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Etowah
  1. docopp

    Where are you located and what is your start-up price/minutes?

    Kingwood Texas (30 minutes north east of Houston) $2.50 for 4 min bays $2.00 for 4 min vacuums we keep our vacuums clean and strong, they get a lot of use....
  2. docopp

    Pit-y the fool

    I built "trays" out of marine plywood that fit below the grate in my bays, they are 4" deep (a 2x4 around the perimeter) with a 6 inch drain in the middle with a screen and 3" lip (a drain from Lowes). I painted them to help preserve them and added a rubber strip around the periphery to keep...
  3. docopp

    How far away do you consider competition

    I think SS is a niche market. Many don't want to put their car thru a tunnel. They want to wash it themselves or have someone hand wash it. I have a 5 bay SS and I can walk to three tunnels. One is a new Quick Quack. I bought my SS 4 years ago, it was run down, We now have a nice clean...
  4. docopp

    Small town SS about to get a competitor!

    thanks for your comments I agree about touting our benefits. This benefit is a true one ..... Our detail shop stays busy paint correcting cars that got scratched up going thru a tunnel. I don’t see them as competition for two reasons #1 our only true competition is ourselves #2 tunnels and...
  5. docopp

    best SS HP soap

    I would like it all... Smell, foam and of course clean well So far JBS fonic wash sounds like the best overall ???
  6. docopp

    6 SS Bay for First Investment

    I agree about pricing better before cheaper our vacuums get $2.00 for 4 minutes.. we clean them well weekly and strong new motors.... Bays get $2.50 for 4 minutes, again bays cleaned well daily, great products, tons of soap etc... (When I bought the car wash 3 years ago, $1.25/ bay 4 minutes and...
  7. docopp

    Advise needed, first time potential buyer

    I try to look at my investments as simply as I can. If the owner owns the car wash outright and takes home 75K/year. Assuming everything stays the same, always a big assumption..... you adding having to service the 1.4M or 1.3M capital investment alone would eat up your 75K/year profit...….
  8. docopp

    best SS HP soap

    Hi, I am pleased with all of my other products, customers can see and smell the products. I need a good high pressure soap that foams up and smells. Any suggestions, thanks, Ed :)
  9. docopp

    Woo Hoo My First Car Wash!!!

    Thank you for your service :) I was looking for a job for a friend of mine who is a great detailer. I didn't mean to buy the car wash !!! I am so glad I did :) I have owned it 3 years, It was very rough. I spent a lot of time redoing and fixing everything. You will meet nice customers and...
  10. docopp

    Small town SS about to get a competitor!

    I have a 5 bay SS, 7 vacs, detail shop there and a store with our detail products. I can walk to four tunnel car washes from my SS !!!! Quick Quack just came in 1 mile from me, I see very few cars there ….. I have owned this car wash 3 years and I TOTALLY agree, SS customers and tunnel customers...
  11. docopp

    Shut down by the city because of sand in the sewer

    I have traps like everyone else, then I built these for my bays a few months ago... The drain in the center is 1/2 inch lower than the depth of this shallow trap The sand flows into the shallow trap and the water exits thru the center drain every two weeks we pull the grate up and clean the...
  12. docopp

    What function should I add to my bays?

    I had the same dilemma a year ago...I looked into the several major blowers available. My impression is Air Shammees are built ok, but Blasto-dry are built better for the same cost. I installed 5 Blasto-drys in my 5 self serve bays about 6 months ago, their use is increasing. I am glad I put...
  13. docopp

    When I turn on a bay, the other bays start weeping water. Why?

    Honestly, I bought an old, poorly maintained SS and I have replaced or rebuilt everything, this has happened many times to me and it’s always the backflow preventers. I guess the weeping is from this not your weep system for freezing :)
  14. docopp

    How much for your vacuums and time in bay?

    5 self serve bays $2.50 4min SS $2 4min vac no tunnel, but a busy detail shop in the back 1/2 of our facility we have free air and free wiper fluid in front of the SS bays (best marketing I have ever done) !!!! Just added Blast-O-Drys in all 5 bays last week, people love them and use them Also...
  15. docopp

    When I turn on a bay, the other bays start weeping water. Why?

    I agree, it's bay 2 check valve You can usually just open it and clean it and reassemble it (maybe even stretch out the spring in it a little) it takes just a little something to get caught there and keep it from sealing :)
  16. docopp

    Free air and Free wiper fluid !! and we did away with tokens

    We also have towels for customers to use and return...a great service I forgot to say, I added credit card readers on each vacuum and each wash bay People use them a lot :) We are adding Blasto-dry to each self serve bay this month, I think it will be a good investment
  17. docopp

    Chemical Dilutions

    I agree that the best chemical dilutions will be found by trial and error I have learned, used great products, not cheap soaps etc.... you use more cheap soap to achieve decent result so no cost saving When I bought my SS car wash 2 years ago, they used cheeeeep products, no scent, no color no...
  18. docopp

    Free air and Free wiper fluid !! and we did away with tokens

    I put in free air a year ago with a sign on the street "free air". We have maybe 10-25 people a day come in to get the free air, I know some stay and use our self serve bays and I know some make an appointment and have their cars detailed here. I added free wiper fluid (a 15 gallon tote, an...
  19. docopp

    Biggest Pet Peeves --- and solutions

    I went to $2.00 for 4 minutes Vacuum and $2.50 for 4 minutes in the self serve bays we keep our bays clean, great soaps etc and we clean our vacuums well weekly and they have strong suction
  20. docopp

    Hand bay signage - upgrade

    I had mine made by a local sign company keep it simple so ez to understand I put everything on one large sign per bay, less clutter, Ed :)
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