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What shop do you manage?
Interesting discussion about detailing: Paintless Dent Forum
- Thread starter AppliedColors
- Start date
SVR
Dream Machines
Offering unique services no one else in my country do, does put me into an exclusive group of only one or two detailers in the other states who are definately autopian quality detailers and do amazing work.
I've never wanted to own and operate a typical detail shop working on dealership POS and the general publics vehicles who don't give a crap about them besides making sure they get washed now and then
My preference is the show car scene, prestige vehicles owned by doctors, lawyers, accoutants, real estate agents etc. Sometimes family cars who's owners are in car clubs
Sure it can be quiet sometimes but when most of my work is in the range of $330 to 500, doing four cars a week is great and heck even just two gets me by very easily.
not having a family to feed or a mortgage helps.
I've never wanted to own and operate a typical detail shop working on dealership POS and the general publics vehicles who don't give a crap about them besides making sure they get washed now and then
My preference is the show car scene, prestige vehicles owned by doctors, lawyers, accoutants, real estate agents etc. Sometimes family cars who's owners are in car clubs
Sure it can be quiet sometimes but when most of my work is in the range of $330 to 500, doing four cars a week is great and heck even just two gets me by very easily.
not having a family to feed or a mortgage helps.
imported_Totoland Mach
New member
Interesting thread and one that hits several points. As most of you know, I recondition BMW's for a used Bimmer dealer. He get 80-100 cars per year on a steady basis and I joined me last year to learn the reconditioning aspect of detailing. I had a fantastic Mon-Fri daytime job which paid a nice salary, so this BMW work was icing on the cake. Money-wise, the reconditioning paid very little for the hours I was working, but I put that in the "that's OK" category.
Well, here comes September of this year and the company I was working for was gobbled up in a corporate buyout by a much bigger company. So, I lost that income and informed the BMW shop that I decided to work full-time at detailing/reconditioning. I also informed him that I needed to make a living wage on the cars I reconditioned (as an independent contractor, I needed to be in the $30-$40 per hour range to support my family). He said he could not afford those wages as he has a set amount for detailing built in to the price of the car.
End result: I returned the key to the shop and let him know that I would be available for polishing/compounding services at $30 per hour and he could pay either that rate, or I would work until his detailing price is reached...his call.
Now, I have since picked up an exotic car shop that specializes in Ferrari, Lambo, etc and they know of my work from the BMW shop. They let me quote each job at a $40 rate per hour and add $100 to the detail cost to cover shop expenses. Very reasonable on both sides and they "say" I will get at least 3 cars per week (hasn't happened yet).
I am presently at life's intersection: stick with the detailing as a business or go get another full-time job and keep detailing as a sideline. Fortunately for me, I have a few months of time before the decision becomes critical finance wise.
It was kind of ironic when I told the BMW shop that I had to make a full-time living from reconditioning/detailing services...he just couldn't understand that kind of pricing until I mentioned his PDR person and leather recon person coming to the shop and working 1-2 hours at $75-$100 rates.
Thanks for the thread....
Toto
Well, here comes September of this year and the company I was working for was gobbled up in a corporate buyout by a much bigger company. So, I lost that income and informed the BMW shop that I decided to work full-time at detailing/reconditioning. I also informed him that I needed to make a living wage on the cars I reconditioned (as an independent contractor, I needed to be in the $30-$40 per hour range to support my family). He said he could not afford those wages as he has a set amount for detailing built in to the price of the car.
End result: I returned the key to the shop and let him know that I would be available for polishing/compounding services at $30 per hour and he could pay either that rate, or I would work until his detailing price is reached...his call.
Now, I have since picked up an exotic car shop that specializes in Ferrari, Lambo, etc and they know of my work from the BMW shop. They let me quote each job at a $40 rate per hour and add $100 to the detail cost to cover shop expenses. Very reasonable on both sides and they "say" I will get at least 3 cars per week (hasn't happened yet).
I am presently at life's intersection: stick with the detailing as a business or go get another full-time job and keep detailing as a sideline. Fortunately for me, I have a few months of time before the decision becomes critical finance wise.
It was kind of ironic when I told the BMW shop that I had to make a full-time living from reconditioning/detailing services...he just couldn't understand that kind of pricing until I mentioned his PDR person and leather recon person coming to the shop and working 1-2 hours at $75-$100 rates.
Thanks for the thread....
Toto