With any major renovation, we force our Laundromat customers to go to our competitors while we renovate the Laundromat. We try to keep the construction "down time" to an absolute minimum. If we are replacing all of the washers or dryers, the store is usually closed for a day or 2. In the case of our Briarcliff Laundromat renovation, we will be closed for about 10 working days and 1 complete weekend. The extended down time is due to the removal of the old concrete slab and old tired drain line (more about that next week).

To be closed for almost 2 full weeks just kills me. We are forcing our loyal customers to go to our competitors. What happens if they like the competitors Laundromat better than our? What happens if the don't come back? These are nagging thoughts that can keep me awake at night. Remember that our average Laundromat customer spends between $15-20 per week in the Laundromat doing their laundry. That means that every customer is spending about $1000 a year in our store. It does not take the defection of too many customers to start to change the profitability of a Laundromat.

I also have to remind myself that we are being pro-active and creating a better place for our washing customers. We will be installing new washers and cosmetically face lifting the Laundromat to make it brighter and cleaner looking. We will be adding more washing capacity and moving our Big washers to the front of the store to make it more convenient for our customers. We will also be performing a "Grand Re-Opening" with a customer appreciation promotion; to win back any customers that we may have lost. (And out competitor will still have the same 20 year old washers and same tired looking Laundromat...)

But that brings us back to our renovation. To minimize the amount of down time, we always want to perform as much work before hand. Any tasks that we can complete before we shut down the Laundromat should be accomplished. Any work that can be done before the Laundromat shut down should be accomplished. Any work performed before hand will help reduce the craziness during the construction period.

With the Briarcliff job we are removing 1-30# stack dryer and installing 2-45# stack dryers. (This is to increase the drying capacity to match the new washing capacity.) In this case, we need to add a 10" exhaust duct through the roof and about 3 more square feet of make-up air. Last week I had the sheet metal ducts fabricated and then I sent my crew to install the ductwork on the roof.

My guys went up on the Laundromat roof and noticed that the landlord had recently replaced the roof with a brand new EDPM (rubber) roof. As soon as I heard "new roof", I had the guys stop the work, leave the job and I then contacted the landlord. (The last thing I wanted to do (after finally negotiating a brand new 10 year lease,) was to piss-off the landlord and be in violation of my lease.) So I call the landlord and asked for the name of the roofing company. I then contacted the roofing company and scheduled a date for them to cut 2 holes in the roof and to seal the duct work once it was installed.

My crew meets with the roofers early one morning and within a couple of hours the new dryer ducts were quickly and easily installed.  Note: By using the Landlord's original roofer, HK kept the warranty & bond on the new roof intact. So any future roof leaks would have to be covered by the landlord (and his roofer). I had to use the Landlord's roofers and they had me over a barrel (I could not go to anyone else). Luckily they were reasonable in price and a please to work with, which is not always the case. We got lucky with this job.

More of the renovation process as it happens...