How to Set Prices for a Laundry Service

Providing laundry services to people in your area is a great way to start your own business. However, some find it difficult to set the right prices for their services. It is important that you take a few things into consideration so you have a better idea of what you should be charging.

• Consider how much you need to make each month in order to cover the costs of running your laundry service. To make your business worth your time, you want to ensure you are making a profit. Therefore, you need to be aware of the money you are spending on monthly expenses so you can charge accordingly.


• Look at the prices other laundry services are charging in your town. You need to remain competitive in your rates if you want to build a list of customers. If there are no other services in your area, you can set the bar at what you want to make. However, keep in mind that you may have fewer customers if you charge too much.


• Charge by the pound for normal laundry. Many laundry services consider shirts, pants, and undergarments to be the norm when it comes to cleaning laundry. Depending on your washer and dryer, you can typically clean five pounds of laundry in one load. Therefore, decide how much of your supplies are used on that load and divide that by the number of pounds to get your "per pound" rate.


• Charge by the piece for larger, abnormal pieces of laundry. This includes bedding, coats and heavy sweaters. These usually require special attention, and may need to be washed separately or dry cleaned. In most cases, you need to charge a slightly higher price than you would for a pound of regular laundry so that you can still make a profit.