How to Start a Profitable Laundry Business in 2024

With an average unleveraged return of 20-30%, the average laundry business is a great cash-flowing investment that outperforms the average real estate investment of 7-10%.

Laundry business returns beat almost every other investment average, demonstrating that laundry businesses done correctly may be a very profitable industry to enter.

There are many possible ways to launch a laundry business today. Anyone can start a laundry business, as there are no precise prerequisites to starting one. But to make the business profitable, it is in your hands.

It's the choices that you make along the way and the decisions that you make as you begin the venture that determine the success as well as the profitability of your business.

In the following segment, we will take a look at how you can start a profitable laundry business.

Steps To Start a Profitable Laundry Business

A laundry business is a very flexible enterprise that can be undertaken in any number of ways, but to make it profitable is to focus, not on the business itself, but on the factors that surround that laundry business, like its location, the demand for the business and the financial status of your targeted customer base.

These are the factors that you need to put much thought into if you want to make your laundry business a success. Let's get started.

Step 1: Market Research! Know Your Demand

Market research is always the first step in starting any business, but it is even more important to conduct thorough market research before starting your laundry business because the requirements and demand for a laundry business vary on different scales depending on the customer you choose to target.

Know the demand for a laundry business in your planned location, and understand the type of people who will be using your laundry business and what their laundry needs will be.

This will help you to determine whether the laundry business is the right option for you, if it will be successful in your chosen area, and what you can do to ensure its success.

Step 2: Choosing Your Laundry Niche

After you have completed your market research, it is time to decide on the type of laundry service you will run. Carefully choose your laundry niche, as it may have an influence on the success of your laundry business.

Coin laundromat or Self-service laundry

If your business is surrounded by student dormitories, studio apartments for single people, or working-people hostels, a self-service laundry service or a coin laundromat will be the ideal option, as this will allow them to get their laundry done at a low cost and at a convenient time.

Wash and fold services and Dry cleaning services

If your site is bordered by residences with well-to-do families, a wash-and-fold service or a dry cleaning service will be the best fit for a laundry business, as this demographic prefers to get their chores done in a more sophisticated manner and is willing to pay for the comfort as well as the services.

Offering comfortable services to consumers, such as a waiting room with a television, vending machines, or a children's zone, can improve their experience, and you can even consider making deliveries.

Pick-up and drop laundry service

If your business is in a commercial neighbourhood rather than a residential one, try offering wash and fold services or dry cleaning services with pick-up and drop options. This is because customers may not want to travel long distances simply to get their laundry done, thus a pick-and-drop laundry service will be most advantageous in this location.

There are still numerous alternatives to running a washing business in your area. So, analyse your customer base and create a business plan with a unique selling point (USP) that will pique the interest of your target audience.

Step 3: Write a Business Plan

Once you've determined your specialty in the washing industry, you should write down a business plan.

Make a business plan that is tailored to your chosen laundry business niche. Include the necessities, from equipment to funds, plus how you intend to obtain them.

Include your unique selling proposition along with your marketing techniques. The plan must also include your estimated start-up and operating costs, as well as your expected return.

Step 4: Registering Your Laundry Business and get the required licences

The next step to starting your laundry business is registering your business and obtaining the necessary permits. Pick a name for your laundry business and open a business bank account.

Registering your business

When registering your business, you may be prompted to choose a business structure. You have four options for business entities: sole proprietorship, limited liability company (LLC), partnership, and corporation.

The business entity you choose will affect how your firm functions in terms of personal liability and taxes, so think about it carefully and perhaps consult with a legal consultant before making a decision.

Obtaining necessary business permits

The permits you will require will differ based on the location in which you operate your services. For example, you may be required to obtain a general business license in addition to particular permits such as a health permit from the local health department, a water pollution control permit, and so on.

Find out what permits you'll need from your local government and apply for them as soon as possible.

Step 5: Acquire Necessary Funding

Aside from rent, your biggest expense will most likely be laundry equipment. Laundry machines can cost anywhere from $100,000 to $400,000 on average; therefore, find a way to finance them.

There are various options for obtaining loans for laundry businesses all around the world, so research your choices to find out your eligibility for loaning funds. When starting a washing business, equipment finance will come in handy.

Create an estimate on how much money you'll need to buy all of the necessary equipment, and apply for the right loans.

Step 6: Get Laundry Machines and Other Necessary Equipment

After you've registered your business and secured the necessary finances, the next step is getting the necessary laundry machines and other equipment.

To set up any form of laundry service, you will need approximately 20 pairs of washers and dryers. If it's a coin laundry machine, you'll have to get those properly installed for customer use.

Customers will not be able to use the machine for wash and fold services, but your staff will require flat irons and steamers to fold their clothing.

Change machines, credit card payment systems, laundry carts, soap dispensers, vending machines, security cameras, and other essential laundromat equipment are also required.

Step 7: Apply for the right insurance

Get insurance for your business's equipment and other potential liabilities. Business insurance may cover a major amount of losses resulting from a variety of events, such as lawsuits, property damage, and employee diseases, which is why insurance is essential when beginning a business.

In a laundry business, general liability insurance, business property insurance, workers' compensation, and commercial auto insurance are what you may need.

Step 8: Hire Staff Members

You might not need much staff if you're launching a coin laundry or a tiny home-based wash-and-fold business. However, as your business expands, you will most likely require employees to serve a variety of roles. The roles in a laundry business include:

Laundry attendants with varying tasks (part-time or full-time), front-desk staff, delivery persons, accountants, and so on

Depending on the size and needs of your business, you may need to hire for all of these positions or just a handful. You may also recruit numerous workers for a single role or a single person for multiple responsibilities, according to your needs.

Step 9: Develop Your Online Platform

Creating a digital presence is what you should focus on after getting a team ready to work, as an online platform will help the customers look up the type of services you offer, your opening days and timings, the reviews your business has received from your customers, and so on. This enhances the user’s experience with the business and considerably improves the convenience of both yourself and the customer.

A well-designed website and app will also increase your credibility with potential customers and encourage them to choose your business over the competition. The platform could eventually become a channel that helps with the marketing of the business as well.

Creating a platform can be done in two different ways: Custom development and Ready-made solutions, each of which has its own pros and cons. Let's briefly look into them both.

Custom development

Custom development is the method where you take total control over the platform development process by hiring a software developer or development firm to build your platform, convey the requirements of your laundry platform to them and have them bring your vision for the platform to life.

Custom development gives you complete authority over the platform. However, establishing your platform from scratch can be much more expensive and time-consuming.

Ready-made solution

Readymade solutions are pre-made business platforms(website and mobile apps) that you can purchase, rebrand, and use for your business. These solutions already have the features and functionalities that are needed for a particular business platform, and all you have to do is customise it according to your business and launch the platform.

Readymade solutions can be used for all kinds of business including laundry business.

For example, WooberlyClean is our readymade platform that can be purchased and used for a laundry business.

WooberlyClean is a laundry business solution that supports four types of users: the end users, the laundry business stores, the delivery partners, and the admin who connects them all. This platform could also be modified according to the needs of your laundry business.

Using a ready-made solution like WooberlyClean would be a cost-effective approach to establishing your laundry business platform, and it can be done in a relatively short time as well.

Every business has unique needs, so think carefully about which of the two methods is more compatible with the needs of your laundry business and launch a platform that will enhance your convenience in running a laundry business.

Step 10: Market Your Business

Once you have your place stocked with washers and dryers, have your team of skilled people ready to hop into work and your platform up and running, all that remains is to get actual customers and kick-start your laundry business, but you might be wondering how you are going to get your initial customers.

We’ll tell you how. Start marketing your laundry business online and offline.

Offline advertisements

Start by advertising your business in the local newspaper or handing out flyers in areas where you know you'll get potential customers.

As a new business, you can offer discounts to attract the initial customer, and if your services make a good impression on them, word of mouth will soon become one of your most advantageous channels that will significantly help you grow your business.

Social media marketing
Use social media platforms to advertise your services. Create posts that speak to your expertise in business. It could be a video that instructs the viewers on how to care for a certain type of fabric while washing, or a vlog that shows how systematically the work goes on at your laundry place.

Introduce your employees and have them share their tips on how to get the laundry done in easier and more efficient ways. By doing this, you show that you know your job to your potential customers and also reach the specific audience who will benefit from your offered services.

Search Engine Optimization

Practising SEO can significantly improve your business’ reach by helping your website rank near the top of relevant search results.

Its goal is to boost your website's ranking in search results pages, as the higher the website is ranked, the more people will view it and be aware of your business.

Google My Business

Google My Business is a tool that can improve your business profile's visibility and effectiveness, as it allows you to access, customise, maintain, and enhance your business profile on Google for free.

This helps your platform to grow organic traffic and build brand awareness among local customers.

Pay-per-click advertising

Using Google Ads and Facebook Ads is another recommended method that can help you reach a larger audience once you have captured the interest of local customers.

Wrap up,

The laundry business is very traditional, and it is a very saturated market, but at the same time, it is also a business that never goes out of demand. We are living in a fast-paced world, and with the current day scenario, people rarely have the time to carry out many of their everyday chores, and the laundry in the chair at the corner of our house continues to pile up.

Yet the clothes aren't going to wash themselves; someone has to take care of them, so be the one to take advantage of the scenario, come up with an attractive solution to the laundry issues of the people of today, and start your laundry business. And for doubts about how you could launch your laundry business platform, reach out to us; we can help you with all your queries on how you can get your business online. Good luck!