Two Suttons Bay brothers recently decided to try out their entrepreneurial skills for a summer job.
Brayden and Grayson Opie started their own car detailing business, Lakeside Mobile detailing, in early May to give back to the community.
“We’ve been very involved with the community our whole life, whether it be in sports or just helping people in general around the community,” said Grayson Opie. “It’s a great way to help out people who need it.”
They offer express or premium full detail, headlight restoration, ceramic coating, paint correction, exterior trim restoration, and a full detail or polish on boats.
“Brayden and I have always had a love for cars growing up, whether it is playing with Hot Wheels or playing video games with cars in it,” said Opie. “Both of us really wanted to follow in our dad’s footsteps by starting up our own business.”
Grayson has been enjoying the process, and praised the fact his older brother is a Creative Advertising student at Michigan State University, which has helped to create their website.
“It’s been very interesting starting this up, going through all the things you go through with starting a business. The ups and downs, and it has been fun,” said Opie.
Grayson also was excited that the brothers don’t have any availability this week and he had just under ten customers reach out for their service in the future.
The brothers are based in Suttons Bay, but have had customers as far away as Elk Rapids or Kingsley reach out for their service.
“There is a little travel fee, but as long as the customer is willing to pay it, we drive out there,” Opie said. “We typically try to not go anywhere past the Traverse City area, but if they’re really looking for it, we would offer a pretty far trip.”
The brothers decided to add boats to their cleaning service from being aware that customers need it cleaned.
“We did a handful of cars, and we are always looking to grow, whether that’d be adding more services or improving our services,” said Opie.
That is why they thought to add an important service to have with all the lakes in the area and the amount of possible business with boats alone.
“We had a boat growing up, so we know the importance of how clean it is,” said Opie. “People around here are looking for that kind of stuff so we’re happy to add that service to our list.”
With the boat detailing service, to ensure better quality of work, the brothers might need to assess the condition of the boat.
“We both were really trying to grow the business, and boat detailing was a way to do it,” said Opie.
Their boat service could take up to eight hours depending on the condition of the boat or the size of the boat.
To schedule a detailing or to get more information, their website lakesidedetailing.carrd. com, has descriptions and their contact information.
