- Hey, what is going on you guys?
Welcome back to the channel.
So I'm here with my friend Chris here.
So I'm gonna be shadowing Chris for the day,
talking about auto detailing
and how to start this business.
How much you make with this business,
and everything related to that.
So should be a pretty interesting video.
If you guys like seeing this type of
in real life-type content,
go ahead and drop a like on this video just so I know.
But yeah, I'll probably have Chris do an intro
maybe in his car or somethin'
as we're movin' along here.
So, lookin' forward to showin' this to you guys.
The first thing I wanna ask you
is can you just maybe explain what it is
that your business is,
what it is you're doin' on a day-to-day basis?
- So I detail cars inside and out
I polish paint.
I make the interiors look clean again
and I'm basically traveling out of my car
to a client's location or a dealership's location,
and just wash the car, wax it.
Sometimes I do some ceramic coating.
And that's basically my day,
is I spend my day in the car
traveling to people's houses and dealerships
to get the cars clean.
It's worth my drive too,
'cause you get to see all the cool, scenic drives
and I like being in the car.
And then when you get there it's rewarding
to be at that beautiful place
and be able to do someone's car,
see their house.
I like to ask a lot of questions.
How did you get to where you are in your career,
and kinda pick people's brains 'cause I'm starting off.
- Yeah, that's really cool to like ask people
and I've always done that too.
Any time when I was younger if I saw somebody
driving a Lamborghini or something as a kid.
I'd go up to them, be like,
what do you do to afford this car?
- Yeah. - You know?
So I guess my question now would be,
what kind of costs are associated with
starting up an auto detailing business?
And I know the way you do it
with the mobile detailing business
is a lot less overhead.
Because you're pretty much doing it
at the customer's garage, right?
- Yeah, so I've got a couple of different scenarios,
where I've been doing this business.
Where I did have overhead.
I had $1,100 rent at one shop.
I've been with different partners at different shops.
Right now I'm doing it mobile.
I do have one small garage,
if I say needed a place to store some tools there.
That's only 250 a month, for my small garage.
For me that's like one detail
out of the 30 days of the month
that I have to put aside for that.
And then other than that, it's chemical costs.
Vacuums, pressure washers, hoses.
But I found a lot of the ways to eliminate
all those extra stuff
that sometimes people think they need,
when they get in this business.
There's a lot of info on how to start a detail business,
that says you need 30 products.
I probably use under 10.
And I've kinda perfected what I'm buying
and how much I'm spending on what I get.
- That's great, yeah.
So as far as detailing goes,
I'm sure there's multiple different packages.
But, give me an example of one of your packages.
Maybe your most popular one.
How much are you charging?
What are your costs with that?
And then like how much are you making as a profit?
- So my average detail is anywhere between 150 to $250,
based on the size of the vehicle and the condition it's in.
And I probably pay under $3 in chemical costs
and then whatever my driving and fuel is
to their destination.
- Wow, so this is probably like 90% plus
profit margin type business?
- It's all sweat money.
- Yeah. - Really.
So-- - That's great man, yeah.
- I try to make anywhere between 250 to $400 a day,
if I can.
250 would by like the least amount
I'd like to make in a day, if I'm working five days a week.
- Wow, that's pretty good.
All right, so we're on our way to the first detail now.
And what kinda car's this guy got?
- I think we're probably gonna be working on
a purple wide body Porsche 911.
- [Ryan] Okay.
- And then, possibly an Audi S7.
There's a Range Rover too.
I'm not sure what he has in store for me
but this is a good customer of mine.
He asks me to do a lot of work on his vehicles.
Last time I did, he brought them out
to Toronto for a car show and won a couple of trophies.
So now we're gonna polish them up again
and make sure they're still looking good.
We're in my buddy Wideout's house.
He's got a couple of cars here,
we're not sure what we're working on today.
This is 09 Porsche 911, wide body.
This is a 2017 Audi S7.
And I think it's an OE Range Rover.
So one of these three, or all three of these
are gonna get some work done to them.
They've been worked on a couple of weeks ago.
They got some trophies over in Importfest in Toronto,
the day after.
So it makes me feel pretty good
and it's good to be back here,
doin' some more work on these cars.
(upbeat music)
So today, we're gonna do the interior on these three cars.
The Raptor, the Porsche and the Audi.
They should be quite clean
but we just wanna get them looking a little better.
Especially before winter comes
and we're gonna get all salt in it.
So, we'll give it a good refresh
and then it's got a little more time
to pick up more dirt and then get done again.
Be this car as well and also the purple Porsche.
And, some of the tools that I use.
Really simple sets of brushes.
But they all have their own purpose.
Just generic toothbrushes, large handled scrub brushes.
And then I've got some other ones that are rubber
for getting in little tight spots.
And other things with felt on them,
to get dash fans, things like that.
So it's more like having the right tool.
All my job is, is moving my hand left to right
and knowing which product
and which tool to be doing it with.
So, once you figure out all that stuff.
I really carry a light package.
A couple of brushes, a bag full of towels,
a bottle of cleaner and then polishers for the outside.
- [Ryan] You said the buffer
was like the most expensive thing you bought.
- This would be one of the most expensive.
It's the Rupes.
This polisher cost me like 400 something bucks.
Then with pads and everything,
it came out to be a little over 500.
But I'll tell you, it's honestly makes my job a lot easier.
I used to use $60 polishers and take hours doing stuff.
But, that's a lot quicker than any one I've ever used.
So I guess it's worth it for me to buy something like that.
- [Ryan] So what would you say your all in cost is
here on getting started
with like the very basics of detailing?
- When I first started the business two years ago,
I probably got into it at about $380.
That's including a pressure washer, a buffer,
a vacuum, extension cords, towels, polishers
and a set of chemicals.
Like glass cleaner, all-purpose cleaner
and de-greaser and soap.
I've had more expensive tools.
I've gotten new ones, old ones, blah, blah, blah.
But like now, I'm probably goin' round in my car
with an under $400 setup still.
Just to start of with, just pulled the mats out of the car.
We're gonna start taking out all the dirt first.
That's the first thing you wanna do,
is get all the hard stuff out.
Kinda get an idea what you're looking at
without all the stuff from your dirt on your feet.
You know what I mean?
'cause once you take out the mats, vacuum it up,
it really just comes down to looking at the surfaces.
Picking which product to use, which tool to use,
and how to get it off.
So I like to start with a vacuum first.
Get the heavy dirt off,
start to see the light at the end of the tunnel right away.
You know what I mean?
This is a two seater, four seater
and then we've got the big truck.
- [Ryan] What do you think time wise you have
between the three of these, it will take?
- To be honest it's probably only gonna take me like
a half hour to do this one, maybe less.
Same with the Audi and then the truck might take me
45 to an hour to do.
So for three interiors, that's not a bad timeframe.
Two hours, I've got my travel time here,
but it's worth it to come out here.
I come out here often, take care of some of these.
- [Ryan] And what do you usually charge
for like this level of detail, per vehicle?
- So on a vehicle like this,
we're gonna charge anywhere
about like 250 for a full detail.
So for just the interior it might be like a hundred
to a 125 depending on condition.
He's got three cars and I come here often
so I'd work out a nice price with him.
- [Ryan] All right, so what have we got goin' on right now?
- So I'm wanted to make some extra room in my car.
I left the vacuum at home.
Most places I go, like I know he has a vacuum here.
Some of the dealerships have a vacuum.
But you don't have the right heads.
So, I'm just gonna tape this one on.
- [Ryan] It's a little trade secret here.
(laughter)
A little duck tape action.
- Just gotta make sure there's no air.
Enough duck tape will fix anything.
(upbeat music)
(engine rumbling)
(upbeat music)
- So, this cars got custom floor mats in it
that are the same stitching as the seat.
They actually slide up underneath the plastic.
So every part of the carpet is pretty much protected.
Which makes cleaning it awesome.
It's like really thick durable leather.
Hard to scratch, hard to really rip
but it looks great.
It's quality matching the seats,
so for me that makes my life a lot easier.
We've got the Audi logos in it, the stitching on there.
And then it's just striped but it's all one uni-mat.
So I gotta roll the other seat forward,
pull the thing out, it's huge.
So this car was sitting outside
and the wind took a tent
that was held down by five pound weights,
up in the air and just scuffed the car.
We just got some of it out in the door,
that we didn't think might come out.
So we're gonna show you guys buffing on these marks,
to try and get them out.
(upbeat music)
(buffer humming)
- [Ryan] So what'd you think, you'd get it out?
- I wasn't sure.
But, I think it's an improvement.
That's what we've decided.
What we did on the door to here now.
I'll shine my phone light on there just so you can see.
It looks better to the naked eye,
but if you get up close,
you can really tell that something did happen.
Here's some of the mark.
But, again it's on the roof of an SUV,
so we made it look better.
I wouldn't say it's completely gone
but I'd say that's a fix.
(engine rumbling)
- [Logan] Right here, - [Ryan] Yeah.
- [Logan] It goes on tap,
it has those two little eyes on tap.
This is a Slantnose conversion.
So it's got it's own 935, 930 Slantnose heritage styling.
- [Ryan] So, is this normally part
of your detailing experience?
- No.
This is why I have to clean the cars often.
- [Ryan] This is why you're employed?
- [Chris] Yeah.
(tires squealing)
(laughter)
- You love and hate to see it at the same time.
(laughter)
- [Ryan] Oh my god.
Oh my god.
- [Logan] Fuckin peg man run out.
- [Ryan] Oh it's just the one tire?
- [Logan] Yeah.
- [Ryan] Dude look at the amount of plastic.
- [Chris] Oh damn, that's pretty bad.
That poor tire.
- [Ryan] That tire's basically shot now, or what?
- [Chris] Not quite.
She's good.
I'll tell you what's not shot, my career.
(laughter)
- [Ryan] This keeps you in business.
- All right, so we're just finishing up for the day.
And it's one of my favorite parts
about doing mobile detailing.
- [Logan] Gotta include that.
- Days over, finally get to enjoy a beer
and also this beautiful sunset,
at a beautiful location.
So what I do, I go to a new place almost every day.
Sometimes repeat places.
But it's great to see how other people live.
Their properties, their homes and their vehicles.
- [Logan] Salute.
- This is Logan, follow him in Instagram, he's Wideout.
He's got all these cool cars you've seen today.
- [Logan] Ah, they're trash.