Some customized rigs cost as much as a home, and typically, the owners of such rigs are interested in keeping their investment looking great but don’t have the time, equipment, or knowledge to do so correctly.
Where is the market?
The market for RV work is definitely out there. With an average RV dealership selling 50 units per month, there are more customers being created for you on a daily basis. For the RV detailer, there are two main sources of customers—private owners and dealers.
In the realm of private owners, you will encounter three types of customers: the reconditioners, the occasionals and the regulars.
Reconditioners.
You will find customers who have purchased used RVs or have neglected theirs for years. In either case, complete reconditioning may be necessary. This can involve several steps to rejuvenate and protect the exterior surfaces. It may also involve some minor paint touchup and repair.It is important for you to price this type of service correctly so that you are adequately compensated for the amount of work that may be necessary to get the RV looking good again. A common mistake is to charge a price that is based on regular maintenance. Reconditioning customers must understand that prices for regular service are lower because the RV is regularly maintained and requires significantly less work each time it is processed.
Occasionals.
There will be customers who only want your service on an occasional or as-needed basis. For example, you might get a call from a private owner who just returned from a trip around the country and would like to have all of the bugs, dirt and road grime removed from the vehicle before putting it back into storage. As with the reconditioners, the price of this service will be higher than that charged for regular maintenance due to the fact that the detailing provided on an occasional basis requires more time and effort than that provided on a regular service.The regulars.
Another popular service to provide to private owners is regular maintenance, including washing and detailing. You may want to have a few packages already in print to help new customers understand the possibilities and the potential costs. For example, you may have a package that includes monthly washing and complete detailing twice a year. However, be flexible with your packaging so that you can cater to the specific needs and desires of your new customers. Determine what the customer wants, educate him as to what can be provided and then come to an agreement on what types of services will be provided to that customer and at what cost.Finding customers
You can find private owners at RV parks, RV storage lots and RV supply stores. If you are already detailing automobiles, simply ask your current customers if they need RV detailing or know someone who does.Working the RV dealerships can provide a great source of bread-and-butter work. That is, once you have established a relationship with a dealership, you can probably work there as long as you want with a predictable amount of work coming in each month. You will not be able to make as much per vehicle at a dealership as you can with private owners. But nonetheless, the work is steady and dealers are typically not as picky as private customers.
With dealerships, you are typically going to provide two types of service—washing display models and reconditioning used models in preparation for sale. Another possibility is working with RV rental agencies. In this case, you will be providing service on the rental units each time they come back in from a rental contract. You can find dealerships in your area simply by looking in the phone book.
Another great source of customers is the RV repair outfit. You can subcontract with the shop to provide washing and detailing services they market to their customers, or simply ask them to post your brochures and refer customers to you.
Services
The three main services you will be providing on an RV exterior are detailing, exterior washing and interior housekeeping.Detailing.
Exterior detailing includes cleaning and protecting the exterior surfaces. First, you have to wash away bugs from the front, remove dust and dirt from the top and clean off everything else that collects on the outside of the RV. Next, the exterior surfaces must be protected from the elements. The painted and gel-coated surfaces can be coated with wax or sealant and the tires can be dressed. Chrome hubs and bumpers should be polished, and the windshield should be coated with water-sheeting agents. Additionally, with older or neglected units, the painted surfaces may require reconditioning. For example, you may have to remove oxidized paint through one or more polishing or compounding steps, followed by the application of an appropriate protection product.Washing.
Exterior washing is simply cleaning off the accumulated road grime, bugs and dirt from the exterior of the RV. The exterior wash also typically includes dressing the tires and a final wipe of the windows to make sure they are streak-free. Some technicians include interior vacuuming and windows as part of the wash. Don’t forget the roof and awnings in your washing service.Housekeeping.
Cleaning the inside of an RV is much like cleaning the inside of a house. Complete cleaning includes the bathroom, kitchen and living areas. Additionally, the carpets and fabric seats will occasionally need to be cleaned using a hot-water extractor. Some dealerships actually have a maid service come in to clean the inside of the RV. You could do the same thing by subcontracting with a maid service. But really, learning how to clean the inside of an RV is not that difficult.Additional services.
There are a number of additional, more specialized services that can be provided for recreational vehicles. For example, RVs are particularly susceptible to windshield damage with their large, vertical windshields. Stone chips and long cracks are easily repaired with one of the many windshield-repair kits available on the market. More and more RVs have slick paint jobs that need touchup and spot-blending, just like the popular touchup market for used cars. Finally, the interior surfaces of the RV, like the seats and carpeting, may need repair as well. As you can see, you can take RV service as far as you want to go.Pricing and packaging
Pricing RV detailing services can seem tricky at first. The biggest mistake you can make is to underestimate the time needed to complete the job or to under-price the job because of a fear of the customer saying no. Believe us when we say that there are few things more frustrating than having to spend several more hours completing a job after you have realized that, because you underbid the job, you will not be properly compensated for your work.The challenge in pricing RV detailing services is that the units vary widely in size and condition. A simple way to get by this challenge is to have a base per-foot price. This base is predicated on a new or well-maintained RV that requires a minimum amount of work (e.g., wash and wax). Upon this base, you can have additional per-foot charges for any extra work that may need to be done (e.g., polishing and compounding). See the chart below for an example of how you might set up your basic pricing.
This menu foundation represents full retail pricing to be charged to the private owner. From this foundation, you can create packages for regular service simply by discounting the full retail price according to how often the customer wants the service. For example, if you are to detail the RV twice a year, you may want to charge full price for the first service (and do a fantastic job), then offer a 10 percent discount the next service, assuming it is actually performed within six months. You can increase the percentage off for a service schedule that includes more frequent visits.
You can also use this type of pricing foundation to determine dealership prices. It’s simply a matter of reducing the prices across the board by 20 percent to 40 percent to create a wholesale menu that recognizes that a dealer will typically provide you with lots of regular work and not require as stringent standards as a retail customer.
The most important thing to remember about pricing and packaging is to keep it as simple as possible so that it’s easy for your customer to understand and also simple for you to explain and use.
You should be able to generate $50 or more per hour per technician. That is, if you are working alone, you can expect to make $400 per eight-hour day. A larger RV may take about three days to complete, so you can expect $1,200 for such a job. If you are already detailing automobiles, compare this price to what you get for a typical auto detail. How many cars would you have to detail to make $1,200?
Equipment and chemicals
If you are already operating a professionally outfitted detailing business, then you already have many of the tools and chemicals needed for detailing recreational vehicles. Chemicals like compound, polish, wax, glass cleaner, tire dressing, multi-purpose cleaner, degreaser, chrome cleaner and the like are compatible for both automobiles and RVs. Your current equipment, like a hot-water extractor, polishers and a pressure washer will be used on the RV as well.There may be some specialty chemicals that may come into play; however, most detail chemical suppliers carry a product specifically for use on RVs. This product is typically a one-step polish/wax that will work just fine in most situations. Gel-coated fiberglass surfaces on the RV may require specialized cleaning and protection chemicals, which can be purchased at an RV supply store.
Be careful when revitalizing oxidized (dull and chalky) fiberglass. It will absorb stains and dirt easily, including the color of your compounds, polishes and waxes. Use detailing chemicals that are similar to the color of the oxidized fiberglass. For darker colors, try a dark-colored metal polish, as many metal polishes are also a great substitute for an aggressive compound on these surfaces. But make sure to check the label first.
Until the late 1980s, virtually all RV roofs were made of aluminum. If the roof is bare, use aluminum polish. If it is painted, use normal detailing chemicals for painted surfaces. In recent years, roofs have been made with fiberglass or rubber. The rubber roofs can be treated with products specially designed for this purpose and are available at an RV supply store. Or, you can use your normal detailing chemicals for rubber, which are typically a multi-purpose cleaner and vinyl/rubber dressing. Coaches that have full-body paint jobs will have painted roofs. However, the roof may not be finished (i.e., wet-sanded and buffed) and may be too rough for application of polish or wax.
If you plan to do housekeeping on the interior, you will need standard household cleaners and disinfectants for the bathroom and kitchen areas.
On the exterior, you will need larger ladders than you typically have to complete the job. At a fixed location, you can have permanent scaffolding set up in the work area. Mobile detailers can use rolling scaffolds that are typically sold to dry-wallers. For washing these giant vehicles, you will need a telescoping truck brush. The wash mitt is great for a sedan but way too small for an RV.
For regular washing, especially at the new-dealer lot, you should seriously consider using de-ionized water. The de-ionized water will air-dry without spotting, eliminating the need for the time-consuming activity of manually drying the vehicle (except for maybe a final wipe of the windows).
More customers
If you are already detailing cars, providing service for RVs is an easy way to increase your customer base without a large investment in new equipment and chemicals. There are plenty of RV dealers who need several types of service. Additionally, there is a large population of private RV owners, a percentage of whom are willing to pay quite a bit of money to have someone keep their rigs looking great. With a bit of marketing, the right pricing structure and a commitment to excellent service, you can take advantage of this oversized profit center.Prentice St. Clair is President of Detail In Progress, Inc., which specializes in consulting for the automotive reconditioning industry. He can be e-mailed at prentice@detailinprogress.com. Randy Lowe owns and operates Custom Detail in Salem, Ore., and specializes in detailing recreational vehicles. He can be e-mailed at fiestey@comcast.net.