Renovating Your Facility

The aesthetics of your facility are important to the success of your operation. If you have been in business for several years, take a close look at your shops. Does it look dated? Are the facilities in less than perfect condition? If so, it may be time for a renovation.

Lube Stop renovated its 36 stores in the Cleveland, Ohio area in 2006 and 2007. The project started when the company realized it had six stores that needed updating because of their condition and a couple that were in violation of some city codes.

“We researched and developed a new store design that was easy to implement and was scalable to all of our locations,” says Tom Morley, President of Lube Stop. “We completed the first six stores and car counts increased at all six locations almost immediately.”

OCH International recently renovated three existing Oil Can Henry’s centers. “The Oil Can Henry’s brand communicates a commitment to quality and attention to detail, so it’s important that our centers are clean and inviting,” says Bob Bailey, Vice President of Real Estate for OCH International. “We renovate centers as needed to ensure they represent our brand effectively.”

The company also converted seven quick lube centers to the Oil Can Henry’s brand. “These buildings did not have the welcoming look and feel of our Oil Can Henry’s centers, so we conducted extensive remodeling work to ensure the buildings match the Oil Can Henry’s brand,” adds Bailey.

Updating the Look
There are many ways to update the look of your facilities. It may be as easy as some new paint or new signage. If you have multiple stores, remember to maintain a consistent look at every store to promote your brand and build customer awareness.

You might be surprised how a renovation will attract customers. “The appearance of most of our stores was dated and stale,” says Morley. “The market was used to our appearance and as a result, many of our stores were going unnoticed.”

When considering an update, it is important to put in the time and effort to research and develop a new look. Morley says he kept an eye out for what national chains were doing over the past few years. He noticed that Dairy Queen, Dunkin Donuts, National City Bank and Charter One Bank had all gone through extensive rebranding initiatives in his market area.

When developing the new design, Morley suggests getting your employees involved in the process. “Get employee feedback during the development of a new exterior look,” he says. “Have employees participate in the repair and repainting inside the store using some of their own ideas.”

Where to Begin
If you have multiple stores, you may not be able to do all of the stores at once. It is best to start first with the stores that are in the most need of an update. Morley says that Lube Stop upgraded blocks of stores in close proximity to each other to maximize the impact of their efforts and show the market that theirs was a rebranding effort, not just one-off store updates.

Once the shops in the most need are updated, Morley suggests targeting the busiest stores next in order to get the image out quickly and ensure a faster return on investment on the work done. Morley says that Lube Stop then followed up with its slower stores after they had good proof that rebranding the stores had a positive impact on their car counts and employee morale.

Closing for Renovation
Depending on how extensive your renovation, you may have to close your shop during the work. Lube Stop’s renovation was a fairly simple rebranding. The company incorporated new pole and monument sign faces, used Lube Stop blue to accent the building and added building signage in cities where zoning allowed it. They also painted the exteriors and interiors with Lube Stop blue and used safety yellow around pit rails and hand rails. Lube Stop did not close during their store renovations.

On the other hand, Oil Can Henry’s store renovations were more extensive and required them to be closed. The company installed new equipment such as computers and consoles as well as new lube consoles and dispensing guns. They also put in new flooring and painted the entire center inside and out.

“We were able to complete renovations in four or five days by closing the center,” says Don Weber, Director of Operations for OCH International. “While the center was closed, we kept one person at the center to hand out discount coupons and direct customers to the nearest Oil Can Henry’s. We also provided free fluid top-ups during this time to provide added value and encourage customers to come back when we reopened.”

The conversions took much longer. “The remodels have required that we close the business for a minimum of 45 days because the required work is much more extensive,” says Bailey.

Hiring the Right Contractor
When you decide to renovate, you likely will need to hire contractors to do some, if not all of the work. “When selecting your contractors, remember that price is not the only issue,” says Weber. “You need to be comfortable that the contractor is qualified to do the work and complete the project on time.”

Weber recommends checking with your state’s contractors board to get more information on the contractors you are considering. He also suggests asking the contractor for referrals.

Asking specific questions of the contractor can help you make the best decision. “Find out how much of the work they subcontract and how much they handle themselves,” Weber says. “Less subcontracting and more ‘hands on’ gives the contractor more control over quality and time.”

Once you select a contractor, you will need to set target dates for the work to be done. “We set specific deadlines with our contractors and include incentives or penalties on a case-by-base basis,” says Bailey. “While incentives and penalties can be effective in maintaining a construction schedule, we have found that some contractors are not greatly influenced by them, especially when there are a lot of projects available in the market.”

It is important to keep on schedule, especially if you have to close your store during renovation. “We were extremely careful to stay on track and reopen when we said we would,” Weber says.

Improving Customer Service
You may not think that renovating your shop will have an effect on your customers, but you are wrong. “Without a doubt, rebranding has helped our car counts, sales and, overall, our company’s brand,” says Morley.

Morely says that during the renovation project, he read Malcolm Gladwell’s Book, The Tipping Point, which discussed the “broken windows” theory. The concept being that a seemingly small thing like not repairing a broken window signals indifference, which can spread if not addressed. Using this theory, New York City significantly reduced crime rates in the subway system by fixing the “broken windows” (e.g. removing graffiti, fixing turnstiles, arresting fare-beaters, removing panhandlers, etc.) that were leading to bigger problems.

“In this context, I realized that cleaning up the appearance of our stores was possibly more important for our employees and their morale than it was for our customers,” notes Morley. “We fixed the ‘broken windows’ in our stores and teams immediately had more pride in their stores, spent more time cleaning them, made repairs immediately, and ultimately delivered better, faster service to customers as a result of the improved morale.”

Renovating a facility is about more than a fresh coat of paint. Keeping your store inviting and appealing to customers can help improve car counts and customer retention. As with any project, be sure to do your research before doing any work.

 

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