24 hr mats

[cdm331]

Everyone on here seems to be worried about payroll and hiring attendants. There are numerous laundry mats around my area and most are 24hrs and dont seem to have attendants. Does anyone on here just have a 24hr shop that they go and clean/maintain every once and a while (3-4 times a week)? I am asking because I know of a coin laundry that is coming for sale, 2200 sq ft, NOT a land lease (comes with the land), 30 washers, 16 dryers and well maintained. I am in the preliminary stages of thinking about buying it but I dont want to worry about payroll. Honestly, whats the point of having someone sit there all day. Is it because things get vandalized/stolen?

[DuboisLaundry]

even an unattended 24/7 laundromat needs to cleaned every day, maybe twice.

you could hire that out to a service instead of a payrolled employee. Ask Bars and Salons who does their cleaning.
While I'm out of town Sheila's contract cleaning will clean my laundromat every morning for about an hour or hour and a half before she goes to clean the saloon, then on to one of her other accounts.

An attendant usually does more than "sit there all day"
Fluff and Fold comes to mind

[pete f]

The guys with the crow bars come out after 1 am. Christmas day we took a 3k hit, and I decided to stop 24/7 at that mat after being 24 for 5 years, 20 breakin, crowbars, Vandals, etc events. Don't include the numerous hours chasing homeless out. I do have 1 24/7 store left. It is 2 blocks away from my house and gets lots of attention. Plus in a resort area so the bar tenders, servers, etc use it at night. All the rest are on closed down at midnight.
as stated, they need to be clean a min of once a day. This is not a good passive investment. It takes owner involement to maximize profit.

[cdm331]

I really am just wondering if its possible to hold down a 40 hr work week AND maintain a Laundry mat without having to hire an attendant. I mean, I could see going in to the mat around 7am to open it, go to work, stop by after work to clean, then go back to close/clean. And when you guys say, "Clean" do you mean scrub down or sweep and straighten up. As far as folding and fluffing I think you are talking about a full service laundry mat, not a self service. I actually did not even know attendants would do that. I never had a washer/dryer growning up so my parents always took me to Laundry mats and no one ever folded our stuff, and I really only remeber one with an attendant. I would not mind putting in the hours, but like I said, I work full time and cant just quit. Plus, I dont think I could live off of the revenue of just one mat. Like, I said I am in the preliminary stages right now, just trying to find out HOW I can find out what I am thinking about getting into (does that make sense?). I did read that before you buy, you need to have a water/gas usage analysis done. Who does that type of thing? A regular lawyer or...? I really appreciate your help guys.

[DaveLevenson]

My store is in a nice, relatively affluent suburban neighborhood. Vandalism and petty crime is minimal in the town. I'm open 24 hours, and attended 8 hours on weekdays. The 2 part-time attendants clean the store, help customers, and do wash-dry-fold. Cleaning the store includes sweeping and mopping the floor, wiping down the tops and fronts of the machines, and washing the glass storefront. Because of the character of the neighborhood, there is less demand for self-service than in some places, but more demand for WDF. The business plan is that the WDF revenue covers the payroll. I visit the store several times each week, probably adding up to about 10 hours. I clean the store on weekends, and I fix machines, clean filters, collect coin, fill the bill-changers, order WDF and vending supplies, and re-stock the soda and detergent machines at random intervals throughout the week. I also watch the store from time to time via remote video surveillance. The overnight unattended period would not work everywhere. It works for me, because the largest local employer is a hospital. People stop by and do their laundry after getting off work at midnight.

I've only once had to eject a homeless person. I've never had to call the local police, though one of my customers did once when the store was unattended.

I don't have a full-time 9-5 job, but I do own another small business, and spend much of the week in its operation, also.

[cdm331]

The mat that I am looking at is not in what I call an affluent neighborhood. It is actually right on the border of the lower income area of my city, maybe a little inside of it. Its not in a horrible area, but its not in the best of area either if you know what I mean. I cant see the clientel that would visit this establishment paying extra for someone to fold their laundry (you guys do charge for that right?). There isnt someone there now that does that. The owner sits around all day and I guess considers himself an attendant, but he literally sits and watchs tv... All day. I was there yesterday. I actually thought he just opened and closed because thats what he told me he did but then I went there yesterday to check out the flow of traffic and he just sits there. So, what other types of things do you guys have your attendants do? Consider that your clientel would not pay for folding and you cleaned it yourself (or hired a service), would it still be neccessary/beneficial to have one?

[Teskid]

Well hey, im new to the forums too, but you should check out 2 of the threads i have made kinda of the same thoughts, questions and ideas going on. But non-the-less about the whole crime rate thing being border line, a questions could never hurt or even maybe if you could research it online or something. Ask how many break inn's he gets or has had, granted he might not be completly upfront with you, but if he gives you a number its something to work from.

[cdm331]

Hey thanks, Ill check out your posts. The local news station here offers a service on their website when you type in the address and it gives you a map of all the crimes for a given time period. It tells you what type/location and other details. I also did a little more research and dug up how to do a water and gas usage analysis.

[Anonymous]

It's certainly possible to run unattended while having a full-time job, I do it with no problem. That being said, I'm in a very safe area where vandalism is by and large not an issue.

I have my doors on a timer, so I don't have to go there to open/close. I have a cleaning lady come every evening for $80 per week.

I think the key to running w/ a full time job is to make it as self-sufficient as possible, so it doesn't 'own' you. Unless you are a single person and don't mind working it every day. For me with a family, I want it to run as much as possible by itself.

- John

[cdm331]

If you have your doors on a timer what if a customer is in there doing laundry when the doors lock? Do they just open from the inside? What if it takes them two trips to get their laundry out of the building? I am totally for making it as self sufficient as possible but the doors on the building I am looking at are large sliding glass doors. I am getting married soon but have no kids so I dont think it would be an issue for me to go by a few times a day.

[Anonymous]

The door has a large lever on the inside; push it, and the door opens even if the lock is engaged. If someone needs to take 2 trips, well then they have to prop the door open so they don't get locked out.

[SmartCard]

I'm open 24/7 and attended fulltime. If I wasn't attended I would be uninsureable, yes I'm in a high crime area. I knew this going into business and I figured payroll as a necessary expense.

[pete f]

If you have your doors on a timer what if a customer is in there doing laundry when the doors lock? Do they just open from the inside? What if it takes them two trips to get their laundry out of the building? I am totally for making it as self sufficient as possible but the doors on the building I am looking at are large sliding glass doors. I am getting married soon but have no kids so I dont think it would be an issue for me to go by a few times a day.

You are looking at standard issue 60/70's florida mat. You will have to replace the sliding door, put in a/c and put in timelocks, plus cams to moderize it. Do not expect the landlord to pay for any of this. I have 1 mat in this shape, the one that was 24/7 but hammered 1 time to many. BTW, it is in a "good area" middle class, retires, caucasion, etc. Right now I pay people to open and close it. The upgrade gets expensive, am not sure what my next move will be. The one we just bought is the same set up, sliding doors, no A/c . We bought the building so no trouble upgrading that one. Again, right now someone opens, another person cleans and closes 7 days a week.

[cdm331]

It actually has cameras but the first thing I plan to do is upgrade that equipment to a DVR and pipe it over a secure VPN so I can watch it from my computer at home. As far as the doors go, it would be nothing for me and my father-in-law-to-be to tear them out and build up a wall, or simply put in windows. I have seen that a lot around here. As far as a landlord doing it, I would expect him to because it would be me. This is not a land lease I am looking at, the property is being sold with the building, the value is in the property actually, not the building. As far as the area I said it was so-so but I fail to see what the race of the local clientel has to do with anything.

[pete f]

There you go! Just get an archtect and engineer to blueprint a wind code door/winow set up, get the permit and your done. then you can use a/c and time locks, not worry so much about who will open or close.
As for the question of race of local clientell it has everythign to do with it. Different type races use laundromats differently. Some tend to be in a bad element type souroundings more often than others.

[cdm331]

Yeah, everything seems to be lining up. I have an accountant at work that is going to look over the tax returns for me and compare those to the water/gas usage (he has clients that own Laundry mats), I work in an IT department full time so I know how to get the whole DVR thing set up, as far as the windows and doors, like I said I am going to pull the old, "I make your daughter REALLY happy" card on my father in law (it ALWAYS works). I also know a guy that owns a home automation business and I am sure I could get the doors on timers really easily. Actually I was thinking if I could get the locks to be actuated manually as well though a computer I could watch on my computer at home to make sure no one is in there before I lock them. AND I have my real estate license so I will be getting a big fat commission off of the whole deal if it closes. Anyway, as far as race, you all are in the biz so you have more experience than I do but I do own rental properties and know others that do and lets just say that every race has a few bad people that negativly represent the group as a whole.