Skip to main content

How to Open a Nail Salon: Costs, Licensing & the First 90 Days

You have the license and the skills. Here's the business side of opening a nail salon: licenses, ventilation, booth rent versus employees, costs, and the first 90 days.

By Karena Zolner

If you're a licensed nail tech thinking about opening your own salon, you already know how to do the work. What nobody taught you in school is the business: which licenses the salon needs, what the inspector will look for, whether to rent booths or hire employees, and how to fill the chairs once the doors open.

This guide is the business side, start to finish, including the groundwork for a salon that feels calm and polished from the moment a client walks in.

Step 1: Licensing (yours and the salon's)

Two kinds of license usually apply:

  • Your individual license as a nail technician (called manicurist, nail specialist or nail technician depending on the state).
  • A license for the salon itself. Most states require the business location to hold its own establishment or salon license, separate from the licenses of the people who work there. It's typically issued by the state cosmetology board or licensing department, and it may require an inspection before you open.

Some examples, with fees as shown on the official pages on October 14, 2026:

  • Texas: there's no separate nail salon license; nail salons get a TDLR establishment license ($78; mini-establishments are $70), valid for two years (TDLR).
  • Florida: nail work falls under the cosmetology salon license, which must be issued before you open; the salon is inspected after the license is issued (DBPR).
  • New York: an appearance enhancement business license costs $60, and the business needs a surety bond or liability insurance of at least $25,000 per occurrence and $75,000 in total. Businesses offering nail services also need a wage bond, from $25,000 up to $125,000 depending on the number of nail workers (NY DOS). An individual nail specialty license requires 250 hours of training and costs $40 (NY DOS).

You'll also need the usual local business paperwork: a business license from your city or county, a sales tax permit if you sell retail, and a certificate of occupancy for the space.

This is general information, not legal advice. Your state board's current rules are the final word.

Step 2: Ventilation and health code: the foundation of a serene salon

Nail salons get a lot of attention from inspectors, and for good reason. Nail products contain chemicals that can affect the health of the people who breathe them all day, and that includes you and your team. Clean air and visibly clean tools are also what make a salon feel calm and cared for.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) notes that glues, polishes and removers can contain chemicals such as toluene, formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate and methacrylates, which can cause breathing problems, skin problems and other health effects. It also flags strain from long hours bent over a table, and infection risk from contact with skin, nails or blood (OSHA). OSHA also notes that employers must protect their employees, while independent contractors are responsible for their own safety protection. That's one more reason the booth-rent-versus-employee decision in Step 3 matters. The EPA's guide for nail salon workers, now in the EPA archive, covers safer products and practices (EPA archive).

What to plan for before you sign a lease:

  • Ventilation. Fresh air is what makes a room feel serene. Ask whether the space can support proper ventilation: general air exchange for the room and, ideally, source capture at each station. Get this into your buildout budget early; it's much harder to add later.
  • Sanitation and disinfection. Your state board sets rules for cleaning and disinfecting tools and foot spas. Read them, train on them, and keep the logs your state requires. Spotless stations and tools are part of what makes a salon feel high-end.
  • Product storage and labeling. Keep safety data sheets for the products you use, and store chemicals the way the labels say.
  • Water and sinks. Pedicure stations need plumbing. Check the space can support it.

Step 3: Booth rent or employees?

This decision shapes your income, your control and your legal obligations.

  • How you earn — Booth rental: Rent from each tech, weekly or monthly; Employees (or commission): Service revenue, minus pay.
  • Who owns the clients — Booth rental: Usually the tech; Employees (or commission): Usually the salon.
  • Who sets prices and hours — Booth rental: Usually the tech; Employees (or commission): The salon.
  • Your obligations — Booth rental: Landlord-style; less control; Employees (or commission): Payroll, taxes, workers' comp, scheduling.
  • Your risk — Booth rental: Empty booths; Employees (or commission): Unbooked hours you still pay for.

One caution: calling someone a booth renter doesn't make them one. If you set their schedule, prices and services, they may be employees under the law. The IRS and your state each have tests for this. Talk to an accountant before you decide.

The IRS looks at three kinds of evidence: behavioral control (does the business direct how the work is done?), financial control (who sets prices, supplies tools and pays expenses?) and the type of relationship (contracts, benefits, and whether the work is ongoing and central to the business) (IRS). States may apply their own tests too.

Step 4: Costs to plan for

There's no single number, because a nail salon in a strip mall and a nail bar in a downtown storefront are very different businesses. Plan for these lines:

  • Lease deposit and first months' rent
  • Buildout: plumbing for pedicure stations, ventilation, electrical, flooring, lighting
  • Furniture and equipment: manicure tables, pedicure chairs, dryers, sterilization equipment
  • Initial product inventory
  • Licenses, permits and inspection fees
  • Insurance: general liability, professional liability, property, and workers' comp if you have employees
  • Software and card processing
  • Signage and opening marketing
  • Working capital: enough to cover costs for the months before you're fully booked

The U.S. Small Business Administration's free business planning guide is a good place to start your plan. The method in my med spa business plan guide works for a nail salon too: build revenue from chairs, hours and how many you'll actually fill, not from a goal.

A note on income

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median annual wage for manicurists and pedicurists at $35,760 as of May 2025 (BLS). That's for workers, not owners, but it's a useful reference when you set pay or booth rent: the people you hire are weighing your offer against it.

Step 5: The first 90 days

Days 1–30: Get the basics running

  • Make booking easy. Online booking, a clear service menu with prices and times, and reminders before each appointment.
  • Rebook everyone before they leave. Fills and gel manicures have a natural rhythm; the next visit should be booked at checkout.
  • Start your client list on day one, with permission to send marketing messages recorded.
  • Ask happy clients for a review soon after their visit.

Days 31–60: Fill the gaps

  • Look at your calendar for patterns. Which days and hours are empty?
  • Fill them on purpose: a midweek service, a standing-appointment option for regulars, outreach to local offices nearby.
  • Watch no-shows. If they're a problem, add a deposit for longer services and a clear cancellation policy.

Days 61–90: Make it repeatable

  • Check your numbers: bookings per chair, rebooking rate, no-show rate, product cost per service.
  • Decide on your next hire or booth based on demand, not hope.
  • Build a simple monthly email to your client list.

Where Software by Jade fits

I'm building Software by Jade as one calm system for booking, client records, payments and inventory. Nail salons aren't the main focus of what we've built so far, but the basics carry over: online booking with deposits and reminders, and notes on the client record.

Join the waitlist to hear when Software by Jade launches.

Keep reading

This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Check your state board's current rules and talk to an accountant before you open.

About the author: Karena Zolner is the founder and CEO of Software by Jade. She has over 25 years in the aesthetics industry as an esthetician, brand rep and operations director. Her approach: no fluff, just operational reality and tech that actually works.

Sources

All accessed 2026-10-14. Fees as shown on the official pages that day.

Software by Jade is coming soon. Join the waitlist for early access.

Join the waitlistAll posts