The laundry industry in Canada is undergoing a quiet transformation. Just as food delivery apps reshaped how Canadians order meals, on-demand laundry services are beginning to do the same for how people handle their clothing care. In cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary—where busy professionals, students, and families juggle multiple commitments—convenience has become more valuable than ever.
If you are considering launching a laundry mobile app in Canada, one of your biggest questions will be: how much will it actually cost to build? The answer depends on many moving parts: your app’s features, the type of development team you hire, and whether you’re building a lean MVP (minimum viable product) or going all in with advanced features and automation.
Let’s break it all down.
The Short Answer
On average, building a laundry app in Canada costs:
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CAD $25,000–$60,000 for a basic MVP with essential features like scheduling, payments, and order tracking.
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CAD $60,000–$120,000 for a fully featured app covering both iOS and Android, with a customer app, provider portal, and admin dashboard.
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CAD $120,000–$250,000+ for an advanced platform with subscriptions, dynamic pricing, commercial accounts, bilingual support, and multi-city expansion capabilities.
What Goes Into That Cost?
When people hear a price tag, they often wonder: where is all that money going? The truth is, app development is less about “buying code” and more about investing in design, engineering, testing, and long-term usability. Here are the key factors that shape the budget.
1. Features You Choose
A laundry app typically has three parts: the customer-facing app, the driver or service provider app, and the admin dashboard for operations.
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The customer app usually includes user registration, profile setup, scheduling a pickup and drop-off, a pricing system (per item or per weight), secure payments, order tracking, and notifications.
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The service provider side handles order assignments, navigation for pickups and drop-offs, order updates, and payment management.
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The admin dashboard lets the business oversee everything—orders, customer queries, price lists, promotional campaigns, and reporting.
Each extra feature—such as referral systems, subscriptions, bilingual English/French support, or integration with accounting tools—adds more development hours, and by extension, more cost.
2. Development Approach
If you build the app natively (separate apps for iOS and Android), the cost is higher but performance and user experience are unmatched. If you go with cross-platform frameworks like Flutter, you get both platforms from one codebase, reducing time and cost significantly.
Your backend setup also matters. A solid backend is needed for scheduling, real-time order updates, payments, and analytics. This typically involves frameworks like Node.js or Django, with a cloud infrastructure on AWS or Google Cloud.
3. The Team You Hire
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A Canadian development agency may charge CAD $90–$180 per hour.
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A hybrid model (Canadian project management with offshore developers) can cut costs 25–40% while still maintaining quality.
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A freelancer mix may be cheaper upfront but requires more coordination and often lacks the long-term reliability you need for a business-critical app.
Choosing the right team balance will directly impact your budget.
A Breakdown of Development Costs
Here’s how specific modules usually add up in Canada:
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User profiles and registration: CAD $3,000–$8,000
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Scheduling and calendar integration: CAD $4,000–$12,000
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Pricing engine with promotions: CAD $5,000–$15,000
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Payment integration (cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Interac): CAD $4,000–$10,000
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Order tracking and notifications: CAD $4,000–$10,000
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Maps and delivery routing: CAD $6,000–$20,000
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Driver or provider app: CAD $8,000–$25,000
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Admin dashboard: CAD $6,000–$20,000
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Referrals, loyalty programs, subscriptions: CAD $5,000–$15,000
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Bilingual support: CAD $3,000–$10,000
Not every startup needs all of these right away. A good strategy is to start lean with the must-haves and add the nice-to-haves as your customer base grows.
How Long Will It Take?
Time is as important as money in app development. In Canada, you can expect:
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Discovery and scoping: 1–3 weeks
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Design (wireframes and UI): 2–5 weeks
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Development (MVP): 6–12 weeks
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Testing and refinements: 2–4 weeks
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App Store approval and launch: 1–2 weeks
In total, a laundry app can take anywhere from 8 to 24 weeks depending on complexity.
Beyond Development: Recurring Costs
Building the app is just the beginning. To keep it running, you’ll need to budget for:
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Cloud hosting and storage: CAD $100–$1,000+ per month
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Google Maps or Mapbox usage: CAD $50–$500+ per month
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SMS or email notifications: CAD $20–$300+ per month
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Analytics and monitoring tools: up to CAD $300 per month
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Developer accounts for Apple and Google
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Regular maintenance and feature updates, which usually cost 10–20% of your initial build per year
These ongoing costs are critical to ensure your app remains stable, fast, and compliant with user expectations.
Compliance in Canada
Unlike many other markets, Canada has strict privacy and data handling rules under PIPEDA. Any app that handles customer addresses, phone numbers, or payment data must comply with Canadian regulations. You’ll need secure hosting, proper consent management, and a transparent privacy policy.
If you plan to operate in Quebec, bilingual support (English and French) isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential for user adoption and compliance with local language laws.
Final Thoughts
Building a laundry mobile app in Canada is not just about writing code. It’s about creating a digital platform that blends convenience, trust, and operational efficiency. Whether you spend CAD $30,000 or CAD $200,000 will depend on your ambition, your business model, and the markets you want to serve.
If you are just starting out, focus on a minimum viable product with strong scheduling, payments, and reliable order tracking. As you grow, you can layer on advanced features like subscriptions, referral programs, and commercial accounts.
At Appfur, we’ve helped startups and enterprises alike design and launch scalable apps in Canada and beyond. If you’re ready to bring your laundry app idea to life, we can help you plan the right scope, budget, and launch strategy to ensure you don’t just build an app—you build a business that lasts.
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