Laundromats have a reputation for being dull and passive business ventures. The economics say otherwise. People need clean clothes every week. The machines run whether the owner is there or not.

Self-storage, car washes, vending, and pest control work the same way; a basic service people already buy, on repeat, backed by equipment that keeps producing. Overlooking this industry might be a mistake

Dave Menz bought his first laundromat in 2010 for $85,000, a rundown mess a couple of miles from his home, while working full time at the local phone company. He got it profitable, bought a second, then a third, and quit his job three weeks before closing the deal. Today he owns four locations across the east side of Cincinnati. 250 machines, 40 staff. Last year his stores brought in $1.8 million. Menz now teaches other owners through a paid membership, which includes Dave AI, an AI version of himself to coach members around the clock.

Menz learned to get three times the revenue from a single location, then built a method other owners could copy. A single washing machine in one of his laundromats brings in around $250 a day. Run it every day for a year and it makes more than $90,000. The machine costs about $16,000. Beyond laundromats, here are the steps you can follow.

How to source and run a service business that makes easy money

Buy a business that already runs

Building a laundromat from scratch can cost $350,000 and six months before a single customer walks in. Buying an existing one skips the permits, the construction, the inspections. Menz's first location was a rundown mess on the market because nobody wanted it. He paid $85,000 and inherited working infrastructure that would cost around $400,000 to install new.

Look for tired, underperforming locations with steady underlying demand. This goes for laundromats or other high street necessities. Menz found three of his four through his equipment distributor, not through listings. Off-market deals make up around 80% of sales in the industry. Tell distributors and brokers you are buying. Visit on weekdays when owners are around. The best deals never get listed.

Look at the numbers to know what to pay

Price comes from the financials, so learn to read them. Revenue, operating costs, net income, cash flow. Menz said his three smaller locations each bring in $250,000 to $300,000 a year at around a 30% margin. “In this industry you pay two to five times net operating income, though sometimes you are buying a location and its infrastructure more than a cash flow.” Understand what the business makes now, then make a reasonable guess at what you could make it earn.

Run that comparison before you fall for a location. Menz bought his fourth laundromat for $35,000, a number he picked because it made the seller happy. "I just needed the location," he says. The space was worth millions to him once he saw what it could become. If you cannot read a profit and loss statement yet, bring someone who can.

Stack additional income streams

One 80-pound washing machine sounds expensive on paper, but pays for itself quickly. Menz calls these his monster loaders. "These run about $16,000 to purchase and these generate about $200 to $250 a day in revenue," he says. At $250 a day, that one machine clears more than $90,000 a year.

The same machine does more once you add services. Menz layered drop-off, wash and fold, and pickup and delivery on top of self-serve, using the same equipment. "We generate as much money when we're closed to the public as when we're open," he says. Full service now brings in about half his total revenue. The machine never changed. He runs it more. List every extra service you could stack on the same asset you already paid for.

Look beyond yourself to finance your purchase

Menz started with $30,000. He put $15,000 down and took a $70,000 small business loan on the $85,000 purchase. The other $15,000 went into fixing the place up. He calls it putting lipstick on a pig.

Even if you don’t have a big deposit, you have options. Seller financing lets the current owner act as the bank, common for run-down places that will not qualify for a traditional loan. Equipment financing uses the machines as collateral. A business partner with capital can fund the deal if you prove you are worth backing. "Just figure out a way to get the business as soon as possible," Menz says. Owners get treated differently to newcomers.

Optimize before you open the next location

Menz's instinct was to keep buying locations. He grew faster by doing more with the four he had. He documents his systems, trains a team, then adds revenue streams to each site before acquiring another. The US laundromat industry has grown to about $7.2 billion in 2026 even as the number of businesses fell to around 17,461, down about 1.5% a year since 2021. Fewer, better-run locations take the growth.

The same playbook works far beyond laundromats. A service people need on repeat, equipment that produces around the clock, systems that let you step back. Self-storage runs on the same logic, a $45 billion US market in 2025 with stabilized facilities around 77% full. Pest control is more interesting because three quarters of its revenue recurs, at 58% gross margins. Car washes, vending, the same structure. "I work about two hours a week in my businesses," Menz says. He reinvested profit into a management team and stepped back from operating.

You can own and operate a profitable service-based business

You can buy the businesses other people walk past. Fix them. Build systems that run without you. The clothes still pile up every week. The storage units still fill. The cars still get dirty. That's your opportunity.

Find a service people already pay for, acquire a tired version of it, get three times the revenue from every asset, and document the operation until it runs on its own.