Detailing on the side, out of your own home.

P

PaulTso

New member
I'm starting my detailing business and i will only be doing 3-4 full details per week. My full details can be any where from 5-7 hours. I'm concerned on the customers reaction towards the idea of detailing on my driveway or in my garage. The idea jsut sounds kind of "ghetto" and unprofessional.



For those who have detailed at there homes, are your customers open to this idea? and how do you arrange getting their vehicle to your place? do they drop itoff and have somebody bring them home?and then come back with that person and drive their own vehicles home? I'm also willing to go to the customers house, but cannot justify setting up a mobile rig. Im not making this my full time job. jsut on the side. Are customers ok with using their water and power?



thanks,

Paul.
 
I do it on the side as well, mostly from my home. I do pick up and delivery if no other arrangements can be made, unless the customer is ok with me using their power/water like you stated. My details take the same amount of time you're talking about so I just do two in any given weekend.
 
I have a side business and detail from my house .. mostly high end cars and there has been no problems at all .. they are more concerned with the quality than the location ..
 
I work out of my house on Fridays and Sundays. If my

dad needs help at the shop, then I'm there on Fridays.

If i know in advance I have work to do there, I will usually

have my customer bring the car over there. Fortunately,

there's no beef with the owner when I use their water

and electricity, as I do his and his sons' car for free

(mostly to try out new stuff:D ). For "car guys",

their definitely not Autopian, but they do appreciate

how their cars look after I'm done.
 
I detail on the side and I usually do it at my house. They like the idea of their car at a safe place. It's not ghetto or unprofessional, it's the quality of work that matters.
 
thanks for the responses guys.



boomboom- didnt mean "ghetto" and "unprofessional" in a derogatory context. I know its the quality which should be paramount in importance. i was jsut afraid some customers might find it odd that you work out of your home instead of the usual shop.
 
I've been detailing full time more than 11 years using QEW as my main wash and using my customer's electricity and every has been fine with it. A generator would be helpful at office complexes but in private neighborhoods most customers seem to prefer you plug in to their outlets than run a generator for a few hours.



Like the others said, your customers are more concerned with the quality of the work.



If you are going to work out of your own house, you might want to check the zoning laws in your area first.
 
Paultso said:
thanks for the responses guys.



boomboom- didnt mean "ghetto" and "unprofessional" in a derogatory context. I know its the quality which should be paramount in importance. i was jsut afraid some customers might find it odd that you work out of your home instead of the usual shop.
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Nah. My garage IS my shop. I've had customers comment to me that my garage is the cleanest and most organized garage they've ever seen, so I guess it's no big deal. Nobody I've come across has had problems with it. :xyxthumbs
 
I live in San Antonio, Texas and the only thing I really have to worry about is the summer time water restrictions. Some years it gets to the point when you can only water your grass at the crack of dawn once a week by hand, no sprinklers. So if you live in an area like this don't let water run off into the street. I have a big slab in the backyard so i just drive the vehicles down the alley and pull them into the back. I would also let your next door neighbors know what's goin on, so they don't complain.
 
Paultso said:
I'm starting my detailing business and i will only be doing 3-4 full details per week. My full details can be any where from 5-7 hours. I'm concerned on the customers reaction towards the idea of detailing on my driveway or in my garage. The idea jsut sounds kind of "ghetto" and unprofessional.



For those who have detailed at there homes, are your customers open to this idea? and how do you arrange getting their vehicle to your place? do they drop itoff and have somebody bring them home?and then come back with that person and drive their own vehicles home? I'm also willing to go to the customers house, but cannot justify setting up a mobile rig. Im not making this my full time job. jsut on the side. Are customers ok with using their water and power?



thanks,

Paul.
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I can't say I would be impressed with someone detailing my cars in their driveway but it seems to work okay for lots of people. I would just recommend that you be diligent in following all your city by-laws, prevent water runoff to the storm sewer and most importantly, have proper insurance. Also, contrary to poular belief you are not insured to drive a customers vehicle without your own insurance. Their insurance does not cover you driving their vehicle for the purpose of doing business. I actually had a customer last week that demanded I show proof of insurance before she would let us detail her van. Apparently the last "detailer" she used smacked her engine block while driving over a curb and shifted the engine and transmission - damage $5000. His big problem - no insurance. Her insurance company covered her repairs and sued the guy who damaged the car. Better to be safe than sorry.
 
i do not perform that many details, ( unfortunaley ) per week but i do enough. customer's do not have a problem with me working out of my garage,



and as other's have said, i sometimes go to their house, just so that i get the job. if it is more convenient for the customer and i am willing to do it, hey what the hell



i drove 120 miles to detail 2 cars :eek:
 
I was working out of my house until I got a complaint (don't know from who) and was forced to find a different location due to zoning. I don't think I ever lost any customers due to working out of my garage, but I pick up and deliver most of my customers' cars so they never see my place. I usually just use the line, "Before we go any further I want you to know I am a college student paying for school so I work out of my house. If this bothers you, feel free to go to a different detailer but I assure you that you will not be disappointed with my work. I can also provide references if necessary."



As I've said in other threads, I hate mobile detailing and I know that even though other guys on here have great success with it, my own work comes out much better with a fixed location. That being said, if you are doing only a few cars a week so that no one will complain, go for it. I had good success and I'm sure you can too. It is usually the people who will be a PITA or other detailers who actually have their own shop that will look down on your setup - a lot of people will respect the fact that you are trying to make some extra money so long as you provide high quality work.



ShineShop: when you say that you need your own insurance, are you talking about liability insurance only or does your own driver's insurance cover you? I'm currently working without liability (I wouldn't have passed the shop inspection that was required by my IC because I was working at home) but I might look into it again now that I have a shop.
 
I work out of my garage, never had anyone complain. As long as the finished product is good, and you don't crash driving to/from the fixed location (knock on wood), most people are happy. None of my neighbors have filed any complaints yet, half of em use me as a detailer, and the other half seem to just think that I have a very large extended family.



IMHO, anyone thats gonna ask "why don't you have a real shop" is a customer you don't want to deal with anyways. I'd say I do about the same number of details weekly, too. Using the house cuts expenses down bigtime, cause up here you can get away with letting water runoff into the storms, dumping wet/dry vacs into the storms, whatever you want to do. If you have a shop, the environmental restrictions are a LOT tighter.
 
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