Startup Detail Business on Budget - Products/Equipment?

A

ahheck01

New member
Hey guys,



I want to start by saying thanks to all of the contributors on this forum. It's been a priceless resource for the development of my skills as a detailer, as well as a great guide to planning a new business.



My friend and I are starting a small detailing business. We have both been doing here-and-there jobs on the side, and we've both worked at a VW dealership in the so-called "detail" department. We've decided that we can build our side client base sufficiently to justify making it an official business.



We have a location (renting a garage) and enough supplies to do a couple cars. I'm handy with web and graphic design, so I'll put up a website and make business cards.



We've even done research on what the local market is (as far as what our competition is charging, and the quality of work they do), so we have a good idea at what we're looking at in terms of our price list.



While we build clientele, we're going to want to keep overhead at a minimum. We've got a so-so rotary with good pads, and enough OTC products for a detail or two, but once we run out of those, it's time to start identifying products to purchase en masse.



My question is this - what products (polishes, compounds, glazes, claybar, soap, pads, brushes, vacuum, etc) and equipment are best for a startup business on a budget? I know that the prep is 90% of the finished look, and my buddy and I are meticulous when it comes to paint correction, etc. What products are cheap, do the job well, and can produce a finished product that the untrained eye can't identify as cheap?



The VW dealership uses CarBrite, who swings by weekly to drop off whatever products we need, but I haven't had the opportunity to really compare quality, because we don't have the opportunity to do real details there.



Equipment is a question too - we have one decent rotary, and I have a PC bought per this site's recommendation about a year ago. I have just a house vacuum cleaner, and a 2000psi power washer. I have wash mits from Autozone, and two 5 gal. buckets. I also have about 30 cheap MF towels, also from autozone.



What do I need to invest in, and what products are going to be the best bang for the buck in my situation?
 
I wouldn't try to cheap out on products in the beginning, just buy the things that you know will make your cars come out superb. If you can do that, you shouldn't have any problem getting a loyal cliental. Then, you can start paying back your bills and making a good profit.
 
I agree - I built up a pretty pricey / extensive arsenal before I officially opened up shop. You never know what combo is going to work on a certain car, in a certain situation. The way I looked at it was I could spend the money then, or spend it later. I chose to spend it then, as I wanted to be prepared, have products I believed in, and wanted to appear to the customer that I wasn't operating on a shoe string. When most clients see the amount and quality of products I carry, they have no issues leaving their "baby" with me, and have full confidence it will be taken care of.



I hope this didn't sound "snobby", just telling you how my start up experience went.
 
Well, I see where you guys are coming from. What do you consider the bare necessities of quality products that would provide sufficient coverage for our immediate needs?



-Evan
 
1 - buy yourself a quality rotary. If your "so-so" rotary craps out mid detail, you are in trouble if you don't have a spare. $250



2 - at least a 5 hp shop vac. You can do a fair amount of moisture extraction with this. $50



3 - halogen light set up $30



4 - I would buy a Porter Cable 7424 or UDM - even if you have a rotary, one of these is always helpful. $150



5 - Air Compressor is optional. I like it, because some carpets (like VW carpet) is horrible at holding gunk in it that a vacuum won't always pull out. I can hit it with the compressor and a blow tool, hen vacuum. $125



These are the main peices of equipment that I use on just about every detail
 
Polishes:



Compounds - Meguiar's 95 and 105. 3M's compound (the name escapes me)



Mid level polishes - Meguiar's 83 and 80. 1Z Intensive Paste, Menzerna SIP, Optimum Polish.



Light Polishes - 3M Ultrafina, 1Z high Gloss Polish, Menzerna 106ff, Zaino Z-PC.



All In One Products - Meguiar's D151, Zaino AIO, and Optimum Poli-Seal



Waxes / Sealants - Meguiar's #26, Optimum Car Wax, Zaino Z5 pro



Pads - Sounds like you have good pads, if you need suggestions, let me know.



Interior Products - Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailer (this is good for cleaning all interior surfaces - leather, dashes, plastic, etc...). 10:1 mix of Water/Woolite to use for cleaning leather, or to spot treat stains in carpet. Folex for cleaning carpet stains.



Meguiar's Hyper dressing. This can be diluted all the way to 4:1 and can be used on everything from engines to tires to wheel wells, to dashes.



This would get you going, obviously in conjunction with all of your towels, buckets, soap, etc...



Eventually, you will probably want to stock more polishes and waxes than I have listed here, but all of the products above are quality products that will produce nice results.
 
Your CarBrite rep has helped to open many, many detail shops. Give him your budget and ask for his help.



And buy the strongest air compressor you can afford. It is a necessity on interiors.
 
Thanks for the great advice!



I have my processes... but I should ask - is there a tried-and-true, efficient process to a typically complete detail (wash, clay, correct, seal, wax, interior) that most business operators use? Do you all recommend a citrus degreaser over the whole car like Dalton, etc?



Thanks!



-Evan
 
I haven't been around too long doing this for $$$ but I do know that starting out with "(wash, clay, correct, seal, wax, interior)" is going to start your pricing out way too high for a startup. If you have time to wait around for that guy that is willing to pay $400 for a detail from a person with no to little references than that is great but you need to do the more basic details/washes to keep the business going.



A basic detail for me is wash and wax with a little paint correction if needed(Poli-seal instead of wax). Plus clean every nook and cranny that I can find. Pretty much clean everything that I see inside and outside of the car with just a basic wax. I start at $150 for this service and people do not seem to mind paying it. I do tell them ahead of time what other things I offer and how much it would cost......i.e. extra steps on the paint, headlight restoration, engine detail. This seems to work for me. Like I said, I am just starting out as well so these are my observations.
 
Without knowing your location I can't tell you what your target market will be but I am assuming that this will be a side job and not your primary income. If you are relying on this business then you need to realize that your target clients will NOT want perfect paint and if you focus on that type of client then you will quickly find you won't have enough business to keep yourself afloat.



You should head over to sears and pick up a 5hp shop vac/blower right away. A house vac wont do it. If you have some cash pick up a decent hot water extractor. Cleaning the interior your BEST bet is to buy stoners all purpose cleaner and dilute that 10:1 or more. This can be used to clean all of the plastic and vinyl as well as leather on cars (most cars dont even have real leather). Also pick up Xenit from stoner's, its a citrus based cleaner and will remove spots that an APC can not remove and vice versa. Many tar and grease spots on interiors aren't even touched by other cleaners but xenit will remove them in an instant.



You will need a number of scrub brushes for the wheels, interior, carpet, engine ect. Crevice brushes for the hard to reach areas that you are tyring to vacuum. Another brush that is crucial is any type of brush that is toothbrush shape, they are great for cleaning interior cracks filled with crumbs.



I personally like to use stoners tarminator, is literally melts the tar on cars and once you start doing the public's cars you will realize how much tar can accumulate on light colored cars.



I may sound like a stoners ad here but they are bar none the best bang for your buck if you are on a budget and they sell everything they make in bulk.



I have been working at/with a shop for the last 5 years and we are in a 3000square foot building now doing good business. We are targeted toward the general public but still get our exotic cars, since moving to the new shop in dec we have done tons of 50-100k cars that people really abuse and don't care about a perfect car they just want it looking good inside and outside and don't want to spend 300-400 bucks.



In short our process for the interior is:



Clean window tops (roll them down a little)

Remove large debris

vacuum entire car

scrub all the leather/vinyl/plastic

clean windows

dress plastic

scrub any carpet stains

hot water extractor on entire car(if cloth interior this comes before windows and dressing)

vacuum entire car a second time

wipe down all hard plastics that don't take dressing

wipe down all gauges

use clean fresh MF towel to wipe all of the windows

put mats back in car (removed, scrubbed and hot water extracted sometime in the process)



Thats a general description of my interior process, I can knock it out in about 2 hrs or so depending on the car.



Oh yeah and buy a ton of bulk MF towel from target to clean the interior as well as other uses, we probably have 200-300 or so, all different types and quality for different purposes.
 
I thought I'd mention this in case you had not considered it. In the case that you have this figured out, please disregard!



I have also considered joining up with a buddy to run a high quality detail operation. One issue I have run into, and maybe it's not a problem with your experience, is coordinating efforts. If both people are going to work on the same vehicle, how is the labor going to be divided in such a way that you won't be getting in each other's way while still maintaining time effectiveness. How long, with this combined effort, will it take to perform the various services you will be offering?



In the end, time is money and you will need to know how to schedule your jobs accordingly in order to detail a reasonable volume of vehicles, but still maintaining a high level of quality, consistently.
 
In this business, the proper equipment and supplies are a given. More importantly is how you are going to market your new business; phone book, internet, direct mail etc. If do not have the budget to do some marketing you are not going to attract customers. Unless of course, you are the type of person who can sell really well to almost anyone. Building a business solely with word-of-mouth and fliers takes years. I know this because I have been through it. It was not until I started spending serious money on marketing that my business has started to grow the way I would like. Anyways good luck with the new venture.
 
If your gonna be serious about it just make sure you buy everything you need, maybe double of everything, do research on products..... this website will help on product reviews and do it right dont half *** it
 
i'm in almost mthe same situation as the OP. here's what myself and my "co-owner" have done so far.



like a couple people said, we decided with what we both had already, we could do full details on a couple cars but they would not be at the standards we will be working at. we decided to put together a list of everything we would want/need. within reason of course. when ordering supplies, chemicals, polishes, etc we pretty much ordered double of everything we thought we would need. and we did not cheap out on the products we went with, although our shop is not necessarily filled with all swissvax either (none actually).



Menzerna polishes

Adams/Chemical Guys for the stuff we knew we would tear through (car wash, glass cleaner, etc.)

Einszett Interior products (cockpit etc..)

Einszett Metal/Chrome polish

crazy amounts of microfiber towels

Makita rotary

CCS foam pads

P21S TAW and Wheel cleaner Gel

A lot of spray bottles

Megs/Chemical Guys wax

Chemical Guys Sealant

Stainless Steel Contractors Grade 6.5 horse wt/dry shop vac

Compressor (shopping for one now)

Lots of Detail Spray

Bunch of Uber clay bars

boxes of nitrile gloves

interior brushes

boars hair wheel brushes

detail sponges (lots)

applicator pads

Adams VRT

Grit guards and buckets

Adams Carpet/Upholstery cleaner

leather cleaner and conditioner

hoses

Adams In and Out

Black Wow

wash mits



that's got us started so far, but there's a good amount more we'd like to get. like people said, not all products work well on all cars. i figure better be safe than sorry! if you want to do it right, get ready to spend some money.
 
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