Multi-Location Owners Only

[robert roman]

“What information is an owner looking for immediately in real time.”

When I operated car washes, I wish I had a customizable dashboard available.

I would like streaming information such as labor/revenue ratio, cars per man-hour, average sales, extra sales per car, cars washed per hour as well as to date for week, month & year, chemical levels, inventory levels, deposits, short/over, etc.

“Bob, Can we talk more about this? I'll PM you.”

Certainly, you can PM me on this site or visit www.carwashplan.com and use my business e-mail address or if you want to chat for a few minutes give me a call.

 

[cwguy.com]

I would try going to sonny's college?
https://www.sonnysdirect.com/mainse...c-appid=Sonnys_Direct&wec-locale=en_US&cm=884

 

[tw1012]

I owned my first wash for 1.5 years before I bought two more as a package. The biggest mistake I made was thinking the changes I made in the first wash would immediately work for the new ones. I raised the service level but raised prices immediately and lost a bunch of customers (I have them back now). Make changes slowly and let the customers see that you are a better operator. Most people are afraid of change (even for the better).

 

[Stuart]

Stuart,

Have you implemented anything to monitor your second location while you are not there? Imagine if it was 20-30 minutes away... what would you do?

At this time I do not. I do plan on installing a video system at some point in the future which may help to observe how busy it is -or has been-, how dirty the location is, etc.
There are many other threads about video monitoring in General discussions and SS carwashing which you can use the search window for more information.

When I managed 6 wash locations where 2 locations were 30 minutes away I counted on the attendants at the location to keep me apprised of operations along with 3-6 visits per month to verify operations. We also implemented a maintenance and cleanliness evaluation for the location with scores attached to each category. The score had an equivalent bonus value for the employee. Each employee had the potential to earn an extra $1 per hour worked through the month. Also had a bonus attached to attendance- we had quite the attendance issues at the washes with tardies and wanting to call in sick on weekends.
hope this helps

 

[akbrouwer]

I owned my first wash for 1.5 years before I bought two more as a package. The biggest mistake I made was thinking the changes I made in the first wash would immediately work for the new ones. I raised the service level but raised prices immediately and lost a bunch of customers (I have them back now). Make changes slowly and let the customers see that you are a better operator. Most people are afraid of change (even for the better).

Thank you.. great advise..

 

[mmurra]

Earl - you are so right on with your recommendation. Figuring our how to handle frustrating situations around training and retraining, even with long time staff. Sometimes I feel like Bill Murray, in the Ground Hog's Day movie, living each stupid problem over and over, year after year, decade after decade. Oh well! I'll be dead soon enough, as I could not last another 44 years in the car wash business! Mark

PS) I still have some fun from time to time (not this winter).

 

[Greg Pack]

I've owned as many as seven at one time. Now own two and not sure I want any more. My advice would depend on the the type and volume of these washes.

What kind of washes are these? SS, tunnel, IBA?

Also, if SS, are they busy sites?

 

[aca carwash 2]

If you can't do all the maintenance yourself on these locations your wasting your time and money, these locations will own all your time.

 

[akbrouwer]

If you can't do all the maintenance yourself on these locations your wasting your time and money, these locations will own all your time.

aca carwash2, i don't know if I can agree with this.. not even a percent.. What about hiring service people? Doesn't make sense for us to work on our tunnels/systems. There are people who are built for servicing and maintenance repairs.

 

[robert roman]

“There are people who are built for servicing and maintenance repairs.”

Yes, but qualified people who can read blueprints and schematics, have a professional license and can get the job done right the first time charge a lot more than $12.00 an hour.

The economics of self-serve doesn’t support this.

Consider a healthy chain of 4 SS with in-bays. Gross net is $500K. Less property tax and debt service is EBTD $172K.

Budget 300 hours per store per year for contract service work at $75 per hour equal $90K.

This might cover major failures but certainly not the time needed for routine maintenance and minor repairs. Moreover, EBTD is now $82K.

On the other hand, a chain of four express washes might have gross net $1.4 million. Less property tax and debt service is EBTD $900K.

 

[soapy]

I currently have 4 locations and have found the following things help in running multiple sites. As much as I can I try to keep all equipment at each location the same. IBA and SS systems all tend to be the same so that when I train at one site it is applicable to all the other sites as I utilize an attendant to check multiple locations. On the slow days I schedule my time off and have the locations checked by other site attendants. For each location I have a checklist of things that should be done weekly for maintanence etc. ONe question for any owner who has multiple locations is how do you handle the money and who has access to it. I have reporting forms for each location so that I can keep track of the bill changer coin counters and as money is collected it is filled and checked to make sure the counts come out correct. For the IBA I have each bill denomination written down and check it weekly to see that money comes out correct. I think some kind of profit sharing per location is a good idea to keep the employee motivated and looking to maximize your profit.

 

[Ric]

I think some kind of profit sharing per location is a good idea to keep the employee motivated and looking to maximize your profit.

What type of profit sharing program do you use?