laundry operational costs for villa business

[hinakos]

Hi,

wondering if anyone can jump in and assist with what kind of cost using a full time laundry service should come in at for operating a villa business.

we have 3 x 2 bed villas, and although we've gone all out and have built a pretty classy laundry to take care of everything ourselves, i just wonder whether we have done the right thing.

It wasnt cheap to set up, 2 decent sized washing machines (1x 14kg, 1 x 8kg, industrial (ish) gas drier (14kg), and all the storage and extras required. Then we'll have to invest the time of our villa attendants (not called pembantu's any more apparently??) to do this washing/drying/ironing.

So now im wondering about what others pay who are running similar businesses for their weekly / monthly laundry bills.

Or whether anyone is using that linen hire service and what is it like and whats it cost?

Should we also invest in one of those iron press machines if going to all this trouble?

Also wondering if we shouldn't hire a laundry worker for a few months to train our staff on how to not destroy items being cleaned and operate everything correctly.

Thanks in advance,
Hinakos

 

[Markit]

Friends running a 5 bed villa pay between 150,000.00 and 200 per week for pickup, washing, pressing and return. As long as the marking of the items and control on return is consistent they have no problems. They also have a special 1 day turn around if needed at no extra cost, usual is 2 day.

The laundry has a gas driven dryer - important in a rainy climate.

Was just reliably informed that the costs are closer to 100k/week...?

 

[hinakos]

hmmm. a 5 bed villa id imgine doing daily towel changes thats up to 40 towels a week (bathroom AND pool towels), all the sheets (5 sets), hand towels, and all the other little extras.

works out dammmnnnn chaep, under 2000rp per item, including pick up and delivery.

one wonders how they laundry people make any money. they have to pay wages, gas/electirc, vehicle expenses, fuel.......

i thought it would have been more along the lines of 500,000 per week for a 2 bed villa with all the towel changes etc that tenderfoots expect.

our laundry building cost us around 8k(US) to build, and then another 20 mill for all the appliances. then we will have to pay for the gas / electric.

if what you are saying is correct, it seems we would have been better off using a laundry service.

i need to start doing exactly the opposite of what i think is a good idea and maybe i'll get it right.

 

[davita]

Just for ref: We regularly send, around the corner to a local laundry, a king-size duvet cover and sheet and 4 pillow cases...total cost is Rp18,000.

 

[hinakos]

is it possible that laundry companies get some kind of energy consumption concessions from pln etc??

i just cant work out how they actually make money.

sheer volume of product passing through their doors maybe.....

 

[Markit]

To clarify: not 5 bed villa, 5 person sleeping and nobody changes the towels every day. Sheets are changed every 3 or 4 days unless needed and the laundry heats their dryer with gas. Our friend says he can clean a shit-load (technical term) of laundry for $8k plus machines.

Just for fun: 8000 x 12,000 = 96 million + 20 million =116,000,000.00/100,000 = 1,160 weeks = 22.3 years....that means you're in the money sometime around 2035 presuming your machines hold out that long :icon_e_geek:

Had you thought of going into the laundry business with all that kit?

 

[Smoke]

I use a local laundry in Lovely Sanur and most is 1000 rupiah per item

my shorts and shirts are 1000
thick big cotton towels are 2000( brought from usa)
sheets and pillows are 1000 and my comforter is 5000

everything is pressed and folded also
They have a pick up and delivery service but I never know when I will be home

 

[hinakos]

funnily enough....when my business partner went sourcing the gas dryer, the person selling told us if we had laundry space, he would pay for the machines, the power bill, and do our laundry at 30% of normal rate.

but he wanted access to those machines 24/7.

not ideal for our guests. plus youd have cars coming and going all day, people in and out you didnt know. no control.

MArkit are you saying that not even in luxury $400 a nite villas, people dont have their towels changed daily?

we wont be doing anyones personal laundry here (at least not to start with), just the villa operational stuff.

thought that better than having the villa attendants doing phone facebook all day they could at least be doing something useful (laundry).

we may just use a laundry service for a week or so and see what the actual costs are so we can see for ourselves.

ive been online to he big laundrymats in Bali(jasmin, baliclean) - none of them have a pricing page.

 

[ferdie]

Had invest on a laundry business in Bali before and knew their day to day operation:icon_e_biggrin:

If you have a high standard, don't outsource your laundry without an agreement on how your things will be dealt with.
The laundry makes maximum profit by minimizing the detergent and put more perfume after the ironing process.
The side effects would be: The laundry is not clean enough, too much perfume could irritated some poor fellow with a sensitive skin or sensitive nose.
Oh the towels rarely gets ironed, the just put detergent and softener to keep soft.

The electricity is the bigger problem, if you use the prepaid one, you're screwed already hinakos:icon_rolleyes:

FYI, the gas dryer is overpriced here, I bought one from Jakarta at it saved me around 10 million than the quoted price from a big Balinese supplier.

 

[Markit]

"MArkit are you saying that not even in luxury $400 a nite villas, people dont have their towels changed daily? "

Even at $400/day the people understand the idiocy of washing the environment to death - you just need to explain it a little sometimes.

 

[hinakos]

I wish all people understand that idiocracy.

we just had people in another villa complain because we had no airconditioning in our loungeroom which had huge folding doors opening out onto a lush garden, with twin cieling fans on the roof (not the cheap cieling fans either).

then they bring over 3000w hair dryers and knock out your power coz they have every aircon in every room cranked up 24/7, doors open whilst doing the hair drying.

best we can do is inform people of the water problem and encourage them to hang their towels back on the towel rack - as a sign they dont need changing.

towels left on the floor or in the basket get changed. thats also what most hotels do. daily towel changes unless re-hung by the guest.

and yes, we have installed rain gutters and catch the rain water and are filtering it and using this also.

Ferdi, We are using a gas dryer. Only the tumble motor and exhaust will use listrik. No time to go to JKT. And im banned from Blok M anyway.

 

[hinakos]

and thanks for the heads up on how they stretch their Rp in the laundromats too Ferdie.....i know their profit margins must be tiny.

i still think they get subsidies of some kind from PLN - theres no way they can be paying the prices we pay for pln - even if they run gas dryers and steam irons, a moderate sized local laundromat must have a pln bill of over 5 mill a month minimum. they still have washing machines, water use, pumps, all the assosiated electrics within the gas dryers (tumble motor, exhaust, timers etc).

we just bought all our towels for the villas. 3 x 2 bed villas. but allow for 5 people per villa (have extra matress in each). allow for 1 bath towel and 1 pool towel each. allow for a change every day if so requested. thats 10 towels per day, per villa. x 3 = 30 towels per day.

this sounds nuts i know, we had a consultant help us out during set up stage, and this is what you need to allow for to be considered a luxury villa.

forget the luxury villa - this is also standard practice in every one of the millions of hotels and condotels being built all over bali right now.

 

[davita]

I have an idea....why not follow the budget airlines business model like Air Asia or Ryan.

1. Clean Towels provided...laundry extra!
2. Sheets changed weekly...any earlier....extra!
3. 4 flushes permitted every 24 hrs...more flushes required...extra!
4. Air-conditioner on timer...use meter to obtain extra....cost will be added to final bill!
5. All lights off at midnight...night lights available at reception...for a fee!
6. 8 hours cable TV free...extra hours available by calling reception...call is extra!
7. Internet is fast and free at .00005 mpminute..faster modem available for a small subscription to the Indonesian oligarch who controls internet.
8. Please feel free to use the refrigerator...the special adaptor to plug it on is available in reception...for a fee. There is also a delivery charge.
9. In Bali it is considered courteous to avoid stepping on the 'offerings' scattered at your front door. We will remove once/day for a small token.
10. Our no 10 comment is still under consideration, but you may input...please add a small donation!

We hope you had a nice stay and to support our favorite soccer team we have provided a cup for your cash offerings.....no cheques or foreign coins please.

WELCOME TO BALI

Smoke's post (another thread) has inspired me

11. All items of furniture, lamps and wall hangings are available for sale
12. Unlaundered sheets/towels are discounted 25%
13. Any food/drinks left in the refrigerator will be disposed as a charge on guest's credit card.

Anyone have more cost-savings?

 

[Normy]

@ Smoke, can you give me contact details of your people, please?. So far have only used agents on jl. Tamblingan. Clothes are usually creased even when you ask to be ironed, and one place must use that perfumed soap powder which I dont like. Will be back in Sanur January.

 

[matsaleh]

I use a local laundry in Lovely Sanur and most is 1000 rupiah per item

my shorts and shirts are 1000
thick big cotton towels are 2000( brought from usa)
sheets and pillows are 1000 and my comforter is 5000

everything is pressed and folded also
They have a pick up and delivery service but I never know when I will be home

Cheap prices in Sanur!
The going rate in Kuta/Legian:
Sheets Rp4000
Pillow cases Rp1000
Bath Towels Rp2000
Duvet/Comforter Cover Rp3000
Comforter (padded) Rp10000 to Rp15000

 

[Smoke]

@ Smoke, can you give me contact details of your people, please?. So far have only used agents on jl. Tamblingan. Clothes are usually creased even when you ask to be ironed, and one place must use that perfumed soap powder which I dont like. Will be back in Sanur January.

MIRA Laundry Service
JL Tukad Bilok no. 90A
sanur Kauh

Telp (0361) 364 0732

 

[Smoke]

Just around the block from my house ( after the rice patties :icon_e_biggrin

 

[hinakos]

Cheap prices in Sanur!
The going rate in Kuta/Legian:
Sheets Rp4000
Pillow cases Rp1000
Bath Towels Rp2000
Duvet/Comforter Cover Rp3000
Comforter (padded) Rp10000 to Rp15000

these are more like the prices i was expecting.

meaning my weekly costs could have been up to 300,000+rp. meaning that laundry equipment would have paid itself off in a little over a year. still i havent factored in the power and water consumption i pay.

doesnt add up.

 

[Markit]

I have an idea....why not follow the budget airlines business model like Air Asia or Ryan.

Cause you'd be out of business within 6 months and would have achieved a stunning record by TripAdvisor for having gotten the worst reviews in the history of the hotel trade. People will put up with almost anything for a cheap, quick flight - not so with a vacation on Bali.

 

[ferdie]

Hinakos, I know that you use the gas dryer, the electric one would be a disaster:beaten:

The rate that matsaleh mention looks good at first but sometimes you have to give kickbacks to the villa staffs to make sure the send the laundry to you or only to make sure they pay the bill on time

If you decided to be in the laundry business, make sure you have count the detergent and the electricity for ironing and water pump ( I am assuming you use one instead of PAM)
The normal electric bill for a two washing machine and a gas dryer and a steam iron would be around 500 until 1 mill depends on the load of the laundry
If you want to cut the cost, dry the laundry without the dryer, create a space with a lot of open air but with a see through roof safely covering the laundry from the rain
I assume you have in house staff so you didn't recruit someone extra for this option :icon_cool:

I was unlucky because the bloke was not an honest man and he didn't like the advise that I have given him about the normal and right way to do business, so good luck on your idea:icon_mrgreen:

FYI: if the local guys knew you had extra business on the side, proposal for donations will come faster than a speeding bullet in Ubud :devilish: