Dr. Mark Nan Tu

The following pictures were taken in XiaoWuJi, southeast of the 4th ring road, Beijing, December 2002.

The signs say, hot water car wash, wax, professional auto body metal work, paint work, scratch repair, electrical and gas welding, computerized wheel rotation, air and tire mending.

Hand car wash at work, outside cleaning.

Hand car wash at work, detailing

Hand car wash at work, production line process

Chinese are some of the best entrepreneurs in the world. The car wash business demonstrates how such a business is run in China. Beijing has the largest private car ownership in the country. In winter times, when there is snow, the street becomes very dirty and there are car wash services in almost every corner of Beijing.
The car wash took 20 minutes. There are at times 3 workers working on the car in a production line fashion. Each of them has their special tasks. There is a sprayer, a car detailing person and a wiper (who wipes the car dry). While one worker sprayed water on the car, the other team members performed detailing on other cars.
The business was in demand. For the 20 minutes that I spent there, they cleaned 4 cars. There were many cars waiting in line. The operation had 8 workers. The team can wash about 15 cars each hour. Here is a little P&L for this business.
Here are some of the relevant information. The business opens at 6:00am. The morning customers were mostly Taxi drivers. The business closed at 10:00pm. Workers had 15 minutes/each for breakfast, lunch and dinner break. Food was provided by the employer. They clean about 125 cars / day (also confirmed by the workers). Each car owner pays 10 RMB per wash. They also do air, wheel rotation, scratch repair among many others. The business rented a two room store front which cost 600RMB/month. There are 8 employee who are paid at 10RMB/day/person with no other benefit. Food and housing are provided by the employer at 10RMB/day/person. The equipment rental, water and electricity run about 300RMB/month.
Income:
1250 RMB/day (from car wash), 300 RMB/day (from other add on services)
Total income: 1550 RMB/day
Cost:
Employee: 160 RMB/day
Equipment rental, water and electricity: 10 RMB/day
Rental?20RMB/day
Total: 190RMB/day
Net profit: 1360 RMB/day
Profit Margin: 87.7%
The business was closed when I visited Beijing again in May 2003. The city decided to demolish the storefront. A new residential housing project ???? (ShanSuiWenYuan) is underway.