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I no longer have a washer at our shop. I use to have a front loader that was dedicated to cleaning pads only. My wife almost killed me when she caught me using our personal front loader at home once. I highly recommend buying the extended warranty. It saved us 3 service calls and parts. There is one catch. The warranty is voided if used for anything but personal items. Meaning that the first time you put a pad into the machine you are technically out of warranty. I just told them that my kids go through a lot of clothes and that is why I had an extra machine in the garage. Now I am back at the laundry mat. We go through to many pads to clean on site. I was spending to much time washing. Even though I was doing it at the comfort of my own home, I still was always at work. Now we work out of a shop, with a small office. When I come home the work stays there. I take the pads to my favorite laundry mat that has a nice coffee shop next to it and I look forward to washing the pads.
Greg, can you put a washer(s) at your shop? Also, economically do you think it makes more sense to use a laundromat or buy a machine? Or is it not an option when you run multiple trucks and have so many pads like you do? What are your costs running at the laundromat? Using a laundromat, I seem to spend between .6% and .9% overall on avg to wash pads. I try to make it worth my while and only go when I will have enough for multiple loads. I know it would be cheaper at home even including gas bill increase, water bill increase, etc. and I could have bought a new machine with the money I’ve spent at a laundromat. The only thing that is not easily factored in the buying/use of your own machine is personal time. I know I will spend no more than 1 hour at a laundromat between washing and picking pads no matter how many loads I do unless there are not enough open machines. Not the case at home. When we first started, we used a large top-loader at my brothers place and he was often up late doing laundry. I have a feeling on large commercial cleaning days I may still use the laundromat if I bought a machine, but for avg days I wonder if a home machine would make more sense. Thoughts? Anyone?
Dave,
On light days, our business uses 25-30 pads per day. On heavy days, about twice that much. So that’s between 3 to 6 or 7 loads per day. Our utilities, all things considered run about $100/month extra because of the laundry. I think the price of our washer and dryer was around $1,000 seven years ago. We have plenty of pads so there’s never a shortage.
I’m fortunate that my wife is at home and can feed the ‘beast’ throughout the day at her leisure. I personally hate the laundry mat so I’m happy with the set up. I have no doubt that I have saved money by doing it this way.
I do not have the option of hooking up a washer at my shop. We have no water or sewer in the actual shop. We have a common bathroom that is 3 doors down, and a hose one down. When I do go to the laundry mat we call it”operation dumbo drop” Meaning I take up all of the largest machines. I will usually spend $20 in coins. Even if I could, I would not do it at my shop. We go through to many pads. I make sure that I keep track for tax reasons all of the cost I spend. If I was to do it at the shop I don’t feel that I would be able to take as big of a deduction. I do have a nice new washer at home. All I know is that it has a steam setting and came in red. I paid way to much for it, but every now and then I throw in some car mats for my clients and wash at home. Don’t think I won’t deduct that on my taxes either. For those of you who are not a corporation, don’t forget about all of the tax right offs you can. If you are a corporation it is to late you should have been reading this before march 15th.
Dan Childs told me once that he made an arrangement with a dry cleaner back in Oregon and would pay 25c each for drop off services. That’s not a bad deal either.
Greg,
In response to your tax deductions for a corporation, we “rent” the area strictly used for Heaven’s Best to the corporation. We determined the percentage of our home used for business, factored in all homeowner expenses and decided on the rent amount. The corporation pays us monthly to rent the space from us, therefore we don’t use the home business deduction when preparing our taxes. It makes it much simplier.In regards to washing pads, most women don’t want pads being washed in the same machine as their personal laundry. This does complicate the issue of trying to wash pads at home. The solution to this is: have 2 washer/dryer set-ups. We designed our laundry room with an entry from the garage and 2 up/down front loader machines and dryers. I can easily “feed” the beast directly from the garage and also keep my other machine available for home use. Brian Sutton has also added a second washer to his laundry room. I can’t imagine Bryan spending an hour at the laundry mat each night after a long day of work. That’s just my 2 cents worth.
The one who feeds the beast!
Here is a response I got from my cousin (who works for Whirlpool/Maytag) concerning what type of washing machine he though would be best.
“From our discussion….the washer to buy would be the Whirlpool Duet – WFW9200SQ or the Maytag MFW9700SQ. These are the lowest priced of the larger 4.0 cu. ft. washers. Also least chance of vibration during the spin in the industry. Retail around….$949 – $999….you could see it lower (around $899…or even $849) if Best Buy or Home Depot are running a 10% off sale. Delivery/hook-up…..(should be free) let them know that Lowes is offering free delivery, free install, free haul-away of the old. <---national promotion going on for a long time.
The Maytag should be at Home Depot, Best Buy, The Maytag Store and Appliance Discount Warehouse.
The Whirlpool should be at Lowes, Best Buy, The Maytag Store, Appliance Discount Warehouse.”Ok, he is obviously going to be biased towards Maytag/Whirlpool. He feels as a company they are at least a year or two ahead of the other brands (they were the first to offer larger doors on front loaders just as an example). On a side note, my cousin was the head of the Amana division at Maytag before they were bought by Whirlpool and he is an intelligent man so I greatly value his opinion. That said, I have done more research and the sales rep I talked to at a local Sears store said the 4.0 cubic ft washers from Whirlpool and Maytag had the fewest repair problems per their service techs (I talked to her before I talked to my cousin). She said the 4.0’s from Whirlpool/Maytag are made in Germany and are better made than the 3.7 cubic ft Whirlpool/Maytags which are assembled in Mexico. Oh, my cousin also said he thinks the steam feature that many washers have now is not worth the extra money. He did like it on the dryers though. Also, I have seen some reviews online where the spin speed of front loaders in general can vibrate floors and be quite loud. Some people recommend using them on concrete floors only. I’m still debating on whether or not to purchase, but thought I’d pass this info along.
Dave,
After nearly 5 years in the business…what is the debate? After a year of going to the nearest laundromat, about 2 miles away, and waiting for a machine or 2, 3, 4 of them….and then lugging them and me home and taking the pads inside because they might freeze…a total, and thorough pain in the lower parts….
There was no debate….I was sold! We got the top of the line front end loader from Sears w/the 5 year warranty (thank the Lord) and except for when the washer broke, we do the laundry from the comfort of my home….warm, or cool and doing something productive at the same time….
Time is money and spending it in a laundromat, for me, is a waste of time and money.
Get a machine and you will be amazed at the difference in the pads and their appearance and life will be much easier, and more profitable.
Just my 2 cents worth of opinion on this matter.
Dave
Sounds like you all have good input and advice. Each operator’s situation will be different. There is probably a certain level of business where it makes sense to buy the front loader. And then later, it may be simpler to go to the laundramat due to so many loads per day. Perhaps buying a 2nd front loader could work, however, most people wouldn’t have anywhere to put an extra machine.
Having the problem of how to get all those pads cleaned is a good thing!
Mike
Dave,
Like some of the others, one of my concerns is washing pads in a washer that I wash my own clothes in. In reality, this shouldn’t be an issue as the washer should be clean once done cleaning, so I guess some of it is more mental. If I did have that really nasty job, I would just go to laundromat to wash them which would solve problem. I don’t have room for two washers like some do so that is not an option. I also currently rent, but may buy a home soon, so would like to know home situation before I buy. I can keep making excuses if you like. 😉 I am not quite busy enough yet that the number of pads is an issue, so I should just bite the bullet and buy one if I’m going to. FYI, some water companies will give you rebates if you buy a high efficiency washer, or so I was told. Worth checking in to in your area.Home Depot has the maytag my cousin mentioned for $809.10 on special right now. Check their website for details. On a similar but different note, here is a great website that has coupons for lots of major stores. http://www.bradsdeals.com
Dave,
Well, when people go the the laundromat, they are washing their clothes in a machine you just used…so do we.
When I was the pads, we use bleach, phosphate and a dash of high efficiency liquid detergent. The pads are clean and nothing of any consequence is getting through the bleach…
You are correct though…when we have really nasty, oily, terrible pads…I get some quarters and go to the laundromat. Why push it too far?
JoAnn is allergic to cat as well and even washing the pads after being in a cat house…no jokes, ther is never a problem…that is/was my litmus test for the machine.
Hope this helps…Dave
I bought an LG brand a couple of years ago. No, let me correct that…. The company bought an LG brand set a couple of years ago, with the extended warrenty.
I have been very happy with the results, and paid a little less than you Maytag lovers. I don’t want to deal with down time, so I only put 8 pads in at one time. So far, I haven’t had any downtime.I have been using my LG front loader for 3 years now, without any failures.
I have imposed an 8 pad limit per load. It can take more, however, I prefer a little piece of mind in knowing they are actually clean.The washer also had a built in strainer at the bottom. I checked it a few times when I first started and never found anything in it. The door seal has a built in trap for hair, and does a really good job of catching it. So I never have to check the strainer. Just like cleaning out the lint filter for the dryer, I clean the “hair trap” for the washer, after each load.
I love my LG.
I was given a commercial washer from the high school where I work when they replaced the old one. I have had it a while with no where to hook it up. My employee said why not ask the local fire departments if they would like the washer in trade for getting to wash there when we have dirty pads. The fire department was very happy to take the washer. They have agreed to pay for the hot water and electricity. I am happy and they are happy. Should save some money and help the community as well. I am so blessed. We are going to hook it up on Thursday.
JamieI am waiting for someone to sell there laundry mat then I ll buy it and move my office there 🙂
Pat
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