Touchless wash in Arizona

[AzWash25]

Hi guys, first timer here but did some research. My plan is for 2-3 bay touchless car wash in a small community (under 15k) in Arizona. The location will be on a highway (45 mph speed limit in the section). The AADT is about 10,000 (cars per day). The location is right on the highway. There is a hardware store near by, a car mechanic (small private shop), and a grocery store (small chain).
land is about 200k (6000+ feet of buildable space)
There are no other automatic car washes in a 30 miles radius.
My questions:
- from what I see here it’s wiser to hire a turnkey contractor who’ve done this before. What do you think the cost would be to build from ground up plus equipment etc? (Land excluded) is it close to 100-150k?
- is it safe to assume capture rate of 0.3% - 0.5%? 30-50 washes per day?
- is it safe to assume chemical cost of $2/car, maintenance $1500/month, electrical and utility $3000/month? Or is that too low? Too high?
- based on above + mortgage for the land, is it safe to assume 20% margin?
Thanks

 

[washnshine]

What do you think the cost would be to build from ground up plus equipment etc? (Land excluded) is it close to 100-150k?

Hello - you have a lot of questions with a lot of variables, but I will address this one because I think you might be pretty far off in your assumption. Are you asking if the building plus equipment and installation is $100,000- $150,000? $150,000 will probably not even get you one touchless machine - equipment only. You will be closer to $200,000, depending on what you get - this does not include installation and periphery and definitely does not include any building. There are operators on this forum who have just done projects like this and they can give you hard numbers, but 100-150k for equipment, installation and building is not anywhere near realistic.

 

[OurTown]

There's no doubt you will be well over a million dollars plus land. With three machines depending on what you spec you could be getting close to a million just in equipment with pay stations and all the support equipment inside. Again depending on what you spec out the building, utilities, concrete, plumbing and electric work may be another million or more.

 

[soapy]

I would only put one automatic in at a time and only add when you have the volume. You will easily be at least 1.5 million in my research. What happens if a tunnel wash comes in? Tunnels are being built in smaller and smaller communities and not always are they built to make a profit.

 

[AzWash25]

Hello - you have a lot of questions with a lot of variables, but I will address this one because I think you might be pretty far off in your assumption. Are you asking if the building plus equipment and installation is $100,000- $150,000? $150,000 will probably not even get you one touchless machine - equipment only. You will be closer to $200,000, depending on what you get - this does not include installation and periphery and definitely does not include any building. There are operators on this forum who have just done projects like this and they can give you hard numbers, but 100-150k for equipment, installation and building is not anywhere near realistic.

Thank you, wow I clearly underestimated that cost. Will do more research.

 

[AzWash25]

I would only put one automatic in at a time and only add when you have the volume. You will easily be at least 1.5 million in my research. What happens if a tunnel wash comes in? Tunnels are being built in smaller and smaller communities and not always are they built to make a profit.

True.. tunnels are always a threat. Thank you