Published: March 2026
There is a certain kind of founder who spent 2021 to 2024 building a B2B SaaS product with a recurring revenue model, a Notion dashboard tracking MRR, and a genuine belief that software margins were the only margins worth having. Some of them were right. A lot of them are now watching AI commoditise their product category in real time while churn ticks upward and CAC refuses to come down.
This piece is for that person. And also for anyone who has ever driven past a laundromat on a Saturday morning, watched it do steady business, and thought: what does that thing actually make?
The answer is more interesting than most people expect.
The SaaSpocalypse is a real phenomenon. AI tools are collapsing price points across categories that spent a decade building premium margins. Customer acquisition costs for digital products are rising. The venture-backed growth-at-all-costs playbook has lost its shine.
Meanwhile, certain businesses that look boring on the surface are generating returns that software founders would recognise as excellent. A well-run automated laundromat with card payments, remote monitoring, and no staff is producing 25 to 35 percent net margins on $150,000 to $250,000 in revenue. It operates seven days a week without anyone going near it. The P&L takes about 20 minutes a month to review.
The catch is that this model does not scale the way software scales. You cannot 10x a laundromat by hiring a growth team. But for a buyer looking for reliable cash flow on a sensible acquisition multiple - and there are a lot of those buyers right now - it deserves a proper look.
This article builds the full financial model from real data. We used Speed Queen's published per-cycle cost figures for Sydney, live business listings from March 2026, ATO benchmarks, and industry data. The model is constructed from scratch, not borrowed from a broker's pitch.
A laundromat acquisition typically involves three assets: the lease, the machines, and the customer base. Understanding each matters more than the headline asking price.
The lease is the most important asset and the most underappreciated risk. Your machines sit in someone else's building. If the lease does not renew - because the landlord sells, redevelops, or simply wants you out - you have $100,000 to $200,000 of equipment that needs to be relocated or written off.
When evaluating any laundromat, the first question is: how long is the remaining lease term, and does it have extension options? A shop with three years remaining and no option is worth materially less than one with a ten-year lease plus options, even if the P&Ls are identical. The lease is the investment thesis.
A modern automated laundromat runs Speed Queen or equivalent commercial washers and dryers with lifespans of seven to ten years in heavy use. The shift from coin operation to card payment via systems like Nayax or eCleanPay has transformed the model: no cash to collect, no coin box theft, pricing changes made remotely in 30 seconds, and remote fault monitoring so you know before the customer does when a machine is down.
Operators who switched from coin to card report an average 25 percent revenue increase within 12 months of conversion - partly from pricing flexibility, partly from eliminating the deterrent of needing exact change, partly from eliminating cash theft entirely.
Laundromat customers are a catchment, not a relationship. Research consistently shows 60 to 70 percent of customers live within one to two kilometres. You are buying a location, not a brand.
The single best demand indicator for an Australian laundromat in 2026 is the proportion of nearby housing that lacks in-unit laundry. New apartment developments in inner Sydney increasingly include only a compact combo unit or nothing at all - a deliberate choice by developers to maximise net saleable area. This creates forced, recurring demand that is structural rather than discretionary.
At the lower end, a laundrette near Manly Beach recently listed at $135,000. A South Sydney automated laundromat with card payment already installed listed at $165,000. At the higher end, a Summer Hill dry cleaning and laundry business in an inner-west community shopping centre listed at $280,000.
The anchor listing for this analysis is a Western Sydney laundromat and dry cleaner asking $250,000, with FY25 revenue of $241,000 and a three-year average EBITDA of $128,000. That is a 1.95x EBITDA multiple. For context, a comparable online business with the same earnings typically sells at four to six times EBITDA. The boring business discount is real and measurable.
At the portfolio end, a 33-location multi-state laundromat group recently came to market generating $2.5 million in EBITDA - proof that the model scales for operators who want to build a portfolio.
Most laundromat analysis quotes annual revenue figures without showing where they come from. This section builds the model from first principles.
A typical footprint of 10 machines runs 6 washers and 4 dryers. A good mix covers the range of load sizes customers actually need, from a small personal wash to a king-size duvet.
Speed Queen publishes per-cycle cost data for Sydney conditions including electricity, water, and wastewater. The figures below use those published inputs.
A 10kg small washer charges $6 per cycle and costs $0.47 to run - gross profit of $5.53 per cycle.
A 13kg medium washer charges $8 per cycle and costs $0.66 to run - gross profit of $7.34 per cycle.
An 18kg large washer charges $10 per cycle and costs $0.82 to run - gross profit of $9.18 per cycle.
A 24kg extra-large washer charges $14 per cycle and costs $1.21 to run - gross profit of $12.79 per cycle.
A standard dryer charges $5 to $6 per cycle and costs $1.11 to $1.55 to run depending on size - gross profit of $3.50 to $4.90 per cycle.
A laundromat operating 7am to 10pm runs 15 hours per day, 365 days per year. Peak demand runs Friday afternoon through Sunday morning, where washer utilisation hits 70 to 80 percent. Weekday mornings are closer to 15 to 20 percent. The blended utilisation for a well-located suburban shop sits at approximately 35 to 45 percent. We use 40 percent as the base case.
At 40 percent utilisation, each machine runs approximately 6 hours per day and completes roughly one cycle per hour.
Two 10kg washers: 2 x 6 cycles x $6 x 365 days = $26,280
Two 13kg washers: 2 x 6 cycles x $8 x 365 days = $35,040
One 18kg washer: 1 x 6 cycles x $10 x 365 days = $21,900
One 24kg washer: 1 x 6 cycles x $14 x 365 days = $30,660
Total washer revenue: $113,880
Four dryers: 4 x 5 cycles x $5.50 average x 365 days = $40,150
(Dryers run slightly fewer daily cycles as some customers air-dry or take loads home wet.)
Total modelled gross revenue: $154,030
This sits within the $120,000 to $200,000 annual revenue range cited across industry sources for a well-located 10-machine inner-Sydney laundromat. At 45 percent utilisation the model produces approximately $173,000. At 35 percent it produces approximately $135,000.
One note on seasonality: washer usage is relatively consistent year-round. Dryer demand dips slightly in summer. This creates a minor seasonal cashflow pattern but has minimal impact on the annual total.
The following is a constructed financial model using publicly available market data - Speed Queen per-cycle costs, live Sydney business listings, and ATO expense benchmarks. It is designed to be illustrative of typical economics, not a guarantee of any specific outcome.
Location: Inner-western Sydney, 10 machines, fully automated card payment, no staff, 7am to 10pm seven days a week, 40 percent blended utilisation.
Gross machine revenue: $154,030
Utilities - electricity, water, wastewater (27% of gross revenue): $41,580
This reflects modern energy-efficient machines operating on a standard commercial tariff. This figure aligns with ATO benchmarks showing total expenses of 63 to 79 percent for businesses in the $150,000 to $600,000 turnover band for laundry and dry-cleaning services. Older coin-operated equipment with less efficient motors sits at the higher end of the 25 to 35 percent utility range cited in industry reports. Rising electricity costs and time-of-use tariffs are pushing this line upward for any business that has not invested in newer equipment.
Gross profit: $112,450 (73% gross margin)
Rent: $42,000
This assumes a well-negotiated lease in an outer-inner suburb - not a beachfront location, but a solid residential catchment. The industry benchmark is to target rent below $40,000 annually for a comfortable operation. The $250,000 Western Sydney anchor listing cited rent of $30,000 per year, which explains its exceptional EBITDA margin. Inner-Sydney locations will run $50,000 to $80,000, which fundamentally changes the model. Rent is the single variable that determines whether this business is excellent or marginal.
Machine maintenance and repairs: $9,000
Speed Queen commercial machines are robust, but bearings, door seals, pumps, and control boards fail. Budget 5 to 7 percent of revenue in a mature shop. Budget more aggressively from year six onward as equipment approaches its replacement cycle.
Insurance: $2,500
Standard business insurance covering public liability, equipment, and property damage.
Card payment system fees (Nayax or equivalent, approximately 2% of revenue): $3,080
Payment processing on $154,000 in card transactions. This is the cost of eliminating coin operations. It is worth it many times over in eliminated theft, administrative overhead, and pricing flexibility.
Bookkeeping and accounting: $1,800
The laundromat's financial model is simple: daily card settlement, utilities, rent, maintenance. Monthly BAS is straightforward. Annual accounts are not complex.
Miscellaneous (cleaning supplies, consumables, minor signage): $2,000
Total operating expenses: $60,380
EBITDA: $52,070
EBITDA margin: 33.8%
This is before depreciation and before any loan repayments if the acquisition was debt-funded.
Net profit (after conservative depreciation and owner's time allowance): approximately $44,000
Net margin: approximately 28.5%
This is consistent with the ATO's laundry and dry-cleaning benchmark range of 21 to 37 percent net margin for businesses in this turnover band.
Equipment acquired as part of a laundromat purchase qualifies for small-business depreciation treatment under Australian tax law. Individual items under $20,000 may qualify for immediate write-off in the year of acquisition, depending on your business structure and the relevant threshold in effect at time of purchase. This can meaningfully reduce taxable profit in the early years of ownership. Your accountant should model this before you buy.
The laundromat of 2010 was a coin-operated room requiring weekly cash collection, a float for the coin boxes, someone to deal with jammed machines, and a manual pricing process that involved a screwdriver. It was not a passive business.
The laundromat of 2026 is different in kind.
Card payment systems like Nayax and eCleanPay eliminate cash entirely. Machines connect to a management dashboard accessible on your phone. You can see in real time how many cycles each machine has run, which machines have errors, and what your daily revenue is. Pricing changes take thirty seconds and are reflected immediately across all machines.
Remote monitoring means you know before the customer does when a machine goes down. You dispatch a technician rather than arriving to find a queue of frustrated customers and a machine that has been broken for three days.
Operators who converted from coin to card report an average 25 percent revenue lift within the first 12 months. This comes from three sources: the removal of the exact-change barrier, the ability to optimise pricing dynamically, and the elimination of break-ins targeting coin boxes.
The honest time commitment for a modern automated laundromat: one to two hours per week. Restocking consumables if you sell them, light cleaning, responding to the occasional fault alert. This is genuinely passive by small-business standards.
This is the existential risk and deserves to be first. If your lease does not renew, you have expensive equipment and an established customer base with nowhere to operate. Never acquire a laundromat with fewer than five years of remaining lease tenure plus options. The $135,000 Manly listing mentioned earlier specifically noted the lease was expiring in December 2026. That asking price reflects the lease risk, not just the business quality.
Commercial washers and dryers last seven to ten years in heavy use. If you buy a shop with six-year-old equipment, you are acquiring a business with a $100,000 to $150,000 capital requirement in the near-term horizon. Factor this into your acquisition model before agreeing to a price.
Electricity prices for commercial users in Sydney have risen materially since 2022. Time-of-use tariffs now apply to many commercial connections, meaning machines running during peak hours cost significantly more than off-peak. The 25 to 35 percent utility cost ratio will drift toward the top of that range without active management of your tariff structure and machine scheduling.
Sydney Water charges for both incoming water and outgoing trade waste. Sydney Water's 2025-26 trade-waste fees for laundromats average approximately $2.50 to $3.50 per kilolitre discharged. These costs are captured within the utility ratio in the P&L above but deserve specific attention in due diligence, particularly in locations where water supply or drainage infrastructure has constraints.
If apartment developments in your catchment are replaced by buildings with in-unit laundry, your customer base erodes slowly. Check development applications in the local area before you buy - particularly any large residential projects approved but not yet built.
Revenue is received daily, directly to your bank account via card settlement. There are no invoices to issue, no debtors to chase, no accounts receivable aging to manage. The daily revenue report from your payment dashboard reconciles directly against your bank statement.
Expenses are simple: rent monthly, utilities quarterly, maintenance as needed, insurance annually. No staff means no payroll, no super obligations, no single touch payroll reporting.
BAS is straightforward. All machine revenue is a taxable supply at 10 percent GST. All significant expense lines have GST credits to claim. Quarterly BAS preparation is not complex.
The monthly management accounts for a laundromat like this take approximately 20 minutes to prepare and review. Revenue, utilities, rent, maintenance - four lines and you have the picture. This is one of the simpler financial functions in the small-business world relative to the revenue it supports.
The following comparison is for illustrative purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Past returns from any asset class do not guarantee future results.
You have $250,000 to invest. What does each option actually produce on paper?
Term deposit at 4.5% (current top rates): $11,250 per year, fully taxed at marginal rate, capital preserved, zero effort, immediately liquid.
ASX index fund at 8.5% blended (long-run historical average including dividends): approximately $21,250 per year on average, highly variable year to year, generally appreciating capital, zero effort, fully liquid.
The $250,000 laundromat at 1.95x EBITDA (the Western Sydney anchor listing): $128,000 EBITDA per year before owner's time and tax. After a conservative 30 percent tax adjustment and the time cost of one to two hours per week, you are clearing in the range of $85,000 to $90,000 annually on a $250,000 outlay - if the EBITDA holds.
The laundromat wins on return in this comparison but loses on liquidity and risk concentration. The business quality is entirely dependent on one lease and one location. And the $128,000 EBITDA at that listing reflects a $30,000 rent - genuinely exceptional. A more typical inner-Sydney laundromat at $42,000 to $50,000 rent produces $45,000 to $55,000 in EBITDA on $150,000 in revenue.
The sweet spot is not building from scratch (setup costs of $200,000 to $500,000 with no existing customer base or proven cash flow) and not buying an ageing shop with a short lease and old equipment. The sweet spot is a well-established automated shop, three to eight years old, in a high-density residential catchment, with a long lease and modern card-payment equipment, at two to three times EBITDA.
Those do not come to market often. When they do, they move fast.
How much does a laundromat make in Australia?
A well-run automated laundromat generating $150,000 to $250,000 in revenue typically produces a net margin of 25 to 35 percent, consistent with ATO benchmark data for the laundry and dry-cleaning category. That translates to $37,000 to $85,000 in net profit annually. Results vary significantly based on rent, utilisation rate, and equipment age.
What is a fair multiple to pay for a laundromat?
The Western Sydney listing analysed here sold at 1.95x EBITDA. Industry practice ranges from 1.5x to 3x EBITDA depending on lease tenure, equipment age, and location quality. A shop with a long lease, modern equipment, and a strong catchment commands a premium. One with a short lease or ageing machines should be priced accordingly.
How much does it cost to start a laundromat from scratch in Australia?
Building a new laundromat from scratch costs $200,000 to $500,000 depending on size, fit-out requirements, and equipment choices. This includes machines ($150,000 to $250,000 for a medium-sized shop), plumbing, electrical, ventilation, and initial working capital. Most buyers are better served acquiring an established shop with a proven cash flow history.
How long does a laundromat take to pay back?
At the Western Sydney anchor listing ($250,000 acquisition, $128,000 EBITDA), the payback period on the purchase price is under two years. A more typical inner-suburban acquisition of $175,000 generating $50,000 in annual net profit has a payback period of approximately 3.5 years.
What is the biggest risk in buying a laundromat?
Lease tenure. If the lease does not renew, the business effectively ceases - you have equipment but no premises. Always verify remaining lease term, extension options, and landlord intentions before completing any acquisition.
Do laundromats need staff?
A fully automated laundromat with card payment and remote monitoring does not require permanent staff. The owner typically spends one to two hours per week on light maintenance coordination and monitoring. Some operators engage a cleaner for a few hours per week.
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Speed Queen Commercial, The True Cost of Laundromats (per-cycle cost data, Sydney pricing): sqcommercial.com.au
businessforsale.com.au and seekbusiness.com.au - live listing data, March 2026
Swoop Funding, Cost of Starting a Laundromat Australia: swoopfunding.com/au
Start-A-Laundromat Australia, Are Laundromats Profitable: startalaundromat.com.au
ATO, Small Business Benchmarks - Laundry and Dry Cleaning Services: ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/income-deductions-and-concessions/small-business-benchmarks/in-detail/laundry-and-dry-cleaning-services
We review and check articles periodically. Financial models in this article are constructed from publicly available market data and are intended for illustrative purposes only. Nothing in this article constitutes financial, investment, or tax advice. Acquisition decisions should be made with professional due diligence specific to your circumstances.
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