Getting Real: the nuts and bolts of putting together a laundromat business

The following is a phone conversation with Ryan Smith of AAdvantage Laundry. http://www.AAdvantagelaundry.com and Jason Baird.

Jason Baird: If I have all the money ready and I have my laundromat business plan ready, when do I actually start working with you guys?. When do you guys come into the picture for helping me with this and what do I need to buy first? Do I need to buy the equipment first? Do I do lease the building location first? I'm just trying to think of the order of how things progress and when you guys come in.

Ryan Smith: Really we welcome any strong candidate that has the 20-30% cash to invest. We welcome that customer to walk into our door without anything else but just that. From there we will guide them down the road of the business. We can help with the business plan. We put a quotation together for the equipment based on a location. While we may have a business plan in the framework, we have to have a location so we go to a location and the investor, like we said, typically negotiates a lease. At the same time, based on if we think that it's attainable and we think that we are going to be able to work something out and the  investor is going to be able to come to an agreement with the landlord for a lease, at that time we would  put together a layout based on an equipment mix that we recognize would be suitable for the demographics in that area. From there we would, in order to secure an arrangement, we would put this quotation together, give it to the bank, Dexter Financial Services. At that time, while they are negotiating the lease, while the business plan is in place, at the same time we're helping the customer with all the ancillary items that would be necessary that we would provide so that we have a finalized quote that they would take to the bank. At the same time, they would be working with a contractor or us in order to get a finish out cost so that the bank or Dexter Financial Services could review that. At that point in time, upon approval from the funding source, we would expect a signed quotation and a deposit of somewhere around 20% based on our equipment quotation and from there once we've established that portion, then on our end we are ordering equipment; we're staging equipment. The landlord in the lease has been negotiated and the contractor's pulling permits and moving forward so that within a 3-4 month timeline, depending on the city and the permitting time, once they pull permits, it's typically a 90-120 day build out. Like I said, we're helping the investor by saying, this is when this piece will be brought in, this is when these pieces will be brought in at this stage. We coordinate that with the contractor and the investor so that when ultimately in that 90-120 day period is finalized, they've got a nice new laundry that we've helped them build and a vibrant business.