What Would You Do?

[mcc]

Okay guys, I started a thread a couple of weeks ago about a couple of opportunities that had come up for me. Well, one is looking like it might be a good thing to pursue, and I even have a person that is an investor and entrepreneur interested in working with me on this.



The opportunity up for discussion is the shopping mall car wash service.



I'm trying to develop the systems that will be used, put together cost calculations per vehicle, figure out what all will be needed, etc. I know that I'm going to offer an ONR wash and dry, and just basic interior services like dash wipedown, windows, and vacuuming. Other things like tire shine, dash dressing, etc. would be offered ala carte.



The goal in this is to keep the investment down. I will have to pay employees, and some sort of rent to the mall for using their property. Above that I have things like workman's comp, insurance ( I already have it to some extent, but I'm sure there will be additional coverage needed for this, with employees ), and whatever supplies and advertising that I use. I already have most things that we'll need to actually do the jobs, like canopies (to use as a reception area, the store-front for lack of a better term since we'll be stuck out in the parking lot), towels, buckets, vacuums, etc.



The biggest problem that I'm running into so far in coming up with numbers is that I have absolutely zero idea as to how many cars I might have as patrons. Obviously, that is not something that anyone can predict accurately, but I have no clue whatsoever. These malls have great traffic, but who knows how many will be interested? It is hard to say how many people I need to have on staff when I don't know if they'll just be standing there all day with nothing to do, or if they will have much more than they could possibly handle.



So, what would you do with this idea?



I'm thinking 4 employees, two for the outside and two for the inside, splitting the car right down the middle to get it done quickly. The first 2 get the car, do the outside (ONR hand wash & dry) , and pass the car off to the next 2, who do the inside (windows, dash, & vac) and move the car to a parking spot. All the while the first 2 can start on the outside of the first car. Does that make sense?



How detailed would you get on the outside? That is a problem for me, because I want every little bug and speck of dirt gone, but is that reasonable? Will people pay for the time it takes to do that? Or should I be content with just washing it, just like the automatics that are usually used that do not get all of the bugs and such off?



I'm an over-analyzer in every since of the word. Sometimes I get analysis paralysis, and I'm trying to avoid that. I have ADD, and a mind that races and things about every little detail to minutia, driving me nuts. So, I'm coming here for some help in keeping things realistic.



I really wish I had some idea of what kind of business this might generate. I think that it is a great idea, and I've seen that in other places in the country such ideas have taken off to whatever extent. There is no such thing in KY, IN, TN, etc. that I have been able to find so far to compare with.



Any suggestions, comments, criticisms, or just jokes to lighten the mood and distract me from going crazy analyzing every possible scenario?

 

[imported_Jakerooni]

Jump in and just do it... Once you get into it all of your questions will get answered and you can tweak the business then to accomodate whatever reality ends up being.. But the more time you sit here and think about every single thing that may or may not happen you're loosing money.

 

[mcc]

Jump in and just do it... Once you get into it all of your questions will get answered and you can tweak the business then to accomodate whatever reality ends up being.. But the more time you sit here and think about every single thing that may or may not happen you're loosing money.

Yeah, I'm going to jump in, but the guy that is interested in working on this with me (has money (not that I really need any for this), experience in growing businesses, and contacts) is wanting to run numbers and such. So, I'm trying to put the numbers together for him. He knows that I can't provide everything or see the future, but I'm trying to be diligent in getting everything together for him. He is as eager as I am to get going on this.

 

[Mobilejay]

Quick question, have you talked to the shopping mall about doing this? I only ask because I went to detail my gf's car at the mall one day and was QUICKLY shut down by their security people and they called their main office and said I could not wash cars there. If you have talked to them and they are cool, then yeah just go for it and make changes on the fly. Good luck

 

[mcc]

Quick question, have you talked to the shopping mall about doing this? I only ask because I went to detail my gf's car at the mall one day and was QUICKLY shut down by their security people and they called their main office and said I could not wash cars there. If you have talked to them and they are cool, then yeah just go for it and make changes on the fly. Good luck

Oh yeah. Not only have I spoken with them, they have been excited about this. They just didn't want you there because it is typically privately owned property and you weren't paying them to be there doing business. Just to use the parking lot, space that they typically make zero dollars off of, I will have to pay to rent the space just like any store in the mall that actually gets the benefit of things like electricity, heat and air, shelter, etc. The rate will be lower though.



The guy that I'm talking with that is interested in working with me on this is currently working with a bunch of malls in franchising a popcorn venture that he's involved in. He has contacts, and knows how to take an idea and grow it. So between he and I, we should have no problem getting in at least one mall locally.

 

[bwalker25]

do you need help with initial investment in supplies cost? or cost per car and figuring profit margins and percents? if so I can help with that....



edit:

alot of the estimations are assumptions, and are in no way reflective of real world happenings

 

[mcc]

do you need help with initial investment in supplies cost? or cost per car and figuring profit margins and percents? if so I can help with that....



edit:

alot of the estimations are assumptions, and are in no way reflective of real world happenings

Yeah, that is what I'm struggling with to some extent. Supplies are something that I can estimate on a cost per car basis. Labor is my achilles heel, because I've never hired employees. I know that you have to figure in not only hourly pay but also things like workers comp, withholding taxes, etc. I also don't know how many employees that I really need, because I have no idea how many cars we might get. Should I start with 2 employees? Maybe 4? 10,000,000? I just don't know. If I pay a guy $10/hour to wash for me, how much extra on top of that goes to other costs associated with having an employee?



I'm also not sure how much the malls will want in rent for the space yet, but I have some idea. It is hard to figure margins when A.) I've never done any of that on such a large basis and B.) I don't know what I need as far as labor goes, what rent will cost, or how much business is reasonable to expect.



I'll be glad to take any advice you can give on such estimations of margins and percents.



Thanks!

 

[bwalker25]

well here goes:

Yeah, that is what I'm struggling with to some extent. Supplies are something that I can estimate on a cost per car basis. Labor is my achilles heel, because I've never hired employees. I know that you have to figure in not only hourly pay but also things like workers comp, withholding taxes, etc. I also don't know how many employees that I really need, because I have no idea how many cars we might get. Should I start with 2 employees? Maybe 4? 10,000,000? I just don't know. If I pay a guy $10/hour to wash for me, how much extra on top of that goes to other costs associated with having an employee?



I'm also not sure how much the malls will want in rent for the space yet, but I have some idea. It is hard to figure margins when A.) I've never done any of that on such a large basis and B.) I don't know what I need as far as labor goes, what rent will cost, or how much business is reasonable to expect.



I'll be glad to take any advice you can give on such estimations of margins and percents.



Thanks!

edited below:



my advise is measure twice cut once. and do all the research you can before starting....



You can figure things like cost for materials based on a per car use. You can even estimate cost to use a rotary buffer or da polisher per car.



I can email you my spread sheet if you like it will make this ALOT easier



the spreadsheet is virus free, and is designed to work on a widescreen 16:9 monitor with a resolution of 1900x1080 or higher.



note the prices and figures below are based Pro-Detailer Pricing from Detailed Image, contact George for more information [email protected]



edited again:



some of the items listed in there are bulk chemicals from a local supplier in Raleigh NC (Majestic Solutions)....



one last edit before I go to bed:



It should be noted that you can not truely estimate the cost of using a buffer, or the cost of using a vacuum cleaner or what ever, with out some serious math and some hardcore formulas in excel spreadsheets (formulas that I dont care to figure out).



Instead of paying my help a flat rate only I would probably do this:

Starting Salary of $7.00 / hr and $5.00 per car

So if he can wash/wax 3 cars an hour (with help of course) then thats an extra $15.00 for that hour on top of his $7 you are paying him bringing his hourly pay to $22.00/hr and he just got motivated to work a hell of a lot faster. All the while you are keeping an eye on him to make sure he is doing it right...I dont know how much you would charge per car, so the above you might want to tailer it to yourself, but for this purpose it works just fine...



Also during down time (if you have any) you can have your employee(s) advertise for you in the mall or to the people as they drive around the parking lot (flyers, dancing with a sign or something)



As far as taxes and workers comp insurance, I would talk with a CPA or someone else I am clueless when it comes to that stuff....

 

[mcc]

well here goes:







edited below:



my advise is measure twice cut once. and do all the research you can before starting....



You can figure things like cost for materials based on a per car use. You can even estimate cost to use a rotary buffer or da polisher per car.



I can email you my spread sheet if you like it will make this ALOT easier



the spreadsheet is virus free, and is designed to work on a widescreen 16:9 monitor with a resolution of 1900x1080 or higher.



note the prices and figures below are based Pro-Detailer Pricing from Detailed Image, contact George for more information [email protected]



edited again:



some of the items listed in there are bulk chemicals from a local supplier in Raleigh NC (Majestic Solutions)....

Hey, thanks for the offer, man. I'll pm you my email address. I signed up for this site a couple years ago, and may need to update it now that I think about it. I've gotten new email addy's lately.



I agree with the measure twice, cut once philosophy, which is very much my style as an over-thinker.

 

[bwalker25]

you have mail...I'm going to bed now, its almost midnight and I have a full day ahead of me tomorrow.



Good Luck and if you need anything there is a forum full of people here all the time

 

[mcc]

you have mail...I'm going to bed now, its almost midnight and I have a full day ahead of me tomorrow.



Good Luck and if you need anything there is a forum full of people here all the time

Just got it! Thanks a bunch man! I'm going to bed too, but that's because I'm going fishing tomorrow, lol. Not really what I'd call a full day.

 

[ohiostate]

Instead of paying my help a flat rate only I would probably do this:

Starting Salary of $7.00 / hr and $5.00 per car

So if he can wash/wax 3 cars an hour (with help of course) then thats an extra $15.00 for that hour on top of his $7 you are paying him bringing his hourly pay to $22.00/hr and he just got motivated to work a hell of a lot faster. All the while you are keeping an eye on him to make sure he is doing it right...I dont know how much you would charge per car, so the above you might want to tailer it to yourself, but for this purpose it works just fine...



Also during down time (if you have any) you can have your employee(s) advertise for you in the mall or to the people as they drive around the parking lot (flyers, dancing with a sign or something)

.

Thats a great idea..



What I would do is hire 2 detailers and I would also work along with them or just hire one, and bust my ***.. The reason why is because if it does not work, your really not out to much, but if it is working great you can always hire more...

 

[Bigpikle]

I would speak with the mall owners for info. Any large mall should know how many visitors it attracts per day, for each day of the week. This type of info is used to sell their space, so see if you can get access to it. If they have done any decent research they should also know things like average group size of visitors eg is the average that they 2000 visitors per weekday and they came in an average group of 1.5 people, so you can estimate they get about 1300 vehicles per day.



Once you have that you can estimate what % of visitors might buy your services. Maybe 0.5% will get their vehicle washed, so you could estimate 1300 x 0.5% = 6.5 vehicles per weekday. Of course you can make your own estimate of what % would buy your services based on your own thoughts...



As a result you should be able to estimate how many cars you might get to wash, by each day of the week, and can estimate staffing and costs etc over time. As you grow in reputation and build repeat customers, you can change the % and factor in repeat business etc.



If you then combine it with the cost info you have above, it should enable you to estimate costs, staffing needs and revenue etc.



Good luck.