Cousins’ business is ‘EZ’

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By Lynn Thompson | Saturday, March 3, 2007 1:00 AM CST | () comments

(Larry Fisher/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Cousins Job Tillis, left, and Brad Heitz operate seven laundromats in the Quad-City region.

Two cousins who traded conventional employment for coin-operated laundry sites now own seven EZ Coin Laundry facilities throughout the Quad-City region.

Brad Heitz and Job Tillis formed EZ Coin Laundry LLC in 2004 when they purchased their first coin-operated business in DeWitt, Iowa. At that time, Heitz was 21 years old working as a mortgage broker, and Tillis was 24 and co-owner of his family’s dairy farm.

The business-minded duo both came from families who pushed self-employment as the optimal career path. The cousins had already invested in real estate and researched various entrepreneurial opportunities. “We heard that coin-operated laundry services were good businesses to run,” Heitz said. “We were told that if you only own a few, they were easy to manage and had good income potential.”

He said that a self-service operation seemed ideal since he and Tillis both worked full time. The men began looking at locations for possible purchase, but disliked the sites available to them. “Then one day, Job happened to drive by a site that we had liked and saw it was for sale,” Heitz said. “So we decided to take the jump and buy it.”

By 2005, the cousins had bought their fourth store and quit their full-time professions. The task of owning a laundry business was no longer easy to manage.

Heitz said that the majority of the locations they purchased were in poor shape. The cousins have gutted and remodeled each of their stores by painting, replacing floors and lights, and installing new machines. New alarm systems also were a priority at each site to ensure customer safety and security.

Attempting to change the stigma of their industry, Heitz and Tillis also care about customer contact. Heitz said that coin-operated laundry services remain popular with renters and homeowners. Homeowners, in particular, often use the larger capacity machines for oversized items or if they get behind with their wash.

The men visit their locations almost daily to meet and greet customers. “Typically, it is a hands-off business. But we think it is important that the public sees a face and knows someone cares,” Heitz said.

He said that regular stops at each of the stores also guarantee constant monitoring of the equipment. If customers do encounter problems or lose money with a machine, they can call the phone number posted at each site. The duo tries to return calls promptly, and refund checks are mailed within a few days.

Tillis said that besides customer satisfaction, other aspects of business ownership are important to their success. “The largest contributing factors are prayer, hard work and determination,” he said.

Their Iowa stores in Clinton, DeWitt and Camanche are open 24 hours daily. EZ Coin Laundry also has locations in Rock Island, East Moline and Eldridge, Iowa, that open early and close late.

Heitz and Tillis also own three car washes as part of EZ Car Wash LLC, an affiliation of their company, Quad-City Real Estate Holdings LLC.

Lynn Thompson can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or lthompson@qctimes.com.

Cost to wash

Regular load machine — $1.25

Double load machine — $2

Triple load machine — $3

Four load machine — $4

Five load machine — $5

Cost to dry

25 cents for eight minutes