What equipment is best?

[jbruhn]

This will be a very small mat....5-6 washers. We have only 1500 population...in summer 3000. Summer traffic starts in April end in Sept. No other mat in town. Closest is 25 miles.

We will offer other things like hair, nails, tanning. Even a modest but very nice plant nursery. Building is already paid for, just need to do a little work to it. Thought about putting in tile floor....any suggestions there?

On equipment what would be the best mix for such a small place. We will offer drop off wash & fold and provide a drop service for individuals who would like launder/starch and drycleaning. We will take those items to a larger city twice a week if we can make any deals to do so.

Definately need one 50# washer as a lady the other day was drivig 25 miles one way to get a blanket washed. Sleeping bags should be a big thing in the summer. Thanks for the help!

[mike]

Who will burst this bubble ?
I guess I am just a pessimist by nature, but I don't see how this store can ever be profitable (the laundry portion is all that I am addressing)
Not in a high volume area, drop-off will only work with attendant, attendant can only be paid by many machines, many machines are only viable in a high volume area.

[jbruhn]

I appreciate your input.

There is a beauty shop in the same building. There is one nail tech and one hair person(renting from me). The nail tech has said she would like to help with the laundry in exchange for earning some of the revenue of the drop service. The mat portion is partially open to the beauty shop, clear visual and easy communication from mat to beauty side through large window opening.

School kids have NOTHING in town. Thought of putting in a few arcade games, we already ownd a good coin-op pool table and some vending machines.

No rent overhead, some rent income, plant nursery income(no other source of nursery items in growing town) If business bombs, am out improvements to building and whatever loss on already used but nice equipment. Then building is even more rentable due to improvements. Any nursery materials can be sold in in-laws hardware store or sent to best friends nursery.(she volunteered)

Am i still barking up the wrong tree? Thanks in advance for additional input.

[mike]

Even if the rent is paid by the other businesses, and the labor is done free in exchage for drop-off money, it will take forever to get back the money spent on machines, installation, extra utilities repairs etc.
You want a 50 lb. machine (I think that is about US$7,000. I live in Canada & only know Canadian prices) You heard of a woman who wanted to do a wash. Take a pencil and paper and calculate how many washes per day/week/month that you will have to do in order to make money. People in this business talk about "turns per day" that is how many times a day a washer is used (based on weekly avereage) most people agree that you need at least 3 or 4 turns per day to make any money. That's 28 washes a week for EACH machine (52 weeks a year). I don't think you have enough people to do that, you can't make a living on one busy season a year.
However, you don't have a lot to lose, you are right that if it doesn't become profitable, at least you will always have some great equipment. And if you rent and staff don't cost anything, the worst you will be doing is working for free, and tying up some money long term. Best of luck. (I still say you will be disappointed)

[pete f]

I lived in a small town in Maine for years. Pop 4000. It was a trade center for many smaller towns around, out 30-40 miles or so. I knew of a mat, which had apartmets above it, in a small town, pop maybe 1000. The numbers were small, revenue wize.
You have a building and are looking to fill it with money making stuff, laundry, arcade, etc. Depending on what is on the outskirts of your town, it may work. If your town is surrounded by even smaller towns, they will drive 5 miles to wash the comforter every so often.
5 or 6 machines it a tiny laundry, some apartment building have bigger laundry rooms. But it is easier to expand then contract;)
How about 1 55# washer, 1 35/40#, 2 18# and say 3 tops.

Get about 5 single pocket 30# gas dryers, New all this costs about $25k Another 5k to install, electric, gas. I assume you will do much yourself with friends and your town has no real permitting, impact fee process. Decent used may be half, you can find good used single dryers easy.

Normaly I am not for building a new mat, but some circumstance may be workable and lower risk.

[anonymous]

Question -- Do the regular residents of your community have much need for small machines? Or do many have their own washers but need larger machines for big bedding?

If there is not so much of a need for small machines, I think I would be tempted to skip the top-loaders and make 18lb. machines your smallest washers. If you have 5 months of tourists, you can perhaps make more during this time of the year to offset leaner months. Vacationers want to have fun, not wait in line for $2.00 machines -- they will probably use the $3.00 machines even if they don't need washers that big just to get their laundry done fast so they can get back to the fun stuff.

How about this for washers:

2 or 3 18lb. @ $2.00
2 25lb. @ $3.00
1 40lb. @ $4.00
1 55lb. @ $5.50

The 25lb. machine is often overlooked in the laundry mix. It will usually fit a Queen comforter, so it's a convenient size. A 40lb. machine will fit a King comforter with ease. A 55lb. machine will take 2 Queens and the sheets that go with them. You have a captive summer customer base, and a semi-captive base in the other months. Perhaps the pricier machines would be a better fit. What do you think?

P.S. I'm a little partial to Dexter as small repairs are usually easy and straightforward. Also, I have no trouble, for instance, charging $3.00 for the 25lb. machines as they are as wide as a 40lb. machine with the same size door. They say "Triple" on the front, and people perceive them to be a good value.

[Andy]

1-50#/55#
2-30#
2-18#
1-50# single pocket dryer
2-30# stack dryers

my two cents

[Tom Ala.]

I have a store in a town of 1800 and it does about a $1000 a week so you may be understimating the volume. Also if you have no competion the bigest machine that you need is a triple loader, it will do a king size comforter. I personally like the Dexter T-400 its only a 25# but has a big door and curb appeal.
Tom

[jbruhn]

This is by far the best information I have received/found in my research. You guys are great!

Tom,

Can you tell me more about your mat...do you offer other services? (wdf) How many machines do you have and is it sufficient or could you get by with less. Since you operate a smaller mat I am interested in as much info as you can give. Do you have arcade games, etc?

Thanks in advance.....

[Kitty]

Personally, I can't imagine a small laundry making ends meet. You are speaking of a 5 machine mat and several dryers to accomodate those washers? Who are you trying to market to? Are you marketing to the mother of 3 whose kids go camping once a year? She will need a washer once or twice a year for bedding, and sleeping bags? Maybe you could get 20 bucks a year from her? How many more like her in this sleepy town?
The people who do not need a laundromat are the hardest to entice into an laundromat. Only people who need a mat use one.

I vacation a bunch, laundry is not something I consider doing when I am away. Unless I am at the Marriott and they have a convenient mat on the premises. Be very realistic on who and how often will be using this mat. It would be extremely conveneient for many who occassionally use a mat, but there conveneience may not pay for those machines.

You have asked several times about an arcade room. If you can monitor the arcade and keep kids from certain behaviors, an arcade may be profitable for the space. One of the mats has 7 machines. Most mat biz is done on the weekends and people do not come to play the games only, but we make approx 50 bucks a week, per game. 700 bucks gross, we both net 350 for a two week period. We have a company give us games and we do a 50/50 split. They service, count the money and mix and match any machine upon request.

[Gary C]

From the way you discribe it, it sounds like it would do ok. I would go with fronts only. I am with Bubbles on the Dexters. They are reliable and very easy for the customer to use. The fewer the buttons for the customer to push the better. if you can only fit five machines I would go with 3- 18 or 25 pd and at least 2 - 40# You may even want to reverse that. My Dexters have been very good machines.

Good luck
Gary

[jbruhn]

actually, I have room to put whatever I need...problem is, ignorance overwhelms me when it comes to the laundry business. I have two other successful businesses that many would consider risky, but have done very well.....by an ole country gal's standards!!! I have room for at least 20 washers and at least 10 dryers.. seems like it would be overkill. I would rather buy fewer to start but be prepared to add more if needed.

Maybe 8 washers and 3-4 dryers... ????

Thanks for the input.

[Kitty]

8 washers would need more dryer capacity than 3-4 dryers would accomodate.

A mix of 3-25's and 3 40's and 2 tops for a total of 8 machines.
I am not sure what New Mexico prices are but using the average 10cents per pound capacity formula, and a minimum average of 3tpd the daily gross amount needed to make ends meet is $67.50. Do you think you could net 2k per month in washer money alone?

Initial costs for this area not including plumbing and electric would be around 22-25k. Where is your market, and who are you marketing? If you have a market, do the 20 machines, don't do it half assed, provide the services to entice a larger portion of the market you are competing for. 20 machines and 10 dryers is a small laundromat and not overkill. :)

[pete f]

I have read the repiles, and had rethink my response.
I agree with 25# machines, mine get used alot. My first mat I had 2 25's, 3 18"s and about 14 tops. It made good money even though the 25 was my largest machine.

You probably do not need a 55# machine, maybe try 1 40, 1 25 , 4 tops. Maybe 2 25's. Forget 18# machines, mine really do not get used that much. I have to assume you will get people washing bigger stuff anyway. They will use your tops when thier washer breacks, the single guys will use them.

I have mostly Dexter and am happy with thier reliability.

[CharlieS]

I agree that you may have more business available to you then you think. A friend of mine recently opened a mat in a small community I had thought was too small to consider. He has about 10 washers, and is totally overwhelmed with business. His drop off dry cleaning alone is doing 5K a month, and he gets 40% just for handling it.

I have a Maytag store and a Wasco store. I like both. I hear lots of stories about Wascomats, but I have had very good luck with them. Their new stack dryer is very efficent and my customers love them. I'm dumping all of my Maytag tops and replacing them with the Maytag Neptunes, because we are under severe water restriction due to the local drought conditions. The Neptunes are incredibly water efficient, far more then any of the other regular front load style machines, and way better than toploaders. However, they are durable like tops, not like fronts, with a 7-10 year life.

I would consider putting in nothing but about 8 or 10 of the Neptunes, with some stack dryers. Why? You can run drain lines very easily because these are pump, not gravity drain. You can do all the waste lines on the surface of a wall. You won't have a huge outlay for electrical upgrades, since standard 15 amp outlets are all you need, maybe another 200 amp box, no three phase. No special flooring is needed and the thickness of your concrete is not an issue, since these are soft mount. If you want, you can build a platform out of 2 x 8s and plywood (marine grade and pressure treated), to give them a bigger look. They are relatively easy to maintain. Down the road, you can add some bigger machines if the business supports it. Of course, as a pilot, the best part is that they sound like a turbine engine spooling up when they go into extract.

For flooring, sure you can use ceramic tile, but you might consider Armstrong's Safety Zone VCT. This is similar to regular tile, but has a textured non slip surface. You can put it in for half the cost of a ceramic tile floor. I use an automatic floor scrubber to keep mine clean, and my customers and attendants love it.

When it comes to machines, they are all pretty good, and each brand has its great qualities, and not so great qualities. The real key is the distributor. Do they really have good service? Do they really know their business? or are they just trying to pick up a few bucks distributing while they focus on their main business. Locally, one operator of laundromats in VA, several hundred mats, is a dexter dealer. Guess what brand I won't even consider, even though I like the machines. My maytag mat was originally a Speed Queen mat. When I called the SQ distributor for service, he told me that he was tied up working on his own mats and would get to me in about 3 weeks. Guess what I didn't go with when I replaced all of those machines.

However, I have since found another SQ dealer who has a great repuation and takes care of his customers. I thought I had a good wasco dealer, but was wrong. Fortunately, the factory service techs have been great, and I'm a licensed aircraft mechanic, so I do all my own work anyway. My Maytag dealer is pretty good, but prices higher than most other Maytag dealers and runs a huge route business. I'd love to do routes, but can't compete against the distributor economically. However, they do take care of me pretty well, so I can't complain about that.

Talk to all of the dealers/distributors. See what you like and what they say. Check out some of the stores they have built and talk to the operators. Like the SQ distributor I mentioned above, try different dealers of the same equipment. The dealer is the real question, not the make and model of the equipment.

[Goldy]

jbruhn, go for it ! Stick with some larger front loaders, you will need at least one dryer per washer...then just do it. Sorry guys, but you cant underestimate the need in such a small town, you could do 3K a month with a couple video games on the side. Good luck, Goldy

[Anonymous]

I've got lots of Dexters and I like them so much I'm naming my next kid, Dexter.

I like SQ front loaders also, since they have basicly the same guts as a Dexter.

However, I'd never convince my wife (girl or boy) to go with the name "Speed Queen". Then again, it would be better than, "Ipso", and I'm about 3 decades too late for "Neptune", "Huebsch" would probably work in Germany.

[Anonymous]

Hey SuperMe,

I went out with a girl in college named Maytag - and most everybody did.....