Building the dream

The dealership of your dreams may seem just that in today’s economic climate — a fantasy far out of reach.
Admittedly, designing or remodeling a marine dealership can be a daunting task. There are hundreds of details that need attention, so many that some dealers compare the time and energy it requires to a full-time job.
Nevertheless, many boat retailers have managed to create first-class facilities throughout the United States during what has been a tough business climate. They have found ways to get their ideas down on paper in a workable form. They have partnered with their local governments to ensure their plans fit in with those of their communities. They have considered how customer traffic should flow and the impression they want to leave on the general public. And, most often, they have gone on to grow their businesses as a result of their capital investments.
“It doesn’t have to be big and it doesn’t have to be new,” said Roy Parker, Jr., owner and president of Parker Boat Company, which opened its second location in Orlando, Fla., in September 2007. “It just has to be organized, well-lit, well-laid-out and have customer controls.”
“Your facilities are a non-verbal message and it does matter,” added Jerry Brouwer, owner of Michigan-based Action Water Sports. “Having facilities that complement the products you sell truly does make a difference.”
A piece of land
Site selection is the first step in dealership design. Waterfront property or highway locations are often desirable because they provide the most visibility.
Candlewood East Marina Club has the best of both worlds. The company’s original location lies on Brookfield, Conn.’s Candlewood Lake. Five years ago, when property across Candlewood Road became available, the dealership snapped it up. When the company was ready to put in a new facility, they had just the place to do it.
Water and highway locations can be expensive, however. For Taylor Richards, owner of Taylor’s Boats in Draper, Utah, it was more important that his company stay within its project budget.
“We took a long time to find the piece of property we wanted,” Richards said. “There were lots of real estate and freeway locations available, but we had a budget to work within, so we looked for alternatives to prime properties. It’s a really good thing we did, because [between] the time we made an offer to first shovel in, construction costs had gone up dramatically.”
There are companies out there that can help dealers approximate the best spot for their dealership. One of them is Statistical Surveys. That company’s market reports can help dealers find the geographic holes the dealer’s products could fill.
With 20 years as a dealer consultant under his belt, David Parker has some very specific ideas about how dealerships should be set up, for efficiency’s sake and customer appeal. One of those ideas is how much land a dealer needs to be able to operate properly.
“For today’s boat dealers, you can do it with less if you have to, but you’re going to need a minimum of three acres, and you really ought to have four to five,” Parker said. “Less limits the volume you can do out of your business.”
Inspiration
But what do you put on this plot of land? Dealers have spent months and years researching the different aspects of their dealerships-to-be. Those in 20 Groups have benefited from the site visits the group conducts for its meetings.
Dealers have also visited and researched local automobile and Harley-Davidson dealerships, as well as other retailers. Additional resources include experts such as Parker, Spader Business Managment or the consultants at Retail Design Associates.
Dealers aspiring for a high-end aesthetic for their new or refurbished facilities most often turn to high-end automobile dealerships for inspiration and can bring ideas from multiple stores together in their own design. Utah Water Sports owner Wayne Sorensen took cues from the local Porsche dealer to create the top-tier look he was going for at his Mastercraft-only dealerships.
In 1999, Sorensen bought his first dealership, an existing one, outside Salt Lake City. He started another, near Spokane, Wash., a year ago and currently has two more in the works. The detailed finishes the dealerships boast, such as Italian porcelain tile on the floors, help justify in the customer’s mind the price of the boats and gives a high-end lifestyle vibe, Sorensen says.
Ask the expert
Though it specializes in designing for the powersports industry, Retail Design Associates has worked on a number of marine dealership projects. The company not only helps dealers with store design, but also how to best merchandise that store once the structure itself is complete.
Consultants bring a lot to the table. They have years of experience and observation under their belts. Select consultants can also coordinate the varied parties involved in making a new facility a reality, creating a fluid production from start to finish.
All-in-all, RDA President Jim Rasmus estimates it can cost $80-$100 per square foot to build a dealership. Consultants can help make sure dealers are planning and spending efficiently.
Parker helped Scooter Rambo, owner of Rambo Marine near Huntsville, Ala., plan for and bring to reality the company’s second dealership, in Birmingham, Ala.
“Absolutely use a professional,” Rambo recommends. “Parker has seen every kind of dealership known to man. It was money well-spent. It costs more to expand a small showroom than to hire someone to help you do it right.”
One of the first pieces of advice Parker gives, is that dealers must make allowances for their own time during construction. Managing the building process is like a full-time job, he says, and it means that if the owner is a primary sales person, then sales could fall off due to lack of attention. In such a case, arrangements should be made for someone else to cover for the time he will be away taking care of all the decisions and details involved with the new project.
Rambo also learned the importance of service bay dimensions from Parker. He was planning for bays that were 35-feet deep, but Parker recommended 50 feet for the spaces. This is one of Parker’s top design principles and is part of an entire service department schema.
The Parker plan
The Parker service department plan calls for double bays that run crosswise with a door on each end of the building for a drive-thru effect. Wide doors reduce the likelihood of boat damage.
Parker recommends radiant heat in the service department floor for dealerships in Northern climates and says all bays should have hang down air and electric with a trouble light. Dealers also need to consider whether they want drains in the floors, how to get exhaust out of the department, and where access to water would be beneficial, if anywhere.
Many dealers recommend having a wall of glass into the service area from the service writer’s desk or showroom. This feature not only encourages techs to keep the area clean, but also can build positive attitudes among both employees and customers.
When designing the interior layout of a new facility, one of the most important things dealers need to consider is how they want traffic to flow through the building. Parker favors a tightly controlled model, with only one door for customers to enter and exit through. Many dealers use this method and opt to post a receptionist or salesperson at the entrance to ensure customers are greeted and properly directed within seconds of their arrival.
Another method many dealers use to control customer traffic flow is the hub concept. This idea places the service writer at the center of a virtual wheel, with the showroom and service, parts and accessories departments as spokes to the wheel.
The hub serves multiple purposes to benefit the dealership. It brings customers through the showroom and gets them to take a look at the new boats that are for sale, no matter what their intention at the dealership. It also centralizes the departments mentioned above for greater interdepartmental efficiency. That efficiency often means a dealership can be run with fewer personnel, Parker said.
“With the hub concept, we can have a set of eyes on all four corners of the store at any one time,” said Paul Vitucci, owner and general manager of Redline Watersports in Madison, Wis. Vitucci and his team refurbished an existing building to house the company.
Zoning considerations
It’s likely that even dealers building in the most remote corner of America will face some kind of government regulations when creating a new facility.
From the kind of grass businesses can plant in the yard to fire sprinkler systems, zoning restrictions can range from the seemingly trivial to the serious and, to be in business, dealers must comply. Many dealers who’ve built or remodeled a location recommend studying local zoning codes and being patient, as the permitting process can take a long time.
Candlewood East Marina Club faced both small and large roadblocks along its design path to get its facility completed. Since the dealership was in a residential area, Candlewood East was required to have a more residential look: no exterior metal paneling, lots of earth tones.
One of the biggest challenges the dealership faced resulted from it not being on city water. The facility needed a sprinkler system, so the company decided to put an 85,000-gallon holding tank under its accessory room. The dealership worked with the city and the Connecticut fire marshal, and part of their collaboration will eventually become state code, said Mitch O’Hara, Jr., vice president.
“It was one of the bigger cost overruns,” O’Hara said. “We looked at it as a positive. It’s just things you wouldn’t normally think of. It took more time.”
Creating the “wow” factor
Aesthetics are all about the “wow” factor, appealing to people’s emotional side to get them excited about making a purchase, according to RDA’s Rasmus.
“We need that ‘wow’ factor to make the customer want that product,” Rasmus said, “because we’re selling stuff that people don’t necessarily need.”
Redline Watersports’ Vitucci starts creating the desired impression long before customers step inside with what he calls “the doggy in the window.” It might seem like a simple window display, but that shiny new boat in excellent lighting stands out to people driving by on the highway.
“With the constraints of the building [which was previously an office warehouse structure,] we needed to make a strong impact,” Vitucci said. “We literally removed that corner of the building, added glass and flooded it with lights. At night, it absolutely catches folks’ eye.”
The “wow” factor can come in other forms, as well, especially in creating excitement around the boating lifestyle. Dealers should keep the lifestyle they’d like to portray in mind from the first day they think of designing a new facility all the way through to incorporating the little details that will bring the feeling home for the customer.
Candlewood East went all out to give its facility a luxurious New England-style look to put customers in an aspirational mood. The business built elevated docks in its showroom so customers could get a better all-around look at the boats. There are sea wall-like accents. The floor has a watery look, thanks to sealed concrete. The ceiling is knotty pine. Murals cover many of the walls. The company even bought new furniture and toolboxes for the service department.
“We wanted to dress it up,” O’Hara said. “We tried to make it a destination. It’s a boat showroom, not a boat warehouse.”
The interior feeling carries over to the building’s outside features. Along its in-water docks, Candlewood East has closing cottages that add some extra New England appeal.
Dealership interiors should also lend a sense of comfort, Rasmus suggests. Since big-ticket purchase decisions are often made by more than one person in the family, dealerships should be pleasing to all those who shop there, including men, women and children. Utah Water Sports incorporates a children’s play area into all its dealerships. Sea Ray’s Master Dealer program scores dealers on whether or not they offer a children’s play area and a comfortable waiting area containing, among other things, a TV/video playback device, reading materials and vending machines.
An inviting atmosphere can give comfort on another level, said Brouwer of Action Water Sports, which opened its third location, in Fenton, Mich., in October 2007.
“We wanted a look where the facilities complimented the products inside,” he explains. “When the doctor or a lawyer comes in, he feels comfortable and thinks this business is reputable.”
One of the final touches in dealership design is filling the facility with product.
Many dealers recommend a showroom with flexibility: something that will not only allow boats to be rearranged easily, but also for the dealership to adjust with the seasons.
Rambo Marine invested early in its new Birmingham, Ala., facility to make sure its products would be in Sunday-best mode at all times. To prevent color fading and help control the showroom temperature, the dealership installed Low-E (low-emissivity) glass. Metal halide lights, which are high-intensity yet efficient, were then chosen to add to the dealership’s industrial look.
In the end, successful dealership design is all about preparedness, according to Taylor’s Boats’ Richards.
“I think it’s really important to make sure you have everything very well thought out, very detailed,” Richards said. “Lighting, heating, cooling. Where will you wish you had electrical? Think of the way it flows. Personnel positioning. Traffic flow with customers coming in, parking and going through the showroom. Think out all the details of every department, every inch. It will make a big difference in how effective you are every day.”