Laundry services: What it takes to start

DANIEL ZUBAIR|

With the ever evolving working population of 76.96 million  who daily engaged in how to survive and hardly have time to handle their domestic activities of which cleaning is pivotal, it makes laundry services a business with good potential in terms of client base and profit making. Being one of the largest small business industries with a vast customer base it has overtime proved to be highly profitable both for new and existing entrepreneurs. With a good location, highly skilled workers, and an exceptional customer service, you can grow a successful laundry service business in one year
What Is The Laundry Service Business About?
The laundry service business is the professional washing of clothes and materials like rugs for a community, through the use of washing machines or other traditional means like washing with hands. This service usually comes at a fee, after which the individual may pick up the clothing from the dry cleaner at the agreed time or day of delivery.
Categories of laundry services:
1). Dry Cleaning:
This being one of the most obvious domestic problems is the key revenue spinner in the laundry service business industry. Since a great number of people in every locality want to dry clean their items at their convenience, the business sector continues to flourish.
2). Ironing Clothes:
While dry cleaning also involves ironing the clothing after the final wash, some individuals literally bring in their rumpled clothing just to have them ironed. This creates a less stressful revenue stream for a dry cleaner since they only have to focus on just straightening the item.
They can charge as low as N100 per clothing ironed and if they dropped off 10, it results to N1,000. This model can cause a dry cleaner to make as much as N100,000 in some locations extra monthly, from just ironing clothes for people..
Some Facts about Laundry Service Business
1). The prices are based on the cost of doing business.
2). Not all stains would likely disappear.
3). Damage to clothes could occur.
4). Dry cleaned clothes last longer than hand washed clothes.
5). Clothes can shrink.
The Different Types of Laundry Services:
1). Laundromats:
Laundromat
A laundromat is a self-service laundry business where customers can wash and dry their clothes in the washing machines themselves, fully operated by a coin. It is also called coin laundry, coin wash, launderettes, or wash-a-teria, and is popular in Europe and America.
2). Staffed Laundries:
Staffed Laundries
Here, the laundry service businesses employ staff to provide the dry cleaning service to the customers. The staff could either sit over the counter to sell detergents, offer change, monitor to ensure clothes don’t get stolen, and sometimes, accept to do the laundry on behalf of the customers. This laundry service is popular in the United States and the United Kingdom.
3). Fluff n Fold Services:
Fluff n Fold Services
This is the most popular type of laundry service in Africa, especially Nigeria. Here, the laundry business accepts the drop-off of clothing from the customers and provides them a wash, dry, ironing, and folding service. Some even offer a pick up and delivery service. This service is also known as the Wash-n-Fold, Drop Off, Bachelor Bundles, or a Full-Service Wash.
Setting Up Your Laundry Service Business Requires The Followings:
1). Register the Business and Get the Necessary Permits:
Business registration is a must for every vision driven business laundry service business inclusive. This gives your business a good legal ground to operate from as a brand in your business category.

2). Select A Good Location:
Picking the right location for a dry cleaning business is highly crucial to its success. The best locations are usually highly trafficked areas. By situating your dry cleaner beside a road motorists ply a lot, with a bold sign board advertising your service, your client base would grow quicker than that of a dry cleaner in a quiet neighbourhood.
Another place to choose a location is within a private estate, but close to the relaxation spots or very close to the entrance. The regular influx of people in those areas would get them to notice your business faster and so, grow your patronage.
3). Purchase the Dry Cleaning Equipments and Resources:
After selecting a great location to setup your dry cleaning business, you should acquire all the equipments that’d help make your business services efficient. Some of these include:
–    Washing machines.
–    A washing basin to separate and soak different materials and colours of clothing.
–    A generator set to power your laundry business incase of an electricity outage.
–    A garment conveyor to hang the finished clothes.
–    An ironing table to straighten and fold the dried clothes with an industrial steam iron.
–    Starch.
–    Laundry detergents specifically used by dry cleaners.
–    A water storage or tank.
–    Wooden shelves.
–    Clothe hangers.
–    Tags.
–    Nylons.
–    Buckets.
4). Market or Promote Your Laundry Service Business:
After you’ve fully setup your laundry service business, you can proceed to promote it by doing some of the followings:
Display Banner
Flyers
Social Media
Branding a vehicle to be used in a pick-up & drop-off service
Mouth-to-mouth
Referral Incentive
Price Promo
Go the extra mile in your customer service.