Why detailing as a profession?

A

AcuraYYZ

New member
Just to clarify before I ask, I'm not trying to put down anyone's profession choice here but I have a few questions regarding detailing as a profession. I am by no means considering it for myself, but would like to know the mentality behind your choices. This applies to "career" detailers, not part-timers.



What made you choose detailing vehicles as your "full-time" profession? To me, it doesn't seem like detailing would "pay the bills" so to speak based on the prices I have seen charged and the very niche market. We all see the majority of people are not going to be shelling out $100s frequently to get their car detailed unless of course they really take pride in their ride and they feel looks it's best when swirl free. I personally don't think I could live a comfortable and financially secure life (comfortable as in debt-free, not having to live month-to-month based on income).



Obviously, I am sure many of you here have received contracts for fleets or dealers and possibly even opened a modest sized business which probably gives you a more steady income.



I see getting into detailing as a main profession as taking a chance, either get lucky and grow your contact base in order to bring in the bacon or do a few jobs a month and live on "the edge" so to speak with finances.



Best of Luck,

Josh :waxing:
 
No, I work in the aviation sector. I just read a post about pricing where a guy mentioned something along the lines of having a few small businesses which "pay the bills". I want to know about detailing as a profession and what made people choose it even though it's not what most would consider a "secure" job.
 
I do it because I like it. I gave up a much more (initially) lucrative job because it made me hate every waking moment. :)



It's hard work, but once you establish yourself the money is by no means uncertain. I was lucky in that I could grow my business while continuing to work as an engineer. When I was satisfied with where I was as a detailer I made it full time.
 
Why is it not a secure job? You might as well ask why people became a plumber, an electrician, an appliance repairman, an auto mechanic, a landscaper, etc.
 
Picus said:
I do it because I like it. I gave up a much more (initially) lucrative job because it made me hate every waking moment. :)



It's hard work, but once you establish yourself the money is by no means uncertain. I was lucky in that I could grow my business while continuing to work as an engineer. When I was satisfied with where I was as a detailer I made it full time.
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Interesting perspective, you were actually the first detailer I knew about in the GTA. I saw your site on RFD and book marked it a while back. I also contacted you about detailing a car I thought I was going to be buying from a family member.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Ah...I think I finally understand why you used to live in California.
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I went to school there. Not so much because I had to but because I wanted to (wide eyed young kid from a small Ontario town!). My 4 year trip turned into 9 years when I met my wife. The last year I worked as an engineer it was almost entirely on the road/from home so I was able to work detailing around that. It got my valuable experience and also let me discover how much I like it. I think that any detailer with a good reputation that lives in a fairly densely populated area has just as much job security as the next guy. Actually the company I left was bought by AT&T a year later and dissolved after 13 years. All 156 employees lost their jobs.



AcuraYYZ said:
Interesting perspective, you were actually the first detailer I knew about in the GTA. I saw your site on RFD and book marked it a while back. I also contacted you about detailing a car I thought I was going to be buying from a family member.
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:woot2: I should have noticed the "YYZ" in your name.
 
AcuraYYZ said:
No, I work in the aviation sector. I just read a post about pricing where a guy mentioned something along the lines of having a few small businesses which "pay the bills". I want to know about detailing as a profession and what made people choose it even though it's not what most would consider a "secure" job.
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Since when is aviation secure? I remember 1982 and post-9/11.
 
Picus said:
Actually the company I left was bought by AT&T a year later and dissolved after 13 years. All 156 employees lost their jobs.
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Another MBA CEO big-business success story! But I bet it made the stock price go up...
 
I left a pretty good paying IT job a couple years ago to start my own detailing business. Why? Well, because detailing is what I enjoy doing and a big paycheck from my last job didn't give me happiness. Yes, money is always nice, but money alone isn't what makes a person happy, IMO. If you chase a job/career for the money, you're never going to be happy. If you chase a job/career because you love it and you are good at it, you will succeed and the money will eventually find you.



As I said, I started my business because I enjoy it. But, I am also in business to make a living, to provide for my family, to retire with dignity and to have a little fun along the way. While I like the technician aspect of the work, my plan isn't to continue doing the actual work myself. To have a successful business that provides for myself and my family, I will have to hand over the roll of the technician to the people that I hire so that I can play the roll of business owner. I plan to build my business so that I am working smarter, not harder.



Also, it really doesn't matter how much money you make. What matters more is how you handle your money. It seems that for a lot of people, the more money they make, the more money they spend. You can make $50K a year and be wealthy if you handle your money in the right ways. Or, you can make $150K, blow it all, and have nothing to show for it.



Your life, your career, and your money are what you make it.
 
I went to college to study visual communications. During my 3rd year I was still learning the same crap that I did in the 1st 2... it really pissed me off so I quit, got a job in the field and realized that I hated it. Now I'm doing what I love and that's working with cars :). My wife says the same thing about not being a "secure income", because I realize now after this winter that people don't bother washing their cars here in HU during this time so the past couple of months have been pretty slow. Taking that into consideration I guess I could say that this job isn't really "secure" at times, but you can't show me many small businesses, or big businesses for that matter, that don't have down times. All businesses have down times... now I just need to figure out what to do in these down times before next winter comes :think:
 
you're asking a fair question. I know you wanted the perspective of the true pros that do this for a living and I am not in that category.



However, I have given it thought (doing it full time) but fear the same-that I won't be able to make enough money at it. Of course 3-5 years from now who knows OR what if i get laid off from my IT job? Could I immediately fall back into detailing? yes! Might I enjoy it so much that I stick with it? YES!



Especially after the thread that Anthony over at Optimum posted an update on his detail shop with pics of Porsches, Audi R8, Challenger SRT-8, Aston Martin, Nissan GTR...you can certainly pay the bills with clientele like that.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Another MBA CEO big-business success story! But I bet it made the stock price go up...
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:sadpace: It did. I was glad I'd left, but some of my the people I still kept in touch with were in a tough spot.
 
AcuraYYZ said:
To me, it doesn't seem like detailing would "pay the bills" so to speak based on the prices I have seen charged and the very niche market.
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First of all, it is not a niche market any more than any other "service related" industry.



There are 250,000,000 cars in North America and only 30,000,000 are owned by car enthusiasts. Of those 30,000,000 car enthusiasts, about 8,000,000 work on their own car. That means, there are a lot of customers.



Now, to a great extent, pricing is set by marketing and sales. The better a detailer is at marketing his services and selling the package, the more he will earn. Detailers who choose not to learn how to market and sell have no choice but to drop their shorts and compete on price.



Fact of the matter is, if you know how to detail, do a good job at paint correction, and you offer a couple other specialized services (e.g., wheel touch up, windshield repair, leather repair, etc.), there's no reason you can't make EXCELLENT money.



db
 
DavidB said:
There are 250,000,000 cars in North America and only 30,000,000 are owned by car enthusiasts. Of those 30,000,000 car enthusiasts, about 8,000,000 work on their own car.
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Where did you come up with these statistics?? :think2
 
AcuraYYZ said:
Where did you come up with these statistics?? :think2
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David can answer for himself, but I would hope he knows something about auto demographics since he owns this site and sells advertising to people trying to sell detailing products and other auto enthusiast products. :cool:
 
I too quit a well paying retail job to start my own detailing business. It was a gamble, ill admit that. But now that I've built up a reputation for good work in my small town, I've started taking business away from the popular guys in the big city. Its a good feeling to know that your business is booming because you're good at what you do and people see you as the best around.



At the end of the day, i can look at what i've done and be proud. Not everyone can say that for themselves. There isn't alot of pride in flipping burgers.



Detailing is a very lucrative business if you know how to handle a business. Its an art that few can master. Alot of my success is due to dealerships in my area, I average 10 dealer cars per week. People in my area that know which dealerships I service and drive by perfect examples of my work on a daily basis, its great advertisement. I get compliments all the time....and that alone is worth all of the hassle.



But in all reality, the reason I detail for a living is the fact that i love doing it. If my truck isnt clean at all times it drives me insane. Detailing is an artform, and every vehicle is a canvas for me.
 
I guess I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I sold a sucessful detail business to get into the corporate world. Pros and cons to each. I kept pondering where I'd be at age 50, burnt out on detailing and having no where else to turn for a retirement. I got out to pave a more long term career. I wonder how many people have actually made a *life long* career out of detailing? I've never met or heard of one.
 
AcuraYYZ said:
Where did you come up with these statistics?? :think2
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The 250-mil figure was published by US DOT. The 30,000,000 car enthusiasts figure is based on information provided by Meguiar's from their own marketing research. The 8,000,000 figure comes from the automotive DIY statistics in the USA.



Regardless of the numbers I throw around, automotive is one of the largest industries in the western world. I was simply trying to show the magnitude.



There are far more cars than there are people to clean and detail them. At last count, I estimated there are approximately 10,000 professional detailers (full time) in the USA. If only 1% of car owners have their car detailed once a year, that's still 5,000,000 detail jobs. Split that up by the number of detailers and you're talking about 250 jobs per detailer per year. That's a lot of work and a lot of revenue generated by the industry.
 
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