Day to day operation, time consumption, task list

[kentsomners]

Hello everyone

This might have been asked before but did not know what to search for.

In a 6 bay SS with 1 automatic or something close to it... how much time do you spend every day/week on tasks to keep the place clean and running. I am aware that you might have companies do grass cutting and other services, so please mention that.

I am also aware when buying a place you will spend more time in the start to learn... but when you get to more of a maintain the place, keep it running... what then?

Last but not least.... what does a dayli/weekly task list look like.

 

[MEP001]

Do you plan to do everything or will you have a person to clean and tackle simple issues?

If you're smart, you'll spend more time as you learn what you need to do to run a really good car wash. At least a couple hours a day is normal because you should be checking everything often.

 

[kentsomners]

Do you plan to do everything or will you have a person to clean and tackle simple issues?

If you're smart, you'll spend more time as you learn what you need to do to run a really good car wash. At least a couple hours a day is normal because you should be checking everything often.

Yes I would do it all myself. All my rentals I have I have renovated myself. I started out small doing my first semi renovation with my dad and from there it got bigger and bigger.
Yes I am handy, though of course this is going to be new for me, working on car wash equipment. But I do know how to turn a wrench.

Thank you for answering this question. I have time for this as all my rentals are fully renovated, and I spend less than 4 hours a week now. This of course goes up and down as renters move in and out.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

This Question in all Honesty really Depends on what kind of Operation you want your site to be and everyone's standards are different when it comes to this. Do you want to be the Guy that Cleans up 3-4xs a day that has the Grass Pristine and no Cigarette buts anywhere in the parking lot all bays are clean everything works in any bays at any given time hes there so much customers are scared to pull in lol. (This operator is a minimum of 4 hours a day if you know what your doing) Or you can be the guy that has Trash in the Ditch cleans up couple times a week, chemicals half way work he has a bent wand, leaking booms, Dirty Bays, Equipment room loaded with Junk, or you can be someone in between those two. It all depends on what you want to be. (If i could say one advice is dont get so involved that it interferes with your Family life I am a victium myself of that)

 

[kentsomners]

This Question in all Honesty really Depends on what kind of Operation you want your site to be and everyone's standards are different when it comes to this. Do you want to be the Guy that Cleans up 3-4xs a day that has the Grass Pristine and no Cigarette buts anywhere in the parking lot all bays are clean everything works in any bays at any given time hes there so much customers are scared to pull in lol. (This operator is a minimum of 4 hours a day if you know what your doing) Or you can be the guy that has Trash in the Ditch cleans up couple times a week, chemicals half way work he has a bent wand, leaking booms, Dirty Bays, Equipment room loaded with Junk, or you can be someone in between those two. It all depends on what you want to be. (If i could say one advice is dont get so involved that it interferes with your Family life I am a victim myself of that)

Valid points for sure. I will not be slave anymore to my job. That's why I quit the corporate world... I had some very bad years of a high level boss squeezing the life out of me. I am usually the middle of the road and will for sure keep things working and clean, but I will not have pristine grass... I suck at that
But anything i do, i expect my customers/renters to pay, but I also deliver.

 

[Rfreeman]

Well assuming your taking out a loan on this purchase there is no question what type of wash you need to run.....a top notch one because your about to be on the hook for a loan that needs to be repaid from the income this wash generates. You start slacking on maintenance and upkeep so will revenue because you will be opening the door for your competitors to provide a better location and service.

As mentioned already I would spend as much time as possible there to learn the business. Go by in the mornings and late in the evenings....are people using the site as a dump? Trash is going to be an everyday thing that needs to handled no matter what. After that, making sure everything is running and working as it should...nothing worst than a HP line leaking all over a customer or a vac not turning on.

Once you get a firm basics down I would say you are looking at least 1 to 2 hrs. daily depending on how fast you move. Another point to consider how far do you live from this place? Add that to the time spent on maintaining a wash. I met with a forum member that was looking to buy his first wash....45 mins from his house. I told him that will never work because you are adding an 1.5 hrs. to your "daily routine" right there. Needless to say he purchased it, and resold within 3 months because of the location.

 

[kentsomners]

Well assuming your taking out a loan on this purchase there is no question what type of wash you need to run.....a top notch one because your about to be on the hook for a loan that needs to be repaid from the income this wash generates. You start slacking on maintenance and upkeep so will revenue because you will be opening the door for your competitors to provide a better location and service.

As mentioned already I would spend as much time as possible there to learn the business. Go by in the mornings and late in the evenings....are people using the site as a dump? Trash is going to be an everyday thing that needs to handled no matter what. After that, making sure everything is running and working as it should...nothing worst than a HP line leaking all over a customer or a vac not turning on.

Once you get a firm basics down I would say you are looking at least 1 to 2 hrs. daily depending on how fast you move. Another point to consider how far do you live from this place? Add that to the time spent on maintaining a wash. I met with a forum member that was looking to buy his first wash....45 mins from his house. I told him that will never work because you are adding an 1.5 hrs. to your "daily routine" right there. Needless to say he purchased it, and resold within 3 months because of the location.

I live 4 min away from the was, so that is def. great.

Form what you are describing I have more than enough time to invest in this business. All my rental properties are fully renovated, and require very little no time from me anymore. I am not getting more rentals at this point, as I am seeing the housing market in my area getting way to hot.

I think you also elude to having interests in the business... I have that, and like the challenge it represents.

Do you know, is there actual experts you can pay to come and inspect the business and the equipment? The reason I ask, thats what we do with when buying houses we bring contractor to poke around and see if we are buying something good or disaster.

 

[Rfreeman]

Yeah in real estate you can bring in contractors to know what your potential renovation cost are going to be or for owner occupied unit basically a home inspector. I would be careful about who you bring around this deal if your are interested in it because they or another customer they have that is "always looking" could get it out from under you. Go by and test functions on it or each bay see how they work. Take pictures and post them here or PM any member to see if they can help you out.

But if you want an "expert" find a local soap distributor or car wash builder they should know what they are looking at.

 

[kentsomners]

Yeah in real estate you can bring in contractors to know what your potential renovation cost are going to be or for owner occupied unit basically a home inspector. I would be careful about who you bring around this deal if your are interested in it because they or another customer they have that is "always looking" could get it out from under you. Go by and test functions on it or each bay see how they work. Take pictures and post them here or PM any member to see if they can help you out.

But if you want an "expert" find a local soap distributor or car wash builder they should know what they are looking at.

Thank you for all the info. I already checked the bays and the automatic. It all runs and runs good. Only thing I found was stickers on vacuums are scraped and one brush that needs to be changed.

I think you are right in that I could get in trouble with others trying to snag it. At least this is not on the market yet so not really an issue.

 

[MEP001]

I have a really busy wash, 6 bays no auto. I do everything including mowing. I spend about two hours a day at the wash, more on Sat/Sun because it get wrecked. The worst part is that it's every day - I haven't had a real vacation since 1992.

IMO the most important thing is checking everything often. Years ago I took over a really old and somewhat run-down wash. All I did was crank up the chemicals so they worked, kept it clean, and checked everything every day with coins. In a couple years it wend from about $1200 a month to over $13,000 a month.

 

[Greg Pack]

A budget of two hours a day is probably a good estimate, depending on how busy the wash is.

Do yourself a favor and pay clean up help though. Save your energy for improvement projects and customer relations.

 

[Greg_T]

We have 3 self serve bays, 2 vacs and a dogwash. We clean twice per day, so 14 visits per week. I do 10 (each morning and 3 nights) and we pay a local retired guy to do 4 nights. He is also happy to cover when we go on holidays (a rare treat!). My wife does at least 2 visits per week for vending machines, money removal, dogwash chemicals etc.

This arrangement feels pretty sustainable over the long term, and does allow some flexibility.

We've created a simple task list with the frequency that each needs to be completed. We fill in the date that each item is completed. A simple method to track what we've done and indicate when we need to do again.

 

[Car_Wash_Guy]

I have a 4/2 with a Dog Wash. I would say I usually spend about 2 hours day there. Sometimes more but I have my office there too and I manage my other investments from there. I also like hanging around the wash - cleaning and talking to my customers.

I also am not a slave to it. I'll leave it ( sometimes for up to 3 weeks ) in the hands of my employees. If something breaks while I'm out of town, either the attendant takes a stab at it or I call in help.

I refuse to lose my personal freedom to a business / job. I rather pay a little and have the ability to pretty much up and go whenever I'd like.

 

[soonermajic]

I'd luv to buy a wash & just turn up chems & keep it clean & make 11x the amount of money! Hel, I'd love to just make 3x by doin that little.