Discussion
I’m in my current job and fed up with the poor pay, mediocre holidays and travelling all over.
Is detailing as lucrative as it’s made out to be? Is the market just oversaturated with people claiming they offer the best service.
I’m just looking to do something different. But I’m not sure what.
Is detailing as lucrative as it’s made out to be? Is the market just oversaturated with people claiming they offer the best service.
I’m just looking to do something different. But I’m not sure what.
Anyone with a pressure washer and a bucket of soap can claim to offer a "detailing service."...
Only high-end detailers are making thousands of pounds per car ... But they are highly skilled craftsmen performing multi-stage paint corrections, wet sanding, and applying complex ceramic coatings or ppf..
It is a saturated market...good luck if you decide to go ahead ...
Only high-end detailers are making thousands of pounds per car ... But they are highly skilled craftsmen performing multi-stage paint corrections, wet sanding, and applying complex ceramic coatings or ppf..
It is a saturated market...good luck if you decide to go ahead ...
The guy that does ours is very good, does a superb job, easily as good as I can do and a lot more thorough.
He charges £45 for a large car, £35 for a small. We have 1 large and 2 small, so it's £115. He is here for minimum 4 hours doing all three. (doing just one is a 90min process).
Even ignoring his material costs, it's not an amazing/lucrative hourly rate. For him it is more a lifestyle choice due to chronic anxiety.
He charges £45 for a large car, £35 for a small. We have 1 large and 2 small, so it's £115. He is here for minimum 4 hours doing all three. (doing just one is a 90min process).
Even ignoring his material costs, it's not an amazing/lucrative hourly rate. For him it is more a lifestyle choice due to chronic anxiety.
Auto Artisan said:
I m in my current job and fed up with the poor pay, mediocre holidays and travelling all over.
Is detailing as lucrative as it s made out to be? Is the market just oversaturated with people claiming they offer the best service.
I m just looking to do something different. But I m not sure what.
My pal is a very, very good detailer and he's worked hard since lockdown period to get his business going, running right and earning - he worked with a number of other local detailers to learn the trade, so to speak and he's now doing very well for himself.Is detailing as lucrative as it s made out to be? Is the market just oversaturated with people claiming they offer the best service.
I m just looking to do something different. But I m not sure what.
He also does a lot of partnered work when he and a few others he knows have a lot of work on; so they split the fees etc
But he works a lot of hours; as it takes a lot of hours, more so when customers are paying premium prices etc
TheHeadhunter said:
The guy that does ours is very good, does a superb job, easily as good as I can do and a lot more thorough.
He charges £45 for a large car, £35 for a small. We have 1 large and 2 small, so it's £115. He is here for minimum 4 hours doing all three. (doing just one is a 90min process).
Even ignoring his material costs, it's not an amazing/lucrative hourly rate. For him it is more a lifestyle choice due to chronic anxiety.
Jesus, I like washing my car but even if he did 40hrs+ and 30 cars a week he's not going to be cracking £50k assuming you do actually take a day off and that's before a single business expense. He charges £45 for a large car, £35 for a small. We have 1 large and 2 small, so it's £115. He is here for minimum 4 hours doing all three. (doing just one is a 90min process).
Even ignoring his material costs, it's not an amazing/lucrative hourly rate. For him it is more a lifestyle choice due to chronic anxiety.
_Rodders_ said:
TheHeadhunter said:
The guy that does ours is very good, does a superb job, easily as good as I can do and a lot more thorough.
He charges £45 for a large car, £35 for a small. We have 1 large and 2 small, so it's £115. He is here for minimum 4 hours doing all three. (doing just one is a 90min process).
Even ignoring his material costs, it's not an amazing/lucrative hourly rate. For him it is more a lifestyle choice due to chronic anxiety.
Jesus, I like washing my car but even if he did 40hrs+ and 30 cars a week he's not going to be cracking £50k assuming you do actually take a day off and that's before a single business expense. He charges £45 for a large car, £35 for a small. We have 1 large and 2 small, so it's £115. He is here for minimum 4 hours doing all three. (doing just one is a 90min process).
Even ignoring his material costs, it's not an amazing/lucrative hourly rate. For him it is more a lifestyle choice due to chronic anxiety.
shtu said:
£230/day on a good day is pretty poor for any tradesman.
Exactly. Now, I suspect he is a little uncommercial with his time. But even so.....I nearly started a business in it a year ago this month.
I d spent a chunk on proper training (I.e. not by brands or influencers) to understand the science behind it.
I opted not to do it for 2 core reasons:
1. It s a commodity and there appears to be a fairly small target audience. The super rich don t really care for it - they don t have time to appreciate a car polished to an inch of its life, and ceramic coated for 10 years. They just want it clean when they get in it once or twice a month.
The true target audience appeared to be those who have good money, but would quickly cut out expenditure on detailing if needed.
2. It s hard work to do it properly (and hence you need to charge properly) and it isn t recurring revenue.
The real work isn t really recurring income. One of the benefits of a good ceramic is how much easier it is to wash - but regularly washing someone s car won t be worth the money to you or someone else.
A proper paint correction and ceramic would take me 3-7 days (depending on state of the car + paint colour + size) and that s working 8am-10pm.
It is HARD to do it properly.
All the driveway stuff is snake oil. I don t have the desire to go into it in detail on here but you cannot possibly do a proper job on someone s driveway.
Tl;dr it isn t as glam as made out on insta if done properly
I d spent a chunk on proper training (I.e. not by brands or influencers) to understand the science behind it.
I opted not to do it for 2 core reasons:
1. It s a commodity and there appears to be a fairly small target audience. The super rich don t really care for it - they don t have time to appreciate a car polished to an inch of its life, and ceramic coated for 10 years. They just want it clean when they get in it once or twice a month.
The true target audience appeared to be those who have good money, but would quickly cut out expenditure on detailing if needed.
2. It s hard work to do it properly (and hence you need to charge properly) and it isn t recurring revenue.
The real work isn t really recurring income. One of the benefits of a good ceramic is how much easier it is to wash - but regularly washing someone s car won t be worth the money to you or someone else.
A proper paint correction and ceramic would take me 3-7 days (depending on state of the car + paint colour + size) and that s working 8am-10pm.
It is HARD to do it properly.
All the driveway stuff is snake oil. I don t have the desire to go into it in detail on here but you cannot possibly do a proper job on someone s driveway.
Tl;dr it isn t as glam as made out on insta if done properly
Edited by Deviation on Sunday 6th September 15:56
Deviation said:
A proper paint correction and ceramic would take me 3-7 days (depending on state of the car + paint colour + size) and that s working 8am-10pm.
And say you billed your time at 2xNMW for example, that's between £1067 and £2491, for what to most people will be a car slightly shiner than a £40 Latvian Handjob.I compare detailing to Hi-Fi. It's a niche hobby for somewhat OCD men, and diminishing returns kick in far harder and earlier than the enthusiasts like to admit.
If I was ever looking to run a business in the world of car cleaning, it would be the Latvian Handjob model. Big bucket of TFR, Jetwash, a few buckets and brushes. HIgh volume, low investment, and the opportunity to launder some money on the side.
TheHeadhunter said:
The guy that does ours is very good, does a superb job, easily as good as I can do and a lot more thorough.
He charges £45 for a large car, £35 for a small. We have 1 large and 2 small, so it's £115. He is here for minimum 4 hours doing all three. (doing just one is a 90min process).
Even ignoring his material costs, it's not an amazing/lucrative hourly rate. For him it is more a lifestyle choice due to chronic anxiety.
This is not detailing, it's washing cars.He charges £45 for a large car, £35 for a small. We have 1 large and 2 small, so it's £115. He is here for minimum 4 hours doing all three. (doing just one is a 90min process).
Even ignoring his material costs, it's not an amazing/lucrative hourly rate. For him it is more a lifestyle choice due to chronic anxiety.
A detail, even the most basic, would take at least a whole day.
shtu said:
And say you billed your time at 2xNMW for example, that's between £1067 and £2491, for what to most people will be a car slightly shiner than a £40 Latvian Handjob.
I compare detailing to Hi-Fi. It's a niche hobby for somewhat OCD men, and diminishing returns kick in far harder and earlier than the enthusiasts like to admit.
If I was ever looking to run a business in the world of car cleaning, it would be the Latvian Handjob model. Big bucket of TFR, Jetwash, a few buckets and brushes. HIgh volume, low investment, and the opportunity to launder some money on the side.
Indeed, and realistically you can’t bill someone more just because their car is a different colour. Or because it’s dirtier. I compare detailing to Hi-Fi. It's a niche hobby for somewhat OCD men, and diminishing returns kick in far harder and earlier than the enthusiasts like to admit.
If I was ever looking to run a business in the world of car cleaning, it would be the Latvian Handjob model. Big bucket of TFR, Jetwash, a few buckets and brushes. HIgh volume, low investment, and the opportunity to launder some money on the side.
So you just have to build that into the cost.
Deviation said:
....Or because it s dirtier....
My local Albanian car washers do have a 'heavily soiled' surcharge, but I have no idea what the threshold for this is.They are at the opposite end of the spectrum, they can't possibly be kosher for the amount of time they spend versus the price - £10 and there's between 2 and 4 blokes working on your car for 10-15 minutes.
I suspect the problem for setting up a business in this area is finding enough people who don't want to wash their own car but think the existing local car washes don't do a good enough job, or are so busy they don't want to spend 15 minutes waiting around.
Tam_Mullen said:
L1OFF said:
when did cleaning cars become a "trade"
I wouldn't say it was, but detailing certainly is. It looks easy but theres so much more to it than just washing/polishing a car.
Car wash - basic, literally bucket(s) and sponge
Valet - more work, polishing, interior of door shuts, inside wheel arches etc.
Detailing - top end, hours and hours per car
I would suggest the OP is talking about valeting.
Why not approach some of your local funeral directors? We are coming into our busiest part of the year and it's also the time of year when the cars are getting the dirtiest. Yesterday we washed our limousine 3 times in between funerals as well as all our other duties.
It's something we have thought of during our busier days, but there would be no need when we are quieter.
SD.
It's something we have thought of during our busier days, but there would be no need when we are quieter.
SD.
I done this for about a year after getting made redundant. I done it mobile so got a van that I kitted out with a water tank and generator and gazebo so I could do it anywhere. Made an effort in the branding to look professional which I really think helped, a lot of customers thought I was a franchise.
I found a balance to do mid to high end cars, like some have said, the rich just want a clean car. Good thing is if you are mobile and doing upper end cars, you soon start getting the neighbours noticing and come asking to do theirs. I ended up covering a high end street and filled other days by going round offices and setting up for the day offering to clean the cars. I used to go to all the car events and offer deals etc which always got me more work.
Worked quite well until winter, far too cold in Scotland to do along with my water tank constantly freezing, I ended up just getting a job again. Kinda wished I kept all the stuff to do it on the side.
My plan was to work my way up to getting my own place then doing the serious stuff like paint correction and ppf as that's where the money is but as mentioned super competitive and unless you have a niche you will probably only just get by (which is all i really needed tbf).
I found a balance to do mid to high end cars, like some have said, the rich just want a clean car. Good thing is if you are mobile and doing upper end cars, you soon start getting the neighbours noticing and come asking to do theirs. I ended up covering a high end street and filled other days by going round offices and setting up for the day offering to clean the cars. I used to go to all the car events and offer deals etc which always got me more work.
Worked quite well until winter, far too cold in Scotland to do along with my water tank constantly freezing, I ended up just getting a job again. Kinda wished I kept all the stuff to do it on the side.
My plan was to work my way up to getting my own place then doing the serious stuff like paint correction and ppf as that's where the money is but as mentioned super competitive and unless you have a niche you will probably only just get by (which is all i really needed tbf).
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