jobs per month?

S

shadybreal

New member
This is directed towards mainly full-time mobile detailers, but others can chime in as well. How many jobs (washes, w & w, details, etc.) do you do a month? Most of my business will start out being washes in/out and wash and waxes, and I'm hoping to do 150 to 200 a month. Hopefully I can get more detail jobs once the word gets out. Thanks!
 
You said this is directed towards full time detailers which aren't that many people here on DC. Most of the users on here are ones who detail their personal cars and maybe a freind's or family members here and there.

150-200 cars a month is 5-6 cars a day, every day, all year. Do you think that there are 200 cars and customers willing to pay you to clean their cars? It's going to be rough getting customers in the beginning, IMO. If you can get that amount of cars and you can handle it, great.

Where are you located? The area depends on a lot. Hopefully you could start off with lets say 20 people and do a wash every two weeks. That'll get you some work and hopefully the word of mouth will get you more business.

Personally, I am a weekend warrior detailer, not a car washer. It's not my game. If I were to go mobile full time, I'd much rather do 1-2 full details a day, but the chances of that are slim. Over time I'd run out of cars and customers.
 
shadybreal said:
20 views and not one reply? Aren't most user on this site detailers?
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No, most of the members and visitors are not professional detailers.

I imagine that many of the "pro" detailers would be out detailing at this time of day. The majority of the visitors during the day are probably the do it yourself folks that are spending time at Detail City at work while their employers think they are working.

Notice that I said the majority and not all, I'm sure a few pros could be online during the day as well, but we are talking about ratios here.

Also, could have been 2 members with 10 views each, 10 members with 2 views each or 1 member with 20 views.... you just never know.
 
I agree with what Budman has said. Its not only going to be hard, but it's going to be next to impossible unless you start up a crew. There's nothing wrong with setting your goals high. Two full details a day for five days a week will make for a nice income. I just think trying for anything higher by your self would burn you out and also may make you work to fast which could result in poor quality. Just keep that drive that you have and everything will work out for you. Good luck.
 
The majority of the visitors during the day are probably the do it yourself folks that are spending time at Detail City at work while their employers think they are working.
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Besides being smooth I see that your a smart man also. You caught me. Now back to work the boss is coming.
 
The Fuzz said:
Also, could have been 2 members with 10 views each, 10 members with 2 views each or 1 member with 20 views.... you just never know.
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I have to admit that it was me. I looked at this thread many times. Typed up an answer several times but changed my mind each and every time. I think Budman gave a good answer. It was on the lines of what I was trying to say but my answer always sounded like a smart a$$ answer so I went ahead and deleted it.
 
OK...let me chime in a little. I detail full time to put food on the table and pay bills. I will post more later too.

Let me start off with your low number. 150 cars a month. (doing this considering the weekends off)
52 weeks a year....2 weekend days in a week. That runs you at 260 WEEK days.
Take that 260 and say you do 2 a day...that is 560 cars a year. Granted, you may have days you do more or less.

Now, you were looking into 150 cars a month......well go the highest, and do 31 days a month. Working 7 days a week. 150 cars, divided by 31 days is 4.83xxxxx cars per day...so, rounded up...5 cars a day. All cars are different in condition. Some will take longer, and some shorter. 5 cars a day at say...a max of 4 hours a car, no breaks in beween, is 20 hours a day. Then figure in your travel time to each destination, breaks, eating...etc...... You are well over 24 hours a day..... That is for details.

Now for washes, you need to figure in what amount of time it takes you to do one. It takes me an hour and a half to do a wash and vac by myself. That includes, setup, wash vaz, wipedown, tires, rims, windows, and whatever else. I do not make much on washes, so I try to upsell details. 60% of the time, the customer bites and buys a detail instead.

You need to figure in time to the destinations. The more cars in one spot, the more money you will make.

I am currently doing 1-2 cars a day. if 1 car, I will try to get a few washes in there around that location. to make a few extra bucks.

I am not bashing or talking down to you. There are many variables that you need to factor in. Your area is different than any other area. When I first started, I had hopes of raking in the money quickly. Once reality struck, I sat down and worked out a few plans. Being mobile, you need to hustle. Word of mouth and your rig will be your best form of advertisment. I only have cards out at 4 locations around town, the rest is word of mouth. Being 1 man...I only want to do 2 cars a day max. Any day off I have, I try to relax.
I really like your attitude towards this line of work. Keep your head up, and it will fall in place soon. When I first started, it was VERY slow. There were actually full weeks when I had nothing. That is where you hustle.....
I will touch on this more later.....I need to run and get a hair cut...I look like a wild man!!!!!!!!!!! Appearance is a must!!!!
 
With two experienced detailers, working together as a well oiled machine, cranking through well defined processes, with multiple vehicles at each location, each in well maintained shape, all located in a tightly mapped out area, ten monthly customers per day is easily do-able in less than an eight hours. That's equates to 50 per week -- or about 216.5 total vehicles per month. Of course this is, once again I'll stress, taking into consideration that the processes are well defined, and the detailers are well trained and are working on vehicles that are in tip-top shape. If you have a big-ole-chunk of capital backing you to throw at marketing and a full time staff performing the work, and are willing to risk barley breaking even in the first years, and you base your business plan on sheer volume of work your #'s, I think, are right on. Realistically though, I highly doubt you will hit them in the first year without a pretty substantial finical outlay (six digits). I will however, wish you the best of luck in keeping your feet dry in this industry and hope you make lots and lots of money.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Like I said in my first post, I really don't do much full detailing. I've only done 2 since starting the business as a side job. I did a Microsoft excel sheet last night w/ my current wash customers, and I have 46 cars that I could do at least every 3 weeks if not more often. I'm having to tell my current customers not to tell anyone about right now because I don't want to make anyone mad that I can't find time to fit their car in. I live in southeast Georgia, and know a lot of people in the area who work at different businesses that would love to have me see them every two weeks. I have the day off from teaching today, and I'm about to leave 5:26am to start off my day washing cars. I've got 7 total today w/ 2 being wash/wax and the rest wash in/out. Talk to you guys later!
 
Thought I would add an additional reference. We average 5-7 complete details a day at each location which includes day and night staff. This does not include washes or w/v/w. The time commitment is typically 6a til we are done 10p-1a. Keep in mind that the customer comes to us and we have been in business over 16yrs. Also factor in holidays, cancellations, sick days and the laugher... vacations and I think you will find it tough to meet your goals by yourself. IMO, and according to my wife it is not worth much, 75-100/mo would be a good starting point. The idea is to set attainable goals on the outset to gain confidence and accomplishment with the idea of continually improving and adjusting on these goals.
 
Thank you for the honesty. I really think 150 is attainable, but we'll see. As most people probably know, teachers don't make that much money so I don't see a problem making more than I currently do. My long term goals are to have 3 or 4 trucks servicing the surrounding area. Wish me luck!


detailz said:
Thought I would add an additional reference. We average 5-7 complete details a day at each location which includes day and night staff. This does not include washes or w/v/w. The time commitment is typically 6a til we are done 10p-1a. Keep in mind that the customer comes to us and we have been in business over 16yrs. Also factor in holidays, cancellations, sick days and the laugher... vacations and I think you will find it tough to meet your goals by yourself. IMO, and according to my wife it is not worth much, 75-100/mo would be a good starting point. The idea is to set attainable goals on the outset to gain confidence and accomplishment with the idea of continually improving and adjusting on these goals.
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I think I just try to make a certain amount a day. Now I do all the above from washes to full details and anything in between. I try to make at leat $300 a day and I usually only work 6 hours a day. I have several business park locations that I go to once a week and I never know what to expect from them but some weeks it sucks and some weeks they kick my a$$ and I make more than expected..

I think that you just have to figure out what you want to make a day and do what it takes to make that and everything above that is gravy.

At least that is how I run it.

Kenny
 
I agree totally. I would like to try and make 200 before lunch and 200 after lunch, but 300 a day would be good too. I made 125 in 3 hours today doing some quick wash and vacs. I can't wait to get going full-time!
 
I'm a weekend detailer but I do about 6 to 8 cars a month in the summer it could be more but nothing above 10...these are all full details and I average about $400 to $600 a weekend....I do a pickup and delivery so I am limited as to how many cars I can get in and truthfully I couldn't do more than I am currently...its to physically demanding on this 52 year old body
 
I have been doing it for about 16 years,I have try ed to get help at times and usually that turns into a headache.So a usually work alone but with no headaches,and I usually average about 6 cars full details a week not including Wash's
 
In full swing, we have 4 full-time people, with about 30 productive hours a day. Full details are 5-7 hours, we usually do 2-3 full details, plus a few other jobs each day.
The cars we get in PEI are never express detail. A full interior is a lot of work and time.
 
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