How to Open a Nail Salon: Step-by-Step Checklist (2026)

Contents · 9 sections

1. What order do you open in?
2. What goes in the business plan?
3. How do you fill in startup costs?
4. What comes before the keys?
5. What does the buildout include?
6. Which licenses and insurance?
7. How do equipment, menu, and pay fit?
8. Where do booking and the phone sit?
9. FAQ

What order do you open in?

A shopping list of chairs and polish is not an opening. The shop that seats a client before it has the establishment license and the city's occupancy sign-off is the one that has to close for the inspection. Do the steps in this order. Skip a step only when your board or your city says it doesn't apply to you.

1. Write the plan, including who the salon is for and how a visit gets paid.
2. Fill in the cost worksheet with quotes, not with a number you saw on another website.
3. Form the entity with the state, then get the EIN from the IRS.
4. Sign the lease only once the permitted use covers nail services and you know who pays for plumbing and ventilation.
5. Do the buildout, ventilation included, under the city's permit.
6. Get the tech licenses, the salon establishment license, the inspection, the city business license, and a seller's permit if you will sell retail.
7. Bind the insurance your lease and your state actually ask for.
8. Buy equipment and opening supplies from the quotes you wrote on the worksheet.
9. Set the menu, the durations, and the prices from your own costs.
10. Hire licensed techs and put the pay model in writing.
11. Turn on the booking page, claim the Google profile, and decide how calls get answered when every tech's hands are wet.
12. Soft-open with a short invited list. The daily open and close routine starts that morning.

This page is an operations checklist for a US nail salon. It is not legal, tax, insurance, or lending advice. As of November 12, 2026, English search results for how to open a nail salon mix business-plan outlines, license explainers, and vendor pages. Spanish and Vietnamese results that day covered the same jobs: the lease, the buildout, the license, and hiring licensed techs. Those pages often print a national startup range. This one doesn't. If a fee or an hour requirement isn't on an official page we link, with the date we read it, the cell stays blank for you to fill in.

What goes in the business plan?

Write the plan before you tour spaces. When a lender asks for a plan, they're asking for a document. You still need the same pages even if nobody is lending, because the lease, the menu, and your first hire all come out of them.

The US Small Business Administration's page on writing a business plan, read November 12, 2026, says there's no single required format and that you don't have to stick to the exact outline. Use the sections that fit. The traditional sections on that page are the executive summary, the company description, the market analysis, organization and management, the service or product line, marketing and sales, a funding request if you are asking for funding, and financial projections. Source: Write your business plan.

For a nail salon, translate those headings into what happens on the floor:

• Executive summary. The shop's name, the city, the services (gel, fill, full set, pedicure, and what you won't offer on day one), and who runs it.
• Company description. Who the chair is for. A shop built on neighborhood regulars is a different business from a salon that lives on walk-ins.
• Market analysis. Name the salons already on the streets you're considering, what they list, and which hours they seem to be open when you walk by. This page has no industry outlook number for you to paste in. Your notes are the analysis.
• Organization and management. Who holds the keys, who is the responsible party, and whether you expect employees, booth renters, or just yourself at the start. The legal structure (sole prop, partnership, LLC, corporation) goes here. This page does not pick one for you.
• Service line. Each service, how long it takes in a real chair, and what it uses up. A full set that runs long will blow up the next pedicure. Write down the duration you'll put on the booking page.
• Marketing and sales. How a new client finds the shop (the Google profile, the booking link, a sign) and how a finished client rebooks. A review ask with nothing attached belongs in how to get more Google reviews. Do not trade a discount for a review.
• Funding request, only if someone asked. SBA says this section explains how much you need and what the money buys: equipment, materials, pay, or bills until revenue shows up. Use the worksheet. Don't type in a round number you haven't itemized.
• Financial projections. SBA says a new business should show a forward look and be specific in year one, down to quarters or months. Build those months from the worksheet rows. If you can't point to a quote, the cell stays blank.

How do you fill in startup costs?

The cost to open a nail salon is the sum of quotes with your name on them. A range from a blog, a vendor, or a comment thread is not your budget. Copy this table into a spreadsheet. The right-hand column stays empty until you write in a figure you can point to: a lease draft, a contractor bid, a city fee schedule, a board fee page, or an insurance quote. Put the date you read it in the middle column.

Add up the column. That total is the number you take to a lender, a partner, or your own savings account. If it's more than the cash you have, cut a line you control (fewer chairs on day one, a shorter service menu) before you sign a lease that assumes the bigger room.

What comes before the keys: entity, EIN, and the lease?

Form the business with the state that will be on the license, then apply for the EIN. The IRS page, read November 12, 2026, says to get an EIN directly from the IRS for free, and that you never have to pay a fee for one. It also says that if you're creating a corporation or an LLC, you form that entity through the secretary of state before you apply, or the EIN application may be delayed. You generally need an EIN to hire employees, to operate a partnership or corporation, or to pay sales and excise taxes. The online tool issues 1 EIN per responsible party per day. Source: Get an employer identification number. The same page says some entities may have to report beneficial owners to FinCEN and tells you to check whether you must. This page does not decide that for you.

Whether you're a sole prop, partnership, LLC, or corporation is a question for the secretary of state's site and for a lawyer or tax preparer who will put their name on the answer. SBA's organization section is where you describe the structure you chose. Writing "LLC" on the plan does not file the LLC.

Read the lease against your plan, not against the tour. Before you sign, write down:

• Whether the permitted use includes nail services, pedicure plumbing, and the chemicals you'll store.
• Who pays for the buildout, the ventilation, and restoring the unit at the end.
• The deposit, which months of rent are due before you open, and the length of the lease. Those figures go on the worksheet straight from the draft in front of you.
• Who pulls the building permit and whose name goes on the certificate of occupancy.
• What happens to the deposit if the state board fails the inspection or the city won't issue occupancy.
• Whether there's a personal guarantee in the signature block.
• Whether you can assign the lease if you sell the shop later.

A landlord saying "nail salons do great here" is not a market analysis. The hours you wrote down while walking the block are.

What does the buildout and the ventilation include?

Pedicure chairs need water, a drain, and enough power for the chairs and the lamps. That work usually needs a building permit, and the city closes it out with a certificate of occupancy. Confirm the permit path with the city building department before the contractor opens a wall. This page does not quote a permit fee. The fee on the city's schedule, as of the day you download it, is the one that goes on the worksheet.

Ventilation is part of the buildout, not a fan you add after the first complaint. OSHA's page on chemical hazards in nail salons, read November 12, 2026, says exposures can add up when many products are used at once, day after day, or when ventilation is poor. The steps it lists: let in fresh air by opening doors and windows when you can, and turn a ceiling vent on; always keep the salon's exhaust system on; if there is no exhaust system, keep the HVAC fan switch in the on position rather than auto so it runs when the heat or air conditioner is off, and have an HVAC contractor clean the system and replace the filters at least once a year; install exhaust fans where you can, pulling air in one end and pushing it out the other; if you have ventilated tables, keep them on, change the charcoal filters at least once a month, and clean the catch basin at least once a week; consider portable ventilation that pulls dust and chemicals from the table. Source: Chemical Hazards in Nail Salons.

The same OSHA page says NIOSH laboratory tests indicate that exhaust ventilation systems may reduce worker chemical exposure in nail salons by at least 50%. That's a lab finding OSHA cites. It is not a promise about your unit, and it is not a fan size. Your state board may require its own ventilation standard on top of this. Open the board for the state on your license and copy its rule next to the HVAC bid. California publishes board rules at the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology. Texas publishes cosmetology rules through TDLR. Those two sites are examples of where a board posts rules. They are not your fee schedule unless you are licensed there.

Ask the contractor to name the exhaust, the table ventilation, and the HVAC fan setting in the bid. If a bid just says "ventilation included" without spelling those out, you can't check it against the OSHA list or against your board.

Which licenses, the inspection, and which insurance?

Count the licenses as separate pieces of paper. People lump them together and then find out about the inspection the same week they wanted to open.

• Each tech, including you if you'll work a chair. A personal nail technician, manicurist, or cosmetology license from the state board. The board's site lists the training hours, the exam, and the fee. Copy those from that site onto your worksheet with the date. This page does not.
• The salon. An establishment license in the business's name. Many boards inspect the finished shop before they issue it. Ask your board whether the inspection comes before the license, and whether a failed inspection carries a re-inspection fee. Write that fee down only after you've read it on their page.
• The city or county. A local business license. That counter is not the state board. Whether zoning allows a nail salon is a question for the city, ideally before the lease is binding.
• Retail. If you'll sell polish, files, or aftercare for clients to take home, ask the state tax agency whether you need a seller's permit or a sales-tax permit. Services and retail are often separate lines on that form.
• Occupancy. The certificate of occupancy, or the city's equivalent, before a client sits down.

Insurance sits next to the licenses because the lease often names it. General liability is the policy landlords ask to see, with the landlord listed the way the lease spells out. Get a quote. The premium goes on the worksheet. This page does not print one.

Workers' compensation depends on whether the people on your floor are employees. OSHA's nail salon overview, read November 12, 2026, says it doesn't matter how the owner labels someone. Courts and agencies look at the facts. Someone who rents a station, buys their own supplies, has their own clients, sets their own schedule, sets their own rates, and holds their own business license may be more likely an independent contractor. Someone whose schedule, pay, prices, tools, and appointments the owner controls may be more likely an employee. Employees have a right to workers' compensation. Independent contractors do not. A 1099 instead of a W-2 does not decide it. Source: Health Hazards in Nail Salons. Your state has its own workers' compensation rule on top of that, so confirm it. For a walkthrough of commission and booth rent, including a state that prohibits booth rental, see commission vs booth rent.

How do equipment, the menu, and pay fit?

List the equipment in the same words the quotes use: pedicure chairs, manicure stations, lamps, ventilated tables, the reception desk, and the towel and disinfectant setup your board already requires. This page doesn't name a brand or price a chair. Delivery and install belong on the same line as the chair, or the worksheet comes up short the day the truck arrives.

The menu is a list of services you can finish in the time you publish. Gel, a fill, a full set, a pedicure, and the add-ons you actually have product for. Price each one from your own product cost, the minutes, and the pay split on the worksheet. A price you saw at another salon is a competitor note for the market section. It is not your price. This page has no national price list.

Your first client needs a card. What to ask, and what to leave off, is covered in the client intake form. Have it at the chair on soft-opening day, including a separate yes or no for promo texts if you'll send any later.

Only hire people whose license you've checked on the board's lookup, if the board has one, or against the paper license and the board's phone number. A tech who is "waiting on the license" does not take clients. Write down the pay model before the first paycheck: commission or booth rent, who owns the clients, who sets prices, who buys liquid and tips, and who's on the schedule. The weekly grid for that is the nail tech schedule template. Put opening and closing names on it. The daily sheet those people initial, once the shop is actually open, is the opening and closing checklist.

Where do booking, the phone, and the soft opening sit?

Set up the booking page once the menu durations are real and the techs who'll be on it are licensed. Bukkii Calendar is $0 for up to 3 staff and includes the booking website. Put the services, the durations, and each person's days on that page. Reserve with Google is not on Free. $20 a month unlocks unlimited staff and customers, plus Reserve with Google. Email reminders come with the $20 plan. Calendar does not answer the phone. Prices are from bukkii.ai/pricing, checked November 12, 2026.

That same week, decide what happens when the phone rings and every tech is in the middle of a set. AIVA answers and can book the appointment. AIVA answers callers in English only. She does not speak Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, or any other language to callers. You can read this page in Spanish or Vietnamese. The voice on the phone stays English. AIVA is $200 one-time. No free trial, no monthly fee, no contract. The payment covers a dedicated number, training on your menu and policies, calendar setup, and call forwarding, plus 100 voice minutes and 1,500 SMS. After that, voice is $0.35 a minute and SMS is $0.035. Packs never expire. She texts the appointment details after the booking is made. She doesn't auto-text someone who already hung up. Setup is call forwarding. This page does not describe number porting. The number on your door stays with your carrier. Hear the English voice at (215) 791-6766. Get started.

Claim the Google Business Profile before you ask anyone to review it. Google's help page, read November 12, 2026, says that to show your business on Search, Maps, and other Google services, you add or claim the business and then verify the profile. You can edit the address, hours, phone, and photos once you're verified, and moving to a new address means you verify again. Source: Edit your Business Profile. List the phone number you actually answer, the hours that match the door, and the category that matches a nail salon. The review ask, with the link and nothing offered in exchange, is in how to get more Google reviews.

A soft opening is a short list of invited clients on a day when the licenses, the occupancy sign-off, the ventilation, the intake form, and the booking page are already done. Run the opening checklist that morning and the closing checklist that night. If a row fails, the next public day waits. The shop is open when the paper and the air say so, not when the sign goes up.

FAQ