🎯 The business: a coin or card-operated dog wash station, usually added to a laundromat, a car wash or a pet store, or run as a small standalone. The customer washes the dog, you supply the tub, the water, the dryer and the mess-free floor. $15 to $30 a bay, in about ten minutes of your labor a week.
Dog owners who do not want the bathroom destroyed, apartment dwellers, and people with big or muddy dogs. A wash runs $12 to $20 for a timed session, with upsells for shampoo and a towel. A well-placed bay does 150 to 400 washes a month. Grooming add-ons (nail trims by appointment) lift it further if you want to staff it.
| Self-serve dog wash station, installed, per bay | $15,000 to $30,000 |
| Plumbing, drainage with hair trap, electrical | $5,000 to $15,000 |
| Permits, insurance, signage | $1,500 |
| Per bay, in an existing location | ≈ $20,000 to $45,000 |
Find the host: a laundromat or car wash you own or can partner with on a revenue split, a pet store, or a strip-mall end cap. Confirm drainage and hot water capacity before you buy anything. Install with card payment and a camera. Launch with a free-wash weekend and a sign out front; dog people tell dog people.
At 250 washes a month and $16 each, a bay grosses about $4,000, with water, power, shampoo and cleaning taking around 20 percent. A $30,000 bay can pay for itself in roughly a year in a good spot. Two bays in one location share the plumbing cost and halve the payback.
Plumbing and electrical permits, local health rules on pet facilities (varies by city), sales tax, and a sewer connection that accepts the discharge. If you add grooming, some states and cities now license groomers. Insurance for a dog that slips or bites.
Clogged drains, always; the hair trap is cleaned weekly or you flood. Vandalism in an unattended bay. A customer who leaves the tub filthy for the next one. And a host location that changes hands. Cameras, a cleaning schedule and a written agreement with the host handle most of it.