One way you can expand your garment care business is by offering commercial laundry services.
You may remember I touched on this back in editorial three — and shared a CLA survey that found only 31% of laundromats offered commercial laundry service.
Today, we’ll go over the nuances to consider when pricing your commercial laundry service.
The first step is to know what questions to ask.
This will help you know more about the items your prospective commercial client wants to be serviced and how to price them.
Here are a few questions to ask:
- What services do you need?
- Wash and fold
- Dry cleaning
- Wash and press
- etc. - Based on the services they pick, ask some deeper questions, such as:
- Do you need it packaged a certain way?
- Do you need it folded? If so, how? - What type of garments do you need to be serviced?
- What type of garments do you need to be serviced?
- Towels
- Blankets
- Rags
- Bedding
- Aprons
- Lab coats
- Uniforms
- etc. - What are their pick-up needs?
- One a month
- Every other week
- Once a week
- Several times a week - Distance your team will travel for pick up and deliver
- What turnaround time do they need?
- Next day
- Same week
- At the next scheduled pickup (this is the best for logistics and cost)
Side Note: Make sure to consider all the detergents and other agents you’ll need to clean the garments they choose and factor that into your pricing.
Asking these questions will give you a sense of how much work and supplies are needed to fulfill the order.
Next, factor in the prep and work you and your team will need to complete.
Here are a few examples of what I mean:
- Folding
- Basic fold you can do quickly - $
- Special fold unique to their account - $$ - Fold & Press
- Additional time and labor - $$$ - Pack Separate
- The client wants uniforms sorted by person and packed in special packing for each employee - $$$$
Don’t be afraid to charge according to the amount of work you and your team will do.
Pricing Discounts
“But Waleed, what about discounts?”
