How Much Does It Cost to Run a Barbershop

Opening or running a barber shop can be an exciting but also difficult decision. Even if you’re in the industry for decades or just starting, it’s essential to know how much it costs to run a barber shop.

There are many barber shop monthly expenses to take into account, like real estate rent, monthly utility expenses, and the pressure of knowing how to manage your finances, as well as the pressures of managing employees, customers, and more. 

We’ve surveyed our barber clients to find out more about the main barber shop expenses and struggles.

Below in this article, you’ll find our conclusions, such as the average electric bill for barber shops, which step was the most expensive in opening a business, and more.

How financially difficult was starting a barbershop business?

When talking about how difficult it was to open a barbershop, these are a couple of things some of our users mentioned: 

• It was challenging due to the logistics
• More scary than hard. 
• It was hard. I had to watch all my expenses
• Very hard at the beginning 

Around 75% of barbers affirm that opening their barbershop was “really hard” and “financially difficult.”

“Starting my barbershop business was sort of hard for me because of the things I had to pay for that no one informed me about. Use and occupancy license was more than $600, including the repairs necessary to pass the inspection.” – On Set Barbershop (owner)

What’s the total cost of opening a barbershop? 

The cost of opening a barbershop can vary depending on the business size, location, number of employees, etc.

According to our survey, the average cost of opening a barber shop is $13.500. The lowest cost barbers reported are between $4.000 and $50.000. 

Running a barbershop can seem like an easy way to make money, but the truth is that it’s complicated than you might think. Besides worrying about expenses like rent, utilities, inventory costs, advertising, or insurance, there are other hidden expenses. 

According to the barbers who participated in our research, the most expensive parts of opening a barbershop are renovation and design, supplies, barbershop equipment, and barbershop tools.

“I qualified for financial assistance, but even with financial aid and no prior experience, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Doing it alone was very difficult financially”, says a professional barber that participated in our survey.

1. Barbershop rent cost

How much do barbershop owners spend on rent every month?

If you want a physical location and you don’t own the real estate, you’ll have to rent a place for your barbershop business. The rent price can vary between $10/sqft to $25/sqft, depending on the city or location’s zone.

Keep in mind that besides the monthly rental fee, you’ll also have to pay in advance for a security deposit. 

2. Barbershop utility bills

Barbershop electricity bills

What is the average monthly electricity bill for a barbershop?

The average monthly electric bill for barbershops is $200. The lowest electricity price barbers pay is $45, and the highest is around $550. 

To reduce your costs, you can invest time educating your clients and employees not to turn on the lights during the day. You can also design your barbershop with lots of windows so that you can reduce the electricity use.

Barbershop water bills

What is the average monthly water bill for a barbershop?

About 18% of the barbers who took part in our study affirmed that their water bill is included in the rental payment. 

Anyway, for the barbers who pay the water bills themselves, the cost can vary between $50 and $325, depending on the barbershop’s location and size. 

Well, if you’re thinking about opening or running a barbershop, get ready to take out of the pocket around $115 per month for the water bills.

3. Equipment and barbershop tools

How much does barbershop equipment & tools cost?

Every professional barber has considerable equipment expenses to take into account. Do you know how much your scissors cost and how often do they need to be replaced? If not, check out our article about essential barber tools and how much they cost.

4. Professional beard products

How much do barbershops spend on professional products per month?

Professional products such as shampoo, styling gel or beard dye are also monthly barbershop expenses. Barbers spend between $100 and $2000 per month, but most professionals spend an average amount of $500 per month on professional products.

5. Salaries

How much does a barber earn in America?

According to statistics, in May 2021, the average barber salary in the United States is $32,000, but the range typically falls between $25,909 and $38,758 per year.

It’s important to know that salary ranges depend a lot on factors like education, certifications, years of experience, city, etc.

6. Barbershop software

As a barber professional, you don’t have any time to lose. For that, you need to be the most productive you can in your everyday life. Using an appointment scheduling app for barbers can resolve the biggest part of your organizing struggles. 

How much does a barbershop software cost? 

An app such as Goldie has a free plan that allows barbers to schedule appointments, keep track of their daily personal and professional activities, send automated message reminders and manage client information. Plus, with this app, you can let clients book appointments themselves via your personalized online booking link. You can add it in your social media bio description and clients will access it directly, without having to call you anymore. 

Normally, this barbershop software is free, but it can cost you up to $19,99 per month depending on the features you want to activate.

You can freely install the app from the App Store or Google Play. 

7. Advertising and marketing materials

Marketing costs are also good to consider while opening or running a barbershop. And you might already have some barbershop marketing ideas in mind that you want to try. 

While some ideas can be free, such as promoting your barbershop on social media, some can get quite expensive. 

You might have the costs of running a website for your business, maintenance, office materials,  barbershop loyalty cards, online advertising, costs with electronic devices, and more. 

Are these costs included in your financial plan and taken into account when deciding on pricing your barbershop services? If not, it might be the right time to start considering them.

8. Repair and maintenance

On the principle “better be safe than sorry”, it’s good to consider keeping a deposit in case you’ll need to have something repaired or serviced, especially if your equipment is not new or under warranty or if you don’t have enough people  in your staff yet. 

Any business can be imprevisible, so you might prefer to get through unexpected situations successfully.

9. Certifications & barbershop licenses

All professionals need a certification issued by the state in order to perform as barbers. Depending on where your barbershop is located, you might also need a license to run your barbershop legally. And yes, sadly those licenses are quite expensive, but in the end, it turns out it’s worth the financial effort if you run your business like a pro.

What percentage of the monthly income of a barbershop is net profit?

The answers to this question are very different, making us know that in some cases, it is difficult to run a barbershop business, or in other cases, professionals need to improve something in their job to increase their profits. 

The percent of the net profit that a barbershop owner gets from the monthly income ranges from 10% to 80%. 

It turns out that around 55% is the net profit percentage from a barbershop’s monthly income. 

If you already run a barbershop business and you don’t know yet how your financial reports look, you can install this barbershop scheduling app and have a view of your monthly reports.

How much does a barbershop owner spend on average on total monthly fees? 

Again, it depends on the barbershop’s location and size. Anyway, according to our study, barbershop owners spend on average between $600 (for a small or normal business) and $3300 ( for a bigger, more glamorous barbershop) on their monthly fees. 

How much does a hired barber pay for a chair rent?

In our survey, barbers who rented a barbershop chair answered that they pay around 600$ per month on average. While the lowest price for a chair rent is $250, the highest goes until $1300 per month. More than 90% of the barbers interviewed affirmed that the barbershop’s monthly expenses are included in the rental price.

How does a scheduling app help barbers stay organized?

“Goldie has helped me stay organized for my clients and manage my days smoothly. I recommend the app to everyone that has a customer service business that is appointment-based. I really love that they continue to make the app innovative and always try to provide more technology or services to help the industry. Keep up the great work! I have been a loyal customer of yours since the beginning!” – Nito Burgos

“This app has made my clients and my life so much easier. They can not only book but also select the service that they want. Very user-friendly and a beautiful workflow. Customer service is top-notch. They can’t be beaten.” – Daniel G Master Barber

Down below you can find an infographic to give you a rundown of the real costs of opening a barbershop. 

Deciding to open a barbershop is a step that not everybody has the courage to do. It may not be easy, but it is definitely rewarding and challenging if you put passion into what you do.

Let us know in the comment section below about your current or past challenges in opening or running a barbershop.