Cleaning Up in the Laundry Room

Laundry rooms have come a long way from the days of loud washers and dryers stuck down below in dusty basements or banished to the garage. Laundry rooms have come up in the world literally.

In fact, more often now, they are part of the main floor in the home, taking their place, most times, off the kitchen, and sometimes on second floors as part of master bedroom/bath suites.

They have morphed into larger, multi-purpose rooms where consumers can do a load of laundry and accomplish other tasks, such as go online, pay bills, pot plants, store snowy boots and pantry items, and create arts and crafts.

Technology has also given way to quieter washers and dryers and a host of other products that can save consumers money on tasks such as dry cleaning.

As a result, laundry rooms are fast becoming another profit center for dealers and designers, just as home offices have become over the past decade.

"The truth is, kitchen and bath dealers have access to all of the products to do these rooms. If they don't sell these rooms, these products, then someone else will," contends Thompson Price, CKD, CBD, CR, with Callier & Thompson Kitchens, Baths and Appliances in St. Louis, MO.

Alan Asarnow, CMKBD, CR of Ulrich, Inc. in Franklin Lakes, NJ, concurs: "There's an opportunity to add cabinetry sales, for instance, and I think enterprising dealers are capitalizing on addendums to other sales."

'MONEY LAUNDERING'

However, while laundry rooms represent a golden opportunity for dealers and designers to 'clean up,' how can they capitalize on this greater emphasis on laundry rooms and boost their bottom lines through laundry care?

"I certainly encourage any designer todiscuss it as part of a kitchen or bath or upstairs remodel," advises Joan Eisenberg, CMKBD, ASID of JME Consulting, Inc. in Baltimore, MD.

"We are able to sell laundry rooms because we ask for the business. As strange as it sounds, dealers can be too focused on what they perceive as their only job in life the kitchen!" notes Susan Knight, president of Korts & Knight in San Francisco, CA. "My advice is, ask for the business. Don't be shy about telling people that while your store name and your advertising might only talk about kitchens, you are actually well qualified to do whole houses. Then put pictures in your portfolio that show those rooms."

Custom Kitchens, Inc. in Richmond, VA, goes one step further. "We have a display with front-loaders in our showroom,'" reports Richard Hendrick, CKD. "Having the laundry room on display as opposed to just talking about it or showing pictures helps open the door. And we use it as a sample area for things like granite, so we are always taking our clients there. It gets good traffic."

In addition, other dealers and designers recently polled by Kitchen & Bath Design News recommend always asking clients where their laundry area is when doing a kitchen or bath remodel and asking how it can be improved, if they would like it relocated and if they would like to do more than just laundry there and ask the same questions in the case of a new construction.

Indeed, dealers and designers agree that it is their job to raise awareness and bring ideas and solutions to the table that their clients may not ever have imagined on their own.

"People are asking for a bigger space, but they don't know what to do with it. Dealers can come in and help give them what they need," concurs Peter Ross Salerno, CKD, CBD and president/owner of Peter Salerno, Inc. in Wyckoff, NJ.

To that end, Eisenberg offers this advice: "Make sure that, with every client, you address their laundry needs no matter where in the house upstairs, on the main level, etc. and be creative in asking questions, especially in older homes, like where they would like to move the laundry. Find hidden space maybe grab some space from an unused bedroom. There are all kinds of ways, if you try."