SCRATCHCOLUMNIST

RICH REWARDS

Discover smarter ways to run a beauty business with RICHARD MCCABE, lifestyle salon coach

ABOUT RICHARD MCCABE

Richard is a salon owner turned coach, dedicated to transforming time-poor business owners into confident, profitable leaders. After building successful salons in the UK and Australia, he began sharing the systems that supported this growth. This evolved into the launch of his brand, Lifestyle Salon Coach. More recently,

Richard created SAAMM (Salon AI Automated

Management Machine), ‘a digital manager for salons’.

lifestylesaloncoach.com /LifestyleSalonCoach @lifestyle_salon_coach

A GUIDE TO ENSURING SERVICE PROFITABILITY

Ioften hear that ‘ there’s no money in nails ’, but the reality is, nail treatments are not automatically loss leaders – the price of a service just needs to match the time taken to deliver it.

Are staff covering their wages?

A productive team member should generate approximately three times their employment cost. This keeps labour costs at around 33% of sales. Remaining income helps pay for products, rent, utilities and training, and leaves something for the business and owner.

The UK National Living Wage for someone aged 21 or over is £12.71 per hour. For an employee working 38 hours per week, that makes their weekly gross wage approximately £483, and monthly gross wage around £2,093. Once approximately £251 of Employer National Insurance is added, their basic monthly employment cost comes to around £2,344 – meaning that the team member should aim to generate three times this amount: £7,032 per month. This is just a guide, but it gives salon owners a clear idea: staff working 38 hours per week should generate approximately £42.70 per hour.

Timing tips

Time is one of a salon’s most valuable resources. For example, a 30-minute maintenance service priced at £30 may appear to contribute less than a 60-minute gel polish service priced at £50, but it actually generates more revenue per hour.

Many professionals want to offer longer appointments – for example, 90-minutes for a premium gel polish service, and there is nothing wrong with this. A detailed, luxury treatment can be an important part of a salon’s offering, but additional time must be reflected in pricing. Take a £50 gel polish service: if the appointment time increases by 50% – from 60 to 90-minutes, the treatment price must also increase by 50% to £75, to maintain the same hourly income.

Extra time should never be free

Salon owners may extend appointment times because they do not want their team to feel rushed. That is understandable, as nobody wants quality or safety to suffer. However, adding an extra 15 or 30-minutes to every appointment has a significant effect on the number of clients you can see, so it’s important to ask:

• Can services be delivered more efficiently without compromising quality?

• Do team members need further training or a clearer service system?

• Are too many extras being included in treatments without charge?

A busy diary may look impressive, but if services regularly overrun or are priced too low for the time allowed, you can lose money.

Do you want greater clarity around your salon’s pricing, productivity and profitability? Email me at richard@lifestylesaloncoach.com to receive my price per minute worksheet.

Scan to access my quiz and identify where your business is losing out on time, money and growth.

*Figures are based on the UK National Living Wage and standard Employer National Insurance rates for 2026/27. They exclude pension contributions and individual payroll circumstances. VAT-registered salons should calculate performance using sales excluding VAT.