Great new business idea – part two!

fufu_banterwaite

Ok, so a couple of weeks ago I came up with a business idea – Mr Peanut whereby I would visit local workplaces, etc dressed in a peanut suit and run around the building whilst staff (who had paid) ran after me trying to nibble at my peanuts.

I got some really good feedback on here but after meeting with a loan advisor basically decided I wouldn’t be going any further with it. But the good news is I have a new business idea!

Basically I am considering opening a car wash attached to my home. I have ordered all the parts (large brushes, water sprays, etc) and have already built the 'casing', so the whole operation should be up and running within the next two months if all goes to plan.

However I need people’s advice on a couple of things:

1) Do I need any form of licence to operate my own operation?

2) Can I charge anything I want? I was thinking of £6 for a standard service, £30 for a gold service, £50 for a platinum service, etc, or are there any restrictions on pricing you may know of?

3) Can I operate the operation 24 hours a day? Or do I need to get permission from my neighbours? (There is a nursing home very nearby as well and the patients often sit on my garden wall in the afternoon to catch the rays of the sun – when it is warmer of course!).

4) I was plannning on using the either the name 'Car Wash International 2000 Global' or 'Wash With I. Wash With Thee. Was With Us. For I Am The Lord'. Are any of you aware of any other car wash operations that are already using these names?

5) I would like to use the face of ex-Wimbledon champion, Virginia Wade, on my literature and promotional bumpf - do I need to obtain her permission for this?

Any advice would be gratefully received!

emsywoo123

fufu_banterwaite wrote: »

Ok, so a couple of weeks ago I came up with a business idea – Mr Peanut whereby I would visit local workplaces, etc dressed in a peanut suit and run around the building whilst staff (who had paid) ran after me trying to nibble at my peanuts.

I got some really good feedback on here but after meeting with a loan advisor basically decided I wouldn’t be going any further with it. But the good news is I have a new business idea!

Basically I am considering opening a car wash attached to my home. I have ordered all the parts (large brushes, water sprays, etc) and have already built the 'casing', so the whole operation should be up and running within the next two months if all goes to plan.

However I need people’s advice on a couple of things:

1) Do I need any form of licence to operate my own operation?

2) Can I charge anything I want? I was thinking of £6 for a standard service, £30 for a gold service, £50 for a platinum service, etc, or are there any restrictions on pricing you may know of?

3) Can I operate the operation 24 hours a day? Or do I need to get permission from my neighbours? (There is a nursing home very nearby as well and the patients often sit on my garden wall in the afternoon to catch the rays of the sun – when it is warmer of course!).

4) I was plannning on using the either the name 'Car Wash International 2000 Global' or 'Wash With I. Wash With Thee. Was With Us. For I Am The Lord'. Are any of you aware of any other car wash operations that are already using these names?

5) I would like to use the face of ex-Wimbledon champion, Virginia Wade, on my literature and promotional bumpf - do I need to obtain her permission for this?

Any advice would be gratefully received!

:rotfl:

I've just read a right moody troll's thread on the family board. At least yours are funny. Number 4 is awesome.

szam_

Ok, I'll bite.

3) Can I operate the operation 24 hours a day? Or do I need to get permission from my neighbours? (There is a nursing home very nearby as well and the patients often sit on my garden wall in the afternoon to catch the rays of the sun – when it is warmer of course!)

You will need planning permission and perhaps may need to overcome other things, which by the sounds of it, would be highly unlikely. That will stop you before you even get started.

Great read though, I look forward to part 3.

fufu_banterwaite

emsywoo123 wrote: »

:rotfl:

I've just read a right moody troll's thread on the family board. At least yours are funny. Number 4 is awesome.

Thanks, I think?!

lincroft1710

fufu_banterwaite wrote: »

However I need people’s advice on a couple of things:

1) Do I need any form of licence to operate my own operation?

You will need a Water Abstraction Licence, see Water (use of), for cleaning of Horseless Carriages Act 1905. Plus you will need to pay commercial drainage rates

2) Can I charge anything I want? I was thinking of £6 for a standard service, £30 for a gold service, £50 for a platinum service, etc, or are there any restrictions on pricing you may know of?

Car Wash Pricing Policy, Statutory Instrument SI 35257/98 1998, (Revised 2005) £25 and £40 are max. prices for G old and Platinum

3) Can I operate the operation 24 hours a day?

NO!! See Environmentally Damaging Home Businesses Act 1984 (Revised 1993, 2005 and 2009)

Or do I need to get permission from my neighbours?

The need for their express consent was withdrawn in the 2009 Revision to the above Act.

4) I was plannning on using the either the name 'Car Wash International 2000 Global' or 'Wash With I. Wash With Thee. Was With Us. For I Am The Lord'. Are any of you aware of any other car wash operations that are already using these names?

First one is used by an outfit operating in the Leeds Area, second one was used by a chain in the southern states of America.

5) I would like to use the face of ex-Wimbledon champion, Virginia Wade, on my literature and promotional bumpf - do I need to obtain her permission for this?

Of course, but why not use someone from the more recent past of tennis - Tim Henman for example

Any advice would be gratefully received!

Hope the above helps.

Flyonthewall

fufu_banterwaite wrote: »

Basically I am considering opening a car wash attached to my home. I have ordered all the parts (large brushes, water sprays, etc) and have already built the 'casing', so the whole operation should be up and running within the next two months if all goes to plan.

However I need people’s advice on a couple of things:

1) Do I need any form of licence to operate my own operation?

2) Can I charge anything I want? I was thinking of £6 for a standard service, £30 for a gold service, £50 for a platinum service, etc, or are there any restrictions on pricing you may know of?

3) Can I operate the operation 24 hours a day? Or do I need to get permission from my neighbours? (There is a nursing home very nearby as well and the patients often sit on my garden wall in the afternoon to catch the rays of the sun – when it is warmer of course!).

4) I was plannning on using the either the name 'Car Wash International 2000 Global' or 'Wash With I. Wash With Thee. Was With Us. For I Am The Lord'. Are any of you aware of any other car wash operations that are already using these names?

5) I would like to use the face of ex-Wimbledon champion, Virginia Wade, on my literature and promotional bumpf - do I need to obtain her permission for this?

Any advice would be gratefully received!

Whether this is serious or not, it being the Internet and knowing there will be people out there who would go ahead with this regardless...

1. I don't know about a licence but you might need planning permission depending on how it's being set up and I don't know if there's anything else you'd need to do running that type of business from home.

2. Doubt there's any price limits but you'd need to be competitive. Recently a lot of car washes appeared in my area - not all are still there, but competition must have been pretty high.

3. I hope your wall is safe

4. If there are no ones going to remember being that long.

5. Yes. Although I wouldn't recognise her anyway, no clue what she looks like, so not the best advertising technique lol.

KiKi

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Whether this is serious or not,

...you're actually questioning that this could be serious...??? :rotfl:


OP - you first idea was terrible, and you'd make no money anyway. You'd've been working for peanuts.

This idea is much, much better. However, I fear you may have missed a real trick. You mention that there's a nursing home nearby. I think one of your revenue streams should come from combining the home with the washing service...say, every Wednesday morning and after 1600 on Saturdays...and wash the OAPs for a discounted price. Nursing staff will be happier, it will bring some surprise and sparkle to the lives of those who perhaps don't get out too often, and it could be a good source of cashflow, particularly in the first few months of set up.

If it works, I'd like a 10% cut in the first year of operation.

Flyonthewall

KiKi wrote: »

...you're actually questioning that this could be serious...??? :rotfl:

This is the Internet. Thousands of serious but amazingly stupid comments are made daily. Even if it's clear one person is joking there will always be someone who takes it seriously (in this case, someone going ahead with this idea). Therefore it's best to give at least a somewhat serious answer just in case.

KiKi

Flyonthewall wrote: »

This is the Internet.

Is it??? Blimey.

Flyonthewall

KiKi wrote: »

Is it??? Blimey.

No need for the sarcasm, I simply stating that it is the Internet meaning all sorts is posted and you don't always know who you're talking to. You can never be too sure who's being serious or who will take it seriously. I was stating it as a point, not as an obvious fact.

KiKi

Flyonthewall wrote: »

No need for the sarcasm.

I wasn't being sarcastic. I have a dry sense of humour. You've just taken my posts very seriously, that's all.