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Stand alone IBA

A

APW

Well-known member
Would a single bay stand alone IBA work. It wouldn't have any vaccuums, just a wash. I can modify a existing building and would install a used machine. The town has one mark 7 that doesn't work good. The place I would put it would be on the main intersection in town. Two major highways. The city has a population of 3500 and the county has 19,000.
 
I have seen stand alones work very well if in a good location and are kept well maintained. I think it depends on how well the automatic you buy performs and the total cost of the project. Why wouldn't you have vacs?
 
No room for vaccuums. The building is 22'x85'. I would demo roughly 50' feet of the building. The property is 22'x100'.
 
Sounds pretty good to me. Better wash easy to get to.. Ask some gas stations if a stand alone works. Sure sometimes they have vacs but mostly it just an auto to the side. They have gas to bring traffic, you have an intersection.

Concerns, entrance and exit to property, a lane for cars to stack, and noise. Blow dryers can be very loud .. While city may allow it, you may want to think of niebors, if its a possible concern, sounds like a small town.. Some ways to knock down the noise with fence or walls in areas to absorb noise, or enclosures may be of interest.

3500 can support 2 automatics
 
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One hurdle that I don't know how to approach is this property butts up to a Rite Aid parking lot. There is a curb between the property I am looking at and Rite Aid.
 
There is a 17' alley behind the building and the neighbors building to access it. It would just make it allot easier if there was no curb and access from Rite Aid's parking lot.
 
Viability of a concept or idea is determined by evaluating the core dimensions.

For example, is the market of sufficient size and value and is it sustainable.

“3500 can support 2 automatics”

I know areas with 3,500 people where carwash does great as well as those where I wouldn’t build a horse-wash.

What about value?

“….town has one mark 7 that doesn't work good.”

Is this because the market isn’t of sufficient value to support a wash that works “well” long-term or something else?

Next is technical which involves capacities, resources and processes. Capacity begins with design. First part of design is property width and length planning.

“….building is 22'x85'….would demo roughly 50' feet….property is 22'x100'.”

Most likely, changing land use to carwash will require 50’ building setback in front yard to meet right-of-way and public safety.

Next, the building may not have a slab sufficiently thick enough for commercial carwash.

Likewise, there is oil/water separator to consider.

These factors involve general construction instead of renovation.

My advice is solve these issues because they affect economic and financial viability as well as exit strategy.
 
The mark 7 is not maintained very well, the pay station is a keypad and a bill acceptor, never seen one like it. The wash is out away from the main part of town.

I've talked to the code department about modifying the building. I'm waiting on DOT to let me know what is required to make a drive out of the end of the building onto the street. I plan on busting concrete out of existing building to install electrical, plumbing, and new pit. My other car wash I had a guy build my pit and we set it in place and then poured the new 6" floor around it.

I looked at property again this morning. If Rite Aid would let me cut the curb on one parking spot that is by itself, the property would work great.
 
I don't want to rain on your parade but how much are you willing to shell out for this?

Getting entitlement from Rite Aid won’t be cheap and it won’t happen overnight either.

Plus, $45K mechanical, $50K infrastructure, renovation at $80 to $125 per SF, machine and install, architect and engineering fees, permits, etc., etc.

So, like what gross sales are you expecting from this site?
 
I agree with Robert. This is starting to sound like a rather expensive proposition. Need to put a pencil to the costs to see if the expense is worth it. I also agree about getting the entitlement from Rite Aid. I have been involved in several deals that were similar to this as far as getting more access and it not only can take forever but it can be costly.
 
So best case 10-15 year break even. Could be more before your out if the woods considering all the monthly costs of ownership.

I never said it would work robert, I said it can work. And not easily, small margins, small customer pool, High cost of doing business. It obviously something the op believes can work and he knows more about the town than any of us.

Rite aid probably doesn't want to share their property. It sounds like to me I would find another location with main road frontage...

Location, access, and visability are important.
 
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I don't believe you'll be able to break much over ~15,000 washes a year at peak after the customer base is built up, if everything works out perfectly and everyone goes to your wash and is a decent wash market.. So realistically estimate 10,000 a year or your can get into trouble. This is of course general and not knowing anything alse other than the numbers... Better to plan for the real senario than the hopeful one.

There is a point as to why the other wash is run down.. Were they not making money? Examine where they failed. Something may have caused them to run it down like lack of business.

There of course is the possibility that you gain all the business create new washing customers and draw many back to washing... taking you over 15, but let's not plan on that. Plan for the worst, prepare for the best.

My wash sits in 3600 ppl small town middle class two autos.
 
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Hey man tell him Robert the automatic alone will run you $120,000-140,000 all day long if done right and not rigged by a jackleg a WashWorld or PDQ. That's without touching the building demo & paystation adding 3 phase power, bigger water line and the list goes on get it approved by the town heck they might make you put a water reclaim in since its new construction and that cost 200K by itself. Not to mention a structural engineer since you going to have to do the building. Try to buy the other guys carwash maybe he is a old man looking to owner finance the property or practically give it away to you Bc he has been in the Carwash business for 30 years and then you could remodel his place. Just saying. Good luck
 
Ive already done it once. If you read my earlier post you'll see I said a used machine. I have a 2009 PDQ right now in another town I installed last July. I've already recouped my money for what I payed for the machine and the install. On my other property I built it from the ground up. I hired out the dirt work and block work and did all electrical and plumbing myself. It can be done.
 
“It can be done.”

If $140K has capital cost of $36K, earnings before taxes of $20K would require gross sales of around $100K.

This means capturing 1/2 or more of total available market with used machine on under-sized lot with no amenities.
 
Well the DOT shot down the drive way so I guess that answers that.

Shifting gears what do you look for with the perfect or near to perfect spot for an automatic location. There is .75 acres for sale a 1/4 mile from location I wanted. It is right on main 4 lane highway through town. Asking $40,000 for the land.
 
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