A service wash in the UK typically costs £2 to £4 per kilo, with a minimum load of around 5 to 8kg or a minimum charge of £15 to £25. Ironing is priced separately: roughly £5.50 to £9 per kilo, £14 to £20 per hour, or £1.50 to £3 per shirt. Washed, dried and ironed together usually lands at £6.50 to £9 per kilo. Duvets are priced individually, from about £14 for a single to £32 for a super king.
Those are typical UK market ranges rather than any one company's price list. The reason quotes look so different from each other is almost never the wash. It is that three separate services are being sold under one word, and two of them are measured in different units.
The three things people mean by laundry
A service wash is your ordinary washing done by weight. Bags are weighed, sorted, washed, dried and folded, and you are charged per kilo. It is the cheapest per garment and the most common domestic arrangement.
Ironing is a labour service, not a weight service. A bag of shirts weighs almost nothing and takes hours. A bag of towels weighs a great deal and takes minutes. That is why ironing is quoted per item or per hour by anyone pricing it sensibly, and why a per kilo ironing price is always much higher than a per kilo wash price.
Linen rotation is a third thing, used by landlords, HMOs and short lets. A counted set of sheets and towels is cycled rather than a household's clothes, and it is priced per set. Our Airbnb changeover research puts that at £8 to £18 per set where the cleaner launders, or £12 to £25 per set for commercial hire.
Service wash prices by weight
| Service | Typical UK price |
|---|---|
| Service wash, washed, dried and folded | £2 to £4 per kg |
| Standard launderette rate, dropped off | £1.50 to £2.50 per kg |
| Premium or collected service | £3 to £4.40 per kg |
| Washed, dried and ironed | £6.50 to £9 per kg |
| Minimum load | 5 to 8kg |
| Minimum order value | £15 to £25 |
The minimum matters more than the rate on a small household. At £3 per kilo with a £21 minimum, everything under 7kg costs £21 whether it weighs 3kg or 7kg, so two small weekly bags cost more than one fortnightly bag at the same rate. A full machine load is about 6 to 8kg dry: a week for two adults is one to two loads, a family of four closer to four or five.
Ironing, priced three ways
| Basis | Typical UK price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Per hour | £14 to £20 | Ironing done in your home during a cleaning visit |
| Per kilo | £5.50 to £9 | Mixed baskets, family volume |
| Per shirt | £1.50 to £3 | Small, regular, shirts only |
| Trousers or chinos | £2.50 to £4.50 | |
| Dress | £5 to £10 | |
| Bed linen, per item | £1.25 to £6.50 |
The hourly rate is the useful benchmark, because nothing about ironing is automated and every other unit is a way of repackaging the same hour. A per item price above it is covering collection, return, handling, hangers, covers and the risk of losing something, not just the pressing.
Duvets, pillows and bulky items
| Item | Typical UK price |
|---|---|
| Duvet, single | £14 to £22 |
| Duvet, double | £18 to £27 |
| Duvet, king or super king | £25 to £32 |
| Feather filling, any size | Add £2 to £4 |
| Pillow | £6 to £13.50 |
| Curtains, per pair | £10 to £16 |
| Pet bedding | £8 to £15 |
Duvets are priced individually because size rather than mass decides whether they can be washed at all. A duvet has to move freely in the drum; if it cannot tumble, the middle never gets properly wet or properly dry and it comes back smelling worse than it went in.
That is a machine constraint, not a skill one. A domestic 7 or 8kg machine cannot handle a double duvet. A double normally needs a 10 to 12kg drum and a king needs a commercial machine, so ask what size machine yours goes in. If the answer is vague, use a launderette with a large drum yourself, at roughly £10 to £14 for the machine plus £4 to £7 of drying. Feather and down cost more everywhere, because drying takes hours and the filling has to be broken up repeatedly or it clumps permanently.
Collection, return and turnaround
Collection and return is normally £2 to £5 per order, often free above a threshold. A fixed weekly slot is cheaper than ad hoc collection for the same reason a window cleaning rota beats a one-off: the van is already on the street.
Standard turnaround is 24 to 48 hours for a service wash and 48 to 72 hours with ironing. Express carries a premium, and it is constrained by drying rather than washing. A wash cycle is an hour; getting 8kg of towels genuinely dry and finished is most of a working day, and no amount of money compresses that. Same day is realistic on a small load collected first thing and unrealistic on a large one collected at noon.
What actually moves the price
Weight, and whether you hit the minimum. The single biggest factor, and the easiest to plan around.
Whether ironing is included. It roughly doubles the per kilo figure, because it is the only genuinely labour-intensive part.
Separate loads. One mixed bag is standard and sorting is included. Asking for a load per person means more machine cycles for the same weight.
Hanging return. Shirts on hangers under covers cost more to handle and transport than folded ones. Worth it for shirts, wasted on t-shirts.
Turnaround. Express is a real cost rather than a surcharge, because it holds a machine slot open.
What a laundry service should refuse
A service that takes everything is not being helpful, it is moving the risk onto you. A competent laundry declines dry clean only labels, because the garment has never been tested in water; suits, structured jackets and fused interlining, which delaminate; silk, cashmere and unlined wool; anything with a broken zip, a loose button or unsecured trim, because a 1,200rpm spin finishes what the damage started; and heavily soiled workwear carrying oil, solvent or biological contamination, which needs a specialist route.
The honest limit on stains is worth stating plainly too. A fresh stain, pointed out and pre-treated before washing, usually comes out. One that has already been through a hot wash and a tumble dryer is normally permanent, because heat sets protein and dye into the fibre. If a home attempt fails, stop at the wet stage and send it wet rather than drying it.
The question people actually worry about
Loss and damage, not price. The answer to look for is a procedure rather than a reassurance.
An itemised count at collection, written on a sheet, with a copy for you. Existing damage, missing buttons and set stains recorded before the bag leaves the house. The same sheet counted back at return. That is what makes a missing item traceable to a load and a date, and what settles whether a tear happened in the machine or was already there.
Ask for it in writing, along with the public liability insurance. A service that has a count procedure describes it in one sentence. One that does not will talk about how careful they are.
Frequently asked questions
Is a laundry service cheaper than doing it at home? No. Electricity and detergent for a domestic load cost a fraction of the £16 to £32 an 8kg service wash comes to. What you are buying is the several hours a week that washing, drying, folding and ironing take, so the comparison is with your time rather than with your energy bill.
How much does a week of washing weigh? About 6 to 8kg for a couple, 12 to 20kg for a family of four. Bedding adds 3 to 4kg per double bed set and towels are heavier than they look, which is why a week with the sheets in it can cost half as much again.
Why is ironing priced per item when washing is priced per kilo? Because weight predicts machine time and item count predicts human time. Ten shirts and ten towels weigh about the same and take completely different amounts of ironing. A service pricing ironing purely by weight is either averaging across customers or charging enough to cover the worst case.
Can a service wash use non-biological detergent? Yes, and it should not cost extra. Non-bio omits the enzymes some people react to and fragrance-free omits the perfume, which is the more common irritant of the two. For eczema, ask for an extra rinse and no fabric conditioner, since conditioner is usually the actual cause.
Should I use a laundry service or a launderette? A launderette is cheaper if you drop off and collect yourself, and it is the right answer for duvets, where the large drum is the whole point. A collected service costs more per kilo and earns it when the constraint is your time, or when school uniform and workwear need a fixed weekly rhythm.
