Opening a Nail Salon: Run the Numbers Before the Lease

In this guide (5 parts)

Six numbers, in order
The rent test, on the example
Before you sign: ask, in writing
Line up your first clients before opening day
8 questions to answer before you sign

The unit looks perfect. Good foot traffic, the right corner, a landlord keen to sign. Before you do, put six numbers on one page. If the plan only works with a full Sunday or a team that's booked every minute, the lease doesn't work, however good the location looks.

You're not sure how many pedicure chairs the floor really needs.
You don't know what the centre's trading hours will cost you in wages.
You can't tell whether the rent is high for a salon or just high.

Short answer

Build one weekly model before you sign: seats × hours × earnings per seat-hour for the ceiling, a roster you can actually staff with its Award cost, and the rent tested against turnover.

Part 1Six numbers, in order

Seats set your ceiling, technicians set how much of it you reach, and clients set what you take. The frame comes from how much does a nail salon make. Here it runs before opening day instead of after.

Count seats by type

Start with the floor plan and count pedicure chairs and manicure tables separately. They earn different amounts and need different skills.

Tables are cheap to move later, and pedicure chairs almost never are.

A plumber lays drain pipes in a trench cut into the concrete floor of a salon fit-out, a wrapped pedicure chair nearby — A plumbed pedicure chair needs a drain under it. The number you plumb during the fit-out is the number of plumbed chairs you'll have.

Our worked example, Southland Natural Nails & Beauty on Level 1 of Westfield Southland in Cheltenham, Victoria, fits 10 manicure tables and 8 pedicure chairs. We counted them in its public photos. It isn't our client.

Get the real trading hours

In a shopping centre, your hours come with the lease. Ask the landlord in writing which hours you must trade, including every Sunday, late nights and the extended hours before Christmas. On a high street you choose, but the maths is the same.

Westfield Southland: 64.5 hours a week. Thursday and Friday alone hold 37% of them.

Price the menu by the chair-hour

For each service, divide the price by its minutes plus reset time, then multiply by 60. On the example menu, table services earn roughly A$64 to A$98 per chair-hour and pedicures A$67 to A$94, GST included. For planning we used A$70 a table-hour and A$80 a pedicure-hour (method: nail salon pricing by the chair-hour).

A$86,430

a week: the example salon's ceilingSeats × hours × earnings per seat-hour. You won't reach it. It's there to show the limit is people and clients, not floor space.

Draw the roster you can actually staff

A new salon rarely opens with enough technicians to fill every seat, so draw the roster you can staff, day by day. Jobs and Skills Australia reports that 61% of beauty therapists, the group that includes nail technicians, work part time. Plan for a mix of part-time and casual shifts.

One example: 4 technicians Monday to Wednesday, 6 on Thursday and Friday staggered so 4 cover the evening, 8 on Saturday and 6 on Sunday. In total, 304 technician-hours a week, about 26% of the example salon's seat-hours.

Cost the roster with Award rates

From 1 July 2026, a permanent Level 2 employee costs A$31.86 an hour on weekdays (Thursday and Friday until 9pm included), A$42.38 on Saturday and A$63.73 on Sunday, with 12% super. Casual and part-time shifts have a 3-hour minimum. Details: Hair and Beauty Award guide for salon owners.

The number before rent

The example roster costs about A$11,700 a week in wages and super. At about A$68 per booked hour after GST, 57% of rostered hours must be booked just to pay the team. Nothing else is paid yet.

Test the rent last

Add rent last, and check it against turnover. The ATO small business benchmarks for beauty services put rent at 9% to 21% of turnover across business sizes, with total expenses of 77% to 88% for businesses over A$400,000.

Quick test: divide the weekly rent by 0.21 for the lowest weekly turnover, after GST, at which rent stays inside the range. Divide by 0.09 for the turnover where it sits comfortably.

Part 2The rent test, on the example

Weekly rent (round example)	Turnover for rent at 21%	Turnover for rent at 9%
A$2,000	A$9,500	A$22,200
A$3,000	A$14,300	A$33,300
A$4,000	A$19,000	A$44,400

Now put that next to Step 5. Booked 59% of the time, the example roster turns over about A$12,100 a week after GST and pays out about A$11,700 in wages. Any rent on that list pushes the model under water.

At 59% booked, takings barely clear wages. Every rent option puts the week in the red.

"The location is busy, so we'll be busy"

What happensFoot traffic arrives, but at the centre's peak hours, the same ones every salon nearby is chasing. Quiet weekday mornings stay quiet and you've rostered staff for them.

WhyCentre sales figures average every kind of shop. Scentre Group's 2025 property compendium reports about A$1.67 million per specialty store at Southland, against A$1.90 million across its portfolio. None of that tells you what a salon takes.

Check yourselfCan your model pay the team and the rent when technicians spend 59% of their available hours on clients, the median for nail studios in Zenoti's 2026 benchmark? If it needs 80%, it's a hope, not a plan.

Usually the fix is a roster sized to real demand, a menu that earns more per hour and a plan to fill the hours you staff, far more than a cheaper lease.

"We'll staff every seat from day one"

What happensWages run at the full roster while bookings build slowly. The gap is paid from savings.

WhyA new salon's books take months to fill, and the Award's 3-hour minimum and 7-day roster notice make it slow to scale staff back down.

Check yourselfDraw a month-one roster and a month-six roster. Cost both. The month-one version should survive at a low booking rate.

Part 3Before you sign: ask, in writing

Hai Pham holds a floor plan inside an empty shopping-centre unit while talking with a future salon owner — Walk the empty unit with the floor plan in hand. The questions are cheaper now than after the fit-out.

Three questions for the landlord

Each one has an answer that should reassure you and one that should worry you. Get all three in writing before you look at fit-out quotes.

1Which hours does the lease require me to trade?

Good answerCore hours are required. Sundays and extended trading are optional or negotiable.

Worrying answerEvery centre hour, every Sunday and late night, with no say.

2How many pedicure chairs can the floor take, and where does the plumbing run?

Good answerA plan showing drainage for the number of chairs you need at your busiest hour.

Worrying answer"We'll sort the plumbing later."

3What turnover keeps this rent inside 9% to 21%?

Good answerRent you can cover at a realistic booking level with the roster you can staff.

Worrying answerRent that only works if every chair is full every Sunday.

Part 4Line up your first clients before opening day

A new salon's first months depend on turning first visits into second visits. Two salon software companies put first-visit return rates somewhere between about 30% (Phorest, a rough benchmark) and 45% (Boulevard, an average).

Set up a Google Business Profile with real hours, services and photos, so you show up when people nearby search.
Give every service its own booking link, so ads and posts land on the right booking page.
Decide how you'll rebook first-time clients before they leave, ideally into quieter hours.
Know what each channel costs. Fresha's marketplace charges a one-off 20% fee on a new client's first booking.
Consider a simple website with services, prices and booking buttons, so your Google profile and ads have somewhere to send people other than Instagram.

Once you're open, the next problem is the hours you staff and don't sell: how to fill quiet hours in a nail salon. Running a day spa or beauty salon instead? Swap chairs and tables for treatment rooms and beds. Everything else works the same way.

Self-check8 questions to answer before you sign

Tick what you can answer today0/8 done

I know how many pedicure chairs and tables the floor plan holds.I have the lease's required trading hours in writing.I know what each planned service earns per chair-hour.I've drawn the roster I can staff in month one and in month six.I know what that roster costs each week, by day.I know what share of rostered hours must be booked to pay the team.I know the weekly turnover that keeps rent between 9% and 21%.I know where the first 100 clients will come from, and how they'll rebook.

Can't tick 2, 6 or 7? Don't sign yet. Those three decide whether the lease can work.

Sources and method. Seat count: our count from the example salon's public Fresha photos, 18 October 2026. Prices: its Fresha menu, same date. Hours: Westfield Southland. Wages: Fair Work pay guide MA000005 from 1 July 2026, plus 12% super. Rent range: ATO beauty services (2023-24 data). Rents in the table are round examples, not quotes. This guide is general information, not financial, legal or leasing advice.

Hai Pham

Founder of ATAVORA, a small marketing team in Vietnam working for service businesses in Australia, the UK and the US. Want a second pair of eyes before you sign? A Marketing Diagnosis looks at the location, the hours, your menu and your first clients, with a written plan within 5 business days, £249 one-off.

Book a Marketing Diagnosis

Want the website, Google profile and ads handled from day one? All-in is £699 a month.

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Opening a nail salon or spa: run these numbers before you sign the lease