What should I check before buying a laundromat with a wash-and-fold service?

A self-serve laundromat runs on machines and foot traffic. A wash-and-fold service runs on people. Staff sort, wash, dry and fold other people’s clothes, and sometimes drive them back to the door. That makes it closer to a service company, with its own customers, its own labour and its own ways to go wrong. Check it separately from the machines.

Who the customers are

Ask the seller to split the service customers into households and commercial accounts, such as salons, gyms or small hotels. Ask how each one found the store and how long they have been customers. Ask whether commercial accounts rest on a personal relationship with the owner, and meet the main ones, with the seller’s permission, before you rely on them.

Labour and pricing records

Find out who does the work, on which shifts, and whether staff are employees or paid some other way. Ask how orders are logged and how prices are set, by weight, by item or by contract. Check that the records show what was charged on each order. If the work is recorded on paper or in someone’s head, ask how the seller measures what the service earns.

Lost items and vehicles

Ask how the store tracks each customer’s bags, how it handles a missing sock or a damaged shirt, and what complaints it has had. For pickup and delivery, find out who owns the vehicle, who drives it and how it is insured. An insurance broker can tell you what the cover should look like.

Whether the accounts stay

Ask how customers would hear about the sale and what the seller will do to introduce you. Ask whether the seller will stay on for a transition period. Read what to check when buying a coin laundry directly from the owner for the self-serve side, and how to check machines before buying a laundromat for equipment.