To start a laundromat business, you must understand the real estate, equipment, financing, and permitting decisions that are involved and how they affect each other. A laundromat can be a profitable business, but it’s important to know that operating costs absorb a substantial share of gross revenue and that location will do more to determine your income than almost any other choice you’ll make.

The global automated laundromat services market is estimated to see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.1% annually from 2024–2032, to reach US$66.7 billion. Below, we’ll explore how much it costs to open a laundromat, how to choose between business models, and the steps to starting your business.

Key takeaways

• Laundromats generate steady, repeat revenue, but operating expenses usually consume a large share of gross revenue.

• Startup costs for a new build depend on size and location but typically amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

• Location, particularly proximity to dense rental housing, is one of the biggest drivers of laundromat revenue.

Is a laundromat a good business investment?

Laundromats bring in money from customers who need clean clothes every single week, even in tough economic times. That steady, recurring demand is a big part of why the business draws so many first-time business owners.

Laundromats can earn anywhere from around US$5,000–US$40,000 per month in gross revenue. But operating costs, including rent, utilities, equipment upkeep, and insurance, often absorb a large share of gross revenue. Water and gas for dryers can cost several thousand dollars a month on their own, depending on how many machines you’re running and local utility rates.

How much does it cost to start a laundromat business?

Building a laundromat from scratch typically costs US$700,000–US$1 million; an average all-in project costs about US$950,000. The total cost varies mostly based on square footage, machine count, and how much plumbing and electrical work the space needs before you can install commercial washers and dryers.

Buying an existing laundromat can lower the up-front cost, but that necessitates due diligence. Older equipment might mean higher repair costs sooner than you’d like, so you need to get the service history on every washer and dryer before you commit. Similarly, utility bills from the past 12–24 months tell you what the location costs to run.

Once you open the business, monthly operating expenses can run into the thousands. Rent, water, gas, electricity, insurance, and routine machine maintenance are the biggest expenses.

Which business model fits your laundromat?

There are three main laundromat models, and they differ in labour cost, capital requirement, and how involved you are from day to day. Each one also shapes what kind of payment setup you’ll need at the machines.

Here’s how they compare:

• Attended: You staff the location during operating hours. This raises labour costs but lets you offer wash-and-fold service, catch equipment problems in real time, and build relationships with regular customers.

• Unattended: The store runs with no staff on-site. This cuts overhead substantially but means you’re relying on remote monitoring, security cameras, and machine reliability to catch problems before they cost you a full day of revenue.

• Franchise: A franchisor gives you brand recognition, established equipment vendor relationships, and a tested operating system. This can shorten the time between lease signing and opening day, but it comes with ongoing franchise fees and less control over how you run the location.

The model you pick early on tends to stick. Switching from unattended to attended later means adding payroll to a business you built around not having it, and switching the other way means removing staff from a location that has become used to having someone work the floor.

How do you start a laundromat business?

Opening a laundromat involves four stages: planning, site selection, financing, and equipment installation. Here’s what you’ll need to do at each step.

Write a laundromat business plan

A laundromat business plan should detail your business model, service offerings, pricing strategy, staffing plan, equipment acquisition timeline, and financial projections, including a break-even analysis based on realistic machine use. The break-even number, more than anything else in the plan, tells you and lenders whether the economics work.

Find and evaluate your location

Location is one of the most important decisions you can make when it comes to generating laundromat revenue. Before you commit to a space, consider these factors:

• Population density: Laundromats generally perform best near apartment buildings, multifamily housing, and rental units where residents don’t have in-unit washers and dryers.

• Foot traffic and visibility: A location on a street with regular pedestrian and vehicle traffic can convert walk-ins.

• Parking availability: Customers who are doing multiple loads need somewhere to park for 45 minutes to an hour.

• Utility capacity: Confirm the space has enough water supply, sewer access, electrical service, and gas lines before you sign.

Secure financing

Laundromat financing usually comes from small business loans, equipment financing tied directly to the washers and dryers you’re buying, or seller financing when you’re acquiring an existing location. Lenders evaluate roughly the same factors no matter the source: your projected cash flow, the age and condition of any existing equipment, the strength of your lease terms, and your credit history.

Purchase and install equipment

Commercial washer and dryer selection depends on your target customer. Multifamily renters who do large loads need bigger-capacity machines, while a college town location might do better with more machines with smaller capacities to keep wait times short. Beyond the machines themselves, it’s advisable to match water heater sizing to your total washer capacity, install a point of sale (POS) system at each unit, place security cameras that cover the full floor, and design the interior layout and signage so the store is easy to navigate for a first-time customer.

What licences and permits does a laundromat need?

Licensing requirements vary by jurisdiction. Look into the following before you open:

• General business licence: This is generally required to operate legally in a given jurisdiction, regardless of what you’re selling.

• Fire department permit: Laundromats run large equipment with heat sources so fire inspectors typically need to sign off before you open.

• Sign permit: Many municipalities regulate exterior signage size and placement. You’ll need approval before you install yours.

• Zoning clearance: This confirms your location is zoned for a laundromat’s specific commercial use.

• Wastewater or environmental permits: Discharging large volumes of wash water might require a separate permit, depending on your local water authority.

What tools can help your laundromat go cashless?

Going cashless reduces the physical risk that comes with storing coins on-site, since there’s no cashbox for anyone to target. And because payment happens at the machine rather than through an attendant, unattended stores can run during the same hours as attended ones without needing someone present to make change.

Installing physical card readers on every machine makes this possible. Using a provider such as Stripe Terminal lets you accept card and digital wallet payments directly at each washer and dryer. That shift changes daily operations, especially for an unattended location. You get transaction data in real time that shows exactly what each machine earned and when. That makes it easier to spot which machines see heavy use, which sit idle, and whether one location is underperforming.

How Stripe Terminal can help

Stripe Terminal allows businesses to grow revenue with unified payments across in-person and online channels. It supports new ways to pay, simple hardware logistics, global coverage, and hundreds of POS and commerce integrations to design your ideal payment stack.

Stripe powers unified commerce for brands like Hertz, URBN, Lands' End, Shopify, Lightspeed and Mindbody.

Stripe Terminal can help you:

• Unify commerce: Manage online and in-person payments on a global platform with unified payment data.

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• Simplify hardware logistics: Easily order, manage and monitor Stripe-supported readers, wherever they are.

Learn more about Stripe Terminal or get started today.