Dave edwards and his wife, barbara, had always talked about owning their own business. Both are in the construction management industry in new york city, with barbara serving as director of construction for a major retailer and dave as a chief estimator at a private client homebuilder.
When they came across an old car wash for sale near their vacation home in the northern Poconos, Pennsylvania, in January 2015, they weren’t scared. After some back and forth with the owner — and then the bank once the wash went into foreclosure — Dave and Barbara purchased the business and property in the summer of 2015. Thus, The Car Wash on Hamlin Hwy. was born.
“As a project and investment, we took the bones of a stable car wash building, tunnel and bays, and stripped out all of the 25-year-old equipment,” Dave said.
The list of renovations was a long one.
“We did our due diligence and ended up with Ryko as our equipment provider to modernize the facility,” he said. “We had a Radius installed in the tunnel, and the self-wash bays outfitted with GinSan equipment. We updated all the equipment to accept credit cards, bills and quarters. We installed all LED lighting and freshened up the overall appearance. Then we made it open 24/7 to provide our community with a reliable amenity.”
Speaking of the community, Dave and Barbara have an interesting one. Located four miles west of Lake Wallenpaupack, the largest manmade lake in Pennsylvania, and surrounded by multiple private recreational communities, there are wild population swings.
“There is a steady year-round population of 19,000, but some 40,000 vacation homes, primarily owned as second homes by people from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, causing the population to swell up to as much as 80,000,” Dave said.
This diverse group of customers — locals and vacationers — were important to Dave and Barbara.
“We had to ensure that we provided a quality experience for the locals at all times, and for the vacationers, we wanted to provide the quality they are used to from a hands-on car wash in the city at a complete self-service, self-approach, touch-free automatic and self-serve wash bays,” Dave said.
So far, they’ve been getting it right. “We had to re-train a few folks on this self-approach wash, but we are succeeding,” Dave said. “We run our self-wash bays with 90-degree water, unlike our nearby competitors. Our guests notice the difference.”
The two have done a few other things that their competitors aren’t doing, such as providing a self-detail bay, as well as a pet wash.
“Jack Oakley at Ryko had the idea for the self-detail bay,” Dave said. “He suggested we do three self-wash bays and turn the fourth into this bay under a roof to provide our guests the opportunity to clean in the shade during the summer and away from the elements during the winter.”
Utilizing a wall against the equipment room, they installed self-detail mainstays including a vacuum, shampoo machine and towel dispenser. They also got creative with some of their equipment, including converting the water side of an air/water machine to vend wiper fluid.
The pet wash has been a huge success for the business, which surprised the pair at first. Dave had expected the pet wash to be something customers only used in the city at big pet stores.
“But this has been a convenience and amenity to our guests,” he said. “This has afforded us the opportunity to reach a new audience up to 25 miles away. Guests come to use the dog wash, then run their car through the car wash. The dog wash is our pride and joy.”
As long-time supporters of the local animal shelter, Dave and Barbara also are able to give back from their wash to the shelter. They provide dog wash gift cards for free to adopters of medium and large dogs.
Being located in a rural area with wide fluctuations in population, marketing the wash is vital. Dave and Barbara have taken advantage of Facebook as a key marketing tool. Early on, their Facebook page was plastered with photos of big trucks and customers washing their cars. But in December, the focus on Facebook switched to the pet wash.
“In the past, when I’ve done a promotion on Facebook about our wash, I would maybe see up to 500 reaches,” Dave said. “When we announced the dog wash, we saw 9,000 reaches, 150 comments and
55 shares!”
The pair discovered that when promoting the dog wash, they could expand their ad reach by 25 to 30 miles without overlapping.
The wash is young, and Dave and Barbara are still new to the industry, but they’re running ahead at full steam.
“We’re still learning the business,” he said. “I invest a lot of time in weekly maintenance of the property and the equipment. There is no such thing as an absentee owner in this business if you want to have satisfied customers and happy guests.”
One area Dave and Barbara are trying to figure out is their summer and winter customer spikes.
“Our winters are still stronger than our summers, despite the spike in the population,” Dave said. “We’re learning how the spikes work and why, and looking at different advertising and different ways to drive people to our location. We do a lot of competitor research, and get feedback from friends and family who stay in the area. We’ve learned a lot about what to avoid.”
He said that one of the biggest strategies is to never use the words “no” or “don’t.”
“If people want to come in with their muddy ATVs, we want them there — even if they dirty up the drains; bring it on,” Dave said. “We’ve looked for creative ways to show that this wash is an amenity and a destination. Some people with boats make a party of it… they’re probably there for an hour and a half, cleaning their boats and preparing them for winter storage.”
Dave and Barbara have been able to fulfill their goal of owning a business, though at the beginning it may have seemed like an odd fit. “You would have never heard us talking about wanting to open a car wash,” said Dave. “Now we’re doing it, and we love it.”
And now that they’re in the business, they see plenty of opportunity.
“It’s been a fun journey,” Dave said. “There are many old, rural car washes out there, still coin-operated. We’re seeing people not reinvesting to bring them up-to-date with technology and equipment. Some of them are going for a deal, and are worth a look from those looking to get into the business without dedicating a full-time career to it. But don’t think it’s just a walk-away investment — the more you invest in it, the greater your returns.” “Being located in a rural area with wide fluctuations in population, marketing the wash is vital.”
Dave and Barbara Edwards own The Car Wash on Hamlin Hwy. in northern Poconos, Pennsylvania, a community filled with 40,000 vacation homes, but only a steady year-round population of 19,000. There are wild population swings causing it to swell up to as much as 80,000 during peak season.
As long-time supporters of the local animal shelter, Dave and Barbara are able to give back from their wash to the shelter. They provide dog wash gift cards for free to adopters of medium and large dogs.