Dirty job

Two Nashville entrepreneurs are trying to clean-up town -- one dirty car at a time.

Jeff Dale and Philip Hutcheson are hoping to cash in on an untapped niche as Car Wash Guys, an industrial car washing fleet franchise.

Dale first heard about the Car Wash Guys franchise from a friend who bought one in Columbus, Ohio.

"Once I established the viability of the franchise, I told Phil Hutcheson (a college and church friend) about it and told him to get into this. The rest is history," says Dale.

Dale and Hutcheson started their franchise in August with an initial franchise fee of $20,000, plus start-up costs. The Car Wash Guys, which has estblished franchises nationally, mainly target service fleets, semi trucks and car dealerships. However, they do tap into the personal market as well, but preferably when they can hose down several cars at one location.

The Nashville Car Wash Guys have seen a tremendous response for their services and in the last three months have been carving and capturing contracts for their services from local businesses.

"I would say we are exceeding upstart expectations," says Dale.

Andrew Carr, used car manager for Bob Williams Riverside Lincoln Mercury, offered the Car Wash Guys one car to test whether they could meet his standards. He was impressed enough to completely outsource their car cleaning duties to Dale and Hutcheson.

"They'll work 13 hours a day and don't quit," says Carr, "If something's not right, then they pull the car back and fix it immediately."

Once a week the Car Wash Guys wash about 350 cars for Bob Williams Riverside Lincoln Mercury. They do complete detail washes on 25 to 35 cars and an additional 300 light washes for the dealership. The benefit for the dealer is a quicker turn-around on used cars ready for display to customers, which Carr described as a crucial process to ensure profit.

Driving demand for such outsourcing is Middle Tennessee's tight labor market.

"Every employee a company has is doing 150 percent right now and doesn't have the time to clean cars," says Hutcheson.

The state's unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in September, one-tenth of a percent lower than the national average, according to the Tennessee Department of Workforce and Development.

For Will Coble, co-owner of Neely Coble Freightliner in Nashville, the Car Wash Guys free up man-hours for more productive work.

"Typically, we have an employee making $20 an hour take a car to be washed for about an hour. The Car Wash Guys free the employee up to do other things," says Coble. The capability of the Car Wash Guys to wash volumes of trucks definitely saves Neely Coble Freightliner time and money, adds Coble.

And the Car Wash Guys are prepared to handle significant amounts of volume with their large, high pressure truck units and trailer unit.

But the same unemployment rate that provides benefits to the franchise, also creates challenges to overcome.

The Car Wash Guys have six employees, with four to five part-timers. Both owners agree that attracting new employees is the greatest challenge facing the franchise.

"Right now our business is limited only by the staffing side of the business," says Hutcheson.

However, the two owners believe the franchise offers potential employees benefits that traditional jobs can't offer. Employees aren't stuck inside all day. Instead, they are driving around town and cleaning cars in different locations. Hutcheson and Dale hope that a friendly work environment, flexible work schedule and commitment to quality will lure applicants their way.