KENYA · GUIDE 0375 · EDITION 4.2
Workwear laundry in Kenya: Pricing and Break-Even
Price an accepted unit, not an activity title
Start with this sale unit: garment or contracted batch.
Separate ordinary workwear from garments carrying hazardous contamination or specialist protective functions, confirming appropriate professional handling rather than assuming every uniform can enter standard commercial laundry equipment and routine mixed processing loads.
A quotation needs the accepted quantity or scope, exclusions, completion point, delivery arrangement and payment schedule. Without that specification, two apparently similar prices may pay for different work.
Build the direct-cost sheet
- soil
- fabric
- segregation
- transport
Include name-based sorting, pockets containing work debris and replacement-stock coordination, because industrial schedules can create costly urgent returns even when the accepted clothing itself uses an otherwise straightforward washing process at the laundry.
| Calculation | How to use it |
|---|---|
| Variable cost per accepted unit | Direct inputs, labour, delivery and measured losses divided by accepted units. |
| Contribution per unit | Agreed selling price minus variable cost per unit. |
| Period operating surplus | Contribution from units sold minus fixed overhead for the same period. |
| Break-even units | Fixed overhead divided by positive contribution, rounded up. |
Count rejected output, unsold stock and correction time. Keep fixed overhead in a consistent period; a daily contribution cannot be compared directly with a monthly overhead figure. If contribution is zero or negative, extra sales do not establish a workable break-even point.
Reconcile the cash separately
A customer's unpaid balance cannot pay today's supplier bill. List actual collections, advance payments, supplier deadlines, refunds and recurring bills by date. Separate refundable deposits and money held for an uncompleted commitment from funds freely available for expansion.
Protective workwear is treated like ordinary clothing without checking its care requirements, potentially compromising function while a visually clean garment gives the employer unwarranted confidence that it is ready for service again.
Test a weaker outcome
Recalculate with fewer accepted units, a delayed customer collection or a higher input quotation. Change one assumption at a time to see which constraint matters. Use the actual pilot record: Record garment categories, declared workplace exposure, specialist referrals and wearer-level shortages, then use the pilot to define exactly which workwear streams the laundry can accept within its real capabilities and available handling arrangements.
Do not interpret the invented financial teaching exercise in the complete manuscript as a market price or predicted income. Replace its assumptions before using it for a real decision. The public planning tool can help with arithmetic; it does not validate the inputs.
Work through this business's example
Test the listed example when things change
These calculations are invented teaching cases derived from this guide's example, "Fictional worked budget, all input prices illustrative". They are not observed customer results, local quotations or forecasts. They hold the listed input bill constant unless the row explicitly changes it. Excluded expenses and tax still need to be added.
| Case | Accepted / priced output | Example revenue | Listed cost | Difference before excluded costs / tax |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original example | 16 | KSh 3,520.00 | KSh 2,938.00 | KSh 582.00 |
| 20% fewer accepted units, rounded down | 12 | KSh 2,640.00 | KSh 2,938.00 | KSh -298.00 |
| 10% reduction in the assumed selling price | 16 | KSh 3,168.00 | KSh 2,938.00 | KSh 230.00 |
| 10% increase in every listed cost | 16 | KSh 3,520.00 | KSh 3,231.80 | KSh 288.20 |
The lower-acceptance case represents the loss of priced output, not a prediction of the actual reject rate. With 12 accepted units, the same listed bill costs KSh 244.83 per accepted unit. Do not divide it by the original 16 units and hide the loss. A whole-job price needs its own agreed acceptance and partial-payment treatment.
Inspect the cost that can change the decision
The largest listed line is Sorting/finishing operator hours: 3 at KSh 320.00, giving KSh 960.00. A 10% increase in this line alone adds KSh 96.00 to the example bill. Check its exact unit, scope, quotation validity and whether it is a one-off resource or a repeat input before changing the quote.
Keep every input quantity separate from priced output. A fall in accepted output does not automatically reduce already-purchased inputs. Use the itemised costing tool to change the real quantities, rather than scaling the whole bill by a sales percentage.
Connect the commercial check to quality
For workwear laundry, investigate this concrete failure: Reflective strip starts lifting. The guide's diagnostic check is: Compare its original condition and label limits with recorded washing and finishing.. Proposed response: Stop further processing and seek garment-supplier advice; do not iron it back blindly..
Record what was actually found and rechecked; do not mark a corrected item accepted until the agreed buyer checkpoint has passed. Any rework materials, transport, labour or credit must be added to the actual cost/result record.
A cash-timing exercise using the same example
Assume solely for arithmetic practice that opening cash is zero and the entire listed input bill of KSh 2,938.00 must be paid before handover. With no advance, that amount must be funded before any sale is collected. This deliberately simplified case does not establish when your actual suppliers need payment.
If a buyer hypothetically pays a 30% advance on the example revenue of KSh 3,520.00, cash received would be KSh 1,056.00. Paying the listed bill then leaves KSh -1,882.00. The additional cash needed to avoid a negative balance at that point is KSh 1,882.00. The unpaid remainder is KSh 2,464.00; it is a receivable, not cash already in the business.
The 30% figure is an invented teaching assumption, not a recommended or agreed customer term. Check whether deposits are refundable and which commitments they can actually fund. Do not count the advance again when entering the final collection. Add equipment payments, tax, owner drawings and unlisted operating bills to the dated cash plan as appropriate. The 13-week planner in file 10 shows week-end funding gaps; inspect intra-week dates for a large payment.