The dry-cleaning business launch plan
Every step from deciding to opening, in the order it happens, shaped to your situation, with your own numbers beside it. About 49 steps in 8 phases, 23 of them specific to a dry-cleaning business. Free to read; ticking steps off and putting in your own numbers come with membership.
The plan49 steps
- 01Not started0/6Fold
Decide with the numbersa week or two
Before a dollar is spent. Most expensive mistakes happen here, and this phase costs nothing.
A dry-cleaning plant sells throughput.
Typical for one unit is $300,000 to $700,000 a year; the owner keeps 20 to 30% of it before paying themselves. If that band does not cover what you need, that is the signal to pause and look again.
~50% survive 5 years. Roughly half of all new U.S. employer businesses are still operating after five years, the baseline before industry is even considered.
Twelve questions about your money, time, experience and temperament, scored. Then the 5 questions this business asks of its owner, about the hours and the work. Answer both before you spend a dollar.
Rule of thumb: if a well-run plant with a real route, commercial accounts, and a crew likely to stay is available at a fair , buying buys you years of . Answer it in your situation above and the plan reshapes.
Customers, prices, rent, staff pay, what it costs to open. We filled in typical numbers; change what you know and everything on this page follows.
- 02Not started0/5Open
Plan the moneya week
What it costs to open, where the money comes from, and the cushion that keeps you alive until the business pays for itself.
Building a dry-cleaning plant is a real capital project: most of the money goes into the machines and the utilities that feed them before the first shirt is pressed.
The itemized cost to open9 lines
- Dry-cleaning machine (non-perc): $32,500 to $90,000Reconditioned at the low end; a new 40 to 60 lb hydrocarbon or alternative-solvent machine at the high end
- Laundry, shirt & pressing equipment: $26,000 to $95,000Washer-extractor, dryer, shirt press, utility press, form finisher, topper and irons
- Boiler, compressor, spotting & solvent containment: $10,000 to $40,000
- Conveyor, POS, tagging & cameras: $6,000 to $22,000
- Installation, utilities & build-out: $25,000 to $230,000Hookups and a counter in a former plant at the low end; new electrical, plumbing, ventilation and storefront at the high end
- Signage & opening supplies: $4,000 to $21,000Sign, first solvent fill, chemicals, hangers and poly
- Delivery van for a route: $0 to $45,000Optional at opening; many plants start the route later
- Permits, environmental review, deposits & insurance: $12,000 to $74,000Phase I site assessment, air and waste permits, design, licenses, first premiums, lease and utility deposits
- Initial working capital: $40,000 to $120,000Payroll, rent, utilities and the loan payment while walk-in volume builds
Costs start on day one; customers take months. Map the first twelve months of cash so the business does not run out of money while it is getting going.
The business has to earn your pay like any other bill. Set it in your numbers and watch the month it move.
How deals in this business are financed4 lines
- SBA 7(a) loan (Up to $5M · up to 10 yr (25 with real estate) · 75-85% government-guaranteed)The workhorse for buying an existing plant or funding a new one: equipment, build-out and working capital in one loan.
- SBA 504 loan (Up to 25 yr · real estate & heavy equipment)For buying the building or the heavy machines at a long fixed rate.
- Equipment financing / lease (Secured by the equipment · 3-7 yr)Machines, shirt units and boilers are commonly financed through the equipment distributor or a lender that knows the industry, secured by the machines themselves.
- Seller financing (Often 5-25% of price · 3-7 yr)Common in plant sales: the seller carries part of the price as a note, which can count toward your equity in an SBA deal and keeps the seller helping hand over the route and the...
Most new shops pair an with 10 to 20% of your own cash. Know the monthly payment before you look at a single space.
Before you shop. A lender tells you what they would fund, what they need from you (credit, your cash in, a plan with numbers), and a pre-qualification letter makes a landlord or a seller take you seriously.
- 03Not started0/4Open
Set up the companya day or two
A day of paperwork, and it has to come before the space: a lease, a loan application and every permit are in the company’s name.
Your state’s business name search, the trademark register, and the domain, before the name is on a sign, a van, or a lease.
A , an , and the S-corporation election each change what you keep and what you are exposed to. Compare them with the numbers, confirm with a CPA and an attorney, then file with your state.
After:The is free from the IRS in minutes once the company exists. The bank account needs both. Keep business money separate from day one.
After:Pick the accounting software and connect the bank account now, so every cost of opening is captured and the numbers you later are real.
- 04Not started0/5Open
Find and secure the spaceone to three months
A dry-cleaning plant lives on throughput, and throughput depends on the territory around it.
What decides it for this business: professional, higher-income households, commercial & hospitality accounts nearby, adequate density (route efficiency), strong street visibility & parking, not oversaturated with competitors.
One call to the planning desk with the address: is this use allowed there, and what will it take (, permits, fire sign-off)? A space that needs a change of use can add months.
Rent, free months for the , who pays for what, the and the renewals, subject to financing and permits. The lender needs this letter or a draft lease to take your application.
After: ,, renewal options, increase caps, what the landlord adds on top of rent, and what happens if you have to leave. For a location business the lease is part of the purchase price.
After:at minimum; property, workers’ compensation and the rest as the business needs. The landlord asks for a certificate at signing and the lender at closing.
- 05Not started0/2Open
Get the loanfour to eight weeks
Four to eight weeks with an SBA lender, longer if the file is incomplete. Everything else waits on this, so send a complete file.
Your plan with numbers (download it as a PDF from this page), the company’s papers, the or draft lease, the and equipment quotes, your personal financial statement, and proof of the cash you put in.
After:The lender approves against the ; you sign the lease once approved; the loan closes against the signed lease and the insurance certificate. Ask for the to match the or longer.
After:
- 06Not started0/12Open
Permits and the build-outone to three months
A dry cleaner handles solvents, runs a boiler and sends water down the drain, so it carries more environmental permitting than most shops.
Bind the policies you had quoted before a contractor, a vehicle or a customer is in play. Keep the certificates; the landlord, the lender and the city will ask.
After:For any or equipment hookup, pulled by your contractors and closed out by inspection, ending with a .
After:Most cities approve exterior signs separately; signs take weeks to make. Order early.
Register your or corporation and get a city or county business license.
Register with your state tax agency where dry cleaning or laundry services are taxed, and for any goods you sell.
EPA bars perc in newly acquired dry-cleaning machines and phases it out of dry cleaning over ten years; it reopened the rule for comment in 2025, so check the current dates.
Most states or local air districts require a permit or registration for a dry-cleaning machine, with records of solvent use; perc machines also fall under the federal dry...
Still residue, filters and separator water are hazardous waste in most states: register as a generator, get an EPA ID number if your volume requires one, and use a licensed hauler.
Most states register commercial boilers and inspect them on a schedule.
Several states, Texas and Florida among them, run dry cleaner cleanup funds that require registration and yearly fees.
Hydrocarbon and similar solvents are combustible liquids; the fire marshal checks storage amounts, containment and ventilation.
After:The city’s sign-off that the space is approved for this use. You cannot open the doors without it.
After:
- 07Not started0/10Open
Set up to runduring the build
During the build, so the business runs from day one: the systems, the prices, the people and the routine.
The backbone, tags and tracks every garment from drop-off to pickup, manages the route, and invoices commercial accounts.
Take cards and stored value at the counter and on the route, and bill commercial accounts on terms.
A dedicated account keeps walk-in, route, and commercial separate from personal money, essential for clean books and any future sale.
Property, liability, and, for a solvent-handling plant, environmental coverage.
See the price the the business needs implies, then check it against what the market pays.
Federal plus state withholding, unemployment and workers’ comp registrations once you hire.
After:Wages are the start: , insurance, training time and the hours you stop billing. Owners usually post the jobs a month out and hire two to four weeks before opening so training happens before the doors open.
Early morning: The route loads pickups from homes, offices, and commercial accounts. Daytime: The crew cleans and presses through the queue, garments move from... Afternoon: Assembly and bagging for the day, ready-by deadlines get hit, and...
Opening, closing, the sale, the complaint, the cash. One page each. This is the manual a franchise would have sold you.
Free, and it is how most people will find you. Address, hours, photos and the menu or price list, live before opening day; then the sign, the soft opening and the first regulars.
- 08Not started0/5Open
Open and measurethe first ninety days
You own it. Now run it on the numbers.
Friends, neighbors and a short menu or list. Find the problems while the room is forgiving.
Enter the real numbers and see every cost line against the for this business.
Skilled pressing ; Utilities & solvent; Equipment age & .
Growth consumes cash before it produces it. Find the rate your own cash funds before you push.
You are buying or building an asset you will eventually sell.