Today we’d like to introduce you to Devin Kelly.
Hi Devin, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
If you ask my mother, I have been mr. clean my whole life…ha! I really got started detailing when I was the after high school shop help at a local electrical contracting company. I would load/unload trucks, refuel, and clean them. Some of my co-workers asked me to do their personal trucks and they said I really had some talent. Living in a fairly small town, word of mouth is free and effective. I started at Boeing in July of 2016, and starting detailing on weekends in 2017 in my single car garage of my first house after I realized adulting is expensive and I missed working with my hands. Picking up and dropping off clients vehicles was our claim to fame. Washing on a hilly driveway and roping my girlfriend, Jenn, into helping me with the offer of a great Saturday night dinner. She likes her sleep and offered her cousin to help me, that turned into a fellow car guy looking for some extra cash on the weekends in early 2021, and then a friend who needed an outlet for teaching kids all week at school. In early 2022 the opportunity arose to move into a property close to my parents where I grew u and the property purchased had a shop. I was approved for an SBA loan to upfit the shop into an efficient workspace. 2024 saw the full-time hiring of Scott, my fellow car guy and trusted weekend warrior. In 2025 Jenn now officially works for the business and is the accountant/detailer/driver/planter/keeper of the animals. We did 16 details in 2017 and currently do about 375 a year.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The beginning felt smooth, doing something you are naturally good at, making extra money, and networking within the community (like our Chamber of Commerce). Our clientele base grew along with demand, it was a struggle to balance a career job, house, detailing, and a relationship. I and/or Jenn has worked almost every weekend since we started, but as time went on the goal was always to hire the right people to find the balance in life and achieve my goals of what kinds of vehicles I wanted to detail for and for whom. The more you detail the more product you use, so as income grew so did the expenses. Then it becomes time to think about proper insurance, commitments to clients, and charging what you are worth. That is my single biggest struggle to this day, charging what our work is worth. Quality is and has been the number one priority, but people like a good deal and it took a long time to earn a reputation that supported our pricing. Knowing when to say no has been a challenge, naturally we want to meet everyone’s needs, but you can only do so much the right way in 7 days. Teaching others and creating standard operating procedures is very tough when you are naturally a doer. Jenn has had to really help me look through a different lense when it comes to having others work with you. The very interesting thing that I have found through the years no matter how stressed or behind schedule I am, I never once thought I should stop doing what we do.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Kelly Kleen Auto Detailing?
Kelly Kleen is a full service auto detailing company. We offer everything from interior/exterior details to paint correction and ceramic coatings, paint protection film (PPF), window tint, detailing boats, semis, tractors, and RVs, along with basic maintenance services, like oil changes. We are known for the care and quality we put into every single 1 of the 1300+ details we have done. We live and breath detailing and think it is so important for a clean and organized life. We are known for picking-up and dropping-off a client’s vehicle to save them the coordination of getting it to us and putting clients on regularly scheduled maintenance details. We are most proud of the quality of the work we put out and how much people love to talk to us about detailing. We want readers to know that our goal is for you to know we care about your vehicle and we want to make it exciting to drive one of your biggest assets.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
Trusting us to reset and maintain your vehicle is the best way to support us. We also support our local humane society, Catholic church and school, and other community events for our Chamber of Commerce. We love to support our community and the things in life we are passionate about. Always open to collaborate with other detailers and trades within the automotive community. Sharing knowledge is so important to inspire and make this trade better.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kellykleenautodetailing.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/kelly_kleen_detailing
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KellyKleenllc/
Image Credit:
Main photo is taken by Cecilia VanNess.
