Buying Commercial Laundry Equipment and Machines

With every coin operated laundromat you will always need to buy or lease commercial laundry equipment. The machines that you buy will need to be capable of handling the volume of laundry washes and dries for your business. I would also recommend that you acquire equipment that can handle a little more then your regular traffic. Having spikes in volume at various times of the year is when your equipment is put through heavier loads, and for longer periods of time. Having the right laundromat equipment will help keep them all working when you need them and minimize repair costs and down time.

Commercial Laundry Machines

In the laundromat business, there has been a large focus in recent years to use more energy efficient machines. Many laundromats have switched to higher efficiency equipment many, many years ago. In the past, the standard was to have high volume and high performance laundry equipment in laundromats, sacrificing the efficiency in order to provide more powerful machines. This provided the customer with the ability to wash bigger loads and get out stains that their regular laundry machines at home could not do, thus attracting more customers. Many of the manufacturers of commercial laundry equipment have been doing it for many decades, as an example, Queen has been building washers and dryers for over 100 years. That kind of history and longevity is something you should look for in deciding on the brand of commercial equipment you want to use. There are a lot of manufacturers on the market, all ready and willing to sell you their machines. Look for warranty service, local warranty authorized dealers, on-site service, warranty length. Also, many of the commercial laundry machine manufacturers will work with you to setup all your machines on-site, as well as install and setup all the coin/card readers for the machines.

Commercial Laundry Machine Distributors

The distributor, or manufacturer of the machines must be a consideration in your laundromat business. You will need to research and chose wisely. The majority of the distributors of commercial laundry equipment are committed to seeing each and every coin operated business succeed and will always work with the owners and operators to optimize their business and profit goals. There are of course, the distributors that are just trying to make a buck and will sell you anything, as long as they think you'll buy it, regardless if you actually need it or not. Look for a laundromat equipment distributor that is focused on listening to your requirements, goals and needs, not one that is all talk and tells you what you need. There are some cases where you might not know what you need, but that is another story ( or post ). There are some great resources online, such as the Coin Laundry Association. The CLA will also provide you with plenty of information on how the business and industry works. You can meet and discuss with other operators as well, learn from their successes and failures. You can also talk to other people in the business and find out who they use for their commercial laundry equipment, service and supplies. One key thing you should do when selecting a commercial laundry machine and equipment distributor is to check as many references as you can. This is such a crucial part of the process and if you forget or don't even do it, you might be getting yourself into a bad situation with a pour supplier.

Commercial Laundry Supplies

Every single laundromat needs a constant and reliable source of laundry supplies. This also presents a dilemma to those that are not already involved with the laundromat business and where to locate and secure a contract with the various suppliers out there. As with any business, you will need to do your research as well. You also have to watch for the good and bad ones out there, but in this mature industry, they are few and far between. As a general rule, the suppliers and distributors with any kind of longevity and history in this business will likely meet your needs. The laundromat industry is a very mature business and anyone trying to scam people in any way have already been weeded out from the pack. As with any supplier, you should also check the references. Find out what other laundromats use or have tried. If you are not directly competing with another laundromat, you should talk to the owner ( say one that is across town ). Then see who they use for supplies and how they like them, that would probably give you the most information.

If you are looking to buy a laundromat, or build a new laundromat business, you will need to know who to do go for commercial laundry equipment and supplies. Do your research and make sure you ask for and check references for any other business you will be dealing with as a laundromat owner.

Coin Operated Laundromat Machines

When you are buying, owning or considering to build or buy your own laundromat business, the key part of that business is the actual machinery. The coin operated laundromat's primary survival is the quality and dependability of the washing and drying machines in them. If you are going to buy an existing laundromat service business, then this will be a crucial point in the evaluations. You will want to know every detail of the equipment's history, usage, life expectancy, etc. Without a proper equipment evaluation, you could be setting yourself up for a disaster after you purchase the laundromat and then find out that all your equipment is about to fail or is failing. This can cause you to put in extra time and money that you did not budget for and sink you before you even start.

The laundromat machine business is a huge business and there are a lot of different vendors and manufacturers on the market. Each will have it's own pros and cons too. You will need to look at your options and determine what you want to spend your money on. A budget will be your key barrier when it comes to equipment. You can buy cheap and you can buy top-of-the-line machines. Where do you want to be? probably in the middle to high end range. Why? because having good equipment that lasts a long time will serve you better in the long run if you want to keep this business and make a good living from it.

Buying used laundromat equipment is one option for someone on a really low budget. This is a very viable solution for re-equipping an existing laundromat that you have purchased or fitting a new building with equipment quickly. This is a great way to re-fit a laundromat that was purchased at a really low rate because the equipment was old and the owner did not want to invest in new machines.

Buying new equipment for your laundromat is usually something that you do if you already own one and are re-fitting or you are building a laundromat from the ground up. In this case there are many manufacturers that will offer a great range or products and services to both get you started and help setup all the machines. You can arrange to have local service contracts and warranty on all new machines too. This will save you a lot of headaches and time if you have a number you can call for someone to come out on warranty or service contract for any problem that occurs.

Equipment efficiency will and should be a part of your research too. Having high efficiency machines in your laundromat will do many things. First, you will use less water, power and gas to operate them. Even 1 or 2 % can mean thousands of dollars in lower operating expenses each month, thus increasing your net return. Make sure that all your machines are front loading. A front loading washing machine is usually 25% to 50% more efficient then a top loader. They also clean better and use a lot less water. All that saving in water and power will add to your pocket and bottom line profit.