Operators of several prominent carwashes throughout the nation agree that the best-sized lot would be between 1-1/2 and 2 acres, preferably near an intersection or traffic light, with a quiet side street nearby to help accommodate vehicles coming and going.

Responses varied slightly from owners and managers of exterior-only and full-service carwashes.

Wash Type: Exterior

Owner: The Schaming family

Market: Magic Car Wash is located in a suburban area just south of Pittsburgh with 110,000 residences within a five-mile radius. About 12,000 vehicles per day pass by its place of operation, and last year alone it serviced 170,000 of them.

William Schaming says his firm's secret for success is quick, convenient, consistent quality.

"We produce cars that are clean and shiny and dry quickly at an affordable price," he says. "If you want to have volume, that's what you have to do."

The Perfect Wash: Now in its 38th year of doing business, Magic has stood the test of time. But Schaming says there are some changes he'd make if given the opportunity to start over with unlimited resources.

First, he says the ideal lot would have a traffic count of up to 50,000 cars per day with a 35 mph speed zone and a traffic light near his business entrance.

Also, his carwash tunnel would be situated lengthwise to provide good visibility, and there would be ample stacking space and plenty of room for self-serve vacuums at least 30 of them.

He shies away from any profit center that requires extra labor, such as an oil change or gas station.

Two years ago Schaming replaced a gas station that sold 2 million gallons of fuel annually with a large number of vacuums to help reduce labor costs.

Regarding his tunnel, Schaming says he would build it so customers drive down a slight downhill grade when entering and exiting the facility. This would help cars roll into and out of the tunnel.

Also, he says a cash collection booth should be located 80 feet in front of the conveyor to help eliminate gaps in the line, created by people who can't find their money or don't know what type of carwash they want.

"If you want high production, every roller on the conveyor is worth money," he says. "If you have a bare roller, you just threw money away."

In addition, Schaming says if he could start over he would have higher ceilings in his tunnel, which now measures about 11 feet, four inches.

The business caters to a clientele that is fairly affluent, with a median income of about $45,000, so Schaming says it is critical that his operation be kept immaculate.

He has $50,000 worth of shrubbery and landscaping, highlighted by stainless steel sculptures for people to enjoy while waiting.

Wash Type: Exterior

Owner: Bill Osterink Jr.

Market: Georgetown/Rivertown Car Wash is located in Hudsonville, MI, about 20 minutes west of Grand Rapids. For the most part it is an affluent bedroom community with a median income of about $60,000.

The business has a convenience store, a 24-hour fueling station for trucks and a detail shop.

"We're on a four-lane road that carries most of the traffic to and from Grand Rapids," says manager Tim Huttenga.

He says the operation is easy to get into, but difficult to exit.

His employees hand-scrub the fronts and backs of each vehicle, an extra service to help provide customer satisfaction.

"It's more old-school around here, not just roll through," Huttenga says.

In addition, he gives many patrons a free towel to wipe down their dash and 39-cent cleaning pads, which are sometimes made available free of charge, too. And with each carwash, customers get a free soda or cup of coffee.

The Perfect Wash: If the location were rebuilt from scratch, Huttenga says the lot's layout could be changed to improve traffic flow. "There would be two ways to get out," he says.

The carwash is located 1/8-mile from a busy intersection, which makes exiting difficult. Also, he would have a wider lot, to prevent traffic conflicts between the carwash and gas station lines.

If given a choice to pick his optimum lot location, he would like to be near a busy intersection with a supermarket next door.

His dream carwash lot would have plenty of room for a self-service gas station, situated before customers reach the carwash.

Wash Type: Exterior

Owner: Ermino S. " King" Barbalunga

Market: Currently owns two facilities in Pittsfield, MA, a city of roughly 40,000 people located in the Berkshire Mountains on the western side of the state. The city lost one-third of its population when a large General Electric Co. transformer plant left the area a number of years ago.

If anything, this challenged Barbalunga to provide the best operations possible. Eight years ago he built what he considered the premium carwash for his market. It features a 140-foot tunnel, eight self-serve bays and 19 vacuums.

The building is a pre-stressed concrete structure with second-story colonial offices. In addition, Barbalunga owns apartments and single-family rental property that abuts the site.

The business is located on Pittsfield's second-busiest street, and has a traffic count of about 20,000 vehicles per day.

"I bought a whole neighborhood block, tore everything down and started from scratch," Barbalunga says.

His other operation has a 100-foot tunnel, 11 self-serve bays, 12 vacuums, a self-service laundry and several stores.

" Both locations are quite large. There's room at both of them for anything you want to do. My only problem is what would be appropriate for a locally depressed economy?" he says.

Design: Barbalunga says a well-designed layout has self-serve bays perpendicular to an automated carwash tunnel; the self-serve bays should be parallel to the street so motorists driving by can see customers washing their cars.

Also, cars leaving self-serve bays should exit toward the street, so that people can see how clean cars are when they come out.

The Perfect Wash: Barbalunga says there is nothing he would do to change the physical layout and design of his main location.

" There was so much research and time put into it, there's nothing I would do different. It was built right. But I'm always trying to run it better, from customer service to handling complaints," Barbalunga says.

Wash Type: Full-Service

Owner: Bill Sartor

Market: Quality Carwash is in a suburban area on the outskirts of San Antonio, TX, where the median income is about $40,000.

"We've seen a lot of residential growth, and with that has come a lot of new commercial growth," says General Manager Paul Willette.

Design: Because the business is located in Texas, which has brutally hot summers, Willette says the driveway and parking areas are concrete instead of asphalt.

Concrete looks better and is cooler, which helps employees stay more refreshed throughout the day. The location also has plenty of flowers, which Willette feels adds a touch of class to the business.

The Perfect Wash: If given a chance to build the perfect wash for the market, Willette says he would start with a location with a traffic count of at least 50,000 vehicles.

" I would definitely want a traffic light on my incoming side," he says. " And I would like to be located on the homeward-bound side."

He says some studies show that an operation can get 20 percent more business if it's located adjacent to a traffic light. His ideal layout would be on 2-1/2 acres and include a coffee shop and full-service oil change station, along with a high-volume express detailing service.

But the main priority is still ease of entrance and exiting. "That's the key right there," Willette says.

He says that in a perfect world the wash would be arranged so that customers see the oil-change station and coffee shop when they first pull in. More business would be generated if these profit centers were visible right away, he says. Quality tries to overcome the present situation with extra signage.

" But it's a lot better to see the shop," Willette says.

Wash Type: Full Service

Owner: Chip Burton

Market: Shiner's Carwash had three locations in the Orlando, FL, area and serves customers with a median income of more than $40,000.

"There is a lot of tourism," Burton says. "This is the largest rental car market in the world, but that really doesn't affect us. People with rental cars don't usually get them washed."

The most important factor affecting his business is a steady occurrence of rain during June, July and August.

"Summer is slower any way, but particularly here because we get a lot of rain," he says.

But during the April-May and late August-September periods business picks up because of swarms of "love bugs" that plaster cars traveling interstate highways.

The Perfect Wash: Burton says if he could chose the ideal carwash site, it would be located near a large shopping mall, on a corner lot with wide curb cuts and access to a side street that doesn't get a lot of traffic.

Also, he would have a prominently located gas station and convenience store, possibly with 24-hour service. The most important factor would be to have these laid out properly so that cars could go from one site to another easily without congestion.

Also, he stresses comfortable waiting areas in each facility and a play area for children similar to the kind McDonald's restaurants have put in many of their stores.

Burton says local government regulations prevented him from having some of the features he wanted, such as wider curb cuts, but that he's made the best of the situation he's in.

Wash Type: Full Service

Owner: Jerry Weiss

Market: Jerry Weiss owns eight full-serve and seven self-serve operations in suburban markets around Phoenix, AZ.

"In the warmer climates you have to concentrate more on the inside of a car," he says. "People look at the windows and dashes more closely. The outsides of cars don't really get too dirty unless there's a bad storm."

His workers use a special solution to help remove bugs from cars before they enter a tunnel.

Each of his locations has a comfortable waiting room and an enclosed walkway people can use to view their vehicle while it's being washed. This is important in hot and cold climates to protect people from desert heat or winter's icy chill, Weiss says.

His daughter, Marla Meyer, says an advantage of doing business in the Southwest is that activity is fairly constant throughout the year.

"It's pretty steady," she says. "You don't see a lot of peaks and valleys."

The Perfect Wash: If building a perfect carwash lot, Weiss would leave plenty of room to maneuver cars without ever having to back them up. And when exiting a tunnel, cars would fan out instead of coming out one after another in a straight line. This would give employees a few extra minutes to check over each car inside and out.

Also, the perfect lot would leave some room to expand, Weiss says.

When he started Weiss Guys Car Wash 38 years ago, cleaning cars was the only thing he concentrated on. Today if he was starting over, he says he might consider other profit centers, such as an oil change or gas station. Property values are so high now that a new wash would need other income sources to stay profitable.

Weiss Guys has detailing and express detailing at each of its locations, but a lube service at only one operation.

As far as layout, he says it's important to have a tunnel parallel and not perpendicular to the highway.

"The carwash can be part of your sign," he says. "The more exposure you can have with the building and facility, the better off you're going to be."

Wash Type: Full Service

Owner: Mark Meyer

Market: Washpointe Auto Wash has three sites in the Des Moines, IA, area, which has a median income level of about $45,000, Meyer says. Each location has a slightly different demographic mix, ranging from new commercial/residential neighborhoods to older retail areas.

But Meyer says each site needs the same common denominator to be successful. "You have to be in a fairly affluent area," he says. "I think you do better where there are a lot of businesspeople using the road you're on."

The Perfect Wash: Like other operators, Meyer says his dream carwash lot would be on a busy highway with no medians and several nearby traffic lights. In addition, he would pick a site close to upscale restaurants and a shopping mall, in a restricted zoning area that would prohibit someone else from building another carwash close by.

Also, he says surrounding residential neighborhoods should consist primarily of single-family homes, not apartments, because apartment dwellers typically are younger and have less disposable income to spend on a carwash. He says his ultimate tunnel would be about 350 feet long and 200 feet wide.

"I'd have one long line to stack cars, one entrance and four exit areas to dry cars off and vacuum them out," he says. " If we had more land I would have more exit doors."

The exit area would be protected, too, so that drying could be done inside during the winter months. Washpointe has a small gift shop and snack counter at each of its locations with a bright, airy waiting area.

If he could change anything, Meyer says, he would widen his tunnels from 16 to 25 feet, because high-pressure water guns ensure that all windows get washed anyway.

Paul Post is a free-lance writer based in Fortann, NY.