Ironing business is it worth it? And AIBU to bring DS3 with me?

[Ironladypressed4time]

Has anyone used or started an ironing business? Is it worth doing it? I don't drive, so people would have to collect from my home, because of that reason I also want to offer doing the ironing in their house. DS is in nursery in the mornings 9-12pm, AIBU to bring DS with me if I have a client that wants ironing done in the afternoon?

OP do you have a local facebook page?
Why don't you make a start by offering what you can and see if you get any takers?
You don't want too many clients to start with anyway so just advertise that they can drop off on the way to work and pick up on the way back for now. As time goes on, people will start to recommend you and when you learn to drive you can start offering that as part of the service.

OP if you live on a route to a station and about 5-10mins from it, then people would go past your house on the way so would do their own drop offs and pick ups.

However you would have to be up and available from 7am until about 10am in the morning Monday to Friday then from about 4pm to 7pm Monday to Friday.

This wouldn't work if you are dropping your child off at nursery for 9am.

I should add in my area there use to be a popular ironing service that did this but they moved locations not realising their location got them the customers so lost loads of customers and ended up closing.

Sorry OP you must feel piled upon with negative responses, but people who use an ironing service tend to be really busy and pay extra for the convenience - I know that was my main motivator when I used one.

I would add to what someone has said about insurance - a friend sent an expensive time of clothing off and it got damaged and her ironing service had to fork out a lot to replace it.

I used an ironing service for many years previously and what appealed was they dropped and picked up. And it was delivered the very next day. Anything other than that would have been an inconvenience to me and I would not have used this service.
Why dont you pick up and iron while ds is in nursery and drop off and do the next round of ironing the following day of nursery? So 24 hour turn around?

Nobody I know would pay to collect ironing / do it in their own homes. dry cleaning companies and launderettes often offer ironing as part of their overall service (or a cheap add on ) and deliver it to you. Cleaning and housekeeping services also offer ironing as an add on.

I wouldn’t want a 3 year old in my home whilst it’s mother ironed so that would be a no go for me.
I wouldn’t mind dropping my ironing off to be done but I would prefer if it was delivered once done.

I use an ironing lady weekly.. she used to drop off and collect but I now take it to her and collect the next day because it’s more convenient for me , so you may find some working people that are happy with that .

Most dry cleaners offer shirt washing and ironing. Some will also do bedding. Many people are happy to drop and collect from them. So yes, it can be appealing to some people but you’ll need to undercut their service- especially since you aren’t offering to wash items.

Look at advertising locally and take it from there.

As long as the work got done it wouldn’t bother me if your son was there or not

I would want it collected and dropped off as I don't drive either. I also wouldn't want you to iron in my home and definitely no to the toddler. The problem is that there will be so much competition who can collect and drop off.

I’ve used many ironing services in my time but the one I always go back to is the woman who collects from my house at 7am and returns it at 6pm later that day. The ones where I have had to drop off and collect just don’t work for me. As a PP said - I’m time poor so pay for the convenience.

I wouldn’t want your child in my home whilst you’re working. You can’t supervise them properly if you’re working. I had to let a cleaner go as she started bringing her youngest and had to keep stopping to deal with him so it took longer (I was paying by the hour and she wasn’t discounting the stoppages) or was a bit slap dash as she wasn’t concentrating on the one job. I gave it a while but it wasn’t working.

I am a cleaner but also iron in homes.
I have a ds but worked while he was at nursery only. No way would I expect my jobs to allow a small dc into their homes.

I used to use a lady who did ours. We dropped and collected was very local..

I used to have a cleaning business and used to do ironing for a few customers as well. I used to bring it home (after doing their cleaning) and iron in the evening, and return it the next day when I was passing. I was a key holder for most customers, so I could take it in and hang it up for them. I could not have done my job without a car tbh.
On a purely practical side, you need a good quality ironing board and iron, obviously. A decently uncluttered, clean and odour free area to work - no one wants their clothes returned smelling of your cooking, for example. You also need adequate space to hang up the ironed clothes, and they can take up a lot of room. I have a spare bedroom and it could be packed with other people's clothes sometimes. I much preferred to hang clothes rather than fold, as folding takes longer, but it depended what the client wanted. Even folded you need somewhere to put them. I was also insured.
You can make good money doing ironing, but you have to offer a professional service.

I do use an ironing service, and I would be ok with ironing in my house with child, provided I didn't have to pay extra because you were distracted by child instead of ironing (I usually pay per hour) perhaps some sort of weight or no. of item arrangement could be made? Also, I wouldn't want to be there so I would have to trust you to come and go and keep said child entertained - I'd have no issue with them on the sofa watching tv or something provided you left it clean and tidy and your child didn't damage anything or make a mess. In fact I quite like the idea of coming home to find my clothes all ironed and packed away in the wardrobes, bonus if you also do the cleaning. I hate drop off and collecting though, so that would put me off using you.