Long Bay Petit

[Rapidoil]

Well it's happening. I meet with the architect in the near future to start plans for our single long bay petit project. It's getting real because I'm going to start spending money. I've appreciated everyone's feedback on my last post. I'll keep this updated as I move along.

 

[soonermajic]

this is freaking awesome! If we eve come to Montana, we will come by for sure! I hope my kin folks will be customers...

 

[Axxlrod]

Congrats. Seems you could squeeze in one more vac spot going towards the yellow arrow.

 

[washnshine]

Always exciting to watch this process - thanks for sharing and all the best of luck to you!

 

[SuperShine]

Congrats!
Who’s vacs are you planning to use? center mount dual arm arch drops or separate vacs with arch drops on each side?

 

[SuperShine]

Just looking at the plan, what prevents people from using the first entrance at the top right of the site and queuing along the vacuums? Obviously this wouldn’t be great for people vacuuming wanting to get out.

 

[Dan kamsickas]

What about the noted easement? They can be both a short and long term pain in the butt.

 

[Roz]

Looks like a nice design. Was it impossible to get a second bay or a cost concern?

 

[Rapidoil]

Hey fellow car wash owners,

After a brief hiatus my project is back on. I'm building a new double-bay automatic car wash using Petit 360i equipment. I'm facing some design decisions and would love your input. I've attached an older draft site plan to give you an idea of the project, the new site plan would have double petit. Similar to the other attached photo.

• Bay Length: Originally planned for 66ft bays, but the lot size might require a shorter length. I'm considering 55ft as a minimum, but should I seriously consider 40-47ft if necessary? What are your experiences with shorter bays and their impact on throughput and customer satisfaction?
• Cashless Operation: I'm strongly considering going cashless with Dencar pay stations to save a significant upfront cost ($40,000). Has anyone made the switch to cashless and what were the initial challenges and long-term benefits?
• Heating the Bays: My location experiences strong west winds. I'm considering floor heat and a radiant tube heater to combat these conditions. Any recommendations on the most effective and cost-efficient heating solutions for car wash bays?
• Oversized Vehicle Accommodation: My area has a significant number of oversized vehicles (Sprinter vans, lifted trucks). I'm thinking of having one Petit 360i with an oversized height (9'10") and one with the standard 8' height. Is this a practical approach, or are there other solutions to accommodate a variety of vehicle sizes?

I'm eager to hear your thoughts and experiences on these matters. Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Waxman]

1. dont go cashless. customers expect to be able to pay with as many forms of payment as possible. Coins, cash, credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, etc.

2. install floor heat and vinyl roll up airlift doors with mechanical operators. Forget about tube heaters. Those things just turn into a rusty mess from what I've seen. You'll be just fine with floor heat and doors.

3. Forget about making anything designed to accommodate over height vehicles. I've heard lots of people say how many vans trucks etc. they have in their area but in reality I guess that 99.9% of the vehicles you will wash will be 7 feet and under.

 

[Blanco]

50 to 55 feet is plenty of space for a IBA with stand alone dryers. I would accept all payments you can. The extra 40K is small in the big picture and will make its money over and over again. I personally would use floor heat only for the approach and exit as it is very costly to run. In the bay I would use radiant tube heaters with stainless steel heater enclosure and stainless steel tube. Forget about the oversized height. The top nozzles impingement will be significantly less on regular sized vehicles and since your raising the machine the dryers have to be raised to which results in a not that great dry especially on cars. Your customers will realize there getting a better wash and dry from the shorter machine and will eventually line up for that one.

 

[Blanco]

Also I would definitely put the equipment room in the middle of the two bays. A whole lot easier for maintenance and install. Windows to look in to the bays from the equipment room would be a nice touch also. Then you can put windows if you want on the road facing side to see into the first bay. Better then driving by and seeing a straight block wall.

 

[liftheavy]

as far as cash vs cashless goes, couple things to think about:
1. are you going to be on site most of the time or do you plan to build and check on it once a day/week? if you're going to be on site most of the time you'll be able to resolve any bill jam issues right away so i would go cash in that case.
2. do you plan to build up your membership? if you think your main model is membership revenue, going cashless makes sense because people who use cash will not sign up for a membership.

as years go by we are losing more and more of the older generation who live and die by cash is king motto. im not quite sure we're there yet.

accounting-wise there are benefits for sticking with cash i imagine if you know what i mean

once youre up and running keep us updated. i've been thinking about a very similar setup so i would love to reach out if i get the opportunity to build one from ground up for advice.

 

[soapy]

I would rather have good all stainless radiant tube heaters in a automatic bay. I have some that have been running for 30 years. I live in cold northern climate also and radiant heat will heat the rails that the machine drives on free from ice where floor heat won't. Tried the combination of floor and radiant in the past in a auto bay. Floor heat is good to heat your front and rear aprons and around your door bottoms to keep from freezing down. Have you done a pro forma on the project? Interested to see the overall cost of the project and the per day expense of the finance cost. I like to always look at a project to know how many cars per day I have to wash to break even. Your operating cost per car will be higher with a touchless vs. a friction. If you are doing a double tunnel i would look at a combo of touchless and friction.

 

[AnalyticWash]

if you think your main model is membership revenue, going cashless makes sense

This +1


No oversize units.


If it were my project, I would not install the second machine until I had proven revenue to justify it...I think this will make less money than you think. Keep your build costs as low as possible. If you kill it with one bay its an easy move to add the additional equipment.

 

[getnbusy]

I think cash should be considered on a per site basis. I could never exclude cash in my area, yours is different and you probably know better than anyone what the right choice is.
I dont know the petit requirements but i think your bays are really long. With that much room i would think you could easily add tire shine applicators. That would be a must have for me if im goin all in. I like your site plan. Im not trying to complicate your decision but have you considered a mini tunnel instead of 2 touchfrees ?
I cant comment on the heaters but i think floor heat is a must have too.
I also would not consider the oversize vehicles
Good luck this is exciting

 

[washnshine]

That bay length is really long - if you don’t want a mini tunnel, you could almost fit one of those oasis eclipse set ups in there. I’m not a salesman and I know you have your equipment selected, but with that length bay, you really should maximize the offerings and throughput of an IBA. There are other options as well - I’m just illustrating what a really long bay could offer.

Eclipse

oasiscarwashsystems.com

 

[Rapidoil]

@AnalyticWash
Thanks for your feedback. I may just load one bay. That's definetly on my mind.

 

[Rapidoil]

Thanks everyone for your feedback, I'll keep you posted. @Blanco, @washnshine, @getnbusy, @soapy, @liftheavy, @Waxman

 

[soonermajic]

That bay length is really long - if you don’t want a mini tunnel, you could almost fit one of those oasis eclipse set ups in there. I’m not a salesman and I know you have your equipment selected, but with that length bay, you really should maximize the offerings and throughput of an IBA. There are other options as well - I’m just illustrating what a really long bay could offer.

Eclipse

oasiscarwashsystems.com

That Eclipse model looks Bad A$$! Of it does what they say, that is a GAME CHANGER!