Evolution of an Enterprise, Chapter 2: Attention to Detail

Josh Somers and Binh Uebinger squirt solution onto a blue-painted aluminum surface. They spread the solution out, let it dry for a couple of minutes and then use handheld cloths to wipe away the residue.

The dry-wash process looks just as if they’re waxing a car, except this is no car. Somers and Uebinger are cleaning a $24 million Bombardier Challenger 604 business jet owned by Springfield trucking firm Prime Inc.

Dry-washing has been the bread-and-butter service so far for Voyager Industries, the aircraft-detailing company Somers and Uebinger launched in December. Their target market is corporate and charter airplanes in need of cleaning.

Other key services:

• chrome polishing;

• de-icing boot refinishing;

• interior vacuum and wipe-down;

• leather treatment;

• carpet cleaning;

• galley/lavatory sanitization;

• antistatic display treatment; and

• flight-deck detailing.

While Voyager Industries’ services range from $100 to $4,000, Somers and Uebinger say their wealthy clientele are willing to pony up big bucks to keep in top shape their multimillion-dollar aircraft, which cost thousands of dollars to operate.

“You spend $100,000 on your trip,” Somers said, “what’s $800 to have it cleaned?”

In addition to Prime, Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co. is a client. Ozarks Coca-Cola has a jet and a propeller plane, and its captain, Jack Webster, also has used Voyager Industries to clean his personal turboprop plane.

Somers and Uebinger have performed their services seven times on the four aircraft, all of which are under verbal agreements to receive regular cleaning, according to Uebinger.

The men have performed a full detail service twice – once on Ozarks Coca-Cola’s jet and once on Webster’s turboprop. They charged $750 for the jet detailing and $900 for the turboprop detailing. Somers said they’ll likely charge just $400 for detailing Webster’s turboprop in the future because it is easier to perform cleaning maintenance.

Somers and Uebinger also have a verbal agreement to clean the jet shared by hotelier John Q. Hammons and construction contractor Bill Killian, but they have yet to detail the $11 million 2007 Bombardier Learjet.

Working on expensive airplanes requires hefty insurance. Voyager Industries’ policy through Barker Phillips Jackson pays up to $2.3 million per incident. The monthly insurance payments are about $1,200, or about 25 percent of Voyager’s operating expenses.

The entrepreneurs say they’re pleased with their company’s progression at this early stage, although they overestimated revenues when writing their business plan. They had figured on $182,000 in first-year revenues with $30,000 in profits. Their recalculations are $100,000 in revenues and breaking even in the profit department, Somers said.

Built into their budget is $36,000 in salaries for each owner.

Somers said financial miscalculations were due to unforeseen slower business during winter months.

Once the weather heats up, they expect business to heat up, too. After all, bugs splatter on airplanes just the same as they do on cars.