Scorecard · Houston, TX
Coin laundromat
44/100
How much does it cost to open a laundromat in Houston? $175,000–$340,000 in Houston, TX, on the figures below.
- Profit
- B
- A 30-machine Houston store takes $16,000–$30,000 a month with no staff on the floor. Utilities are the real cost at 20–28% of revenue, and machines run for 12 years.
- Difficulty
- C
- No licence to operate, but the build needs a Houston plumbing permit, gas line sizing, and a landlord willing to let you cut drains. Six to nine months.
- Capital
- E$175,000–$340,000
- Thirty washers and dryers are $110,000–$210,000 new, plumbing and gas $45,000–$90,000, and the fit-out and deposit $20,000–$40,000.
Break-even
- The number that has to be true
- 1,650 wash-and-dry cycles a month at $7.50
- Fixed costs a month
- $12,400
- The assumption
- A catchment where more than 40% of households rent without a hookup.
Opening for less
Buy an existing store with machines and a proven meter history
−$90,000
Costs you: You pay for goodwill, and the machines are part-way through their life
Take distributor financing on the machines instead of paying cash
—
Costs you: Nothing off the price, but $150,000 stays in your account and interest runs 9–12%
Open with 20 machines and leave the plumbing stubbed for 10 more
−$55,000
Costs you: Saturday queues, which is exactly when a laundromat earns
How you’d do it
What you need
- A lease of 10 years or more: you cannot move $200,000 of plumbing
- Census renter-occupancy data for the catchment before you sign anything
- Houston plumbing and gas permits with a licensed contractor
- $12,400 a month covered while the store is being found
First 3 moves
- 1Sit outside two competing stores on a Saturday and count people in and out.
- 2Pull renter-occupancy percentages for three candidate ZIP codes.
- 3Ask a distributor for the water and gas cost per cycle on the model you are quoting.
The hardest part
Picking the location. The store cannot move, and the wrong block cannot be fixed by working harder.
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