A community laundry room doesn’t have to be a depressing place we go to once a week to get our clothes cleaned. It can be a place to meet other tenants and bring back that neighborly feeling. It doesn’t have to be a descent into some creepy and dark boiler room-type location that has flickering lights and the unnecessary fear of something looming.
Be smart with the shared space
Good laundry room management means having the right atmosphere for residents doing laundry. Make the laundry room a big location. Have enough space to easily walk through the aisles of machines and dedicate a space for people to wait for their clothing to become clean and dry.
Include tables, chairs, and maybe even some free WiFi to help pass the time. There could be a vending machine with light snacks and drinks (and a potential for another revenue source).
Be mindful of the equipment itself and consider energy-efficient laundry equipment. They tend to be more modern machines that your tenants will appreciate and will help to improve your margins as laundry room management.
Keep your laundry room clean and bright
It cannot be said enough that the laundry room should be spotless. Yes, it can be tough in larger cities, especially with understanding laundry rooms, but it’s imperative. No one wants to have a feeling that they just cleaned their clothing in a space that’s infested, smells, or looks dirty. Therefore, community laundry rooms will always benefit more from a cleaner setup.
To add to that mentality of having a clean laundry room, it’s time to turn it into a beacon of light. A community laundry room should be inviting. There shouldn’t be any reason that it is brightly lit when in use. If there’s an issue with electricity, use lighting systems turned on via sensors to conserve electricity.
A clean and bright community laundry room will make tenants feel safer. They’ll end up using the machines within the building instead of huffing their dirty clothes on the street to go to an outside laundromat.
Some other areas to consider
Have plenty of carts to help facilitate an easier laundry run, and even a sink in case the tenants need to use it. On top of the energy-efficient laundry equipment, consider a cashless system with pre-paid laundry cards.
It will help manage prices and not have tenants always needing to get a roll of quarters every time they want to wash a load. Having this digital interface also helps laundry room management get the right types of data, so they can see when it’s the busiest, and adjust prices when necessary in smaller increments, instead of a fixed 25 cents every time.
Impress residents with a reliable laundry room
With a properly designed community laundry room, it also ends up helping to be a selling point for would-be tenants. They see how great condition and wonderfully designed the laundry room is, and it helps show how meticulous and understanding the management is.
