Is this guy for real?

My price lists are very close to his! Plus i work and come from a body shop ehh ehh

 

1) I do not know the guy.

2) Living the dream of being your own boss is not as easy as some make it appear. So congrats to Big A for hanging out his shingle.

3) The pictures show a high level of craftsmanship. As do the subject matter. There is enough expensive cars and truck for every Larry, Curly and Moe to detail.

4) If you have ever been to the NYC area you would know there are car washes are on every other corner and almost everyone offers auto detailing. In the NYC area there is large price spectrum for auto detailing all the way from the Low end to the Ultra high end. Further, throughout the price spectrum there is a varying degree of quality and expertise. As with any industry an exception to the rule exists at every level of the spectrum.

5) The thing is though the average person does not know the difference between a car wash detail (I sure one or two do high quality work) and a high end auto detail. I know plenty of people who are satisfied by a car wash or volume detail shop detail. Photographic evidence supports he does high quality work for reasonable competitive fee, therefore the client is the one receiving the bargain or deal. So in order to compete for non-internet business in his market, he does need to charge a reasonable and competitive fee. Some of the work he has posted appears to be repair work (overspray removal, water spot removal, wet sanding) which can be a good source of revenue. His background and contact network are valuable assets for times when the BMW's and Mercedes' are not lined up at the door.

6) I would think he took a time to calculate his margins based on many factors. No one (consumers, not businesses) complains about a certain retailers prices being to low or a steak houses prices being to high. Some people in this business Sell the sizzle not the steak.

7) if you live near Big A stop by see the work he his doing and maybe have him detail your ride. He does has experience in other area of the auto trade from an apprenticeship. That is more than I say for myself and many others when it comes to auto detailing.

8) How many return clients does he have? from reading Big A threads on many boards he appears to have good word of mouth advertising network of satisfied clients. How many referred clients does he have? I do not know. At the end of the day, if he produces high quality results thus a happy client, who refers a new client to him then he job well done. No matter how good the vehicle looks, if the client is not satisfied then he may have done top high quality work for nothing more than self satisfaction of a job well done and money in his pocket. Sweat equity does need the small reward of acknowledgement and a referral.

9) Remember Support small and local businesses.

Eric

 

his work looks solid to me but i did see where he said he topped losso oro with coli 845 :shead:

 

I would love to see some Sun or LED pictures from Big A. because an average person don't know what they're looking at... I want to see if that $80 will removes swirls or cover swirls, even to cover swirls is a bargain !

 

**NINJA EDIT***

"Paint correction jobs can take anywhere from 10.00 hours to 25.00 hours.
All cars are different, each requiring different amounts of time based on paint condition & color.

There will be 3 levels of pricing for paint correction : $250, $350, $450"

so just to get it straight that is more along the lines of what he charges.

 

I saw his site about a year ago and my jaw dropped because his prices are way to low. I googled him and he does do a crap load of cars and looks like good work and he has a good understanding of what hes doing but $80 for a 2 stepper?
Buffing is not easy and the risk, time, effort it takes just seems ridiculous to only charge $80. I'm glad I don't live in the city because I would starve.

 

Well put bob. I always see that you are more than just a man holding a polisher. It's all the other non polishing stuff that creates a strong and lasting business. I am sure years ago you had to knock on doors, shake hands and hand business cards to spread your business influence.
The way I see it, its just pure economics. High demand low volume=higher prices. What economics won't tell you is how to create the demand, that's marketing. And using your budgets wisely, that's finance. If Big A has the demand, two things will happen, he increases his volume or increases his pricing until he hits a happy equilibrium.

 

i've seen that thread a while back. I've also followed some of his work. There are some threads where people bust his balls saying he is doing stuff incorrectly such as sanding and what not. From a business prospective he may have just found his niche and was able to roll with it and make a successful business out of it. Most ity's like that are so flooded with detailers its hideous so at that point you need to set yourself apart. I'm sure he could charge more without a issue. As we all do know though it takes a ton of time to correct a vehicles paint. I'm curious to know his technique as i'm sure he corrects more then 1 vehicle a day especially if he has staff he needs to pay. To each his own though, some say he charges not enough but in the end it's whatever works for their particular situation.

 

Ok I finally saw some sun pics from Big A, they look good. I hope he keep on doing what he does, working hard n earning a living. I respect that.

 

whatever floats his boat imo, like me charging free floats my boat most of the time LOL

 

You gotta post some pictures or links man... that's just cruel.

 

So I looked through several pages and the closest picture to show any real "results" is a halogen light shining at a black 6 series trunk lid from far away? Most of the pics are shade pics, no closeups. If his work is good and he is proud of it, wouldn't he be DYING to take some real nice pics of the results of these so called corrections? I don't get it, I can take a shade pic of my mom's decade old Toyota that's never been buffed and it will look brand new, but under any type of even half-assed lighting it will look like garbage because the swirls and other paint imperfections will be revealed.

 

legendary facebook angle?

 

Big "A" Detailing 2010 Blk Camaro 3 step ext +water spots,dull & lots of swirls - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums

Here's some sun shots for you guys. They look ok to me, and he said he wasn't going for 100% correction so let's not get all excited that there are a handful of defects still on the car.

I can't believe how judgemental some are being on this forum. There are a ton of talented guys who don't live on forums and don't have time to find the best picture angles just to impress a bunch of armchair quarterbacks online. And I'm not throwing stones, since I'm active on most detailing forums as well as car forums. It's easy to judge or look down your nose at someone from the safety of a keyboard, so just remember that it works both ways. There will always be someone picking apart every last detail of your work, whether it's to learn something from you or just to feel better about themselves because their way is "superior" to yours. And in the end, we're polishing cars, not curing cancer. Let's not kid ourselves here, what we do is important to only a TINY percent of the population. We can leave the drama out of it.

 

Big "A" Detailing 08 Black Acura TL + some thick Overspray + Heavy Swirls - Bimmerfest - BMW Forums here is some sun pic thread.

 

Detailing in general pertains to a TINY percent of the population. There is no "we" or "they" here.

And nobody was picking at anyone here but, shops like this make other detailers that use expensive products like Dalton look like bank robbers. After all, why would anybody pay that guy $5000+ for a "detail" when by most people's standards a GREAT paintjob costs at least half that. You charge what you wanna charge and if at the end of the day if you're happy with your work and with the pay, that's all that matters.

 

I'm not singling anyone out, but read through all 6 pages and then tell me no one was picking at anyone here. Plenty of examples of the opposite. And as for pricing, low prices do not automatically equate to low quality just as someone who charges a lot of $$$ doesn't automatically produce stellar work. Skill is skill, and it appears Andrew has it. The pricing is a whole different matter, I was posting about the remarks that he never shows true results so I posted a link, and so did Frankie.

 

I need to find a place for references for a great paintjob for $2500...

 

Also, I don't think this has even been mentioned. How many of the people tearing up the other posters and people in this thread actually keep your lights on, bills paid by detailing?

..just wondering.

 

I believe I counted 7, 8 including you but anyway I'm not going to get into this right now. It's hell week with exams and this thread looks like it's one post away from turning into a heated argument.