Upgrade/Renovations

[tehachapicarwash]

Hello, new to the forum.

My dad owns a car wash in CA. It was built in 1984, and while mostly everything works, it is quite antiquated and needs some upgrades. I am not sure where to start, and my dad is already shooting it down, but I think if I can put a plan together I can convince him to start.

We have 6 bays- 5 are self-serve, one was a touchless wash that we took out. Out of the 5 self-serve bays, 2 have digital dixmor timers.
2 Vacuum islands, and sodium lights all around that give a green creepy look at night, and the whole place is literally brick and mortar. Hard stuff to work with.

Where do I start!?

 

[tehachapicarwash]

Some more pictures

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

Looks like you have some newer competition next door. Looks like an EE and in a town that small, you might have the deck stacked against ya. How has this affected your wash?

Perhaps work with the Jiffy Lube?

 

[robert roman]

Start at the beginning. Is renovating the subject property commercially viable?

Viable means a business is able to compete effectively and make sufficient profit to sustain itself.

Since wash is going concern, net operating income can be used to determine how much renovation can be supported.

Renovating 33 year old building, installing an in-bay, and replacing obsolete SS equipment is significant investment.

By appearance alone, it doesn’t look like the wash can support this without borrowing money.

Most likely this is why your dad shot the idea down.

 

[tehachapicarwash]

Start at the beginning. Is renovating the subject property commercially viable?

Viable means a business is able to compete effectively and make sufficient profit to sustain itself.

Since wash is going concern, net operating income can be used to determine how much renovation can be supported.

Renovating 33 year old building, installing an in-bay, and replacing obsolete SS equipment is significant investment.

By appearance alone, it doesn’t look like the wash can support this without borrowing money.

Most likely this is why your dad shot the idea down.

We are definitely just breaking even right now, maybe $20,000 profit. We have a loan out, still owe a good amount. The wash was put up for sale, business and property for $250k, but we didn't get many solid leads. There is a newer tunnel wash next door, and they do decent. When they first came in, there was not enough business for both, and we lost a good 70% of our automatic customers. We tore out the automatic, and did self serve only. That part has picked up in recent years, and with a new Dunkin Donuts next door and a super walmart due to begin construction just north of the tunnel wash, I believe population and growth will come in the next year or so.

 

[loewem]

tehachapicarwash,

You've got a good start there and I think you've asked the right question. You need to be ready and willing to work hard. If you’ve got a day job, you’ll need to work evenings and weekends. If you put in the time I believe you will see results. You can do a lot without spending a lot of money and possibly prove to yourself and your dad that some additional investment would be worth the effort. As you work towards proving this, give some thought to how you will make your case to your dad. Increase in customers/traffic, additional gross revenue per month, additional net revenue per month, reduced expenses, etc. Take some before and after pictures as you fix things up to show some results to your dad. Patience is a big plus. You don’t need to be in a hurry. Improve your wash day-by-day and week-by-week….but keep improving it.

Post more pictures if/when you can.

DO NOT purchase any new equipment or do any renovations until you’ve addressed the small and inexpensive stuff. There are forum members who have refurbished very old equipment for a fraction of the cost it would take to buy new equipment. Check out posts from 2BIZ and the pictures on his Facebook site. Amazing to me what 2BIZ has accomplished at his wash.

Some thoughts to get started:

- Swap out the lights to CFLs. LED would be better, but costly. You can probably use your existing fixtures and bypass/remove the ballasts and capacitors. Check out 1000bulbs.com for some CFL bulb equivalents and prices and http://www.energyusecalculator.com/electricity_cfllightbulb.htm to calculate cost savings. One of the senior members on this site (I'm not calling him old, but he is) suggested that to me a little over three years ago and it was the first thing I did. Went from 20 - 400 watt metal halide bulbs to 20 - 105 watt cfl bulbs. Total cost of the effort for me was a little less than $400. In three years one bulb has burned out and the savings has been between $2,000 and $2,500 per year in electricity costs. Putting $100 of so in your dad's pocket every month would be a nice start.

- Keep it clean and nice looking - scrape the stickers off of those meter boxes and replace them with new ones. For less than $100 total you can give those meter boxes a fresher look. Put a customer service number on the boxes and be responsive....repeat customers is very important.

- Clean the bay walls with clean wall or similar product from kleen-rite. They offer free samples, so get one and try it out. The difference is amazing. Be careful with that stuff and wear safety glasses, respirator and protective clothing or hire someone to do it for you. Once you clean the walls touch up the paint where needed.

- You will hear this over and over from the knowledgeable operators on this site…. Make sure that everything works as well as it possibly can. I’ve followed that advice and the customers notice it and appreciate it. The vacs are easy to fix and get working properly. New gaskets, motors and bags for a vac will cost you about $125 per vac at Kleen-Rite. New stickers on the vacs would help too. My customers like the dualer (search on kleen rite’s site for it). Maybe keep that in mind as a future upgrade as it will cost about $150 per vac. Make sure that the chemical comes out of the wand/brush/gun as quickly as possible and in good quantity. Even if the output looks good to you, see if you can make it better. Once you get the hang of producing good quantity you can adjust things so you are not wasting chemicals.

- Once you’ve got everything working as well as possible I’d suggest making sure that anything a customer can touch is in good shape. Vac attachments, bay accessories, coin changers, meter boxes (guns/wands, brush handles, etc.). Assuming you have Foam Brush and a High Pressure Gun/Wand you can update those bay accessories for about $125 per bay if it is needed.

To be continued...

 

[loewem]

Continued....

- Where can you save on expenses? Do you have a water softener? That will save on chemical costs if it is working correctly and the chemicals will do a better job cleaning. How do you heat your water? Do you have a reverse osmosis system? If so, do you capture and use the reject water? Get after the things that are costing you the most operate the wash.
- From there I’d start improving the customer’s experience. How can they pay? Coins, cash, credit? If they have it, you should be able to accept it. New meter boxes or meter box doors. Maybe get meter boxes/meter box doors with more options. More options = more chances the meter will run longer. If/when you buy new meter box doors you can go from 8/10 options to 12 options. You don’t need to use them all, but it won’t cost much more for a 12 option meter box/door vs a 10 option and you can upgrade your wiring and add functions as your business improves. Check out Etowah valley equipment as they carry and make replacement doors for a reasonable price.

-What is happening in the automatic bay? If it isn’t being used maybe a hand wash operation, rent space to a detail operation or start your own detail operation. When your business picks up maybe consider using the auto bay as a self-serve bay or get another automatic.

-Keep everything as simple as possible. The nice thing about self-serve is that you can fix and improve everything yourself. Keeping things simple and consistent will make your life much easier.

-Some encouragement for you. I bought my wash and more people were negative than were positive about the chances for success. It was about a 10 to 1 ratio negative to positive. I listened to the helpful operators on this site like Randy, 2BIZ and others. The first month my wash didn’t gross $1,000. Last month my wash grossed well over 10 times that amount. So, listen to the positive comments and ignore the negative comments.

 

[robert roman]

“If you put in the time I believe you will see results.”

Someone can spend all the money and time in the world restoring a 1995 Chevy Camaro base convertible to pristine condition and it is still only going to be worth several thousand dollars.

In other words, “It doesn’t mean you should just because you can.”

It’s not enough to work hard or be a good carwash operator. You also have to be a wise investor. Part of investing is due diligence.

“When they first came in, there was not enough business for both, and we lost a good 70% of our automatic customers.”

So, new wash comes in and you got clobbered. Now, wash is limping along and “…..just breaking even right now, maybe $20,000 profit. We have a loan out, still owe a good amount.”

“I believe population and growth will come in the next year or so.”

Is this just a hunch or based on formal economic forecast and real estate research?

“…..new Dunkin Donuts next door and a super walmart due to begin construction just north of the tunnel wash…”

Are they next door? If not, just how proximate are they, and are they more proximate to new wash or your wash?

So, I’d be careful of advice that suggests flying by the seat of your pants.

 

[robert roman]

Just for grins, I Google mapped the site location.

You have a very tough situation to deal with.

Good luck.

 

[Earl Weiss]

I would suggest:

Meter Box decals Cover the entire Box.

Bill Accepters.

Credit Card Accepters.

ould not tell - do you have foam Brushes?

 

[loewem]

So, I’d be careful of advice that suggests flying by the seat of your pants.

I'd also be careful of being discouraged by internet trolls....see also.

 

[soapy]

A lot of good advise from those who actually own washes. It does not matter what the equipment looks like in the equipment room as long as it works well. Spend your money where customers can see it. Sodium lights are not efficient compared to newer lights as mentioned. Many electric utilities will pay most of the cost for upgrading fixtures. The savings of electricity will usually pay for the new lights anyway. I myself prefer T5 HO lights as they pencil out the cheapest in the long run. When replacing lights try to go with a Kelvin light color around 5000, ( whiter light than sodium and easier for the human eye to use.) You can get custom meter box decals real cheap. ( Kleenrite is one source). CHeck all your costs on chemicals etc. Many times we all settle into rut and do not compare prices enough. You could save thousands of dollars per year on chemicals in some cases.