Your first year, you should be able to get to 10 to 15k a month. My first full year in business we did about $115k, and by the end of that year I was doing 15 to 20k a month. Any city has the ability for a detailer to hit six figures. Some cities get there faster, but every place has the potential.
If you’re starting from zero, a normal person can get to $5k a month in around three months through friends, family, and a decent referral network. From there, the next step is rolling that cash into your first round of Google search ads. If you’re putting $500–$1,000 a month into ads, you can hit 10k a month after another three or four months.
For part-timers, low end is around $3k a month. If you only work Saturdays and Sundays, you can do $300–$500 per day, which puts you in the 3k range pretty easily. I’ve had people doing this only on weekends hit $5k–$6k a month, and that’s usually when they decide to quit their full-time job.
Full-time detailers can expect $6k–$8k a month on the low end, and up to $15k a month before you ever need employees. At that point it starts getting heavy because you’re doing so many details that it becomes a young man’s game. Most people bring on help once they’re in that $15k range.
Those numbers are revenue. Profit is very healthy as a solo detailer. Part-time you’ll profit about 90%. Full-time at 15k a month, you’ll keep around 70–80%, because you’re spending about 15% on marketing and then a little on chemicals, insurance, maybe a vehicle payment. If you’re doing 15k, you’re taking home $10–11k.