As I was sitting in the Laundry, reading  my copy of Thunder Run, and peeking up to watch some hot milf's undies get dried.  I see this couple come and start to open up all the change machines and refill them.  I saw them take out all of the paper money from the machines.  I first thought I hope they have a CCW for a cash business.  I was half temped to hand them a card for the gun shop that I work for, and try talk to them about how it may be a wise business move to become armed citizens.  Epically in a cash business, with such a poor economy.

I got to thinking that this must be a good business to be in.  People come in all the time and are paying to do their wash every week/ bi weekly etc. People need clean clothes, so it may be a recision proof or resitiant industry.  I am now toying around with the idea that maybe I could open one.  I am waiting for my mothers estate to get settled and have her house sold.  So I would have some capital to put up myself.

Has anyone ever owned  a Coin-Op laundry?  What was the start up costs, pit falls etc?  What should I know or point me into the right direction.

Thank you
Matthew

You need to know how to repair washers and dryers.

Don't know much about them.  I only use em when my clothes are too muddy to put in my own.

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INB4 MC4H, he probably owned one or three...

I'm in a field related to the OPL industry. Might as well get to know the lingo. OPL = On Premises Laundry.



Yes, it CAN be a very lucrative business. I know many who are involved directly with owning and leasing (to) OPL's.



If you want I can give you a number to a guy who does that for a living. He owns, leases and sell OPL's.



Yes, they make cash, lots of cash. I was in TN a few weeks back and walked into his office and there were a dozen bags of quarters laying on his desk. About ten grand worth. A weeks take.
Let me know.

This , If you are gonna open a laundry mat and are buying the equipment for it . Don`t go cheap on the machines. My parents and thier friend owned one back in the 80`s , and they had westinghouse commercial washers that broke down regularly. Besides the start up cost , You will have large electric / gas bills every month.

Electric bill (all those dryers running all day it will be big).

Water bill (all those washers running all day it will be big)

Sunday, I was shooting with a guy that owns some of them in my area. He said his income has tanked recently. He figured much of his business was from Mexicans & many of them have gone home since jobs are drying up. Looks like we'll be left with the bad apples when all the working ones go home.

Unfortunately she passed away a year ago, if she was still around should would not be able to do it as she was disabled and on oxygen.

The one I was at had all Maytag commercial equipment.  Next time I am there, and if I run into the owners I want to get some info from them etc.  I kind of figured about he utility costs for a place like that.

WOW, thank you for the info I will keep that in mind.  Now off to do more research on OPLs.

Sorry man.



 

Seriously, if you're thinking about OPL's, the top three washer/dryers are in order from #1 to #3: Unimac, Milnor and third would be a close tie between Continental-Girbau and Whirlpool/Maytag.



I have very good contacts at the Executive level in all major manufacturers. I can help. And as a fellow ARFcom'r, my help would be oh so free!



Let me know.



 

This is all relevant to my interest.



As my GMA has just recently passed and I was the #1 in her will I will becoming into some funds. This is interesting.



tag

I have an "on premise laundry" system for our table linens (Party rental company)
One washer, one dryer, and one flatwork ironer was about $28000.00

http://www.continentalgirbau.com/

Top notch equipment, but lotta quarters to pay for it.

Andy Griffith tried it, and it didn't work out well for him at all.

I was just involved in a sale for a large resort in WI.



They bought two washers and an ironer. Total was a little over 500k.



Did I mention the washers were 255 pounders? And the ironer took up a whole room.



My favorites to work with are probably Continental or Unimac. Easy to work with/on.



 

If you decide to utilize steam for pressing, drying, or expanding into dry cleaning, remember this website: http://www.laundryanddrycleaningboilers.com/



Here's your rep's site: http://www.delval.com/



The Clearfire line is affordable, reliable, and highly efficient.  Remote modulation control capable, time of day setback (make sure to ask for that, it is not standard (requires another switch), but will allow it to stay warm over the night in the cold winter), and lead lag controllable (if you get really big and require more than 1).

Buddy of mine has one.



It makes OK money but he often complains that the upkeep is a killer.



People (especially the demographic that frequent laundymats) tend to be animals.



Vandalism is a big problem as is vagrancy.



He had a DRAW DOWN™ with shots fired a couple of years ago (thief tried to run him over).

Thank you!

That is a great site I am just reading up on the New Investor section.  A gold mine of info.

Sounds like a good way to launder money.

You missed a decimal.  

Wash/Dry/Fold fucking rocks.

Something similar, I was talking to the owners of a quarter car wash, same thing they were changing out the cash in the machines, no security at all.
I chatted up the owner and he said this one location produced $11k each month. His business did it all, sold the equip, the chemicals, built the bldgs. All you needed was a patch of land and they would do the rest inculding lending you the money.
I asked him about security and maintance. He had a guy who would come around and empty the trash and clean up and keep an eye on the place so vandalism was kept to a minimun.

Don't.

My brother and I would have been generation 5 in the family laundry and dry cleaning business.  My folk just sold out (actually close on the deal tommorow).  Chances are the EPA will be up your ass as you'll be a small quantity generator.  That means those same fluorecent bulbs that the mall tosses in the garbage, you have to ship them off as essentially hazardous waste.  And they might be checking just what you're putting in the sewer too.  Violations are $10,000 per day you're in violation so I'm told...

Hiring good help is next to impossible, which is reason #1 why my brother and I CHOSE not to take it over.  The same thing my grandpa who ran the place complained about 30 years ago my dad is complaining about today and its only gonna get worse with all the damn gov't handouts.  

Don't like the IRS?  Well then coin operated laundry isn't for you.  You see coin laundry's used to realy skirt by on the cash business (all of it practically) and even the mob used them for money laundering.  Tthe IRS caught on.  Well now they come snooping very often and even have it figured out based on how much water your business uses, about how much business that you've done.  Coin op's are audit magnets.  

Equipment is expensive to buy and nearly worthless.  By that I mean it costs a lot to buy but after a few years finding a buyer on the market who wants your old crap is very tough.  A lot of the coin op machines aren't much different than your typical in home washer dryer.  They're not high quality and the constant use is going to mean lots of repairs and replacements.  If you get better commercial type machines that helps but they're more expensive and I'm not even sure they can be made to coin op.

Its not reccession proof.  You'd be suprised what people do when they're short on money.  

If you plan on selling the business when you're done good luck.  Banks don't want to touch the property because of potential enviromental contaminents, even with an eviromental study that says you're clean.  THere are even fewer people wanting to buy.  My folks have had the place on the market for and easy 10 years.  They've had 2 seriously interested  buyers in that time.  The current buyer and the other who was probably going to use it as a drug money laundering business.  He was sent to prision about the time they were in negotiations.  Was and ex deputy DA too...

You will work your ass off.  Owning a business isn't all roses.  My folks work(ed) 60 hours minimum every week.  My brother and I used to work full time in the summers and part time in the winter.  When I went off on engineering internships the last few years my brother stayed full time there.  This year when I got back I've been working about 35 hours a week between classes.  My brother will soon be interning/graduating from his engineering major and leaving.  Dad has said without one of us there at least they would not be able to function (reason #2 for selling).  Want to take a guess at how many vacations we've taken in the last 15 years that were more than a 3 day weekend?  4.  And one of those was my parents 20th anniversary and went on a cruise while my brother and i ran the place.  I was 16 and my brother 14 at the time...  

Can you make a decent living doing it? Absolutely, but you're gonna work at it.  If you think you're gonna be the guy sitting in the office and just collecting all the coins and dollars coming in well you are sadly mistaken.  But if you still want to do it I can ballpark it for you.  $600k bought our place.  That didn't include the corporation but did include a majortiy of the equipment, the building (on main st.) and the accounts.  And that was undervalued/cheap.

If you really want to buy one I don't know of anyone that wouldn't sell there's.  Food for thought...

255's.  Psshhhhh.  Childs play.  We've got 2 135's, a 200, and a 450.  And a couple small 35's for piddly crap.  The 450 is a real monster.  When it spins out and is a little out of balance you can fell the floor rattling 20 feet away.

For those that don't know.  The machine rated weights are dry.  Now imagine 450lbs of once dry towels now very very wet.

I opened one in Bryan/College Station called Fuk-n-Fold.

It was a hybrid wash house / whorehouse.

Basically the sex was free, but laundry was 30 bucks per basket.

Our motto was "We charge by the load".

It was a classy place but we got busted when parents of our college aged patrons became suspicious when their kids failed to show up with the requisite giant bag of dirty laundry on holidays.















Actually a roughneck and I spitballed this idea while bullshitting during some drilling rig downtime...  

Chargerkid touched on this, the EPA has a hard on for going after dry cleaners and some laundromats currently. A local company I know of does contracting for the EPA and is kept in business by doing monitoring wells of dry cleaners and laundromats.

Keep it clean.
Keep the machines working.
Keep the local bums from using it as a hangout.
Check the prices in nearby businesses and charge accordingly.

Building one is an expensive proposition. You need miles of wiring and plumbing, as well as a couple of truckloads of expensive machines. Don't get cheap ones. They'll break down and cost money to repair, plus anger your customers and send them elsewhere. Do have an attendant (you). It makes a world of difference.

Start up cost is pretty high - lots of machines, commercial lease, tradesmen, installation. You'll take about a month to get it running, so your first month will cost you and produce no income. Have a good location with lots of parking and frontage on a busy road. Have a big, nice sign.

All this stuff adds up quickly, so you might be better off if you buy an existing business. Good luck.

No but I ran a Bingo parlor for about 9 months....Lots-o-cash, all the time...lots...

The IRS has a book that tells them how much money you made per machine, by model number, according to what your water/electric bill was.

There are always some businesses/industries that are targeted more than others, and this one seems to be bad right now.

Like any service or retail brick and mortar business:



LOCATION.





Do your demographic research. Diligently.
Speed

Maintenance is a bear.  You absolutely must know how to repair a washing machine.  They take more abuse than the dryers.  I swear some people wash cinder blocks in the things.  They will also do unspeakable violence to the coin mechanisms just to steal a couple of bucks.  If you do not have someone on the premises the machines will be trashed in less than six months.  



Beware of cleaning the lint traps.  We used to burn the lint and had .22's cooking off all the time.  



You'd be surprised by the number of people who wander out without taking their clothes with them.  I always wondered about that.



We made good money but worked an awful lot for it.  Never got robbed.