Benefits of an experienced laundry operator

Real Estate Weekly, Nov 13, 1996 by Denise Savino-Erichsen

All too often, a property manager will make the assumption that if an area in the basement is equipped with a few washers and dryers they have created an amenity. An experienced laundry operator can walk you through the process of revitalizing your facility and show you specific examples of ways that you can optimize the space you have reserved to create a laundry room.

Investment

Maintaining an apartment building is very costly. Why would you spend monies in areas that you do not have to? Spending thousands of dollars to furnish a room does not make sense when you can contact a reliable laundry company that will design and install the room at virtually no cost to the property. A laundry company will pay you a monthly rent, just like your tenants.

Technology

The laundry industry has made many changes in the types of equipment now available. Today's washers are completely computerized. Each time the monies are collected, the machines are wand read. The information is then downloaded into a computer and complete reports are available. The building manager can receive reports on how much money is collected, the time and date of the last collection, the most common times the machines are used and how many times the service technician was at the location.

The newest wave of the future is a debit card system. Soon residents will not have to hunt for change to do their laundry. A simple swipe of a credit card and the machine is activated. This type of technology is not available to the manager that is running a few machines. The computerized equipment and software is very costly and only available to route operators servicing thousands of machines.

Service

A superintendent or handyman cannot properly maintain state-of-the-art equipment. Special tools and training are required to repair these machines. Laundry companies have access to parts and equipment at a greater discount rate than an individual does. Yes, service contracts on laundry equipment are available. Again, you are spending money. Bear in mind, most service companies treat their own locations as priority. Service contracts are usually responded to after the route operators service calls are complete.

The manager who runs his own equipment is still responsible for calling us when equipment is malfunctioning. An experienced route operator will display a local phone number on the machinery so the consumer can make the call directly to the laundry company if equipment has malfunctioned, if they need a refund, or if their clothing has been damaged. Today's route operator will track each service call as it is called in. Two-way radios directly from the service department to the technician are a must! A dependable route operator should be glad to give you a response time on service complaints. It is a business for the laundry company. A well-managed company is not going to let a machine stay out of order for a long period of time. If the machine is not operating properly, we are not making money.

At Automatic Industries we look for patterns of repeat calls. If a certain machine at a specific location is frequently called in, then we send a supervisor to assess the equipment. In many cases, this is a guide to machine replacement. Every service call is carefully documented, enabling us to keep track of what locations need the most attention.

A property manager does not have the capability to manage a laundry facility as effectively as a route operator that has a primary business of maintaining and managing laundry rooms. A well run laundry facility can be a profit producing source for a landlord and a selling amenity to renters.

For a no obligation assessment of your laundry facility. Contact Denise Savino-Erichsen 1-(800)-The-Wash.