!This budget covers under 15% of the typical cost to start ($182k). Almost nobody starts a laundromat this way. The few who did bought an existing one with seller financing, or leased the equipment.
Based on 64 real laundromats in the UK, including 12 that closed.
!Your budget is about $182k short.
Bills run about $7,390 a month (fuel, insurance, rent, phone). Most owners make a profit after about 9 months. Keep this much aside to pay bills until then.
If the shop was not a laundrette before, you may need planning permission (change of use).
Trade effluent consent from your water company.
Gas Safe engineer signs off the dryers.
Sole trader with HMRC (free) or a limited company at Companies House (about £50).
Free with most online banks. Keeps business money apart from yours.
Sets up your books and files your first tax return.
Before costs. Steady, slight winter peak.
| Slow | Typical | Strong | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $1.8k | $3k | $5k |
| Year 3 | $4.8k | $7.2k | $10.7k |
| Year 5 | $6k | $9.3k | $14.4k |
Slow: 1 in 4 make less than this. Typical: half make more, half make less. Strong: 1 in 4 make more than this.
Suds & Co runs 22 card-only machines on a long lease with capped rent reviews, and has added wash-and-fold accounts for steady volume. It has stayed profitable through years of rising utility costs.
“Card-only machines cut my cash handling to zero.”
Fresh Fold had happy customers and lost money on almost every order. Each $32 order cost $12 in courier fees, each new customer cost about $50 in ads, and the average customer ordered 2.1 times before stopping. Growth made the losses bigger, and growth was the plan.
$207k
about $183k
Buying costs about $23.7k less than starting. You also get customers from the first month.