A laundry service is an entrepreneurial business that is both lucrative and profitable. Once set up, it does not require ongoing investments and the revenue generated is often sufficient to live comfortably. However, you need essential service equipment to get this business off the ground, and these might cost a few thousand in total.
We shall be examining a checklist of the laundry equipment you might require for the operational efficiency of your proposed laundry shop.
Before going further, it must be pointed out that there are two kinds of the laundry business. The type operational in the United States and other developed countries is where a customer walks into the laundry station and gets assigned to a laundry machine that he operates by himself. The customer operates the machine himself and pays for the service.
In the other type, the laundryman washes the clothes and irons them in his shop for pickup or delivery to the customer.
We are examining the second type since this is more exhaustive. The customer brings the clothes or asks you to pick them up before they are washed in your laundry shop and then ironed perfectly before delivery or pickup by the customer.
So what are the necessary equipment to start this laundry business?
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Industrial Washing Machine
Gone are the days when laundrymen washed customers’ clothes with their bare hands using soap and water. Today, they use washing machines which come in various sizes with several optional features. Since this is a business, you can’t afford to wash 30 customers’ clothes with bare hands when they all have a delivery deadline of two days.
You require an industrial laundry machine that can handle large volumes of laundry operations with ease.
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Industrial Dryer
No competent laundry businessman would spread out his customers’ clothes to dry in the sun. Imagine a scenario where your laundry mart is located in an area where there is no sufficient space to dry out the clothes in the sun. How do you handle a large volume of customers’ orders in such a situation? That is why you require an industrial blower or dryer which can dry your clothes after bringing them out of the washing machine. It is faster and more business-like.
In addition, it is advisable that you have a hand-dryer for smaller dying jobs after washing them.
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Pressing Iron And Ironing Board
You require a pressing iron to make your customers’ laundry look more presentable before delivering them. You can utilize table irons for the work, but this is slower and more tedious if you have to get through a large volume of clothes. But an industrial pressing iron would be faster with impressive ironing output. You also require an ironing board where ironing activities can be carried out with ease in a corner of your laundry shop.
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Hangers And Cloth Racks
While you might need a drying line or rack to dry laundered clothes, you also need hangers and racks to distinguish and present completed jobs. Clothes that go on the hangers or rack are ready for delivery or collection by the customer and they make your job and effort to look professional. You must, however, ensure that you buy wood hangers since these tend to last longer than plastic ones.
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Sterilizing Machine
If community hospitals and hotels are among your clientele, you might want to invest in a laundry sterilizing machine to sterilize the clothes they bring in. Knowing fully well that infections and disease-causing germs are rife in hospital bedclothes and patients’ clothes, the sterilizing machine will sterilize the clothes to disinfect them of germs and disease-causing bacteria.
The same goes for clothings brought from hotels and motels around town, you must sterilize them before washing.
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Water Heaters
Some clothes must only be washed with hot or lukewarm water to preserve their fabrics and colors. With a water heater system, heating water for laundry purposes will be easier for you. In fact, some clothes are best soaked in warm water to deal with their stains and kill germs.
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Laundry Baskets
This is a no-brainer. Laundry baskets are required for storage purposes. Dirty laundries are kept in a large laundry basket until they are ready to go into the washing machine. The use of baskets makes for orderliness and organization, you don’t want to dump customers’ clothes around until you can get to them. You can even label or tag each laundry basket differently with the names of customers to determine the rightful owners.
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Large Containers
You need large containers to accomplish many laundry purposes such as:
- Soaking dirty clothes
- Mixing chemicals
- Applying starch or dyes
- Storing water
You can also use the large containers for other purposes related to any laundry activity.
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Detergent And Stain Removers
No laundry activity can be carried out without good detergents. These must be detergents that protect and enhance colors as well as kill germs. The type of detergent you use should be your own choice, but they must be budget-friendly to help you save costs when you have to deal with large volumes of clothes. It is also wise to use soaps where possible.
Meanwhile, it pays to have stain removers handy in case you need to deal with tough stains. There are different types of stain removers, so you must acquire the ones that work best for your laundry needs. You may also consider the use of baking soda since it helps to remove cloth stains.
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Baking Soda And Laundry Additives
Experienced dry-cleaners and laundrymen agree that baking soda helps to remove stains and odors from clothes. Additives make it easier to remove tough stains, deodorize the clothes, soften them for washing, and kill infectious germs. They make your job easier and beautify your customers’ laundry after you are done with them.
Do not forget to keep a sewing kit handy in case you need to sew a small portion of clothes.
Conclusion
Haven established the importance of laundry equipment for your laundry shop, it is important to consider the cost of this equipment and determine if acquiring fairly used equipment would be preferable until your business grows.
It is best to buy durable brands and to be certain that repairing them is cheap and affordable. It is also advisable that you buy equipment with sizes that can fit into your shop or usable space.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko