What Commercial Laundry Equipment Do Care Homes Need?
To ensure your care home keeps up with the ongoing laundry demands of residents and staff, the first step is to determine which commercial laundry equipment you need.
At Shaw's Commercial Laundry Solutions, we supply and install the following for care homes:
Commercial Washing Machines: Designed to handle significantly higher workloads than domestic machines, commercial washing machines are well suited to the frequent washing of bedding, towels, clothing and other care-home laundry.
Commercial Tumble Dryers: Energy-efficient commercial tumble dryers that are designed for frequent, high-volume drying. They can help reduce drying times and improve laundry-room efficiency, saving you time and money.
Commercial Rotary Ironers: Many care homes benefit from commercial rotary ironers which are particularly useful for processing large quantities of flatwork such as sheets, duvet covers, and table linen.
Commercial Drying Cabinets: Useful for items that require gentler or specialist drying, commercial drying cabinets can provide an alternative to tumble drying for certain garments or fabrics.
Commercial Ironing Tables: Useful for finishing garments and smaller items, ironing tables can form part of a complete professional laundry setup for care homes.
Once your care home has established what equipment it needs, the next question is how best to finance it: leasing or buying?
Leasing Commercial Laundry Equipment: How Does It Work?
Many care homes that enquire with Shaw's Commercial Laundry Solutions favour commercial laundry equipment leasing, which involves an agreed payment over a set period to use the selected equipment, as opposed to purchasing the equipment outright.
What happens at the end of the agreement depends on the type of finance or lease arrangement, so it's important to understand the terms before committing.
Through our partnership with Kennet Equipment Leasing, Shaw's Commercial Laundry Solutions can help customers acquire new commercial laundry equipment on terms designed to suit their budget and cash flow, with options available from £1,000 + VAT and flexible terms ranging from 1 to 7 years.
Potential advantages of leasing:
Lower initial financial commitment.
Predictable monthly payments.
Easier access to professional equipment.
Potentially easier to upgrade after initial agreement.
Helps preserve working capital for other expenses.
Potential disadvantages:
The total cost may be higher than buying outright.
The care home doesn't necessarily own the equipment.
Maintenance arrangements need to be clearly understood.
Early termination can have financial implications.
There may be contractual restrictions or conditions.
Buying Commercial Laundry Equipment: How Does It Work?
When purchasing equipment outright, your care home pays the full purchase price upfront and owns the equipment from day one.
You will then need to budget separately for ongoing servicing, repairs, energy and eventual replacement.
Potential advantages of buying:
Greater control over when equipment is replaced or upgraded.
No ongoing lease payments once the equipment has been paid for.
Greater control over how long the equipment is kept.
Potentially more cost-effective over the equipment's working life.
The equipment remains an asset of the business.
Potential disadvantages:
Higher upfront cost.
Capital is tied up in equipment.
Care homes are responsible for arranging servicing unless covered.
Replacing multiple machines at once can require a substantial investment.
Leasing vs Buying: Quick Comparison
