$250,000/YR. Detailing......

I have 3 guys that work with me at one shop, 3 guys that run/work another shop that I rarely visit outside of maintenace. The main location will do almost 500k this year. The second location will do about 250K (we opened it 18 months ago). Those are gross figures..Took about 50K to set up both shops and we we did it all with real money..no loans, no IOU's, just "do it when you can pay for it" funding. My advice (and it's worth nothing), charge more, charge for everything(we give away too much as detailers),and always do your best work.

I would also recommend diversifying--find a tint guy, find someone to install ppf (or invest in training), save up for a plotter, and install both. Way better margins in both of those than detailing. Also, you almost have to have a good dealer account to be profitable IMO. Find one that pays your price, understands the quality that you are providing, and pays regularly (near impossible I know, but they are out there). This is work that you don't always have to touch, keeps everyone busy throughout the day, and with tweaking of your process is extremely profitable.
 
Very possible.

Single pass 350
Two stepper 600
Jeweling + 150
Coating + 250
Headlight restoration + 70

Me an my partner can do two cars a day with full packages... That said, thats ALOT of work! I don't just mean work, I mean hustling, promoting, call backs, referals etc. That is VERY HARD WORK! It also requires at least 1 person doing leads a lot of the time.
 
My advice (and it's worth nothing), charge more, charge for everything(we give away too much as detailers),and always do your best work.

EXACTLY! We are a rare find, specialized labor jobs such as ours are hard to find an people who care like us... even harder!


I would also recommend diversifying--find a tint guy, find someone to install ppf (or invest in training), save up for a plotter, and install both. Way better margins in both of those than detailing. Also, you almost have to have a good dealer account to be profitable IMO. Find one that pays your price, understands the quality that you are providing, and pays regularly (near impossible I know, but they are out there). This is work that you don't always have to touch, keeps everyone busy throughout the day, and with tweaking of your process is extremely profitable.

Well said, this is what I do as well for PDR an film.

Tweaking your process is the most important thing you can do, shave time, improve results, more happy customers, more referrals an more money in your pocket!
 
Quite difficult to earn $100K (but very possible), but I find it close to impossible to earn/produce $250,000 unless you have multiple people working at an operation. No 1 man operation can do this and sustain it for any length of time w/o killing themselves. Do the math.....and then show me proof.
 
Insurance - several flavors, electrical, water, waste management, Shop Rent, supplies, employees and labor, social security, paying back state taxes, etc., and on and on..

I have not read all the 11 year old posts not do I want to, thank you.. :)

Doing all this alone every day, perhaps 6 days a week minimum for 1 year, then spending a lot of nights working out the numbers associated with the list above, get a few hours of sleep,
then taking care of your family, extended family, obligations, Church, house maintenance, shop maintenance, etc., maybe take a weekend off, and tell me how you do this, ok ??? :)

Good luck with this ! MerryChristmas !
Dan F
 
Anything is possible. Get the right clients, and sell them on the value and charge them high, but maker sure your work justifies the price.

Just make sure you have a steady supply of these types of customers to bang out. I mean service :)
 
I have not read all the 11 year old posts not do I want to, thank you.. :)


Oops! I read all of them. Dan, You need to post faster so I don't do this again. I wonder what that $250K is worth today.
 
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