My detailing business ready to open. Total cost inside:
 

Well guys, I'm officially starting appointments April 1st. I have a few clients lined up, but havent made appointments yet. I haven't really advertised much yet either. (I just have a few nice flyers that I am going to put up.)

I've got everything accounted for:

4 orders from AG for MF's, chemicals, water filter, PC7424 HD, pads, etc. etc.

Sample bottles and 5gal. buckets.

1500 premium bus. cards and flyers.

T-shirts, appointment book, case for keeping client info, label maker, etc. etc.

All machinery including extension cords and hose, toolbox for PC, etc.

Also all the misc. trips to wal-mart, pep boys, target, autozone, meijers, etc. etc.

Basically, every penny I've spent.

Total cost: $1750 +/- $50

Here are the pics of all my stuff for the most part:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13...FirstOrder.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a13...2/SL554086.jpg
Attachment 25122
Attachment 25123

Attachment 25118
Attachment 25119
Attachment 25120
Attachment 25121

Attachment 25116
Attachment 25117

ive got a local guy that does car detailing, i can get you his email if your interested.

good luck!

damn it looks like you are ready for war. good luck with the biz

Fancy looking business card there
:)

Damn thats a lot of suppplies. Good luck man. I hope your business does well cause you gotta have patience to be a good detailer. I get tired after like half through waxing. The business cards are pretty killer by the way. I like how those turned out.Good luck.

dude, you need to freaking deploy your armed forces on my car!!!! it needs major work! lol. looks good by the way, $240 is the high on detailing in my area so it seems like your prices are pretty average

Sounds like you've got everything covered man...I wish you nothing but the best...:)

Very hard business to get started in.

Good luck!

I used to do a Full detail for $75 and it was still hard finding people to keep it going.

Looks sweet, the stickers on the buckets and crates are a nice touch.
Best of luck and hopefully you will do well.

Good lluck w/the business. Would love to be my own boss.

The only thing I would suggest is under the higher priced packages, dont say "plus plenty more" actually say what is included.

Maybe its me but I would rather know exactly what else I am getting for my extra $$.

I ran out of room!!! It's detailed on my website and I tried to make that stand out on the flyer, this way they will check it out to see what's included. There's way too much stuff to list, and if I did, the font is way to small.

Iv had quite a few small business, if you know you can do a good job, id start with smaller prices on like the normal car washes. A guy around here does car washes for $10 if you go to him, or $20 if he has to go to you.

What you want to do is charge a low price to bring a lot of attention to your company, because yeah even if they dont need their car wash now, they might keep your number just for the price and tell people about the price.

Whats the first thing you think of when someone asks you for anytype of service?
-Good service at a cheap price.

No one knows who you are.

Im saying from experience, charge like $15 for a normal wash the first few months till you got a lot of business going. Do a good job, when people see the amazing job you do they will be like "Wow all this for $15" and if they see the hard work you do they will tip you good. I had a guy that drove to my office and washed my car for $12.00. The first time he came he offered to detail my car for $100, I told him No just a normal wash would be fine, after i saw the crappy job he did with a normal wash i was thankful i didn't pay him to detail my car.

At the office everyone knows some other guy that comes and picks up your car and takes it to his local car wash, this guy does such an amazing job and EVERYONE knows him life family. All day i always hear "Yeah chris just picked up my car". We all already know its to have their car washed. Why? When he started he was a friendly guy who charged just $10 wash a car inside and out so he quickly got A LOT of business.


What im trying to say is, start your business with a cheap introductionary price, be friendly, and the goal is to get as many clients as you can. Getting a car wash is like getting a hair cut, once you have the right barber and you know he does a great job you'll pay whatever to keep having him cut your hair.

Do the same, then later on when people see you do a great job with car washes you can start selling the more expensive detail packages and it wont hurt them to pay for it because they will trust you as a friend.


Hope this info was helpful.

Info was fine, but I'm not changing my prices. the products I use are not cheap, when I say top of the line, these are TOP of the line. One of my waxes is $80 for 8oz.'s of wax.
My wash n' vacs include: interior vacuumed, interior glass cleaned, and interior wiped down and doorjams cleaned (trunk cleaned upon request). Exterior hand wash and hand dried. Tire's dressed, wheels cleaned, and fenderwells cleaned and dressed, and of course windows cleaned.

Every thing is done down to the smallest pin drop of detail. I use very high quality products that you've probably never even heard of, and they do not come cheap, thus I can't charge a "cheap" price. I'm also not aiming to lower/middle class, I'm aiming at luxury, which should be obvious.

Yes, I'm new at charging and making money with detailing, but I've been detailing for more years than I've been knowledgeable on cars. My prices are much lower than average when it comes to professional detailers. Also, there is no other pro detailers in my area, much less mobile ones that will come to the customer's house.

I've been researching this for over 6 months now and have put in a lot of effort and money.

Overall, you get what you pay for.

If you are persistent and don't give up, you will have no problem becoming a successful car detailer. Once you start getting referral business, you will have to turn away customers. Just keep at it, do a freebie or two to get your name out there and HAVE FUN!!!

BTW, I agree PColav6, nice cards. http://www.mcmmotorsports.com/smilies/nice.gif

Thanks Mike! I just gave out about 30 cards over the last 2 days at work to members I know (I work at a golf course). All sounded very interested.

looks like your getting off to a great start!
i thought your prices were reasonable for what you give them!!
i plan on getting a good detail within a year or so for Heidi...

All you need is one to give you a shot.