Lustr — a detailer’s app that isn’t embarrassing to text a client.
A premium mobile experience for an auto-detailing business. Built for the customer who picks the detailer the way they pick the watch — and for the operator who is tired of running their schedule out of a group text.
Auto detailing has a $20B problem with first impressions.
The U.S. auto-detailing industry is $20.2B and growing — and the customer experience is dominated by group texts, mystery pricing, and “did they actually show up?” anxiety. The customers who care most about their car (luxury and enthusiast) are the ones least willing to tolerate that experience.
Lustr is a real product for a real operator (Wayne) — and a wedge into a category where almost no one has built proper consumer software. If we get the experience right for one shop, we get it right for any shop.
Things the existing tools don’t do.
- Transparent pricing per vehicle class — no quote-by-phone games.
- Photo proof of work: a 12-shot cycle (before / during / after / damage notes) attached to every job, EXIF + GPS verified.
- Booking, rescheduling, cancellation that doesn’t need a phone call.
- A retention engine that doesn’t feel like spam — perks tied to the actual cars they own, not generic punch-cards.
- A back-of-house operator view that runs the day without a separate codebase.
Honest status.
Mobile app in build on React Native + Expo. Supabase for auth, data, and storage; Stripe for billing; Sentry from day one because if a booking dies in the field, we need to know.
Partner pilot is Wayne’s shop in the Bay Area. Public launch target Q3 2026. Pricing, retention, and operator views are the parts where the work is currently concentrated.
“The plan was a website. Wayne told us his actual job is texting fifty people back. The plan changed.”
— project notes, week 1Three constraints, in order.
- The operator can run their day from this app on a Saturday morning, one-handed, with bad cell coverage.
- A new customer can book a $480 detail in under 90 seconds without ever typing a sentence to a human.
- Every job leaves behind a photo record the customer can text to their spouse and the operator can use to win the next booking.