Full-Serve General Manager Compensation

[Alan Bussey]

Full-Service General Manager Compensation

Hello, folks -

An owner group is working on a compensation formula for the General Manager who has very good experience running full-service car washes.

The subject wash is a moderate (not bad) turnaround with mostly new modern equipment and signage, attractive building exteriors, and up-to-date comfortable interiors.

How much compensation is typical for the General Manager of a combination full-service wash, oil change center, and detail shop?

This car wash washes 5,000 or more cars per month and counts are improving. It is near a large regional shopping area, dense residential areas all around, competition from several express washes, competition from two full-service washes each more than three miles away. There is high traffic on the boulevard in front of the wash.

The subject facility has a GM, two wash (Assistant) Managers, one on salary, the other hourly; an Oil Change Center Manager, and an Oil Change Center Assistant Manager.

What is a typical General Manager base salary? What is the typical incentive compensation? Total compensation?

Do you know of a good specific compensation formula that we might use?

Thank you.

Alan Bussey

 

[chadrpalmer]

Hard question to answer, as we can see by the lack of responses. I have been managing about 15 yrs. and have seen a wide range of salaries and/or incentive programs. Is the wash in the Dallas market? You could use Carspa as a guide, or Simonize, very different models. Carspa pays bonuses based on ebitda, simonize has a tiered program based strictly on revenue, regardless of profit or loss. I think 50k is probably a reasonable base, with incentives that could push him/her to the 80k mark depending on performance. In the Dallas area, where i worked for about 2 1/2 yrs., if I was job shopping today, and I was to inquire about the job, that is what I would expect as far as an offer. Experience is worth a fortune, I would pay anything reasonable to retain a seasoned manager.

 

[robert roman]

Absentee owner groups of full-service are usually inept when it comes to managing a carwash business and are usually awash in inefficiency and waste.

Consequently, a compensation “formula” should transcend base salary and typical incentive schemes and focus on the value of a manager from the absentee owner’s perspective.

Assume a manager is able to increase volume from 5,000 to 6,000 a month.

Using benchmarks, this improvement would correspond to an increase in annual cash flow (pre-tax) of roughly $60,000 and a $360,000 increase in market value.

Conversely, a drop from 5,000 to 4,000 washes a month would have the opposite effect.

If the ownership group is like most, stumbling over quarters to pick up nickels, send them my way.

I’ll show them how to dump their archaic management structure and make a lot more money in the process.