Lately, I have been going through the process of starting up another volume based business to compliment the higher end, one off business most here know about, Envious Detailing.  I have had to go over and over and over processes to come up with the most effective ways to get the most amount of cars done in one single day.   A few of the ways I have been able to cut down on the timing were the following:

• Hire a second set of hands
• Streamline things
• Easy to use products/products for multiple steps

There are some processes that work better based on the job at hand.  For example, if you are trying to get 4 cars washed, it would require a different process compared to 3 cars prepped and polished.

Here is my process for the 3 cars to be single step polished in one day: (must have two people)

• Wash the car – one rinses, washes the paint and windows while the second cleans the wheels and tires, wheel wells, exhaust tips.  Both dry the car together following each other so one gets MOST of the water off the car while the trailing person gets the rest of it.

• One person starts claying the car while the second begins polishing.

• Once claying is finished, this person moves onto the interior vacuuming, wipedown, door jambs.

• As soon as the polishing is completed, this person waxes the car as well.

• While waiting for the wax to cure on the paint, one person dressed the tires, and re-wipes the wheels from moving the car around and polishes the exhaust tips.

• While the other person wipes off the wax, the windows are cleaned AFTER the waxed panel is wiped free of wax so there is no wax transfer onto the windows.  Continue onto car #2 and repeat.

On a M3 sized car, this process takes about 2.5 hours

Here is my process for washing 4 cars in one day solo with all leaving at the end of the day:

• Wash exterior of car with ONR
• Clean door jambs
• Clean wheels
• Repeat on all cars
• Then go back and vacuum all cars in a row
• Go back with your latex glove, tire dressing applicator, and tire dressing and hit all the cars in a row.
• Clean all windows on all cars

There are a couple of reasons to streamline things:

1. Cost savings! – Discarding only partially used/wet towels from car one washing when it can be reused on car #2 and so forth, only one set of gloves used for tire dressing application instead of 4 sets – non-resuable gloves.
2. Time savings! – Dragging the vacuum cleaner back and forth to the supply truck after each car is wasted steps, pulling the different products out each and every time takes longer.

Using easier to use products for multiple surfaces has led to lower overall costs, saved time from walking back to the truck, and prevents having to do extra work like removing wax from trim.   I have found that ONR makes for a great interior cleaner, yet it still needs to be topped with a protectant.  APC can be used on many surfaces from tires, wheel wells, interior plastics, carpets, leather (interior gets used at a different dilution ratio vs. exterior uses).  Finding a wax that wont stain trim, yet will protect trim, is a HUGE time saver when doing wash and wax type jobs.  No need to slow down around the trim, or worry about cleaning it off anymore.  Finding the right products for the job at hand is key part of operating at max capacity and staying cost effective.

Here are a couple products for mulitple uses:

• Meguiars Hyper Dressing – tires, exterior trim, wheel wells
• Meguiars Interior Detailer – ALL aspects of the interior instead of 2-3 different products – leather, plastic, vinyl
• Meguiars All Purpose Cleaner (APC) – tires, wheel wells, carpets, plastics, chrome, rubber trim, stripping paint, wheels (all with the correct ratios)

There may be other ways to speed things up, but these are a couple that I have implemented in my new business that seem to work out rather well.

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