Redo wash equip

[Whale of a Wash]

I am thinking of outfitting a wash with completely new equip. /the 30yr old aok equip works fine- pumps replaced a couple times. I want new boxes with more functions and cc's- Before i get a bid and vaporlock--- what does it cost these days in general terms either per bay or total to redo a 6 bay. I have been looking at custom Kraft. I like the vfds and single hose to bays without checkvalves.
I also like the look of the of my number 2 choice- D and S but also do not know them. What is a general price to look for. thanks

http://www.customkraft.com/

http://www.dscarwash.com/pages.asp?pagemainlevel=6&pageparent=29&pagelevel=3&pageid=175

 

[Randy]

We just remodeled one of our car washes, turned it into car wash beautiful. New wall panels, Coin boxes with credit card, Bill validators, Bay lighting, new Changers, Gutted the Equipment room, new pumping equipment etc. We did 95% of the work ourselves the total cost was right around 135K. The car wash doesn’t do any better today than it did before the remodel so the rest of them are on hold.

 

[washnvac]

The car wash doesn’t do any better today than it did before the remodel so the rest of them are on hold.

That is very dissappointing. What does that say about the state of our industry?

 

[Whale of a Wash]

Well that takes the wind out of my sail, What equip. did you get and what do you like or don't like about it. What was the cost for pumping equip. only.

 

[Earl Weiss]

Obviously customers don't give a hoot about VFDs and Single hoses. If your current stuff is not giving you maintenance headaches maybe you should just consider cosmetic upgrades, wll panels and lighting as well as adding new boxes to take Bills and CC as well as more functions.

 

[1carwash1]

This pretty much sums up our experience too. When times were better we took one of our washes and made it stand tall; the end result was a year-to year-decline in revenues. What a waste of time and resources! If you need an equipment upgrade, there is a lot of nice used equipment on the market for sale.

 

[washnvac]

the end result was a year-to year-decline in revenues. What a waste of time and resources

Then this begs the question: What does draw customers in, and keep them coming back? Do some faded, scratched or missing decals, signs, and/or coin boxes not matter to the average ss customer? Do they stop at the older facility because it is closer, when there is a nicer, new or rehabbed facility just 1 mile down the road?

The longer I am in this business in this economy, the more I find I can not answer any of these questions. My single most important goal has been to cut costs; as there does not seem to be any magic bullet to grow sales.

 

[mac]

Let me throw in my .02 worth. I've been involved in two recent redo jobs, and the results were positive. In both cases we just made better what the customers see. Earl is right on about your customers naot caring about the equipment room. When a local restaurant redid itself, did you care what they put in the kitchen? In both cases the outside was painted, all grounds trimmed and cleaned up. New meter boxes with bill and credit card acceptors, and new signage. One of the owners took my advice and put custom signage on everything, and I was blown away. He put signs on everything and they all had his wash name and identifier, a blue crab. It really pulled everything together and made it look professional. Another owner I gave free advice to has quadruples his business. That case was due in large part to the owner cutting every corner he could and using cheapm soap. When you do this, put two size larger tips in your hydrominders. Have a little bar b que on Sat and see what happens. All of these are not a major expense. New meter boxes might run around 4K installed. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[captain cw]

New color schemes, new meter boxes with bill acc and CC acc, new wall wall panels and new signage. Maybe some neon rope light also. You can find it pretty cheap on ebay (as cheap as $3 per foot). I'd do any of those before I replaced the equipment room stuff. You can always add options to the existing system. Cat pumps run forever and can always be rebuilt or replaced. Maybe try an extra high pressure bay and charge more for it. Put a bigger wand and lots of caution signs in it. That gets the "real men" excited.

 

[Whale of a Wash]

Thanks guys for all the ideas, I was planning on new meter boxes and such, but the equip, wasn't so much for me, but to update and make it look good as i am thinking about selling car washes in the next couple years, and was hoping it would help bring in better prices, and also more tax deductions as i am being hit pretty hard lately. When i buy apt. buildings the old guys sell them cheaper as they haven't done anything in years, and in the coming years i will resemble them, both on washes and apts. I really like to sell things more tun-key, than fixer upper.