It goes without saying that proper layout in any service business is just as critical to the financial success of the operation as equipment, per­sonnel, and other more visible essentials.

Layout affects how the department will be organized and the flow of work through the department with the least amount of wasted motion. In the detail business, wasted motion from a poorly laid out shop not only results in higher labor costs, but also lower productivity.

For many dealers, giving such analytical consideration to a detailing department may seem strange since detailing has been that “dirty hole” in the back end of the building, operated by a few unsavory characters that are “typical” of detailing.

This type of thinking is correct, but what we hope to do with this article is show you that you can bring detailing out of the dirty hole and make it a legit­imate profit center in your dealership. Considering space allocation and layout is the first step.

What is Needed

In the first place, you have to determine if you want your detailing department to do just new-car get-ready and used-car detailing for your in-­house needs only; or if you want to offer the detailing service to the public, primari­ly your service customers.

Assuming that if you plan to upgrade your approach to detailing, you will want to maximize your profit by selling detailing to the public.

With this assumption, allow for at least three or four more cars per day. You will also need at least one to two wash bays to clean engines and wash cars. This area, of course, will have to be equipped with a proper efflu­ent discharge system; that is, a grease trap and connection to the sanitary sewer.

Remember, even if you have an automatic car wash, you need the wash bay(s) to clean engines, wheel wells, and jambs.

You can have a good layout, but if your equip­ment is primitive, the layout will be ineffective. Converse­ly, if you have proper equip­ment and the layout is wrong, you lose any benefit the equipment will offer.

The flow of work through a detailing department begins in the wet bay where the vehi­cle is custom washed. A cus­tom wash is when dirt is taken off under the bumpers, on spoilers, recessed areas, jambs, inside gas cap area. Wheels are hand cleaned and all brake dust removed; tar is removed from rocker panel area; and the engine is cleaned.

From the wet bay, the vehicle enters the detail bays where the trunk is cleaned and shampooed; interior is cleaned and shampooed; paint is buffed, polished, and waxed; and finally, the vehicle is given the final detail inspection.

If space for detailing is at a minimum, you may want to do the final detailing and inspection outside, or in anoth­er area, to open up a detail bay. This space adjustment can result in additional vehi­cles being processed per day.

What About the Retail Customer?

Now that you have taken care of the actual layout of the work bays, consider how you plan to take care of those customers outside the dealer­ship who will be purchasing your detail services.

The customer has to be considered from two points of reference:

1. The customer who comes in for a detail estimate and/or to make an appointment

2. The customer who comes back for their detail service appointment.

Whereas in a free-stand­ing retail detail shop, the cus­tomer would drive right up to the detail shop and talk to the manager and drop the car off, in your case, this is not possi­ble. Even if it were, you would not want to do that.

If you plan to make money selling detail services, your service writers must have the oppor­tunity to talk with customers.

The simple answer to both issues then is to have the cus­tomer drive right into your ser­vice department entrance areas. The service writer should be trained to properly estimate the vehicle and make appointments for the detail department. This will require close coordination within the dealership to balance in house work with retail sales.

If you do not have the service writer selling detail services, you will lose tremendous opportunities from the many service customers who will need detailing services, if brought to their attention by a trusted service writer.

Of course, when the cus­tomer returns for their appointment they again should bring the car to the service desk to drop it off.

By operating in this way, you give the customer the impression that your detailing department is an integral part of your dealership. Of course, the detailing department should be that way if you plan to make it professional and profitable.

Added Recomendations

Like most services you offer, the customer will not usually wait for their vehicle when having detailing ser­vices performed, so you do not need to concern yourself with where they would wait. Of course, if a customer comes early, or may only want an engine clean or hand carwash, they could use your existing waiting room.

A professional detail opera­tion in a dealership needs a “manager” to manage the day-to-day operations of the department. They would need a small area in the detailing department with a desk where they can do the department’s paperwork and have a telephone. It must how­ever, be as suitable as the office you provide for the body shop manager.

This article probably raises as many questions as it might answer, especially if you even considered an analytical approach to detail shop layout in the first place.

Hopefully, it has presented some things that you have never considered. Keep in mind that it is not intended to be conclusive, but only to offer ideas about what you might want to do with regard to space alloca­tion and layout for a successful detailing operation in your own dealership.