What we won't do — and why we'll tell you straight

Why this list exists

Most laundry services online imply they do everything. Dry cleaning, ironing, delicates, repairs, stain guarantees — it's all on the marketing page. Then you book, drop off, and find out half of it costs extra or doesn't actually work the way you expected.

We'd rather just tell you upfront what we don't do. Saves the awkward conversation later, and if we're not the right fit for what you need, you find out before you book — not after we've collected your bag.

Here's the honest list.

We don't iron

This is the most common request we have to say no to. Customers ask all the time: *"Can you iron my shirts while you're at it?"*

We don't, and the reason is straightforward maths. At current ironing prices in the Brisbane market — both what customers expect to pay and what the labour actually costs — we couldn't hire someone on minimum wage to iron without losing money on every shirt. The economics don't work for us at the volume we'd be processing.

That said, there's a small exception we'll get to further down.

We don't dry clean

We started The Washing Club doing domestic households. Word of mouth grew us into a cosmetic salon, then more businesses, then more households. Dry cleaning never came up in those early conversations, and as we've grown we've stayed focused on what we actually do well — machine washing, drying, and folding.

Adding dry cleaning would mean different equipment, different chemicals, different liability, and a completely different skill set. It's not what we're built for. If you need a jacket, a suit, or an evening dress dry cleaned, you need a real dry cleaner — not us.

We don't promise stain removal

Here's the honest take, in Bruce's own words:

> "They're called stains because they can't be removed. We can give it our best shot, but not all stains come out."

We use a fragrance-free, sensitive-skin detergent that's stronger than most on the market, and we can add oxy bleach to the wash on request. That handles a lot more than a typical domestic wash will.

But we don't guarantee any specific stain will come out — and if we look at your laundry at pickup and think a stain is unlikely to lift, we'll tell you upfront so you're not surprised at delivery.

This is one of those things we'd rather be honest about than overpromise on.

The two customers we've ever refused

In the time we've been operating, we've only had to refuse two jobs. Both were domestic, both were difficult conversations, and both gave us a clear sense of where our boundary actually sits.

The first had been leaving their washing outside on the line, where their dogs would urinate on it. After we raised this with them, their response was: *"You're going to wash them anyway."* We didn't take the next pickup. Washing repeatedly soiled clothes wears down our machines and isn't fair on us or on the next customer's load.

The second was a household where the laundry needed an extra wash, plus a cleaning cycle on our machine afterwards, because of how heavily soiled the items were. The customer didn't want to pay for the extra time or the machine clean. That made it not viable for us to keep doing.

Neither is a normal household pickup. The overwhelming majority of household laundry — even surprisingly stained or smelly piles — is no problem for us. But we're not set up to repeatedly wash and then deep-clean the equipment for free.

We're not NDIS-approved yet

This one comes up regularly. We're not currently a registered NDIS provider, which means we can't deliver NDIS-funded laundry services.

We are looking into getting NDIS approval, but we don't have a timeline yet. If you're an NDIS participant looking for funded laundry support today, we're not the right fit. There are NDIS-registered providers in Brisbane doing this work — we just don't personally know a specific operator we'd vouch for to send you to.

Things we DO do that aren't on the obvious list

Here's the interesting bit. There are a couple of things we'll do for existing customers that aren't on our standard service menu.

Limited ironing for regulars. We have a couple of clients who get a few ironing items done as part of their regular pickup. We've had ad-hoc requests from other regulars too. It's not on the menu and we wouldn't take an ironing-only booking — but if you're already a regular customer and you've got two shirts you need pressed, talk to Bruce. Sometimes we can fit it in.

Hand-washing. Delicates, items that can't go in the machine. We do this on request at a per-item charge based on size and time. Not standard but available.

Customer's own detergent. If you have a specific brand or formulation you'd like used — sensitive-skin requirements beyond what our standard detergent covers, eco preferences, whatever it is — drop your own at pickup and we'll use yours on your loads. No extra charge.

Extra wash add-ons. Oxy bleach added to the wash, pre-wash soaks, additional cycles — all available on request. Not part of the standard pickup but easy to add if you ask.

Why we don't refer you to a specific provider

You'll notice we haven't said "here's the Brisbane dry cleaner we use" or "here's the ironing service we recommend." That's because we don't actually know one personally that we'd vouch for.

We could throw out a few names from a Google search, but that would be us recommending services we haven't worked with. We'd rather tell you we don't know than fake a referral.

If you find a dry cleaner or ironing service you love in Brisbane, tell us — we'd genuinely like the recommendation for when other customers ask.

What's next for us

Right now we're focused on growing what we do well: pickup, washing, drying, folding, delivery. We started small with word-of-mouth referrals from a cleaning business background, and we're now at the stage of saying "let's grow this properly."

That means we're not adding new service categories in the short term. We'd rather get bigger and better at what we already do than spread thin into services we'd need to learn from scratch.

If our list of "won't dos" rules us out for what you need — that's fine. Better you know now than be surprised later.

If our list doesn't rule us out and you want to try us:

Book a pickup — first 2 loads $60 + GST flat, $25 + GST per additional. Free pickup and delivery across 100+ Brisbane suburbs. Or text 0468 097 087 if you've got a question about whether something you need is in or out of scope.