How to Start a Laundry Business: Wash-and-Fold and Delivery

The cheapest way to start a laundry business is a wash-and-fold or pickup-and-delivery service with no storefront: register the business, get a free EIN (IRS), confirm your zoning allows it (SBA), insure it, and process orders at home or at a partner laundromat. Buying a laundromat is a different scale: The Laundry Association (CLA) puts their market value at $50,000 to more than $1 million (The Laundry Association (CLA)).

The steps below cover the four business models, what each cost line depends on, the permits, insurance and sales tax rules, and the numbers on profit and failure rates from federal data.

Key takeaways

A no-storefront wash-and-fold or delivery service costs far less than a laundromat, which CLA values at $50,000 to more than $1 million.
An EIN from the IRS is free; never pay a website for one.
Zoning rules can still apply to a home-based laundry business, so check with your city planning office first.
Some states tax wash-and-fold: Texas and Washington both treat laundry services as taxable.
SBA does not give grants to start a business, but its microloans go up to $50,000.

What kind of laundry business can you start?

You can start one of four kinds of laundry business, and only one of them needs a lease and a room full of machines. The U.S. Census Bureau classifies laundry services and drop-off and pick-up sites separately from self-service coin laundries, and notes that a laundry service may do none of the cleaning on its own premises (U.S. Census Bureau).

Model	How it works	Main costs
Home-based wash-and-fold	Customers drop off or you collect; you wash, dry and fold in your own laundry room	Machines, detergent, insurance, your time
Pickup and delivery	You collect, process at a partner laundromat or your own space, and return folded	Vehicle miles, machine time, bags, scheduling software
Commercial accounts	Recurring linens, towels or uniforms for gyms, salons, short-term rentals and clinics	Capacity, contracts, reliable turnaround
Laundromat	Self-service coin or card machines in a leased store, often with wash-dry-fold on top	Purchase or build-out, lease, utilities, repairs

The first three are the subject of this guide. A mobile laundry service, a network of smart lockers or an app-based delivery brand is a variation on pickup and delivery: the washing still happens in a laundry room or a laundromat.

How do you start a self-service or coin laundry business?

A coin laundry is a retail store: CLA describes stores of 1,000 to 5,000 square feet on leases of 10 to 25 years (The Laundry Association (CLA)). That is a property and equipment decision, covered in our guide on how to start a laundromat. If you'd rather buy a running store than build one, browse laundromats for sale.

How much does it cost to start a laundry business?

A no-storefront laundry business costs what its few inputs cost where you live, so there is no honest national figure. The SBA lists the costs that vary most by location: wages, rent, insurance rates, utilities and government licenses and fees (SBA). Price each line below for your area before you set a single rate.

Cost line	What drives it
Registration and EIN	State filing fees vary; the IRS EIN itself is free
Licenses and permits	Your city and county; home-occupation permits where zoning requires them
Insurance	General liability, a home-based business rider or a business owner's policy
Machines or machine time	Your own washer and dryer, or what a partner laundromat charges per load
Vehicle	Miles driven on pickups and deliveries
Supplies	Detergent, bags, hangers, a scale, order software

The EIN costs nothing: the IRS issues it online in minutes and warns never to pay a fee for one (IRS). Driving is the cost new delivery services underestimate. The IRS business mileage rate is 76 cents a mile for July to December 2026, so a 20-mile pickup-and-return route costs about $15.20 in vehicle expense (IRS).

Sales tax can apply to what you buy, not just what you sell. In Washington, washers, dryers and soaps that a laundry service buys for its own use are taxable purchases, while items passed to the customer, such as hangers and bags, can be bought for resale (Washington Department of Revenue).

How much does it cost to start a laundry shop business?

A laundry shop with self-service machines is priced like any store. CLA says new coin laundries are valued on actual construction and equipment costs, and existing ones mainly on net revenue, usually selling for 3 to 5 times net cash flow (The Laundry Association (CLA)). Our laundromat equipment cost guide breaks down the machines.

Can I open a laundromat with 50k?

$50,000 sits at the very bottom of CLA's $50,000 to $1 million-plus value range for coin laundries (The Laundry Association (CLA)), so it buys a small or tired store at best, before working capital. The same budget is the maximum size of an SBA microloan (SBA) and comfortably funds a wash-and-fold or delivery start.

How to start a laundry business, step by step

Start with demand and competition, then make it legal, then make it work. The legal steps follow the SBA business guide (SBA).

Do market research on the competition. Search your area on a laundromat finder first. In the LaundroMaps directory, more than 6,700 listings offer wash and fold and more than 4,300 offer laundry delivery, as of October 2026 (LaundroMaps directory data). Your edge has to be price, speed, pickup windows or a niche.
Pick a model and a niche. Busy households, students, short-term rental hosts or small businesses each want different turnaround and pricing.
Choose a structure. A sole proprietorship is the default and easiest, but the SBA notes you are personally liable for its debts; an LLC or corporation separates them (SBA).
Register and get an EIN. Register with your state, then get a free EIN from the IRS online (IRS).
Clear zoning and licenses. Zoning can apply even to home-based businesses; ask your city planning office (SBA).
Register for sales tax if your state requires it. Texas lists laundry by machine or hand and ironing as taxable services (Texas Comptroller).
Insure the business before the first customer bag arrives (next section).
Set prices and policies. Price per pound or per bag, turnaround, minimum order, and what you won't wash.
Launch locally. A Google Business Profile, flyers in apartment buildings, and direct pitches to gyms and salons.

Write the numbers down before you spend: our laundry business plan guide covers the sections lenders read. To see how established operators describe and group their offers, look through the laundry services people search for.

How do you start a laundry business from home?

Check zoning first, because a home occupation that brings customer traffic or a delivery van can need a permit (SBA). Then ask your insurer about a home-based business rider: the SBA describes it as an add-on to homeowner's insurance that covers a small amount of business equipment and third-party injuries (SBA).

What permits and insurance does a laundry business need?

Most laundry services need a general business license, a state sales tax registration where laundry is taxed, and local zoning approval. The SBA says requirements and fees vary by business activity and location, and lists dry cleaning among the activities commonly regulated at the local level (SBA). A wash-and-fold service has no federal license of its own.

Do you charge sales tax on wash-and-fold?

It depends on the state. Texas treats laundry, cleaning and garment services as taxable (Texas Comptroller). Washington requires retail sales tax on the total charge, at the rate where the customer receives the cleaned laundry (Washington Department of Revenue). Ask your state revenue department before you print a price list.

What insurance does a laundry business need?

The SBA lists these common types for a business like this (SBA):

General liability: bodily injury, property damage and lawsuit costs.
Professional liability: for service businesses, covering errors and negligence.
Home-based business rider: added to a homeowner's policy for equipment and visitor injuries.
Business owner's policy: a bundle the SBA flags as suited to home-based owners.
Workers' compensation, unemployment and disability insurance: required once you have employees.

Ask the agent two laundry-specific questions: whether customer clothing in your care is covered, and whether your vehicle policy covers business deliveries.

How do you run wash-and-fold orders without damaging clothes?

Follow every care label and set a written policy for the items you refuse. Under the FTC Care Labeling Rule, clothing labels must give a washing or drycleaning instruction, and following the label should cause no substantial harm to the garment (FTC). That makes the label your best defense in a damage dispute.

Pull "Dryclean Only" items. The FTC says that wording means the garment can't be washed (FTC); return it or refer it to a dry cleaner.
Sort by the warnings. Labels such as "Wash with like colors" or "Wash separately" mark items that are not colorfast (FTC).
Respect bleach and heat lines. "Only non-chlorine bleach, when needed", "No bleach" and "Do not iron" are warnings, not suggestions (FTC).
Weigh in and weigh out. Record each order's weight and item count at pickup so billing and lost-item claims have a record.
Keep orders apart. One customer per machine, one bag per order, labeled from pickup to delivery.

If you process at a laundromat, pick one with big machines and folding space: more than 4,000 LaundroMaps listings report large-capacity washers, as of October 2026 (LaundroMaps directory data). Once the routine is reliable, recurring business clients are the steadiest volume; see how a commercial laundry service is set up for them.

How can you start a laundry business with no money?

You can't start with zero, but you can start small and borrow the rest. The SBA states plainly that it does not provide grants for starting or expanding a business (SBA). What it does fund is microloans (SBA):

Size: up to $50,000, with an average of about $13,000.
Uses: working capital, supplies, machinery and equipment, but not real estate or existing debt.
Terms: up to 7 years, at interest rates generally between 8% and 13%.
Lenders: nonprofit intermediaries in your area make the credit decisions.

The lowest-cash start is pickup and delivery using machines you already own or pay per load at a partner laundromat, so your first spend is bags, a scale and insurance rather than equipment.

Is a laundry business profitable?

It can be, but the margin is in your hours, not the machines, for a no-storefront service. CLA counts about 29,500 US coin laundries with nearly $5 billion in gross revenue a year (The Laundry Association (CLA)). For those stores, CLA reports cash flow between $15,000 and $300,000 a year, and counts wash-dry-fold as "other income" alongside vending and dry cleaning (The Laundry Association (CLA)). Treat that as CLA's estimate: the association says it does not guarantee the figures (The Laundry Association (CLA)).

For a wash-and-fold or delivery service, profit per order is your price minus four costs:

Labor: sorting, washing, folding and driving time, yours or an employee's.
Machine time or utilities: a partner laundromat's per-load price, or your own water, gas and power.
Vehicle: 76 cents a mile is the IRS business rate for late 2026, a fair stand-in for true driving cost (IRS).
Taxes: self-employment tax is 15.3% of net earnings, 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare (IRS).

To sanity-check your prices against the market, see our laundry delivery prices guide; for store economics, see how much laundromats make.

What is the failure rate of a laundry business?

No federal source tracks laundry startups on their own, so the best yardstick is all new US businesses. The BLS found that of private-sector establishments opened in the year to March 2020, 80.9% were still open a year later and 51.4% after five years (BLS). Of those opened in the year to March 2015, 34.7% survived ten years (BLS).

A no-storefront service is easier to close than a laundromat: there's no 10- to 25-year store lease of the kind CLA describes for coin laundries (The Laundry Association (CLA)). That is also the biggest downside of owning a laundromat: a long lease and machines that wear out on a schedule.

Frequently asked questions

Will the government give you money to open a laundromat?

Not as a grant. The SBA says it does not provide grants for starting or expanding a business. It does back microloans of up to $50,000 through local nonprofit lenders.

Can I buy a laundromat for $15,000?

Very unlikely. CLA puts coin laundry values at $50,000 to more than $1 million, and stores usually sell for three to five times their net cash flow. A $15,000 budget fits a wash-and-fold or delivery start far better.

What is the downside of owning a laundromat?

The big commitments are the lease and the machines. CLA describes store leases of 10 to 25 years, and owners handle repairs, utilities, cleaning and collections. A no-storefront service avoids the lease but trades it for your own labor and driving time.

Is coin laundry a good business?

It is a mature, mostly owner-operated industry: CLA counts about 29,500 coin laundries in the US with nearly $5 billion in gross revenue. Results vary widely by location and competition, so judge any store on its own books.

Do I need a license to do laundry from home?

Usually you need a general business license and, in many places, a home-occupation permit, because zoning rules can apply to home-based businesses. Check with your city or county before taking paying customers.

How we researched this

We built this guide from official and industry sources read in October 2026: the SBA's business guide, loan and grant pages; IRS pages on EINs, self-employment tax and mileage rates; Bureau of Labor Statistics business survival data; the Census Bureau's industry definitions; Texas and Washington tax guidance; the FTC Care Labeling Rule; and The Laundry Association's industry overview, plus LaundroMaps directory counts. We cited 12 sources. We did not survey operators or audit any business's finances, and tax and licensing rules differ by state and city, so confirm them locally.

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