SUV and 4 small to medium cars for me to to. I told the contractor I would do the cars for $50 each and the truck and SUV for $60. Too cheap you say? Not at all. No need to vacuum, no need to do the door jams, dress the tires, etc. The contractor was paying only to have the tar removed. He said the price quote was fair.
I started on the cars last week. I did the truck (Dodge Ram SLT) and a Sunfire, Avenger and an RX300. Took me about 4 hours, 15 minutes...$220! I was going to finish them up on Friday, but it rained so I scheduled them for Wednesday. Monday, I had enough time at the end of the day to finish the other two, but only the Jaguar was there but since I had time, I went out and took care of it. At that point, the office manager (who owns the Jag) asked about getting on my weekly schedule. I told him on Wednesdays, I cleaned 3-4 cars right up the street so I could drop by when I finished in the early afternoon. He said that would be fine with him. He also asked since I was going to come by and clean the final car on Wednesday if I would also detail his interior. Of course! I would already be there anyway.
So today, I went out and took care of the last car (another Sunfire) and detailed the interior of the Jag. Since he was going to be a regular, I went ahead and QDed his car when I finished the interior just as a thank-you for his business...he noticed and tipped me $10 (not bad for 8-10 minutes of work). In addition, he said a few of the girls in the office were also interested in having me wash their cars a few times a month when I was out there and another came out and asked for an estimate to detail her car. Not only that, the mailman asked for my card and the owner of the music company also asked me about my business since he had now seen me out there three times in the last 10 days. He has a black Murano with the dealer installed swirls and he wanted my card as well.
I called the contractor when I was finished and let him know all the cars were done and the office manager had signed off. He told me to drop the reciept in the mail and he would cut me a check asap (he had already mailed me a check for the first 4 vehicles). He then said if I was ever in the Garland area, give him a call ahead of time and he would love to have me detail his truck for him.
6.5 hours of work, $320, plus an interior detail (and more $$$), picked up a new weekly regular and got a few more prospective customers.
Just think....it all started with one phone call!
Obsessive-Compulsive Detailer 
? I sure would be
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