Prices and margins
Beauty salon price list: how to build one without underselling yourself
The right price list covers costs, makes treatment plans more attractive than individual sessions and leaves room for an introductory offer. A method and figures to help you build it.
In this guide
Start with treatment room costs/hour
The minimum price for each treatment is based on treatment room costs/hour: rent, staff, products and consumables divided by the available billable treatment room hours, plus your margin.
Simplified example: 6.000 €/month in fixed and variable costs, 2 treatment rooms, 140 billable hours per month per room → around 21 € in treatment room costs/hour. A 50-minute treatment priced below 35-40 € is running at a loss or close to it.
| Item | Example value |
|---|---|
| Total monthly costs | 6.000 € |
| Treatment rooms × billable hours/month | 2 × 140 = 280 h |
| Treatment room costs/hour | ~21 € |
| Minimum price for a 50 min session | 35-40 € (including margin) |
Your price list should encourage treatment plans
The individual session sets the higher reference price; a plan of 6-10 sessions offers a discount, so the client saves while the salon gets paid upfront and fills its appointment book.
- Typical treatment plan discount: 15-25% compared with the total cost of individual sessions.
- Payment upfront or in 2-3 instalments: improves cash flow and reduces dropouts.
- Every treatment on the price list should have a corresponding treatment plan.
The most common pricing mistakes
Copying competitors' prices, never updating your price list and offering blanket discounts are the three mistakes that erode margins without increasing revenue.
Competitors' prices tell you nothing about your own costs. And a price list unchanged for three years while costs have risen means working more to earn less: review it at least once a year, giving advance notice of the update.
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