Site Plan Advice

[South FL Newbie]

I just recently purchased a 5+1 and am currently planning everything. it'll be run as a flex wash offering both express wash and aftercare.

I'm having a hard time sticking to one format with my lack of experience.

If you guys care to comment on this and make suggestions would be great.

Everything is to scale and labeled.

Black square - garbage area
Grey stars - price signs

We plan to run a central vacuum.. Does this need to be locked down in the storage bay or equipment room. Common target of theft?

Thanks in advance!

 

[robert roman]

"I'm having a hard time sticking to one format with my lack of experience.

If you guys care to comment on this and make suggestions would be great."

1) Settle on one format so you can move forward with purpose, avoiding mistakes.

If you vist http://www.carwashplan.com/new_to_industry, you will learn the importance of first solving the business model problem.

2) Before taking on facilities and property planning, you have to solve the location problem. Is there a need for the wash and what is the likely store performance?

Hope this helps.

 

[South FL Newbie]

"I'm having a hard time sticking to one format with my lack of experience.

If you guys care to comment on this and make suggestions would be great."

1) Settle on one format so you can move forward with purpose, avoiding mistakes.

If you vist http://www.carwashplan.com/new_to_industry, you will learn the importance of first solving the business model problem.

2) Before taking on facilities and property planning, you have to solve the location problem. Is there a need for the wash and what is the likely store performance?

Hope this helps.

We know we're aiming for a flexserve style wash. I'm not confident that the way i have the layout is the best for our location. From you experience do you think were off to a good start or do you see any improvements that could be done?

There are two other washes in a city of 80k-90k. One of which is a full serve wash and the other is a self serve. I'm thinking we should do fairly well with traffic counts of 35k @ 40mph. Only time will tell and im trying my best to plan everything to best of my knowledge. If we do 16k a year we'll cover our expenses; anything else is profit.

We're going to be paying to conveyer operator hourly. Is it possible to pay the after care guys on commission per car. I'm thinking of charging $10 extra for dry, vac etc etc $5 for me, $5 for them fair?

Cheers!

 

[smokun]

Flex-Serve Is The Right Choice

There are several ways to optimize your site. However, as Bob eluded to, the specific location and marketplace dynamic will provide the insight as to how best to design and market your wash. I invite your direct contact for a more discreet discussion regarding your best options.

I'm located in South Florida, too... and would be glad to help.

-Steve

 

[Earl Weiss]

If i were me I would avoid 2 way traffic as much as possible. At the top all traffic should go West to east and at the bottom all traffic should exit the same way.

The way you have it, entering traffic from the north going to the bays crosses exiting traffic from the tunnel. I would have the tunne flow the opposite way. This might require, on very busy days that you eliminate the East entrance to avoid backing up into the street, but i would not really worry about that happening often. If it does, on those rare occsions you would block that entrance and make everyone enter from the north. This woudl mean a left side enter / exit which is a little goofy but can be done.

 

[rph9168]

I agree with Earl. It would be a much better flow and make the aftercare areas mcuh easier to access.

 

[mac]

So FL Newbie, here are some other thoughts. There are five bays of self serve there now. Will converting all of them to aftermarket services be their best use? I can see one or two bays for detail, or you can have a portable tent/cover for detail. There are actually four other washes in that town. The full serve and the closeby self serve, plus one four bay with an automatic, and another six bay with an automatic. The current population you mention may be off some. Hard to know for sure, but a lot of those residents were construction/day laborer types, and that has evaporated. I would guess the actual number is somewhat lower, but who knows for sure? The full serve down the street has had disappointing numbers since it opened. Have you considered what they will do when they see what you do? They could fairly easily add or convert to a flex serve operation with not much expense. The comments above about flow are pretty good. I still like the stacking in the rear however. On busy days, and we hope there are a lot of them, stacking in the front would block the flow a lot. And lastly you have the overall car wash business in FL. A lot of my customers are telling me they are still off by 50 to 60% from the high a few years ago. I wish my crystal ball was better tuned to see a couple years into the future.

 

[Earl Weiss]

There are five bays of self serve there now. Will converting all of them to aftermarket services be their best use? I can see one or two bays for detail, or you can have a portable tent/cover for detail. ..........

I still like the stacking in the rear however. On busy days, and we hope there are a lot of them, stacking in the front would block the flow a lot.QUOTE]

Geez, I missed that. FWIW if the tunnel flow is reversed, after care would be in the spaces at the rear with a canopy if needed.
(I would angle the spaces for easier access.) No reason to convert any bay from SS to after care.

As far as stacking in the rear, I would think that with an EE format 4-6 spaces in the front for stacking would be plenty most of the time.
There is an old saying "The line is your sign". Having the stacking where people see it actualy seems to attract more people.