First touchless build please help

[CoryLabor]

Looking to build a single bay touchless car wash in my hometown in rural southeastern Oklahoma but don’t want to be a bust so any help would be appreciated there are no other car washes in town about 2500 residents and a community college is there I am moving there in July and starting my project then I currently am a foreman of an extrutek crew in ca and az so have car wash daily experience
But would like some help and feedback please and thank you

 

[MC3033]

Building from scratch is going have some pretty significant costs. Is there any existing self serve car wash that can be bought and expanded or converted for a touch less?

Are there any other towns in the immediate area or is it just these 2500 residents?

Even if you build a single bay and do everything cheap and a lot yourself it’s going cost $250k +

 

[OurTown]

Building from scratch is going have some pretty significant costs. Is there any existing self serve car wash that can be bought and expanded or converted for a touch less?

Are there any other towns in the immediate area or is it just these 2500 residents?

Even if you build a single bay and do everything cheap and a lot yourself it’s going cost $250k +

It is probably cheaper to build there but around here you are looking at a mil easily. Shave off a few hundred if you want to go really cheap.

 

[CoryLabor]

A mach vII like behind seven eleven setup are that expensive? and yes there is an abomdened self serve I was going to try and buy and again thank you for your input and help

 

[OurTown]

Buying an existing closed down location might be less but still won't be cheap. Check the size of the water main coming in, sewer going out, how many amp electric service (hopefully it's three phase) and gas main. Check the bay dimensions also. Most likely it will have to be at least lengthened for most machines but you might be lucky. Ball park for machines are in the $100K to $250K but there's other things that you will need that add up real quick. It's very surprising to most outsiders.

 

[soonermajic]

What town is this? Im in Texarkana, Tx
May be easier to buy the old wash, & refurbish it.

 

[CoryLabor]

Wilburton Oklahoma, there is a cool set up in morongo ca that I helped do the interior on I am going to get some pictures and sizes I think a single bay touchless couple dryers goldmine I don’t see what I am missing please help and boomer sooner

 

[Dan kamsickas]

Wilburton Oklahoma, there is a cool set up in morongo ca that I helped do the interior on I am going to get some pictures and sizes I think a single bay touchless couple dryers goldmine I don’t see what I am missing please help and boomer sooner

You really need to take a deep breath. If I had a dollar for every new or potential carwash owner who said something similar I'd be snorkeling in the Caribbean full time. Assume $200k -$250k to start and probably much more. Ongoing maintenance, taxes, supplies, breakdowns on a Saturday morning when the weather has sucked all week and cars are lined up, utilities running when you haven't washed a car in days, moron driving into your equipment, punks taking a torch to the pay station, etc. etc. etc. Owning any kind of carwash can end up being the easiest 80 hour a week job you've ever had.

 

[Waxman]

You are seriously dreaming if you think a car wash in a town of 2500 people is going to be a gold mine. I can tell by your questions that you haven't done your due diligence. You should do some more homework on your own and then come back to this forum with some more specific questions.

 

[CoryLabor]

That’s why I am here I have no problem doing homework or due diligence but I don’t know the next step I am trying to pursue this but I don’t know how I am here looking for help from people who have done this successfully if I am not going about this properly this please help me on the right path

 

[Dan kamsickas]

That’s why I am here I have no problem doing homework or due diligence but I don’t know the next step I am trying to pursue this but I don’t know how I am here looking for help from people who have done this successfully if I am not going about this properly this please help me on the right path

Sorry if my response seemed harsh but most of us have seen more than our share of dreamers using words like "goldmine" and, with very few exceptions, most have lost their ass and more.

Start by researching the various automatics available. Do you want touchless or soft touch? As a new owner, local service is going to be critical. When you have your preferences narrowed down on equipment find out who the local dealers are. You'll want someone who is going to teach you the machine, not just require a service($$$$$) call for every issue. Many will have different service rates based on whether or not you buy chemicals from them. Some will require you to buy their chemicals for any service....screw them. A good dealer is going to have numbers on cost of machine, install, construction, maintenance, etc. Use those as a starting point but NEVER take them as gospel. How much is the dirt going to cost? How much is utility install and ongoing cost? Local taxes? Do you need a curb cut? In a small town, how good of a friend are you to the local inspectors/authorities? You do have an attorney, accountant, and banker lined up....right? Historically, a single bay auto is the most difficult to maintain profitability with as all your eggs are in one basket unlike a SS/Auto combo and lower throughput than a tunnel.

 

[MEP001]

please help me on the right path

Historically, a single IBA built from ground up will not succeed. Even double IBAs end up selling within a couple years or go back to the bank for someone else to pick up cheap before they become profitable.

Do you have a site picked out? How is the traffic flow? Is it at an intersection with a low speed limit and easy ingress/egress?

 

[CheetahExpress]

You really need to take a deep breath. If I had a dollar for every new or potential carwash owner who said something similar I'd be snorkeling in the Caribbean full time. Assume $200k -$250k to start and probably much more. Ongoing maintenance, taxes, supplies, breakdowns on a Saturday morning when the weather has sucked all week and cars are lined up, utilities running when you haven't washed a car in days, moron driving into your equipment, punks taking a torch to the pay station, etc. etc. etc. Owning any kind of carwash can end up being the easiest 80 hour a week job you've ever had.

" breakdowns on a Saturday morning when the weather has sucked all week and cars are lined up" That's the story of my life with this car wash. I can definitely relate to that point. It never fails. The tech who works on our entry machine recently sent me an email saying he had sent a priest to our site the night before to dump 500 gal. of Holy Water on the property. LOL

 

[soonermajic]

Wilburton Diggers. I know them well. Im from Konawa. VERY small world! There's a guy on here, in Stroud, who will be alot of help. FYI: It is NOT an easy go in Ok, as there are limited Distributors & even fewer techs.
Guy on here is cap.... have to search for him.
Some things will be cheaper there, land, labor, etc. Others will be crazy, as in no Distributors, & will drive u to want to sell. I'd suggest WW Razor or PDQ 360. There MAY be someone in State who can sell / service those.
Sometimes we can be a lil negative on here, but it's from experience of guys like you & ME, whom think they're gonna be RICH!
I bought a wash in town of 3300, only IBA there, & nearly lost my A$$! I even hooked up w/ busy C store, to no avail.
These guys have given some great advice. At least you're not building in my area of Broken Bow. 1000s of hi end cabins being built, booming area & yet less than 1% of those cabins provide carwash customers (nobody goes on vacation to wash cars) & hence the cost of EVERYTHING has skyrocketed!!!

 

[Dan kamsickas]

Wilburton Diggers. I know them well. Im from Konawa. VERY small world! There's a guy on here, in Stroud, who will be alot of help. FYI: It is NOT an easy go in Ok, as there are limited Distributors & even fewer techs.
Guy on here is cap.... have to search for him.
Some things will be cheaper there, land, labor, etc. Others will be crazy, as in no Distributors, & will drive u to want to sell. I'd suggest WW Razor or PDQ 360. There MAY be someone in State who can sell / service those.
Sometimes we can be a lil negative on here, but it's from experience of guys like you & ME, whom think they're gonna be RICH!
I bought a wash in town of 3300, only IBA there, & nearly lost my A$$! I even hooked up w/ busy C store, to no avail.
These guys have given some great advice. At least you're not building in my area of Broken Bow. 1000s of hi end cabins being built, booming area & yet less than 1% of those cabins provide carwash customers (nobody goes on vacation to wash cars) & hence the cost of EVERYTHING has skyrocketed!!!

You're damn lucky I don't charge per phone call or email. You would have gone broke.

 

[Waxman]

start with the basics. Go online and research how to create a business plan. Then you will have to figure out all of your costs associated with the project. There are many things that you may think of like land building and equipment. Then there are things which are not so obvious, like permits, engineering fees, curb cuts, and the cost of setting up your business with a lawyer. I would suggest establishing a corporation which will cost a decent amount of money with a lawyer. Many so-called accountants and bookkeepers will tell you that this is a waste of time and money and you should just be a sole proprietorship. They are wrong. Good luck in your endeavors.

 

[soonermajic]

You're damn lucky I don't charge per phone call or email. You would have gone broke.

Ain't that the truth!! Now, I have hundreds & hundreds of dollars in the bank!!
In all honesty, I WAS GOING broke! Dan was a wealth of info...most of it over my head! but he helped me get slightly profitable, til I could sell, move & buy a better waah. New wash, combined w/ 30 yr coach /teacher salary, has me fairly profitable.

 

[CoryLabor]

Ok thank you the site I have picked out was a ss when I was a kid in high school there used to be 3 ss not there is nothing I don’t need to make a living just pay for itself and anything extra is awesome my family owns cattle ranch to make a living digger pride conference champs class of 97

 

[CoryLabor]

I might have wrong conception but every car wash owner in az and ca whose car wash I do the interior on is breathing down my throat to finish because of how much it makes a day when down and are just handing my boss stacks of cash for vinyl interiors

 

[soonermajic]

You're on your way. You have some passion & a plan. That's the 1st part. The rest of it, these guys have given you a lot of guidance. The SWCA Convention is coming up in 10 days. Id suggest going to that.
DM me & I will give u guys cell from Stroud.
U may also wanna consider a friction, as opposed to touchless. Plenty of threads on here about both of em.
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