Anyone out there lease chairs to hairstylists

[The Oasis]

Hello All!

I am opening in about a month. I have space for 2 hair style chairs in my salon, but of course - I'm not a hair stylist. I am considering leasing them to a beautician for the additional stable income and traffic. I have been searching the internet for 2 days now and can't find an example of a lease agreement for this situation. Does anyone out there have an example that I could use? Also - if you are leasing, how much is an average rent per chair? I have heard around $300 per month per chair - is that average. Please remember that I'm in a small town, so that may be a lot less than in bigger cities.

Any help is much appreciated!!! Thanks!!!

[trendysteph]

I own a hair and nail salon...my girls pay $80/wk...small town also...just a quick heads up about stylists...they can be very difficult to work with...I adore my massage therapist...not messy either...stylists and nail techs are ridiculously messy...make sure you lay down the law early regarding all expectations...it's kinda like dealing with children! google search=stylist contract..that will give you some hits. good luck!

[The Oasis]

Thank you so much for the reply - I really didn't think I would get much, but I thought it was worth a try...

OK - any expanding on the "ridiculously messy" or the "expectations" or the "lay down the law", cuz I'm going into this as never having done it before. Do you have a lease with your tenants? Can I use it as a guide?

I have no experience with these people, so any advice is SOOOOOO welcome!!!

Thanks again - I notice you must be a new poster! I haven't seen you on here before.

[Tanning Queen]

Does your lease allow subletting or subleasing?

YOu will need to also have a wash station and drying or sitting area for those getting color done. How will the supplies be stored for them? Will it be in the general stock room or in a locked area? Dont want to run into them saying someone stole their color or hair spray or what not. Are you prepared for the odors and noise from doing hair? Coloring and stuff is stinky at times. The hair dryer can be loud.

How will the booking be handled for them? Will you handle it or are they responsible for 100% of their booking and scheduling and cancellations?

Just some stuff I was thinking out loud about. Hope that helps some.

[Tanning Queen]

Oh, and insurance. Will you need to cover it since you are the main one on the lease?

[trendysteph]

if they are going to be in private rooms...not such a big deal...they just have a tendency to not clean up after each client...so you are left with hair laying on the floor and it gets tracked all over the place...I do not have a contract with my girls...In my experience they do not honor them...the industry normally dictates that the girls pay at the end of the week...so they work their first week, then pay you at the end...if I had it do all over again...I would treat it more as a landlord situation...1st and last up front...because they will come on Thursday night (if rent is due Fri) and clear their stuff out while you sleep!! I am opening my tanning salon right next to my hair and nail salon...I debated on whether to open up the space...decided not to...everything I have read on this site helped me decide...it seems there is a lot of cash that will be going in and out of the tanning...really need to trust everyone that has access to your register....stylists work very odd hours...I didn't want to have to staff to accomodate their hours...I literally have girls in their at midnight sometimes...plus it seems some of my girls have an entourage...I didn't want them hanging out in the tanning reception area...if you decide to do it, dictate what hours they can work...also depending on your state, realize there are lots of regs...board of cosmetology can come in anytime and if they do not like what they see, they can shut you down on site or fine you huge amounts...which could screw up your tanning business as well...hope this helped.

[Le]

We have 9 private hair suites and we charge $195 per week.

City pop of 200k

Stylist are artist and therefor can be very "mood driven". Don't just lease to anyone, make sure to do back ground checks and if you can, do a DiSK test.

Best of luck-

[Brian Oshman]

That's good advice right there. Personally, I wouldn't mix the two. Same with doing nails and tanning. The stink turns off a lot of customers and all of those other points made by Steph would deter me even more.

[northtanman]

i have 8 stylists and 3 nail techs. 6000 sq ft building. hair is separate from tanning salon and even the nail salon. strip mall in appearance but all interconnected inside via hallways and doors. hair is $525 and nails pay $450 (small town)
i have NO lease in place, its pretty much month to month, payable in advance! i get first, last and security/damage deposit. just let them know what you expect of them. we have common area's i pay to have cleaned and they are to keep their area of domain kept up or hire someone to clean it as needed. most pay an employee of mine to do it on the side. i have very little turnover! if you are going to have 2 stylists...make room for a nail tech! they all feed off one another...tanning clients....nail...hair...a nice triangle of income. we also have a double pedicure spa...perfect! girl friends love that.
as far as your rents are concerned...one thing to see with what you have going on is, the ability for them to feed off your stream of tanning clients. they can build clientele from your clientele.
good luck!

[The Oasis]

Thanks everyone for the information!!

TQ - I own the building, so I can sublease. And, I talked to my insurance agent. He said that in general, hairstylists are "supposed" to be responsible for their own insurance, but since they are on my property, I could get a liability policy that would cover any lawsuits that they might try to bring against me - and it's only about $50 a year per stylist (basically just general liability).

Also - when we built, I had the plumber put in pipes in the ground all over the place. So, I was thinking that the hair stations would be "wet stations" - where they have the wash bowls right in front of them by the mirrors. They have a counter over the top that can lift up when they need to use the sink. I will have plenty of room for people to sit in the reception area for drying & waiting for color. And, I have a separate area in the back by the boiler and electrical room that has storage and laundry facilities. Plus a garage attached that I could put locked storage shelves in if they need more space.

Brian - I have read on this site that nail salons can be smelly. I gave that thought when I had the a/c duct work put in. They put in extra vents over the entire area. I have the option to turn these on just for air circulation - it would either increase the air conditioning, or I can use outside air. Seeing that I am in northern WI, I wanted to use the cold air as much as possible to decrease my a/c bill (if possible). And it is zoned - I can increase one area & leave another lower.

On mixing up services: I thought that adding another service would increase traffic - like northtanman said. Feed off of each other. I would really like to create more of a spa environment. We are in a remote area, and there is no where within 45 minutes of here that does this. I want a place where women (& men) feel like they want to come in & relax. Get all the services that they need in one place. Pamper themselves. At least - that's what I was thinking.

Northtanman - what size is your small town? My town is about 5,000 people. Concerning price - I have been watching the classifieds for hair chair rentals in my area. They seem to be right around $300, so I don't think that I will get $525. But - I may be able to charge more because it's brand new, and there are other services that their business can feed off of.

Le - the place that I work for (my current day job) has an account with the WI Dept. of Justice, so I can get background checks done for $16 each. I hadn't thought of that though - Thanks!! I guess I hadn't given it a lot of thought because I am in a small town - and I pretty much know everyone here. But, I guess that doesn't necessarily mean I know everything about them!

Are stylists really that unreliable that I would need to have them pay weekly? Or is that just an easier way for them to pay - so they don't have to come up with a large amount at once? I think I would be concerned if one of them asked me to set it up this way. That's not a lot of money for rent - considering what most of them charge for a simple hair cut!

I will have an extra room in the beginning for a possible message therapist - trendysteph - what kind of arrangement do you have. Do they only come in 2-3 times a month - or are they there all the time? I have read that the salon owner usually charges 40-50% of sales for the therapist - is that what you do?

AND -do any of you have an example of a stylist lease agreement?

Now that I have rambled on for a while - THANK YOU all so much for the thoughts, advice and good wishes! It's been a very long summer building ourselves - my husband has done most of the building himself and is about to jump over the edge

Thanks again!!!

[cehlers]

We currently have 6 chair hair salon-In our state we had to become licensed to be able to do hair in the salon, insurance is paid by the renting hair stylists-but you will need to add x-tra on to your policy. It is smelly but if the price is right you can deal with it.
Whoever posted the message that stylists are hard to get along with-and are dirty is correctly right. We have a stylist that is such a b--- lease will be up in Jan. Time to let her go... We require 6 month leases.
There is huges messes, hair all over--carpets, rooms. I would gladly trade it for more tanning rooms.
They do go hand-in hand quite well. but a common problem we do have, our stylist not showing up on time/bad quality work--it all reflects back on your salon. Check with your state regulations-it can be pretty strict.
Good luck

[northtanman]

if you go without lease's you are more likely to get tenants. they don't like the commitment. i have very little turn over with 11 women!! just go month to month.
you don't want to be the cheapest rental...you'll get trash. give all you can give and just be fair. make it better than the next...always be ahead...give them what they don't get somewhere else. do some checking. when i built my salon nearly 15 years ago...i added a breakroom...on premise laundry...supplied the towels...just a few things all the other salons did'nt have...nice bathroom...all purpose styling stations...shampoo bowl right in space. nice dryer area...it was rather simple requests and day one i was full! 8 hair stations and 3 nail tables...

[The Oasis]

That makes sense...

I am trying to convince my current stylist to leave her place & come to my salon - so I'm hoping I can avoid some of the bad issues that have been mentioned. I know that she is reliable and does a good job. I have space for a nail tech also.

I built space for these stations into my plan so that I can rent them out & basically they will make my monthly loan payment And, I'm really not giving up any space that would be usable for tanning equipment.

Do you require that they keep certain hours - any time they want or your salon hours?

Thanks again!!

[Le]

Amy, send me your e-mail via a PM message and I will send you our stylist contract and code of conduct agreements.

[The Oasis]

PM Sent - Thanks Le!!!

Have a great weekend!!!