Questions about opening a car wash

[dimcoorg]

I apologize in advance if this is a duplicate post, I'm really not sure what happened to the first one.

I'm trying to open a waterless car wash in the DMV (Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia) area. And have a few questions/concerns I'm a little puzzled by.

I'm not worried about marketing because of:

1 - Organic traffic due to a physical location
2 - I am very good at online marketing.

If you have a car wash business and willing to mentor me that would be great. In return, as long as you're not in the same area, I will show you how to market your business online and pinpoint your weak points.

Questions:

RETAIL SPACE - Where and how do I get retail space? I've seen car washes here in DC inside garages. Simple set up, a couple of parking spaces, a small booth for payments and storage, and around 3-4 people running the wash. How do I find space like this inside a garage and how much does it cost (just trying to get an idea)?

EMPLOYEES - How and where do I hire employees? Obviously, I would prefer someone with experience. CraigList post, Facebook posts, anything else you guys can recommend to hire an experienced person?

Also, how much do I pay them? Hourly/base bay plus tips? How much do these guys usually make? Or maybe set up a structure like this; base pay + tips + small bonus every few cars (like 5 or 10). What do you guys think about this?

Thank you

 

[robert roman]

I’ve written articles and two start-up guides (a book and Youtube video) on waterless car washing. I also lived and worked in DC (Bethesda). My office was two blocks from Capitol Hill train station.

First, you will be a Johnny come lately in this market and will compete against some of the best hand-washes in the country and a dying breed. There is less and less demand for this type of wash. Where I live in Florida they are now hard to find instead of easy.

Reason is retail space.

“….couple of parking spaces, a small booth for payments and storage, and around 3-4 people running the wash….”

Figure $75K start-up expense to lease (includes six months operating expense).

Whereas start up expense for mobile/digital waterless carwash is only $8,000 to $10,000 per employee. Start small (less risk) then grow business one unit at a time.