7 Ways to Upgrade an Apartment Laundry Room and Make Tenants Happy
Apartment building and multi-housing laundry rooms are a benefit to tenants and landlords alike. Tenants appreciate that they offer a convenient way of completing a necessary chore, while landlords can advertise the laundry room as a selling point and attract tenants to their building.
However, these benefits can be multiplied – and your laundry room can bring in additional revenue – with the help of some thoughtful apartment laundry room upgrades. Community laundry room upgrade ideas include:
1. Upgrade Laundry Equipment
Efficient and reliable laundry machines are the most critical component of a building’s laundry room. If you are finding that service is interrupted by laundry equipment downtime, utility costs are increasing, or you are spending an increasing amount of time and money on repairs, it is time to consider replacing equipment. While the cost of new laundry equipment may seem daunting, there are many ways to finance new equipment and get the benefit of upgraded machines without a substantial down payment.
2. Add More Machines
If your laundry machines are always busy, or tenants have complained about availability, you may want to evaluate whether you have enough machines to meet the needs of everyone on your property. Consider not only the number of apartments that are in your building but also the demographic makeup of your tenants. Professional singles or couples will have more dry cleaning and less laundry than large families (especially those with young children). Adding an additional washer/dryer can improve the capacity of the laundry room as a whole, making the experience better for everyone.
3. Add Technology
You may not realize how technology can be integrated into the laundry experience. Card readers can now take the place of traditional coin-op machines, improving convenience and reducing on-site theft and vandalism. Other machines connect to laundry management software, like LaundryPulse, notifying tenants of machine availability and sending alerts when their cycle is complete.
4. Consider Convenience
Depending on the size of the facilities, property managers will need to consider the location and convenience of a laundry room. In a large complex, the needs of tenants may be better served with several small, dispersed locations rather than one large laundry room. This helps to increase revenue by keeping your tenants in the building instead of taking laundry elsewhere or paying for a delivery service.
5. Keep It Clean
Cleanliness is key to tenant satisfaction with laundry rooms. In addition to regular, meticulous cleaning, consider completing décor projects that will improve the appearance of the laundry room. Here are some quick tips:
- Paint: A fresh coat of bright paint will improve the overall impression of cleanliness.
- Declutter: Ensure that there are no extraneous items hiding out of sight or collecting in corners.
- Organize: A well-designed, organized laundry space will follow a logical progression – from sorting, to washing, drying, and folding – each following the other.
- Lighting: Updated light fixtures, with bulbs of the correct wattage, will ensure that the laundry room appears clean and without dark corners.
6. Prioritize Safety
Dark corners don’t only make a laundry room seem dirty, they also make it seem unsafe. Keeping your tenants safe is a primary responsibility of apartment managers, and managing safety in communal spaces is critical. A well-lit space that is accessible only to tenants is foundational, but additional safety measures may include preventing fire hazards with regular equipment maintenance and cleaning of lint traps.
7. Make It Social
Tenants see one another in common areas: the apartment lobby, hallways, outdoor spaces, and laundry rooms; and the better they get along, the easier a building manager’s life may be. Improving the social element of your laundry room is an easy way to improve tenant satisfaction. Consider adding a vending machine, table and chairs, bulletin board, or a television.
Apartment and multi-housing laundry rooms provide a great advantage for tenants and landlords alike. With some imagination and a minimal investment, a building or property manager can improve tenant satisfaction with on-site laundry facilities, creating an attractive benefit to keep current tenants happy and attract new ones when necessary. If you are interested in equipping your property’s laundry room with industrial-strength durability and efficiency without the industrial price tag, contact an expert at Laundrylux today.