What a laundry service actually costs in Mumbai

Ask three laundries in Mumbai what they charge and you will get three answers in three different units. One quotes per kilo, one per piece, one has a monthly package. None of them are lying, and none of the numbers are comparable until you know what is being counted.

Per-kilo laundry: ₹60–₹120 a kilo

This is the cheapest headline rate in the city and the one most local dhobis and app-based services lead with. Your clothes are weighed dry, washed in a machine load, dried and folded. In most of Mumbai this runs somewhere between ₹60 and ₹120 per kilo, with a minimum of three or four kilos.

The thing to understand about per-kilo is what it does not include. Ironing is almost always extra — typically ₹8 to ₹15 a piece on top. Items are usually washed together rather than sorted by colour beyond the obvious. And anything that cannot go through a normal cycle, which is most of what you would actually worry about, is priced separately anyway.

Per-piece: ₹25–₹90 an item

Per-piece pricing costs more per garment and less in surprises. Each item is priced for what it needs, so a shirt that is washed and pressed is one number and a shirt that is only pressed is a smaller one.

The reason to prefer it is that you can see what you are paying for. Five shirts is five shirts, not "about a kilo and a bit", and there is no argument at the door about whether the bag weighed 3.2kg or 3.8kg. Our own full price list is per item for exactly that reason.

Dry cleaning: ₹120–₹600 an item

Dry cleaning is a different process, not a premium version of washing — it uses solvent instead of water, which is why it is the right answer for wool, silk and structured tailoring and the wrong answer for a cotton T-shirt. Expect roughly:

• Shirt or trousers: ₹120–₹200
• Two-piece suit: ₹450–₹700
• Silk saree: ₹300–₹600, depending on the work on it
• Lehenga or heavy bridal: ₹1,200–₹3,500
• Winter coat or jacket: ₹350–₹600

If you are not sure which your garment needs, the care label decides it, and we have written the whole thing up in dry cleaning versus wash and iron.

The costs that are not on the rate card

1. Pickup and delivery. Some services charge ₹40–₹60 a trip, some make it free above a threshold, some quietly build it into the per-kilo rate. Always ask which.
2. Minimum order. A ₹60/kg rate with a 4kg minimum is a ₹240 minimum order, whether or not you have 4kg.
3. Express or same-day. Usually a surcharge of 50–100%. Worth it when you need it, and worth not paying for by default.
4. Ironing on a per-kilo order. The single most common source of a bill that came back higher than expected.

So which works out cheaper?

Per-kilo wins on volume of simple things: bedsheets, towels, gym clothes, a family's weekly wash. Per-piece wins when you care what comes back — office shirts that need to be pressed properly, anything with a collar, anything you would be annoyed to lose.

A rough test: if you would not notice which of two identical items came back to you, pay by weight. If you would, pay by piece.

What we charge

We price every item individually, show the total before you commit, and include pickup and delivery across the areas we serve. You can see the whole list on the pricing page without creating an account, or browse by service and build a basket to get an exact number for your own pile of washing.