Build my setup
All tools

Business plan

Detailing business plan builder

Enter your services, costs, and hours. Get a one-page plan that shows whether the month pays every bill and your wage, how many jobs break even, and the cash you need to open.

Example figures from the business plan guide, not typical ones. Replace them with your own prices, costs, and hours.

1. Your business

Where you work, for example: mobile within 15 miles of home.
One line about your customers.

2. Services

3 of 8

Direct cost is only what one job uses up: products, pads, disposables, towel laundry, and fuel for that trip. Insurance and your phone bill go under monthly overhead.

Service 1
Service 2
Service 3

3. Card fee and monthly overhead

The share of each payment your processor keeps. Use its current published rate.

Overhead is what you owe in a month with no bookings. Turn yearly bills into a monthly amount.

4. Your hours and pay

A planning target for every hour you work, not a payroll or tax figure.
Driving, setup, and pack-up. Enter 0 if you work in one place.
Quotes, invoices, restocking, laundry, and marketing.
The work hours you can really book in one day.
Leave out days off and days lost to weather.

5. Cash to open

Polisher, extractor, vacuum, water and power, lights, chemicals, towels, signs. Count each item once.
Cash to pay the monthly bills while bookings grow.
The SBA suggests about 10 percent for costs you cannot predict.

Not sure of the startup number? The setup builder lists equipment for each service with planning prices.

Your plan

Updates as you type

Car detailing business plan · example figures

Example Mobile Detailing

Service area: Mobile service within 15 miles of home

Customers: Car owners who want a clean car without a trip to a shop

Profit after your pay, each month$302.10After every cost and $2,800.00 of pay for 112 hours.
  • Passes: The month covers every cost and your pay of $25.00 an hour, with $302.10 left.
  • Passes: Booked hands-on hours fill 71% of your 120 hours ceiling. Keep room for weather, cancellations, and long jobs.

1. Services

ServiceLeft per jobPer hour on siteJobs a month
Maintenance wash$90.00, 1.5 hours on site$79.30$52.8716
Interior reset$180.00, 3.5 hours on site$158.60$45.318
Full detail$275.00, 5.5 hours on site$240.75$43.776

2. The month

Revenue from 30 jobs
$4,530.00
Direct costs
-$412.00
Card fees at 3%
-$135.90
Contribution
$3,982.10
Monthly overhead
-$880.00
Your pay: 112 hours at $25.00
-$2,800.00
Profit (6.7% of revenue)
$302.10

3. Break-even

  • Overhead alone: $1,001.08 of sales a month.
  • Overhead and this month's pay of $2,800.00: $4,186.33 of sales a month.
  • At your average price of $151.00, that is about 28 jobs a month, or 7 a week.

4. Hours and capacity

  • Hands-on 85 hours, travel and setup 15 hours, office work 12 hours: 112 hours in total.
  • Ceiling: 6 hours a day for 20 days is 120 hours. Booked hands-on hours fill 71%.

5. Cash to open

One-time startup costs
$2,400.00
Overhead reserve, 3 months
$2,640.00
Contingency, 10%
$504.00
Cash to open, before tax and payment timing, deposits, and your own living costs
$5,544.00
Planning figures only, before income tax and self-employment tax. This is not a loan application or tax advice. Redo the plan after ten paid jobs, with measured times and costs.

What goes into a detailing business plan

A short plan for a solo detailer comes down to seven numbers: your services, the direct cost of each job, the card fee, monthly overhead, the hours you can really work, a wage for those hours, and the profit left after all of it. The builder asks for each one and does the arithmetic. The car detailing business plan guide explains every step with a worked example, and the builder loads the same example.

The calculation

  • Revenue = each service's price × its jobs a month, added up.
  • Contribution = revenue − direct costs − card fees. Card fee = price × the fee percentage.
  • Your pay = (hands-on hours + travel and setup hours + office hours) × your pay per hour.
  • Profit = contribution − monthly overhead − your pay.
  • Break-even sales = (overhead + your pay) ÷ contribution ratio. The contribution ratio is contribution ÷ revenue. The U.S. Small Business Administration formula divides fixed costs by the contribution ratio. Like the guide, the plan also shows a second target that adds your pay.
  • Capacity used = booked hands-on hours ÷ (hands-on hours a day × working days a month).
  • Cash to open = one-time costs + months of overhead in reserve, plus a contingency. The SBA suggests about 10 percent for costs you cannot predict. Tax and payment timing, deposits, and your own living costs come on top.

The example, checked

The example is invented so every figure can be checked. It is not a typical result. Sixteen $90 washes, eight $180 interior resets, and six $275 full details bring in $4,530 a month. Direct costs are $412 and a 3% card fee is $135.90, so contribution is $3,982.10. After $880 of overhead and $2,800 of pay for 112 hours at $25, $302.10 is left. Break-even with pay is about $4,186 of sales, or 28 jobs a month at the average price of $151.

What this plan is not

The figures are before income tax and self-employment tax. Your pay here is a planning target, not payroll. The plan is not a loan application or legal or tax advice. Lenders and investors usually want a longer, traditional plan. For free help, the SBA lists local counseling by ZIP code.

Your plan is saved in this browser only. Nothing you type is sent to Detail Compass. To get the numbers right first, use the pricing calculator, the cost per detail calculator, and the setup builder. To see when your equipment pays for itself, use the break-even calculator.