Dry Cleaning Home Delivery Business Plan

Columbia Cleaners is a start-up enterprise to be established as a limited liability company in Hillsboro, OR.  The company will provide dry cleaning, laundry, and garment alterations, offered with regular home pick-up and delivery services. The company will have a production facility, but will not need a retail store front because of our pick-up and delivery service. However, we will need delivery vans and customer service trained drivers. Initially, the production facility will be rented. Cleaning equipment will be leased with accompanying maintenance contracts.

Start-up financing will be through owner investment and bank loans, with a line of credit established for operations eventualities.

2.1 Company Ownership

The proposed legal form of business is a limited liability company, wholly owned by its founder J.C. Copperbeech. This is a small business and need not publicly disclose its finances. The registration procedures are quite simple and the business can start operations as soon as possible. The owner/founder will be the director and will initially handle the bookkeeping responsibilities.

2.2 Start-up Summary

Startup expenses, funded through a combination of owner’s equity capital and a commercial loan, are summarized in the table below.

Leasing equipment: Buying new machines costs approximately $50,000 as opposed to leasing which costs $20,000 per year including maintenance. Evaluating the leasing solution shows NPV higher than that of buying machines. Moreover, the business is new and has less experience in maintenance and repair of machine breakdown, therefore the optimal solution is leasing machines. The following machines will be leased:

• 1 Washer – 38 lb capacity, high spin, microprocessor control, electric heat
• 1 Tumble dryer – 40 lb capacity, stainless steel drum and gas heated
• 1 Dry cleaning machine – 25 lb
• 1 Roller Iron 40 x 12 inch, variable speed and vacuum exhauster
• 1 Ironing table with steaming vacuum board, integral 2 gallon boiler, iron, water pump and light

Capital plan: The owner will invest $40,000 in the business. Additional capital for the business in the amount of $20,000 will be borrowed from a bank.

• Buying a van, and office/facilities equipment (computer, printer, fax, telephone instrument, tables, chairs, shelving, work tables, racks, etc.) and initial leasing of laundry machines: approx. $27,000
• Buying another van in April: $10,000 (see the Cash Flow Table later in the document)

Loan: Lending plan has to be completed and submitted to the bank 6 months before starting the business. Loan will be needed two months in advance. Annual interest of 10% has to be paid on the long-term loans secured with fixed assets.