My new niche...

[deepconcentratn]

I just stumbled on something and I want to get everyone's opinion

 

 

About 2 weeks ago, I was helping a friend wash some cars in a parking lot in an upscale neighborhood.  No big deal really.  We set up a huge canopy and just started washing cars.  The owner of the office park paid to have his employees cars washed.  That was his way of saying thanks to those that sacrificed their weekends to complete some kind of contract. 

 

There were about 15 cars, so it took us about 4 hours to do everyones car. Well, people kept stopping by to ask us how much we charged,we looked at each other and I swear to you...I saw dollars signs in his eyes and he saw dollars signs in mine.

 

I made up a crazy number and said, "10 dollars for basic and 20 for ultimate".  That day we did we 23 cars.  As we were counting our money my friend, Bobby, looked at me and suggested we come back to see if we could duplicate the same success

 

I was all for it, I called in sick at work and met him there at 7 a.m. sharp.  We were fairly busy but it got hot quickly and it wasn't fun anymore.  As we were packing up, I noticed that people getting off from work, were really the ones that used us more and it was much cooler.  We decided to start setting up shop at 6PM.

 

We're going through alot of product.  We can easliy do 25 cars a day, we're at a busy intersection and plus we're surrounded by 4 or 5 huge subdivisions.  The nearest car wash is probably 5 miles away.  

We want to maximize our profits.  We're using Adams CAR SHAMPOO and it is definitely a crowd pleaser.  When that foam comes out, people are shocked.

 

I am looking for ways to either up sale our work or increase our price point.  I don't want to stop using ADAMS but we need to make this venture full time.  We can easily go through a gallon in less than a week.  Not only that.  We can't use the same microfibers on other cars.  We are still trying to promote swirl-free and it is a huge selling point.  We have bought tons of new mitts and just wash the used ones and resuse them

 

Any suggestions?

Edited June 30, 2014 by deepconcentratn

[camaro2ssblack]

Adams products are not for the volume detailer looking to maximize profit.

 

So either raise your prices or move to a more economical and concentrated product designed for production detailing.

[deepconcentratn]

Adams products are not for the volume detailer looking to maximize profit.

 

So either raise your prices or move to a more economical and concentrated product designed for production detailing.

I just knew someone was going to say that.  Maybe if I buy in bigger quantities, that will save money.  Do you think they will sell me 5 gallon buckets or give me discounts 

[Chris@Adams]

Here you go......Car Wash 5 Gallon - Case of 1

[SYMAWD]

Start buying the 5 gallon size and if you look around, you can find micro fiber that won't scratch for cheaper.

[Natch02]

Sounds like your going to be a busy man there!!

[deepconcentratn]

Here you go......Car Wash 5 Gallon - Case of 1

Thats a little better. Thank you. 

[Chris@Adams]

You are welcome....I would raise your prices a bit too.

[Performance Auto Detailing]

Buying the 5 gallon really won't be saving you much money. Just $3 a gallon

[deepconcentratn]

Buying the 5 gallon really won't be saving you much money. Just $3 a gallon

You're right.  I will see how long this will last.  Everything is new to me.  I am trying to make this work

[bjoeaull]

If this is a nice neighborhood, with nice cars, I think you could charge more.  Hell my local drive thru touch less washes are roughly $10.  If your doing a good wash and dry I'd think you could easily get $15 for a basic wash and dry.  Maybe up it to like $20 for detail spray and tire shine.  Not sure if your touching interiors but could bump it to $30 for wipe down and vacuum.  Just my thoughts, but anyways sounds like a great side gig!

[deepconcentratn]

If this is a nice neighborhood, with nice cars, I think you could charge more.  Hell my local drive thru touch less washes are roughly $10.  If your doing a good wash and dry I'd think you could easily get $15 for a basic wash and dry.  Maybe up it to like $20 for detail spray and tire shine.  Not sure if your touching interiors but could bump it to $30 for wipe down and vacuum.  Just my thoughts, but anyways sounds like a great side gig!

Thank you for responding.  I didn't go to sleep until 3 a.m thinking about the possibilities of this thing.  I don't even have business cards, people asked for my number and just literally told them to add me to theri phone contacts under Wash Experts.  That's not my official name, it is just something I came up with until I figure this thing out.  

 

Bjoeaull, I am thinking about increasing my prices but I will do it very slightly.  I do the inside and wipedown of the dash  The more expensiive service, I dress the dash and tires.   Basic package I don't. 

 

Right now, I am just concentrating on doing a premium wash and building my clientele.    I have already gotten 4 text this morning, asking if I will be out there washing today.  Saturday, we did 35 cars.   My arms feel like jelly, lol, I am so dang sore.

 

This is crazy.  Like a dream come true.   

[abey15]

Just throwing this out there. I 100% agree with these ^^^ guys. I use Adams products too, but only on very few vehicles. My truck (of course) and a very few select vehicles around here.

 

I wash vehicles every week. Where I'm from I am to the point of charging 60$ inside and out. That's what everyone here charges locally. I have a full time job and sometimes can't wash all my customers vehicles on the weekend because there is so terribly many...

 

That's just here though. Good side income for sure...

 

Get u something cheap to clean the everyday vehicles with. Understand that most of these people have had they're cars through a brush wash more times than u can count.

 

Good luck with the gig:)

[Z71_Denali]

i agree with others, you gotta up the price point!

 

when i'm washing mine, my neighbors always drive by asking, "how much for a wash?" my response is always "$50 exterior plus $25 interior" and when they laugh, i explain to them it'll be the cleanest the car has ever been since it rolled off the factory floor.

[deepconcentratn]

You are right. I agree. I will start charging more.

[Ricky Bobby]

Phil at Detailers Domain said once "you have to test and see what your market will bear"

 

If you don't test by upping your price you will lose money. Once it gets unreasonable to where you are losing customers you will know the threshold.

 

For what it's worth the local auto wash with their "premium wash" and a quick vac and interior clean will run you 45 bucks. And that's with the "swirl o matic".

 

I would say you should be charging 50 for inside out if you are advertising swirl free.

 

Have you considered just going Garry Dean style and ordering like a few hundred MF towels from MF tech or somewhere similar in bulk? You can prob get that amount for a buck a towel, and can prob use 5-7 towels per car, once dirty just move to a fresh one in the soap bucket.

 

At the end of the day you'll have a ton of laundry but it's cheaper and more reliable to give swirl free washes than relying on your expensive wool mitts etc and constantly cleaning them out throughout the day.

[bjoeaull]

Its pretty obvious your prices are cheap, by the amount of people contacting you.  If your doing a wipedown and vacuum of inside plus exterior for $10, I really think your cheating yourself.  If you want to keep volume up and prices reasonable, I'd say $20 for basic and maybe $30 for ultimate, maybe offer detail spray, tire shine, and something wiped on interior.  

 

Keep in mind theres other add ons you could do for xtra$  maybe engine bay $5,  Quick sealant $15.  Just snowballing here!

 

Get them interested with the basic price then, sell them on the extras.  

 

I still think all these prices I listed are still a touch cheap, but I think thats what you going for  

 

Also these are just my opinions, take them for what you want, lol!

[mike690001]

Charge $12, and there's a good chance they'll pay $15 and tell you to keep the change.

[deepconcentratn]

Good advice. Damn good advice. I am having literature printed, so I will let you know how it goes. I will post my price list as well.

Edited July 2, 2014 by deepconcentratn

[scootertrash19]

Are you getting the water for free? Washing in a parking lot?

[Black Bowtie]

Are you getting the water for free? Washing in a parking lot?

^^^ I was going to ask the same question.

[Aaron@P2PQD]

I'm not sure what the costs are like in the US but I definately could not be profitable in Australia with those prices. As others have said, You need to test what your market will handle and factor in your product costs before coming to a price. I'm going through all this at the moment as I plan to be detailing by Jan '15. Some of the things I have taken into consideration are

 

- Consumable Life Span and cost (Pads, Mits, Towels, Machine Servicing etc.)

- Product cost plus mark-up

- Power/Water/Rent if applicable

- Your Hourly Rate, Ideally above minimum wage!

- Advertising costs

- Competitors prices (You don't want to chop the guts out of the market, You'll devalue your services and others in the area and you'll all end up working killer hours to make ends meet)

 

These are just to name a few, When you sit down go through every little thing you will be surprised at how quickly the costs add up. You also need to discuss with your partner what you want from the business as well as what you expect from each other, You'll be surprised how quickly successful business' can be torn apart by a difference of opinion :-)

 

All the best in the venture!

[gregory]

you need to run the numbers and see how much you are making and how much time it takes you to do it. after you run those numbers will you see if you are making money or not.. if you don't know your overhead you might be lying to yourself on how much money you are really making....