Before-and-After Reel Ideas for Detailers, Cleaners and Contractors

If your work has a before and an after, you have the best content in local business. Fifteen reel ideas for auto detailers, cleaners, landscapers, painters and trades.

Detailers, cleaners, painters, landscapers, pressure washers, mechanics: you are sitting on the most watchable content in local business and most of you post a blurry photo of a finished truck once a month. The transformation is the reel. Here are fifteen ways to film it.

The classic, done right

1. The split wipe. Half done, half not, one slow pan. Dirty carpet next to clean carpet. Filmed a hundred thousand times because it never stops working.
2. The reveal pull-back. Start close on the finished detail, pull back to show the whole car. Three seconds.
3. The timelapse. Phone propped on a bucket, thirty minutes of work, fifteen seconds of reel.
4. The satisfying sound. Pressure washer on a driveway, sound on, no music. Ten seconds.

The ones that show expertise

1. The "what this is" reel. Point at the damage, name it, say what causes it. Thirty seconds. Builds trust faster than any before-and-after.
2. The tool reel. One tool, what it does, why you use it instead of the cheap one.
3. The "what the homeowner did" reel. Kind, no names. "This is what happens when you use X on granite."
4. The quote reel. "Here is what this job costs and why." Price transparency wins jobs.
5. The mistake reel. "Three things I see on every car that owners can fix themselves." Give away the small stuff.

The ones that book

1. The open-slot reel. "Thursday morning just opened up. First DM gets it."
2. The seasonal reel. Salt removal in March, gutters in October, AC in May. Film it the week before people need it.
3. The neighborhood reel. "Did four houses on Maple this week." Neighbors book neighbors.
4. The customer reaction. Their face when they see it, with permission. Ten seconds, no words needed.
5. The "how long it lasts" reel. Ceramic coating six months later. Sealed driveway after one winter.
6. The referral reel. "Send me a neighbor, you both get X." Once a month.

Filming on a job site

• Film the before FIRST, before you touch anything. Most owners forget and lose the reel.
• Same spot, same angle for before and after. Put your foot where the phone was.
• Wipe the lens. Job sites are dusty.
• Keep addresses and license plates out of frame.
• Ask the customer. Most say yes, especially if you offer to tag them or keep them anonymous.