Booth Rental Fee: Fill & Download for Free

Hi Stan,I am truly honored to have a question from you.In reality, most hairstylists, except those who are low salary based apprentices, or very low level employees, usually are on some sort of commission compensation plan.Salon Commission HairstylistIf a hairstylist is a commission hairstylist in a salon, they generally receive somewhere in the range of 35% - 45%, of the total ticket.Sometimes they might receive more than 45% under rare circumstances.Usually the longer a hairstylist works for a particular salon and advances in her skills, her commission cut may slowly go up.If a commission based stylist generates $100 on a ticket, they will generally see somewhere between $35 and $45 of the ticket, not counting any additional tips they might receive from the client.Tips vary, but the average salon client will generally tip 10% to 20%.That amount is added on top of the commission from the salon. Clients tips are supposed to go 100% to the stylist.Unfortunately, this is not always true, but that’s a story for another day.Sometimes the salon owner will deduct the cost of any products used in providing hair services (shampoo, conditioner, treatments, hair chemicals or similar).This can bring the total earnings as low as 25–30% depending upon what products are used and their total value.Also, in some salons, commissioned hairstylists have to pool their tips with the shampoo techs, front desk people or other support staff in the salon.This of course could lower the total amount of money they would receive on a $100 total ticket.Commission Rates Are Extremely Variable According To Range Of FactorsThe amount of commission a hairstylist can make is usually tied to the number of years the stylist has been in the hair trade, their level of expertise and the average size of their tickets.A lot of the percentage splits depend upon geographic location, whether it is a low, medium of top end salon and if the salon is in a highly prestigious area.Commission stylists who specialize in hair color or chemicals tend to make a little higher commissions to hair stylists who are generalists without high ticket specialties.Stylists are often paid commissions on add-on salon products they sell to salon clients.These products would include items such as shampoo, conditioners or similar. Product sales usually have a higher rate of commission and might even be worth 40–45% in some cases.Booth Renter HairstylistIf the hairstylist is a booth renter, they get 100% of the money they collect, but are then often required to give a cut of what they make to the owner of the establishment where they rent their booth.On a $100 ticket for hair services, the booth renter gets the full amount.However, from that money, they have to pay various rental or service fees.In some cases, rather than a cut of every hair service (cut, color, chemicals or other treatments) the booth renter has a set amount of money they are required to pay weekly or monthly in the form of a rent.Sometimes they have to pay a base weekly or monthly rent plus a commission based on sales volume.Usually the distribution from the booth renter to the establishment is established during the initial contract terms which may run on short or long term periods.Depending upon a variety of factors the booth renter will usually keep 60–85% with various rental and commission fees making up the rest.All tips provided to a booth renter are 100% theirs to keep.Since they are required to provide all their own products and equipment, they will have some costs coming out of their gross sales.Any product sales usually are 100% profit to the booth renter except in certain situations.Commission Hairstylists Versus Booth RentersIt would seem like the best bet for any hairstylist is to be a booth renter since they make a much higher percentage of the money they earn.While this is true in theory, in practice a booth renter has lot of other business variables they have to manage.A booth renter is 100% responsible for building their own business without any assistance from the establishment where they rent their booth.Commission hairstylists are usually promised the benefits of salon promotions, a guaranteed number of new client walk-ins on a weekly basis and other business building advantages.While both types of hairstylists realistically need to build their client base in order to have optimal success, if a commission hairstylist doesn’t have any clients for a set period of time, they just don’t make money.If a booth renter doesn’t make money for a set period of time, they are still likely to be responsible for paying their booth rental fees. Unless of course they have a special deal which is only commission based to the booth renting establishment.Most booth rental establishments do have some sort of weekly or monthly fee schedule to help defray their costs for building rent, maintenance, electricity and similar.There is a lot more money to be made as an organized aggressive booth renter then a commission stylist.Not all hairstylists flourish as booth renters. Some are much better suited to be commission hairstylists.As the wise Stan Hanks, says “mileage may vary.”

Are you paying or are you charging?The “fair” answer is HOW MUCH EDUCATION DO/DOES YOU/SHE HAVE? Hair density, quality of products used, amount of product used, salon commission/booth rental fee. Some stylists like myself base fee services off of hourly wages. I choose to make $75 per hour as of 2018. A simple shampoo and style service takes me generally 60 minutes ( and that’s ONLY using shampoo/conditioner and basic styling products) I charge $75.So in turn, if I cannot yield $75 per hour off of EVERY service I will not do it. The cost of coloring services must factor in the price of the additional products needed and used aside from the basic shampoo/conditioner and basic styling products. Matter of fact if a specific tool is needed for your service..it is EXTRA$$. If a “special” technique is needed to execute your desired service, it is EXTRA$$.The classes to learn coloring techniques range in price from free to $5,000 coloring Bootcamps. The fact of the matter is this, Most women want a colorist that has been to the $5,000 hair color boot camp to formulate and apply their color properly. The technique and color placement classes are seperate depending on YEARLY trends. The “idea” of coloring hair isn’t really CHEAP and when you devalue it using words like “fair” further let’s me know you’d prefer a stylist that attends free classes or you are a stylist that attends free classes.The fee scale should be determined by the stylists self worth and investments sacrificed for their career and specific skill sets. You cannot determine a stylists prices… only she can do that.p.s. Free is never fair and fair is never free. $$$Pay whatever the BEST stylist charges and be happy with your hair…. or….. sacrifice, take more classes and charge whatever you feel comfortable with!Great question!

The fees that barbers pay varies a lot depending on the shop, the location, and how badly the shop owner wants to keep his or her barbers. Availability of qualified barbers drives fees as well. Sometimes competition between barber shops to keep the best barbers changes fees barbers pay. Occasionally the barber is an employee of the shop, though this is uncommon in my state. Some shops charge a flat weekly fee allowing barbers to rent the chair (booth rental). In other shops the barber pays a percentage of the price of haircuts done. Tips belong to the barber in general. I have heard of the percentage paid to the shop ranging from 20% to 60%. Usually if a barber pays 60% it is a beginning barber. And usually if a barber pays only 20% they take part in shop management.Booth rental is the simplest way for both the shop owner and the barber. With booth rental, the owner doesn’t have to keep track of services or feel the need to have a barber keep a certain pace. From my limited information, I’ve heard of weekly booth rental ranging from $250 weekly to around $175 weekly, though I really have no knowledge of fees nationally in the United States.