Today we’d like to introduce you to Jean-Claude Corcoran.
Jean-Claude, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started Detailed Designs Auto Spa in 2007. My father was a car nut and it was something that was instilled in me from my youth on. He was a difficult man to please when it came to his cars. I remember the first time I asked him if I could wash his car and get paid for it. He allowed it and I don’t think I ever did get those wheels clean enough for him nor get paid for it for not “finishing the job” (haha). The way my father was about keeping his cars as close to new as possible was something I hated when I was younger. But as I started to take real pride in the things I had to work hard to attain, it started to make sense to me. We work very hard for the things we own and how we care for them is a reflection of who we are. It took me time to learn this lesson but looking back at my father I see that many of the things that made him OCD are firm within me.
My exposure to OCD-like car care is much of what shaped my business, Detailed Designs Auto Spa, into what it is today. It is my goal that each service we offer has just the right amount of obsessiveness to make it truly special for our clients.
As time went on after starting Detailed Designs, I had opportunities to organically grow and develop new services to offer our clients. We started as a detailing company, but we are more of a new car protection company now that also offers world class paint correction and restorative detailing services.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has not been a smooth road. I would never claim that I am either so smart or so experienced that I never have struggles. I didn’t know everything when I started DDAS and I do not know everything now. So it’s a constant learning process.
My first challenge was finding who I and my business really were. My passion was for obsessive care, which takes far longer than just banging out work. With that time requirement comes a need to charge more. Everyone in business for themselves understand that time = money and the longer a task takes, the more one must charge to be sustainable. Because I did not yet understand how to present what I did and knew the craft more than how to speak with my clients, I struggled to find balance. Most people are happy to pay rock bottom prices and expect commensurate quality but I could not accept that. So I constantly found myself doing more than what my clients were paying for. This created a problem of not being sustainable as I could not generate the profits required to stay afloat easily.
I pushed through and ground away for years and finally pushed through and began to reach an equilibrium. Once I did, we hit a stride. We blew our customers away by giving what we felt is the best possible service in our area and we were able to see a future of not “just getting by”.
Today, my biggest struggle may be staffing. We do not perform jobs that are easily scaled so finding qualified staff to be trained is quite difficult. It requires a very specific type of personality that is not common to find. So, like everything else, I am patient. I realize that there is no fast answer and waiting for the right staff is the right choice. So we choose to pace ourselves and sometimes tell people we can’t take on their work because we are too booked…though, most just say they are happy to wait for an available spot.
This leads to the last piece of my modern challenges. Work/life balance can be difficult due to the lack of qualified staff. We stay booked out year round and with only a few of us in the shop performing the work and being sensitive to not taking too long on projects means work/life balance can suffer. This is an area I work on every week and have not yet created the perfect fix. Ask me again in 6 months though…maybe I will have unlocked the solution by then.
Please tell us about Detailed Designs Auto Spa.
Our primary business is in creating long term automotive solutions for people that love their cars. This includes many of the following services:
- Paint protection film installation (clear bra, clear film, auto bra, etc.)
- Modesta coating solutions for paint which give industry leading gloss, upwards of 10 years of protection without the need to wax, chemical resistance and general eased ongoing maintenance.
- Modesta wheel and caliper coatings which protect the surfaces from extreme heat, burning brake dust and make keeping wheels clean a breeze.
- Modesta LPS (Leather Protection System) that gives stain and abrasion resistance to fine leather seats.
- Paint correction services to permanently repair superficial defects in paint like swirl marks, marring, buffer trails, oxidation, etc.
- Low voltage installation services that focus on reversibility and fit and finish. This includes dash cameras and Escort laser jammer/radar detector hardwired systems. We are also authorized retailers for all goods we offer.
- Ceramic window tint that offers industry leading UV blocking to protect your skin and the sensitive surfaces of the interior from harmful sun rays and heat.
- Restorative detailing services for fine automobiles
- Transport services that allows our client’s cars to stay off the road and away from wear and tear while before/after we perform our services.
There are a few things that set us apart from others. We create legitimate and world class solutions for our clients with their real needs in mind by making time for the ideal consultation and following through. Our process of interviewing clients draws out the content that allows us to get to the heart of their matters. We educate and then communicate the options available. This gives our clients the ability to make the best possible choices for their wants, needs and possible budgets. And something I am very proud of is our no-pressure environment. Throughout our consultations and even after, there is never any pressure to buy. Our #1 focus is on education. If our clients are educated, they can make the best choice possible and we genuinely feel we are that solution.
When one couples our consultative approach with our craftsman-like quality and selection of industry leading services, we feel that the proof is in the pudding and we are the ideal fit for owners wanting the perfect solution.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have started my business at 16 years old and not 26.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2161 Old Covington Hwy SW
STE. B
Conyers, GA. 30012 - Website: www.detaileddesignsautospa.com
- Phone: 770-648-6030
- Email: jc@detaileddesignsautospa.com
- Instagram: @details2die4
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Detailed-Designs-Auto-Spa-152665034558/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/detailed-designs-auto-spa-conyers-2
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC1r3NzO7yfS8Q618–VLqw
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