Been asked to be a BWAB

[Yellow Dave]

I've recently been asked to do a work colleagues car as she is always impressed by mine and the other halfs cars. I'm not really interested in getting paid to do it as I think that will take away some of the enjoyment and satisfaction of turning a cars finish around. Plus I'm simply not experienced enough to achieve a good level of correction. For these reasons I've said no and for her to take it to the local hand wash. This was followed up tonight with 'I'll pay you £100'!

TBH she doesn't know the difference between a corrected car and a simple enhancement. I've explained it all to her and she would be happy with an enhancement detail as the car is silver but fairly dull so a real difference could be acheived with a abrasive pre wax cleanser and LSP IMO.

I know that there are a lot on here that do details for others. My question is do you ever regret getting involved and wish you'd stuck to doing your own cars? I can just imaging a really awkward person (such as myslef) saying you've missed a bit / what about this / why haven't you done that. I'd rather do it for free so there are no expectations. This way I can keep it as a hobby, but since others have heard this in the office I've been asked to do an Alfa and Subaru.

Does it spoil the fun? I'd appreciate your thoughts on how some of you started out.

 

[JD]

The simple answer is that I wanted to meet more of the CS lot, which I managed to do with offering it as a service to club members. However, I knew from dealing with Aston and a few others that I would immediately want to cover myself.

Doing cars for friends and family is one thing. For complete strangers is another. If you have a good relationship with said individual, ask her to cover product costs and some beer money. It's when you're getting on to £100+ mark that you need to be careful as she could come back with a claim if you happen to mess up her car, however minor it may seem in your eyes.

Think of it this way; if you were to damage her car accidentally in the car park, how would she react? "No problem mate, just pay to get it fixed", "No problem, it's a car after all" or "OMG where's underdog claims R us.com/fuckyourightover"

 

[Yellow Dave]

Thanks JD, that's exactly why I'm not too keen on doing it. We know her quite well, but I wouldn't want to do anything wrong as I know it would end badly, hence originally saying no. But she's persistent and I think I could probably make quite a difference to the car.

Think it's going to come down to individual person and car condition if I think about taking on anyone that isn't family / close friend.

 

[Revels]

I think if you get super serious, it probably takes the enjoyment out of it.

If you can do one a month for a few quid. It pays for your time and the latest polish/spray/whatever that you wanted to try, then do it like that. More of a hobby than a business.

 

[Harpham]

^ This is how I do it. Ive only been paid twice to do people's cars and then, it hasnt been massive amounts as im only an amateur and do it more as a hobby.
Puts alot of pressure on you though when you know that someone is parting with their hard earned cash. Im not happy unless I achieve 100% correction, which is never going to happen, so I get stressed out with other's cars (even if they have no idea about detailing etc).

 

[Dan@M.A.D]

I would do it, Just try to be careful and dont damage anything.

 

[Stuiemc]

Why dont you just say to her al do what I normally do and you can pay me what you think it deserves? If your willing to do someone else's car you have to be confident that your skills are good enough to charge any money whether it be £10 or £100. The only problem you may have is, after the detail she may notice some scuffs and scratches that she's never noticed before and you might get the blame. I had that problem with my grandparents I offered to clean there car as I was doing mine and after cleaning it revealed some scratches which couldn't be seen before and I was scared I would get the blame and kept asking myself whether I did do them or not.

 

[Jacko90]

How about you show her how you do it, and also show her any issues with the paintwork that may be enhanced or won't be cured by a simple correction/enhancement? In terms of payment, I wouldn't ask for any money nor would I make it a consistent service. Every now and then keeps it as a hobby. I think a way to get a gain and enjoent from it may be to get her to just pay for a set of products you wish to use then you get to keep whatever products are left over maybe?

That's what I would do, but whatever you decide, surely it's worth an initial punt to see how you feel after? You won't disgisguard it as a hobby after just a one off....

 

[Yellow Dave]

thanks for all the input. I've agreed to do the car, but for £25 in the end so it covers the cost of what I use etc, but she still has no idea of what I'm going to be doing to her car after explaining it all again but she's happyknowing she's paying me. Doing it this coming Monday so will see how it goes.

Will be fully trying out the new Auto Finesse range of Rejuvenate, Tripple and Tough Coat so atleast I'll still be learning new products.

 

[Dafthead]

Am I the only one thinking, what the f**k is a BWAB?

 

[Gally]

I think if you get super serious, it probably takes the enjoyment out of it.

If you can do one a month for a few quid. It pays for your time and the latest polish/spray/whatever that you wanted to try, then do it like that. More of a hobby than a business.

Couldn't put it any better Revels.

I'd never want to lose my passion for detailing by doing it professionally.

 

[slob]

Even though I am new to detailing I find my self in the same situation today actually. A mate at work has seen my black car and is currently about to sell his black golf tdi. The paint seems to be good apart from the heavy swirling that is expected on a black car, at the moment the paint is engrained with embedded filth which makes the thought of claying it so satisfying the paint in general just looks dull and lifeless. I will also try and get rid of a few obvious scratchers the best I can with my rotary, not going to do the swirling though far to time consuming, plus most people dont even know about swirls or care for that matter. I am taking a half day out my leave to do the car for him at work so It will be finished by the end of the day. I just said £30 quid basically to cover a bit of my time and my products. He seemed more than happy as he knows once its done It will give him much more of a footing when people come round to knock him down on his price. I am looking forward to it not often when you have to work on your days off you can say that! Hopefully that £30 can help get him a bigger price than he would have with a sponge and bucket wash.

 

[ashy_gtt]

Am I the only one thinking, what the f**k is a BWAB?

b**ch
With
A
Bucket?

No idea either marrow.

 

[Aluco]

Any "Amateurs" Round Yorkshire way want some practice pm me. If you really can't accept money then I'll give you beer or something :rasp:

 

[Owen]

Am I the only one thinking, what the f**k is a BWAB?

See JD's location: Billy with a buffer,coined by JD originally iirc(?)

An amateur detailer such is my understanding.

 

[JD]

More of an "all of the gear, no idea" person that is willing to charge people money without knowing the full ins and outs.

 

[Yellow Dave]

Oh I wish I could call myself a bumder with a buffer!

 

[jack_davey]

I've done it a few times, I just get people to sign a disclaimer.

The thing is with doing other peoples cars is you are usually having to undo months (sometimes years) of neglect.

Giving my own car a "detail" is not particularly difficult as I could clay the whole thing and probably finish with a clean clay bar as it is regularly cleaned and waxed.

The best thing to do is just to get an idea of what the customer expects from you and do your best to achieve that in the time you have.

I normally assume that someone is bringing the car to me as they cant do the paint correction themselves, so I make this my priority in the time that I have allocated to do their car. For example if the car is heavily swirled I will be honest with the customer and tell them that I probably wont be hoovering the interior, cleaning engine bay etc as the paint correction will take up the majority of my time and people are normally happy with that.

 

[JD]

Precisely why people came to me, Jack. The price and time, and therefore the expectations, were paint correction. Snow foam, wash, clay, wash, dry, polishing stages as necessary, seal.

Wheels were cleaned not detailed. I would usually add tyre shine and trim gel as finishing touches.

 

[Yellow Dave]

Well I did the car on Monday, and it was a state! washing stages took an age and Tardis truly struggled and took some time before all tar deposits were gone. Strangely IronX lifted very little. I had a proper look round the car once fully cleaned and so many scratches and swirls I wasn't willing to go at. I then spoke with the owner who thought I had finished as it was 'so sparkly'.

It had been to a bodyshop at some stage as there were paint drips on the door, heavy pigtailing scratch marks that looked like DA marks. I showed her all this and she agreed and was happy with a basic full clean and seal. I then used AF rejuvenate by DA and a white hexlogic pad to pre clean the paint and was very impressed by it's cleaning abilites, really made a huge improvement. only made very light and minimal / quickish passes and it really brought out the flake and softened the swirls.

The owner was very pleased and wanted to pay more than the £25 agreed to cover costs but I wouldn't accept as I really did not get the great satisfaction I get when doing my own car. I just wanted to please the owner and get it finished, a BWAB I guess. I really don't think I'm going to do it again unless they help out and willing to start learning for themselves. maybe a full clean and protect but not any more.

It was a completely different car in the end but I really did not enjoy myself. She now wants her other car doing and so do others and I'm just not interested. The life of a BWAB is not for me

 

[slob]

I completed my bwab job on my mates black golf today and as jack says it is a lot differant than your own car. The car was manky the insects were bad but the tar spots were a nightmare. This thing was so covered it tar I think if it was a white car the bottom half would be black. It took about half a bottle of ITR to get through most of it my white cloth was brown by the end of it. When I was claying I was still getting loads of tar. This has made me want to invest in tardis to make future situations easier.

Once the car was dried of ect I went round it with menz power finish with my rotary I was surprised at how well this brought the paint up and got rid of the light swirls and scratches. A layer of blackhole brought it up nicley then a layer of wax. Dressed the tyres and trim job done.

I enjoyed the job cause the turn around was good, few bits I would like to take more time on ect but for 5 hours work it was good. Got some beer money in and covered some products.

 

[richy22]

Oh I wish I could call myself a bumder with a buffer!

Sorry already taken xxxxx