In-unit laundry is not free laundry. You stop paying per load and start paying the electricity to run the machines, which at our communities is billed separately to the resident. The real difference is time, capacity, and scheduling. The dollars are closer than most listing pages imply.
This page replaces a shorter guide that treated in-unit laundry as an obvious win. It mostly is. Here is the version with the tradeoffs left in.
What are you actually comparing?
Three arrangements, not two.
| In-unit | Shared on-site laundry room | Laundromat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per-load cash cost | No per-load charge. You pay the electricity | Per-load machine charge | Per-load machine charge |
| Electricity | Yours, on your bill | Included in the machine charge | Included in the machine charge |
| Travel time | Zero | Minutes, inside the building | A drive, each way, twice |
| Scheduling | Any hour, no competition | Depends who else is doing laundry | The business's hours |
| Capacity | Full-size or compact matters | Often larger machines | Usually the largest machines |
| Supervision | None needed | Loosely needed | You stay, or you make two trips |
| Winter exposure | None | None | Wet laundry into a car in a Michigan February |
The laundromat column is the one people leave out and then live with for a year.
Is in-unit laundry cheaper?
Usually, but it depends on load volume and the crossover point is yours to find.
I am not publishing a per-load laundromat price or a cents-per-kilowatt-hour figure, because neither is verified for this market and an invented number would quietly decide your answer. Fill in six numbers instead, all of them yours.
| Input | Where it comes from | Your number |
|---|---|---|
| Loads per month | Count one real month, not an average one | |
| Per-load wash and dry cost | Call the laundry room or laundromat and ask | |
| Washer and dryer wattage | Appliance label or manufacturer spec | |
| Your rate per kWh | Your own electric bill, not a national average | |
| Round trip time per laundry session | Time it once | |
| What your hour is worth | Your call |
Loads times per-load cost is your monthly outlay without in-unit laundry. Wattage times your rate is roughly what your own machines add to your electric bill. Subtract the second from the first for the real monthly saving, before time. Then add time: sessions times round trip at your hourly figure. For most households that last line is larger than the cash saving, which is why the amenity wins even when the dollars are close.
What does laundry cost at Z on Plymouth and Z on Coolidge?
Every home at both communities has an in-unit, full-size washer and dryer. Not compact, not a shared room down a hallway. There is no per-load charge and no laundry room.
The cost structure:
- Monthly utility fee: $99 for a one-bedroom, $135 for a two-bedroom. It covers gas, heat, water, sewer, and trash.
- Monthly administrative fee: $26.
- Electric: billed separately, paid by the resident, and the only utility billed to you directly. Running your own machines shows up here.
That settles the laundry math cleanly. Water is inside the flat fee, so washing a load costs you nothing in water at either community no matter how many loads you run. The only variable cost of doing laundry here is the electricity your machines draw, which is the wattage line in the worksheet above. A hot-water wash still costs more than a cold one, because heating water is energy, but the water itself is not metered back to you.
Ask any other building you tour the same question and get the answer in the lease. "Utilities included" is not a standard phrase, and whether water is in the fee changes the laundry math considerably.
Starting rents at the time of writing were $1,499 and $1,699. Check the availability page for current pricing.
Why does full-size matter more than in-unit?
Because a compact in-unit machine can cost more total time than a shared room with commercial machines. A full-size washer takes a comforter. A compact one turns one load into two, or sends you to a laundromat for bulky items anyway, so you pay for the amenity and still make the drive. When a listing says "in-unit laundry," the follow-up is "full-size or compact," which is why it sits on our tour question checklist. Ours are full-size.
What are the downsides of in-unit laundry?
It uses your electricity. Where electric is resident-paid, as it is at our communities, heavy laundry volume shows up on your bill. The saving is net, not gross.
It takes floor area. In an 850 to 1,000 square foot home, the machines occupy space a shared-laundry building spends on closets.
You own the wait, and the noise. Nobody rotates your load, there is no second machine, and a spin cycle in your own unit is a sound you hear.
A breakdown is a service request. In a shared room, one dead machine leaves five others. In your unit, it is a maintenance ticket and a week of alternatives. Ask any property its emergency maintenance response time before you count on the amenity.
None of these outweigh the amenity for most households. They are the reason I will not tell you it is automatic.
Frequently asked questions
Is in-unit laundry cheaper than a laundromat?
Usually, but the saving is net rather than absolute. You stop paying per load and start paying the electricity to run the machines, which at many properties including ours is billed separately to the resident. Count your real load volume, price both sides, and add the travel time you stop spending.
Do apartments in Plymouth, MI have in-unit washers and dryers?
Some do. At Z on Plymouth and Z on Coolidge, every home has an in-unit, full-size washer and dryer, with no shared laundry room and no per-load charge. Other communities vary between in-unit, shared rooms, and no laundry at all. Ask which, and whether the machines are full-size.
Is a full-size washer and dryer better than a compact one?
For most households, yes, and the difference matters more than in-unit versus shared. A compact machine splits large loads in two and often cannot handle a comforter, sending you to a laundromat for bulky items anyway. Ask any listing advertising in-unit laundry whether the machines are full-size.
Does in-unit laundry raise your electric bill?
It can, at any property where electric is billed separately to the resident, as at both of our communities. The amount depends on machine wattage, loads per month, and your own rate per kilowatt-hour. Use your actual electric bill rather than a published average.
Want to see the machines rather than read about them? Schedule a tour.
Last verified: September 2026
Sources: Z on Plymouth · Z on Coolidge · Apartments with washer and dryer · Availability
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