I've been doing a full time laundry business for 14 months up till today. So far the business is quite satisfying with increasing amount of sales and repeated customers and also new customers everyday. I can assume the profit margin is quite ok from average of 48% in the final 10 months of 2008 and 52% for the first three months of 2009. Despite charging a cheap service tags (never increase since opening) and increase in expenses due to extra labours and extra materials ordered, I can still manage to get the increase in the profit margin. There are ups and downs in doing any type of business but it's just a matter of how you manage to counter it such as selling at a loss.

Since there are no thread in this section regarding laundry/dobi service discussion, lets just make this is one as an official discussion thread. Anybody who wants to know more about this business, I'll be here to elaborate more except the exact figure of gross/net income and expenses.....everything counts on percentage.

This post has been edited by am_eniey: Apr 4 2009, 03:18 PM

@ am_eniey,

May I know if you have any experience in this business before you started it? Like working in laundry business or something related to laundry? I know this business has a low start up cost as compared to other business but I'm not sure about it's profitability since i see some laundry shop charging very cheap due to competition. Plus i have no idea how it runs though.

Is your business a franchise or you start up on your own totally. You know all the suppliers well? like machine supplier etc.

Thanks & sorry if i asked too many questions

@zenwell

As a start, any business will turn from bad to worse if the owner does not monitor it full time. I do not know about this business at the beginning. Never work in the business or anywhere near it. It's just that I was a frequent customer. The start up cost depends on the degree of laundry business of your desire. Charging cheap does not mean low profit. Charging cheap means a lower profit margin but higher profit if you understand what i mean. I started my own laundry not a franchise. Yes I do know several suppliers as well.

do you monitor it 24 7?
and normally, when is the peak hours?

we already have a laundry business thread

that's my thread as well my friend. but it has become more to advertising so it was removed. This one is for discussion regarding this business.

good to hear, nice track ... what is your future plan ?

Oh that was u, sorry...if i am not mistaken u r the one quit ur job as an offshore engineer and open up ur own laundry business. Sorry for that.

I think the nescafe kickstart there is one candidate is doing something related to laundy as well.

Actually the purpose of this thread is not about my plan or my business, it's more about laundry business generally and specifically.

Too bad I live in sri petaling area and I let the laundry shop "captain kleene" do my washing job. 1KG=RM2.

Your shop in kepong am I right

How about self service dobi? Has any heard bout it? i know there's a company called Smart Wash who is giving out franchise for self-service dobi where customer actually operate the machine on their own or something like that. I'm not really sure how it works. Been living with family all the time so there's no need for laundry services. But i know this business really makes money.

Nowadays I see a lot of laundry business up for sale in newspaper ads. TS do you think buying up this business a good option?

Buying a secondhand business might be the best or the worst options.

You must study the history and the previous owner must reveal to you his accounts (fake or not, nobody knows). Know their attitudes towards their customers, know their machines, know their location. Only buy the business if it is very good including the condition of the machines and references of whom you have to call if there's any breakdown and the reason of the previous owner selling is it because he/she is moving away following wife/husband/family or whatever (roughly 95% of previous business owners like to cheat on this part as well as the account part).

If the previous owner wants to sell the business with no proper or concrete reason, just forget about it. To stay safe, open a new one with brand new machines. If no capital, don't start. This does not apply to laundry only but to all other businesses.

---

Added on April 3, 2009, 6:05 pmI am not quite into Smart Wash or any other self service laundry. But I know somebody who deals with it from several other forums. Self service laundry have advantages and disadvantages.

Advantage : No need monitoring, just come and collect the collections.
Disadvantage : No guarantee on how quick the after sales services will be, nobody calls you when it breaks down, people will put extra weight that might damage the motor, vandalism, coin box will be torn apart just like what happened to my campus several years ago.

just my 2cents, I really don't know actually

This post has been edited by am_eniey: Apr 3 2009, 06:05 PM

Maybe u can increase ur sales by doing self pickup

Sounds interesting, seems like a good business line.

true enough. You must be very careful when buying over a biz. A good one will make your biz journey a lot more easier. A bad one will make you plenty of losses.

am_eniey has a lot of good points there. IMO, points ppl often overlook is the behaviour of the previous owner, how they treat their customer. Because if they din treat their customer right, they are going to create a bad name for themselves around the neighbourhood.

Thanks for the feedback. It is very much appreciated.

Hmm, actually I am pondering on buying a business. The owner said the reason for sale is because he has another branch (his main branch) to manage and he doesnt have that much time to run both. This branch (the one I'm buying) is wholly managed by his employees so he told me the risk of employees running is always there and this always give him an uncomfortable good nights sleep. He did provide me with the average sales figures.

Btw what accounts should I be looking for? He did provide me with the sales/invoice receipts. Is that sufficient enough for due diligence? If not what other information can I obtain from him?

bro, regarding your laundry business, how long the ROI and how much you have invested?

To make sure whatever receipts, it's not just by looking at the one he gave you. You must be present at the premise at least for one whole month to look at the operation by yourself. Take care of the counter and make you own personal unofficial account as it is not yet your premise. You must also know all the operations which means you have to do a bit yourself everything from A-Z. Just like a doctor who opens a clinic or a lawyer who opens a law firm. The boss must know everything before becoming a boss. And never rely everything on the employee. My advise in doing business is either do it full time or don't ever try it. You might lose both your job and the business if you try to handle both. Even with me present most of the time at my premise it sometimes give me sleepless nights, I can't imagine if I just leave it to my employees. This business is not just about calculating whatever collection you make, it's mostly about how to make the customers pay you which means all jobs must be done within time.

---

Added on April 4, 2009, 8:17 amMy side of the story is not to be discussed here, my other thread might be great help for you

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/557066

This post has been edited by am_eniey: Apr 4 2009, 08:17 AM

Last time my mom has about 2-3 laundries. The revenue is very good for small business and easily earn at least about RM3000 net profits for each shop. That was many years ago. Then later, she sold off all the shops.

Hmm from my POV, I think nowadays quite hard to do this business since every places also got at least 2 laundries. It’s quite very competitive compare to last time.