A common struggle for every student living on campus is the residence hall laundry experience. Students often have trouble finding an open, working machine, or simply, there is a lack of machines for the large number of students on campus.
Peter Fraccaroli, director of facilities planning and management, describes the process in which the washer/dryer to resident ratio is determined, and how these machines are kept up and running.
“A building that houses fewer students like Gold Residence Hall doesn’t need the same number of washers and dryers as Lee Hall that houses many more,” Fraccaroli said. “We have been responsive in some of our larger buildings where we’ve gotten requests from the student that the machines are busy. You’ll see in some of our larger buildings … such as Lee Residence Hall and Bragaw Residence Hall, that we have added more washers and dryers to alleviate some of those concerns.”
Fraccaroli said that the number of washers and dryers in each dorm is based on number of students and available space, not necessarily funding as some may assume.
Abby Dewey, first-year animal science major, who lives in Turlington Residence Hall, said that she is happy with the number of washers and dryers in her residence hall, estimating approximately seven of each.
“I hear people struggle in other residence halls, but personally I’ve never had a problem,” Dewey said. “It is really quick and easy.”
Fraccaroli also said that four years ago NC State entered a contractual agreement with laundry vendor Caldwell and Gregory, who is responsible for providing, maintaining and managing all campus washers and dryers.
“They have an understanding that when a machine has been a problem and you get too many work orders on it, there are systemic problems and it needs to be replaced,” Fraccaroli said. “We also provide locations here on campus where they can take a machine that’s problematic and remove it and work on it and store spare parts, attic stock … The common components of the washing machine that are most likely to wear out quicker or break, we keep those components on hand so we can try to respond as fast as possible.”
Fraccaroli said that Caldwell and Gregory was chosen as NC State’s laundry vendor based on the quality of the company and cost.
“Every student pays a fee, a flat rate,” Fraccaroli said. “Thirty five dollars a semester and they get unlimited laundry. That revenue is taken to assist with offsetting the cost of the contract that we have with Caldwell and Gregory.”
While the base contract with Caldwell and Gregory is for five years, Fraccaroli said that the university has the opportunity for two extensions: one at the end of the base contract and one at the end of the first one-year extension. Fraccaroli said that NC State is in their fourth year of the five year contract, and has not yet decided it they will extend another year.
“As the machines age, certain ones have problems a higher frequency,” Fraccaroli said. “We have regular meetings where we discuss these things and we outline expectations on behalf of the university, on behalf of the students, to make sure that they’re meeting their obligations per the contract in their response time and providing a good service to the students.”
