Dog Wash Considerations

[dbristow]

I am looking to open a stand alone dog wash business with no attached car wash. I am in a prime area with lots of dog walking and mega foot traffic going on and no competition. I am seeing that estimates are that a dog wash bay can profit upwards of $2k a month. Is this a viable number? If anyone out there has experience or advice I would love to hear any comment.
I am still in the planning stages - I am trying to decide between an economical outdoor system from TMC.com or an inside installation with GinSan equipment. Am I heading in the right direction? If you have a current installation what would you do differently? One thing that scares me is that where ever I end up installing I will need floor drains which I am guessing will be an expensive endeavor in a an existing structure.
This will go in a high rent area so I need to maximize my space (when I find it) and even consider a non-standard building structure to make the cost feasable.
Thanks.

 

[MEP001]

There's also Kleen Rite (www.kleen-ritecorp.com) to consider for equipment.

 

[bigleo48]

$2k a month is a little high for a single tub. I would plan for half that for the first year. This would be a new thing in your area, so it will take time.
I spent a lot of time designing my pet wash install. There are many things I did that were not conventinal and are my location specific. Yes you would need floor drains. It gets messy, so plan for it and you'll need to have the site attended. If you don't people will get sick of using a dirty tub and stop coming.

BigLeo

 

[Bubbles Galore]

bigleo: What kind of things did you do that were unconventional? I want to make sure that mine is laid out well and easy to use.