My first "official" detail job

Tundra_Boy

Tundra_Boy

New member
Well I passed a bunch of flyers on saturday and talked to a bunch of people, trying to look as professional as possible. I am still in college and I just wanted to start a small biz to have an extra flow of cash. I am not a pro like some of you, but I have been detailing for years on my vehicles, everybody says I over do it lol, I usually spend a lot of hours detailing my own truck.

Well this was my first job, kind of funny because I have the same truck and same color, just a different configuration. I put a nice pic of my Tundra on the fliers and biz card. As soon as he saw my truck he told me he wanted it as shiny as mine :lol2:

I know what I used are not exactly the most professional products but I have not had the time to prepare too much. I bought a vacuum, water hose and other supplies just yesterday :lol2:
I used Turtle wax ICE: clay bar, paste wax, interior cleaner.
Invisible glass, meguiars car wash soap.
The best thing about this is that he told me he might have a lot of clients for me from his office. He might also be calling me soon to do his wife and mom's cars.

The job took me 4 hours, and I got $70. A bit cheap but I really needed this first client, he might open more doors for me. I already got like half of what I spent on equipment and supplies. We had a couple of timing issues he needed his truck ready in the afternoon. The ice wax stuff is very convenient it still takes time.
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congrats on your first :cheers:

Nice job, don't worry more jobs will come just keep on it, but don't sell yourself short either. Make sure that you get paid for the work that you do.
 
Congratulations on your 1st detail! :excited: Truck looks GREAT!!! :bigups Sure you don't want to detail full time? :notme:

What did you use to dress the tires?
 
tmacsad said:
Congratulations on your 1st detail! :excited: Truck looks GREAT!!! :bigups Sure you don't want to detail full time? :notme:

What did you use to dress the tires?
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thank you all for the comments. I enjoy doing the whole thing, I try to concentrate on the details :inspector:. Hopefully I will have clients "crossing fingers". Holy crap now I need to go back to the books, dynamics quiz tomorrow :help:
 
by the way I used meguiars tire shine on the tires, I know it holds up very well. I also like to use the new Turtle wax ice tire dessing that came out, less shiny but looks very sharp.
 
My first job was $60. about 20 years ago.:passout:

Do yourself a favor and base your prices on atleast $30 per hour.

I understand that this was your first one and the next one will probably only take you 3 hours but that's still too cheap. this guy is gonna expect you to be that cheap with the rest of the work he gives you and one of two things is going to happen...

You are gonna cut corners to try to make some money and he probably won't be happy or you will bust your butt for very little profit and you won't be happy.

It looks like you take pride in your work and if I got you to use something other than Turtle Wax Ice I might have you do my vehicles at that price.

Bottom line. Don't try to be the cheapest. The industry suffers enough from guys like that. Perfect your detailing skills to work efficiently so you can make money charging reasonable prices.
 
Sorry your on your own on the dynamics quiz .... BTW what type of class is dynamics? (and please don't just say math :lol: )
 
Troy@DetailCity said:
My first job was $60. about 20 years ago.:passout:

Do yourself a favor and base your prices on atleast $30 per hour.

I understand that this was your first one and the next one will probably only take you 3 hours but that's still too cheap. this guy is gonna expect you to be that cheap with the rest of the work he gives you and one of two things is going to happen...

You are gonna cut corners to try to make some money and he probably won't be happy or you will bust your butt for very little profit and you won't be happy.

It looks like you take pride in your work and if I got you to use something other than Turtle Wax Ice I might have you do my vehicles at that price.

Bottom line. Don't try to be the cheapest. The industry suffers enough from guys like that. Perfect your detailing skills to work efficiently so you can make money charging reasonable prices.
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thank you for the advice, I know, I am really planning to improve my skills. I just don't think there are too many around here, (Gainesville,FL) that are willing to pay the big bucks for a car wash, especially with other companies out there that have all the necessary equipment. I know the work you guys do is worth every penny :bow, it takes a lot of time and effort to work 5++ hours on a vehicle and make the finish look perfect. But many people don't see that. I am not trying to be cheap or hurt the industry, but I need to adapt to my local market, I have a feeling that if I start charging people 100++ all the time I won't get any clients. I had already 3 people call me, one of them was a lady I told her $50 for a wash, quick clay bar and wax in a small car. I figured I could get it done in a couple of hours. She ran away :yikes:.

I am trying to make this a part time job.

thx again, great website
 
jaybs02 said:
Sorry your on your own on the dynamics quiz .... BTW what type of class is dynamics? (and please don't just say math :lol: )
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it's a combination. A lot of calculus related concepts, vectors, etc. Basically, analysis of moving objects, considering all the forces applied... not a cool class :wall
 
Tundra_Boy said:
thank you for the advice, I know, I am really planning to improve my skills. I just don't think there are too many around here, (Gainesville,FL) that are willing to pay the big bucks for a car wash, especially with other companies out there that have all the necessary equipment. I know the work you guys do is worth every penny :bow, it takes a lot of time and effort to work 5++ hours on a vehicle and make the finish look perfect. But many people don't see that. I am not trying to be cheap or hurt the industry, but I need to adapt to my local market, I have a feeling that if I start charging people 100++ all the time I won't get any clients. I had already 3 people call me, one of them was a lady I told her $50 for a wash, quick clay bar and wax in a small car. I figured I could get it done in a couple of hours. She ran away :yikes:.

I am trying to make this a part time job.

thx again, great website
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T.B., I charged $25.00 for my first two full details :huh: Yes I said $25.00 a piece :eek:. (would not recommend that to a 12yr kid). Troy is right you really don't want to sell yourself cheap. One thing you could do if you don't really know the market yet, is let people know that your details start at thus and so..... and the final price once you have had a chance to put your eyes on it yourself. That way you don't end up with a junk mobile :wow: or even worse a rolling cafeteria :yikes:

I've learned that every body wants something for nothing. No matter what you price is people seem to think that it's to much... makes you really want to :bonk:
 
congrats on your first detail job. I think the truck looks terrific. I don't know about Gainsville but here in central pa it's tough to sell Quality details at a fair price, But I personally would be charging $150. for what you did with that Tundra. Let the cheapskates run away. Talk to at least 20 people per day is what I was told and tried to do and I sold a couple $300. details on trucks like that, But mostly $150-$200 jobs. The only problem here is that they are taking me around 10 - 12 hours for a full detail without a rotary. Keep up the good work and your work will speak for itself.
 
tuscarora dave said:
congrats on your first detail job. I think the truck looks terrific. I don't know about Gainsville but here in central pa it's tough to sell Quality details at a fair price, But I personally would be charging $150. for what you did with that Tundra. Let the cheapskates run away. Talk to at least 20 people per day is what I was told and tried to do and I sold a couple $300. details on trucks like that, But mostly $150-$200 jobs. The only problem here is that they are taking me around 10 - 12 hours for a full detail without a rotary. Keep up the good work and your work will speak for itself.
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thank you. I will keep that in mind next time, I am going a bit higher, I guess it's always hard to decide on the price the first time :wow:. Over here there are tons of quick cheap car washes, I can't believe people don't care about their money, paint gets destroyed at those places. Also there is a huge student population, and of course most college students are not willing to pay a lot to get a car wash. I have been driving around looking for decent neighborhoods, non-student population. Also looking for decent looking cars, new models, etc. It's still hard, like most of you said most people don't have a clue about decent car detailing is. Well hopefully this will work, time will tell I guess.
 
Congratulations on your first job! The truck looks really nice. Like everyone else said raise your prices. Thanks for posting the pics.
 
That is one big truck. 4 hours isn't too bad for a thorough wash-n-wax. You might have to deal with the prospect of explaining to this customer that subsequent services will not come at the same discounted rate. :)
 
^ Simply state that your introductory offers are for a limited time and that they're 50% off just to get your name out there. That way, next time (hopefully they'll return) they'll expect the $140 -$150 price they should be paying. Plus, they will likely tell their friends "hey, this guy is doing such and such for this much, you should give him a call" so you get more prospective clients which you can then upsell things to. Wheel polish here, rain x treatment there etc etc. That way you can turn your $70 intro offer into a $90 job by adding about 30 minutes of work = closer to being paid what you should be.
 
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