Professional Detailers Poll

[John@Autopia-Carcare.com]

Curiosity thread

Those of you who actually run a detailing business as a means of primary income, do you work alone, or have employees? Check out the poll and vote accordingly.

[Stephan]

Just me

[mrclean81]

Just me. Sometimes my wife helps if its going to be a big job and time will be an issue.

[John@Autopia-Carcare.com]

Do you guys plan on expanding to hire additional help?

[mrclean81]

For me, no. I made that mistake before and it was a terrible decision. Finding help is easy. Finding people who has the drive and ability to WANT to do a good job is almost impossible. I ended up with a couple young men who was there because it was a job that didnt require cooking fries and they could care less if a job was done right or not. They cut every corner they could find. I let them go and a week later my shop was broken into and all of my high dollar equipment was stolen, forcing me to shut down and go back to work as an employee. Ive regrouped, regained my customer base, and have gone mobile since then. From now on it will remain a small family business.

[Garry Dean]

I will always be a "one man show." My number 1 priority in this business is to build long term relationships with my clients. They learn to trust me and rely on me. I have talked to many of them and it seems that what they really like is to know who they will see each time they call and know what exactly to expect from my efforts.

[DSPlati]

This is a good thread, I started my business almost a year ago and now Im at the point where I was thinking about hiring an employee to help out cause I have been so busy since February that Ive had to turn down people (potential clients) cause I couldnt get out to them in a timely manner. But now after reading what some of you have put up I think I may just stay alone. The questions that I was trying to come up with is: How much will I need to pay them, and how to keep them from stealing chemicals and new clients from me? This business is my only source of income as well.

[C. Charles Hahn]

I will always be a "one man show." My number 1 priority in this business is to build long term relationships with my clients. They learn to trust me and rely on me. I have talked to many of them and it seems that what they really like is to know who they will see each time they call and know what exactly to expect from my efforts.

I totally agree. Every bit of my business is about having a relationship of trust, understanding, and mutual appreciation with my clients. I wouldn`t have it any other way since in large part it curtails the issues many with larger scale production shops run into with indignant customers and a lack of consistency from employees.

Not that there`s anything wrong with running a large scale production shop or mobile service, it`s just not as easy to earn higher end business and repeat/loyal customers.

If I ever were to need an extra set of hands on a particular project or had a series of projects that would be impossible to tackle in a short period of time by myself, I would look at partnering with one of the fellow professionals on the forums that I know I can trust long before hiring a random, unknown employee. The peace of mind that comes from knowing I have reliable help would be worth covering someone`s travel expenses to come help me out in that instance.

[jdmser]

I just brought a guy on last week to do hand washes. That`s all he will be doing until he proves himself. It freed up more time for me to focus on larger jobs and allows me to market to people that aren`t ready to jump into a full detail. He basically stands on the street with a sign advertising hand wash and vacs then does them when the customer pulls in. He brought in $130 worth of unscheduled business the first day. As far as him taking business from me first thing I did was to have him sign a confidentiality agreement and a non compete. I can`t wait till I have enough business to hirer 3 or 4 more. I guess it`s to each his own. I came from a large full service car wash were I was a general manager with over 100 employees doing between 300-600 cars a day. My main function there was making sure everybody was doing their job and producing a quality product. Managing 5 or 6 guys detailing 15 or 20 cars a day should be a snap.

[Concours.John]

I`m a one man show right now. I do
Restoration also though so to grow I will eventually need help.
Some of what I call a detail are mini restorations. For example I`m doing a frame detail, the body is off and the frame, motor everything will be redone to new.
My only fear of new employees is what it could cost for a mistake. I agree with Shiny on the cars I work on I`d rather have someone who knows their job.

[sullysdetailing]

I do all polishing and paint correction on my own. If I have a day fully booked with anything else I have one person that will help me so I can get more down in the day. I pay him only when working on the vehicles.

[DSPlati]

I`m curious as to how you pay your helper? Is it minimum wage or per car depending on what type of service was done to vehicle...

[Addicted2Bling]

Just me for now, but when things start to pick up, I might have a buddy tag along so we can get things rolling

[paintjobpro22]

I have one person that rides with me regularly. He focuses on interior only while I handle all of the buffing/polishing. I`ve only been in business for myself since October, but he`s been with me since early November. It`s much easier having an extra hand because I`m able to do more cars..which enables me to reach more people. I only pay him per car, but doing so encourages him to bring in business of his own (which he does often). I don`t think I would have it any other way..

[ShadeTreeDetail]

Just added another employee so ............. 5+