How does a salon suite owner make money?

From rent. The owner leases a building, divides it into private suites and rents each one to an independent stylist, barber, esthetician or nail tech by the week or month. Sola describes its income as weekly rental income from suites. The tenants keep their own service revenue.

Do you need a cosmetology license to own a salon suite building?

Not always, but the building may need a salon license. Minnesota lets a suite-style salon either hold one salon license covering every suite or have each suite licensed on its own. In Texas, the suite building holds an establishment license and each tenant gets a mini-establishment license tied to it.

How many suites fit in a salon suite building?

It depends on the square footage and the suite sizes you choose. Sola locations run 4,200 to 9,000 square feet with 35 to 50 suites. MY SALON Suite says its locations opened in 2025 ranged from 5,000 to 8,000 square feet.

How to Start a Salon Suite Business | Franchise or Independent

To start a salon suite business, you lease or buy a building, divide it into small private studios, and rent each studio to an independent beauty professional who runs their own business inside it. You can do that through a franchise such as Sola Salons, Phenix Salon Suites or MY SALON Suite, or open an independent suite building under your own name. Either way, you’re the landlord, not the stylist.

That’s the big difference from renting a suite. Suite tenants pay rent and keep their service income. A salon suite owner earns the rent and carries the lease, the build-out and the empty suites.

How Does the Salon Suite Business Model Work?

The owner leases a large space, builds out a lobby, hallways, restrooms and a row of lockable suites, and rents each suite on a weekly or monthly lease. Phenix suites, for example, come with a styling station and chair plus a shampoo bowl and chair. The Look Salon Suites in Raleigh adds a dryer chair, cabinets and a lockable door.

Your income is rent. Vagaro puts typical suite rent at about $200 to $500 a week, more in big cities, and renters usually don’t pay utilities on top. Your costs are the building lease, utilities, cleaning, marketing to fill empty suites and, with a franchise, royalties. More on pricing is in what a salon suite costs to rent.

Should You Buy a Franchise or Open an Independent Suite Building?

A franchise gives you a brand, a design and a system. It also costs a lot. These are the franchisors’ own published figures:

Franchise	Franchise fee	Total investment	Typical size
Sola Salons	$60,000	$950,214 to $1,748,296	4,200 to 9,000 sq ft, 35 to 50 suites
Phenix Salon Suites	$52,500	$721,109 to $1,420,469 (2025)	Not stated
MY SALON Suite	$50,000	$994,971 to $1,820,417 (2025 openings)	5,000 to 8,000 sq ft

Ongoing fees vary by brand. Sola’s franchise FAQ lists a 5.5 percent royalty on gross revenue plus 1.5 to 2 percent for marketing. Phenix charges a royalty of $0.34 per square foot. Each also sets a net worth bar: Phenix asks for at least $1 million with $300,000 liquid, and MY SALON Suite asks for $1.5 million with $500,000 available.

Before you sign with any franchisor, read its Franchise Disclosure Document. The FTC’s guide to buying a franchise says you must get it at least 14 days before you sign or pay. Item 19 holds any sales or earnings claims, and franchisors don’t have to include them. The FTC also suggests calling current and former franchisees and hiring a lawyer who knows franchise law.

An independent building skips the fees but you design the suites, sign up tenants and market the building yourself. There’s no disclosure document to lean on for that route, so build the budget from your own quotes.

What Licenses Does a Salon Suite Building Need?

Rules for suites vary a lot, and some states have written rules just for them.

Minnesota’s suite-style salon rule gives two options: one salon license for the whole building that every suite operates under, or a separate salon license for each suite. If the building holds the license, the license holder is responsible for every practitioner’s compliance.

Texas uses a two-level system. The suite building, which Texas calls an establishment gallery, holds an establishment license. Each tenant applies for a $70 mini-establishment license, and the gallery’s license number has to be active for that to go through.

Other states treat each suite as its own salon or have no suite-specific rule. Ask your state board how it handles suites before you design the building, because the answer decides whether you or your tenants carry the license and the inspection. How to get a salon license covers the basics in five states.

What Do Salon Suite Tenants Expect?

Tenants compare buildings on what comes with the room, the rent and the lease terms. Phenix suites include a styling station and chair plus a shampoo bowl and chair. The Look Salon Suites in Raleigh lists a lockable door, styling chair, shampoo sink, cabinets, mirrors and a dryer chair, with singles from the $300s a week and doubles in the mid to high $400s.

Lease terms vary too. One Phenix franchise asks for a one-year minimum with 45 days’ notice to leave early. The Look prefers a one-year lease but will go down to six months. Ovation Salon Suites put a 100 to 110 square foot Dallas suite at $275 to $325 a week in early 2023.

Decide what you’ll include before you design the suites, because a shampoo bowl in every room changes the plumbing plan for the whole building.

How Big Should Each Salon Suite Be?

Most single suites run about 100 to 130 square feet. Phenix lists singles at 105 to 110 square feet and premium suites at 115 to 125. The Look Salon Suites offers doubles of 150 to 230 square feet. Details are in how big a salon suite is.

A mix of sizes helps fill the building. Single suites suit stylists working alone, and doubles suit pairs or anyone who wants a second chair. Some states set a minimum for a one-person salon. Pennsylvania, for one, requires 120 square feet and 10 feet of width, which rules out a 10 by 10 room there.

How Do You Lay Out a Salon Suite Building?

The floor plan is the business plan. More suites means more rent, but suites that are too small or badly shaped sit empty. Plan:

A lobby at the entrance with seating, since tenants’ clients wait there.
Hallways wide enough for clients, carts and wheelchairs. The 2010 ADA Standards set 36 inches as the minimum for an accessible route, and a wider corridor feels less cramped.
Suites on both sides of each hallway where the shell allows. Back the suites onto a shared plumbing wall where you can, since every shampoo bowl needs its own supply and drain lines.
Shared restrooms, a laundry room and a janitor closet.
A few larger suites near the front for tenants who want visibility.

Inside each suite, plan the salon chair, the station, a shampoo bowl with its chair, a hood dryer chair and some storage. Minerva Beauty suggests at least 24 inches behind a shampoo chair for the stylist, which a narrow suite can’t always give.

The salon suite floor plan maker has 10 x 12 and 12 x 14 ft suite presets for testing a single room, and a salon suite block you can repeat across a larger custom-sized floor. Furnish one suite, check the walkway warning, then lay out the whole building with copies of it and print the plan for your architect.

What Are the Steps to Become a Salon Suite Owner?

Decide between a franchise and an independent building.
If franchising, request the disclosure document and wait the 14 days the FTC requires.
Check your state’s licensing rule for suites.
Find a building with enough square footage, parking and plumbing access.
Draw the suite layout and test how many suites fit at the sizes you want.
Get build-out quotes and permits. Each suite with a shampoo bowl is its own plumbing job.
Market to stylists and sign suite leases before opening day.

If you’re the stylist rather than the landlord, how to open a salon explains when renting a suite makes sense.