I Compared 7 Trade Businesses Before Choosing Window Tinting.
Here Is What the Numbers Actually Show.
Car wash. Detailing. Gardening. Cleaning. Pressure washing. Dog washing. Handyman. These are the trades most Australians consider when they want to start a business without a certificate. Here is an honest side-by-side comparison — and why window tinting wins almost every category that actually matters.
When I started tinting cars in 2012, I had already looked at every no-certificate trade business available in Australia. I needed something with low startup cost, genuine profit margins and the ability to grow beyond a basic income. I researched them all seriously.
After 14 years, tinting over 15,000 cars plus hundreds of homes, offices and boats, training 320 students hands-on across Australia and another 300+ students online — I can tell you with absolute certainty which business won and exactly why.
But rather than just tell you tinting is the best, let me show you the numbers for every trade side by side. You can make up your own mind.
This is not a projection or a best-case scenario. I tinted 9 cars in 5 days from my home garage and made $3,550. I have the footage — real cars, real customers, real money being handed over. Extrapolated across a full month that is $14,200 to $15,000 from one skill, working from home, with no staff and no shopfront.
The Full Comparison — 7 Trades Honestly Assessed
Each trade is rated across the categories that actually matter when you are choosing a business to build your life around. The scores are honest — including where other trades have genuine advantages.
- Startup cost$5,000–$50,000+
- Revenue per car$15–$40
- Time per car20–45 mins
- Water costsOngoing and high
- Council restrictionsSignificant
- Physical demandVery high all day
- Customer demandVery high
- Repeat customersWeekly/fortnightly
- Easy to understandYes
Car washing is high volume, low margin work. To earn $500 in a day you need to wash 15–30 cars. To earn $500 tinting you need 2 cars. The equipment costs alone — proper pressure washers, water reclaim systems, council-approved setup — dwarf the cost of starting a tinting operation. Add ongoing water bills and you are constantly fighting thin margins.
- Time per car4–8 hours
- Physical demandExtremely high
- Chemical costs$50–$120 per job
- Equipment cost$3,000–$15,000
- Market saturationHigh and growing
- Revenue per job$200–$800
- Customer demandStrong
- Upsell potentialGood
- Pairs with tintingExcellent
Detailing is the closest comparison to tinting and it is a legitimate business. But here is the key difference: a full detail takes 4 to 8 hours and earns $200 to $500. A full tint takes 2 to 3 hours and earns $250 to $600. Tinting pays more per hour for significantly less physical labour. Many of our students actually combine both — detailers who add tinting to their services immediately increase their revenue per customer by 60 to 100 percent.
- Weather dependencyExtremely high
- Equipment cost$3,000–$12,000
- Trailer neededYes — extra cost
- Seasonal gapsWinter drops off
- Revenue per job$60–$180
- Market saturationExtremely high
- Repeat customersWeekly/fortnightly
- Easy to learnYes
- Everyone needs itTrue
Lawn mowing and gardening is one of the most saturated trades in Australia. Every suburb has ten operators competing on price, which drives earnings to the floor. The equipment costs — quality mower, edger, blower, trailer — add up fast. And when it rains for a week in Queensland or gets cold in Victoria, your income stops completely. Tinting is done indoors, year-round, rain or shine.
- Market saturationExtremely high
- Average hourly rate$30–$45/hour
- Price competitionRace to the bottom
- Physical demandVery high
- Hard to scale aloneNeed staff fast
- Low startup costUnder $500
- Steady demandConsistent
- Repeat bookingsWeekly/fortnightly
Cleaning has an incredibly low barrier to entry — which means everyone enters it. The result is a market so saturated that operators are forced to compete purely on price. Most solo cleaning operators earn $30 to $45 per hour after costs. A tinter earns $100 to $200 per hour at the same experience level. The skill barrier in tinting is actually an advantage — it keeps competition lower and rates higher.
- Equipment cost$2,000–$8,000
- Weather dependentYes — heavily
- Seasonal demandSummer peaks only
- Repeat frequencyOnce or twice yearly
- Water usage costsHigh
- Revenue per job$200–$600
- Visible resultsDramatic
- Easy to marketBefore/afters work
Pressure washing can earn decent money per job but the seasonal nature of the business creates real income gaps. In most of Australia, demand peaks in spring and summer and drops significantly in the colder months. It also does not lend itself to repeat business — a driveway cleaned once will not need cleaning again for 6 to 12 months minimum. Tinting is a once-per-car service but the pool of new customers never runs out.
- Van/trailer setup$15,000–$40,000
- Franchise dominanceVery hard to compete
- Market saturationExtremely high
- Revenue per dog$60–$120
- UnpredictabilityDogs bite, cancel, escape
- Physical demandVery high
- Repeat customersEvery 4–6 weeks
- Owners love their dogsLoyal clientele
Mobile dog washing was a great business five years ago. Today the market is dominated by franchise networks and the startup cost of a proper van setup is prohibitive for most people. Independent operators struggle to compete with franchise marketing budgets and brand recognition. Window tinting has no dominant franchise operator — the market is still largely individual tradespeople, which means your reputation and quality can genuinely win business on merit.
- Skills requiredBroad and varied
- Liability riskHigh — property damage
- Tool costs$2,000–$10,000+
- Licensing grey areasComplex by state
- Income consistencyUnpredictable
- DemandVery high
- Job varietyNever boring
- Charge out rate$60–$120/hour
Handyman work demands a broad skill set across plumbing, carpentry, electrical (with limits), painting and more. The licensing laws around what a handyman can and cannot legally do vary significantly by state and create real liability exposure. It is also difficult to market consistently because jobs are so varied. Window tinting is one focused skill that you can become genuinely expert at — and expertise commands premium pricing that generalist handymen cannot charge.
- Total startup costUnder $500
- Revenue per job$250–$600 cars
- Material cost per job$40–$80
- Profit margin80–85%
- Time per car job2–3 hours
- Effective hourly rate$100–$200/hour
- Weather dependencyNone — works indoors
- Markets availableCars, homes, offices, boats
- Licence requiredNo
- Time to first income2–4 weeks
- 9 cars in 5 days$3,550 earned
- Monthly equivalent$14,200–$15,000
- Part-time (3 days/week)$4,000–$7,000/month
- Full time operation$10,000–$15,000/month
- Add home tinting+$500–$2,000 per job
- Add commercial jobs+$2,000–$15,000 per job
The Full Scorecard — All 8 Trades Side by Side
Here is every trade rated across the categories that matter most when choosing a business to build around.
| Business | Startup Cost | $/Hour Earned | Weather Risk | Saturation | Income Ceiling | Year Round | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🏆 Window Tinting | Under $500 | $100–$200 | None | Low | $15,000+/mo | Yes | ★★★★★ |
| Car Detailing | $3,000–$15K | $50–$90 | Low | Medium | $8,000/mo | Yes | ★★★★ |
| Handyman | $2,000–$10K | $60–$120 | Low | Medium | $8,000/mo | Yes | ★★★ |
| Pressure Washing | $2,000–$8K | $60–$100 | High | Medium | $6,000/mo | Seasonal | ★★★ |
| Gardening/Mowing | $3,000–$12K | $35–$60 | Very High | Very High | $4,000/mo | Seasonal | ★★ |
| Cleaning Business | Under $500 | $30–$45 | None | Extremely High | $5,000/mo | Yes | ★★ |
| Mobile Dog Washing | $15,000–$40K | $50–$80 | Low | Very High | $5,000/mo | Yes | ★★ |
| Car Wash | $5,000–$50K | $25–$40 | Medium | High | $6,000/mo | Yes | ★★ |
"I had been mowing lawns for two years before I found Window Tint Skool. I was exhausted, earning around $3,200 a month and completely weather-dependent. Six months after completing the course I had replaced my entire lawn mowing income and more — working far fewer hours and never worrying about rain again."
The One Advantage Most People Miss
Every trade we compared has one market. Car wash does cars. Lawn mowing does lawns. Dog washing does dogs.
Window tinting has three completely different markets built into the same skill.
- Automotive tinting — cars, SUVs, vans, utes, trucks, boats. 20 million registered vehicles in Australia alone.
- Residential tinting — homes, apartments, investment properties. Average job $800 to $2,500. One house equals five to ten car jobs.
- Commercial tinting — offices, retail, restaurants, schools, government buildings. Single jobs worth $2,000 to $15,000+.
Most tinters only do cars. The ones who learn all three — which is exactly what Window Tint Skool teaches — operate in a market three times bigger than their competitors and can fill their schedule from multiple referral networks simultaneously.
In 14 years and over 15,000 tinting jobs across cars, homes, offices and boats — I have never once run out of work. The demand in Australia is simply that consistent.
— 14 years tinting experience · 620+ students trainedReady to Start the Highest Margin Trade in Australia?
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The Numbers Don't Lie — Tinting Wins.
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