Money

How to work out your cost per load (and set a price that earns)

By the Labahan team · October 18, 2026 · 3 min read

Many laundry shops set their price by copying the shop down the street. That works until your electricity bill goes up or a machine breaks. Knowing your cost per load tells you how much you really earn on every bag, and how low you can go on a promo.

The numbers in this article are an example for a small wash-dry-fold shop. Your costs depend on your machines, your electricity and water rates and your rent. Use your own bills.

Step 1: List the costs that come with every load

These are the costs you only spend when a load comes in (variable costs). Work them out per load:

Detergent and fabcon: price of the bottle or sack ÷ number of loads it covers.
Electricity: your machine’s kW × hours per cycle × your rate per kWh. Dryers usually use far more than washers.
Water: litres per wash ÷ 1,000 × your rate per cubic metre.
Packaging: plastic bags, tags, stub paper.

Step 2: Spread your monthly costs over your loads

Rent, staff pay, internet and repairs don’t change with each load (fixed costs). Add them up for the month and divide by how many loads you do in a month.

Fixed cost per load = monthly fixed costs ÷ loads per month
Example: ₱45,000 ÷ 900 loads = ₱50 per load

This is why a quiet month hurts: with only 600 loads, the same ₱45,000 becomes ₱75 per load.

Step 3: Add them up

Example only: ₱77 of costs that come with each load plus ₱50 of rent, staff and other monthly costs spread over 900 loads.

Step 4: Compare with your price

With a cost of ₱127 per load, a ₱150 price earns ₱23, ₱180 earns ₱53 and ₱200 earns ₱73 (example figures).

Now you can decide with numbers: a ₱20 discount on a ₱180 load cuts your profit from ₱53 to ₱33, more than a third.

Things that quietly raise your cost per load

Overloading or underloading machines: an 8 kg machine running 4 kg costs almost the same in power and water.
Re-drying loads because the dryer lint filter wasn’t cleaned.
Detergent poured by eye instead of a fixed scoop.
Machines needing repairs: write repairs down so they count in your fixed costs.

How Labahan helps

On Pro, Labahan Manager keeps your expenses by category and shows your profit and cost per load for the month, using the loads and payments you already record. Low-stock alerts tell you before detergent and fabcon run out, and the monthly report compares weeks and busy days.