How to open a hair salon in Australia: the guide

Opening a hair salon in Australia is really two projects running side by side. The visible one is chairs, basins, colour stock and the right stylists. The invisible one is an ABN, a business structure, GST, a possible council registration for the premises, insurance and an award you must pay correctly from the first shift. Most guides online are written for "beauty businesses" in general, or quietly assume American rules, and both mistakes cost money, because the answers in Australia depend on your state, your council and sometimes your suburb.

This guide takes the steps in the order you will actually meet them, flags exactly which ones vary by state or territory, and finishes with the checklist that turns a fitted-out shop into a salon with a full book. Some of that checklist costs nothing, starting with a free online booking system for your new hair salon, with 0% commission, because the months either side of opening day are precisely when fixed costs bite hardest.

One honest note before the detail: this is orientation, not legal, tax or accounting advice. Every source below is official and was checked in October 2026, but thresholds, fees and local rules change. Confirm with business.gov.au, your state authority, your council and an accountant before you sign anything.

Do you need a licence to cut hair in Australia?

Here is the surprise for anyone comparing notes with colleagues overseas: in most of Australia, hairdressing itself is not a licensed occupation. There is no national hairdressing licence, and in the majority of states and territories no law stops a person from charging for a haircut without a formal qualification. Employers and clients care about a Certificate III, but the government mostly does not.

Two states are the clear exceptions, and they matter if you are opening or hiring there:

New South Wales: under the Hairdressers Act 2003, a person needs to be qualified to act as a hairdresser for fee, gain or reward, and a business operator's hairdressing employees must be qualified too. The standard route is the SHB30416 Certificate III in Hairdressing; apprentices may work under the direct supervision of a qualified hairdresser (ABLIS, hairdresser qualification in NSW, checked in October 2026).
South Australia: the Hairdressers Act 1988 and its regulations prescribe qualifications for working as a hairdresser, with the Certificate III in Hairdressing (SHB30416) and Certificate III in Barbering (SHB30516) listed; workers without a prescribed qualification must apply for recognition (ABLIS, recognition as a qualified hairdresser in SA, checked in October 2026).

Everywhere else, treat the Certificate III as a market expectation rather than a legal gate, and verify your own state or territory on ABLIS, the Australian Business Licence and Information Service, which lists every licence and registration that applies to a hairdressing business at your exact address. Rules do change, and ABLIS is the official way to catch the ones this article cannot predict.

The premises can need registering even when the person does not

The second layer is health regulation of the shop itself, and it runs through state law and local councils. The clearest example is Victoria: businesses conducting hairdressing must be registered under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008, with registration handled by the local council and a focus on infection prevention (Victorian Department of Health, registered premises, checked in October 2026). Other states and territories regulate hairdressing premises through their own public health instruments and council processes, and the details differ enough that the only safe advice is unglamorous: ring your council's environmental health team with the exact address before you sign the lease. Ask two questions: does a hairdressing business at this address need health registration, and does the planning zoning allow a salon there at all.

Choose a structure, get an ABN, register the name

With the licensing picture clear, give the business a legal shape. Most new salon owners choose between two structures (business.gov.au, business structures, checked in October 2026):

Sole trader: simple and cheap, but you are legally responsible for all aspects of the business, debts included. Fine for a one-chair start; riskier once you sign a multi-year commercial lease and put staff on the floor.
Company: a separate legal entity, which can shield your personal assets, in exchange for ASIC paperwork and higher setup and compliance costs.

Partnerships and trusts exist too, but they are the exception for a first salon. The choice changes your tax every year afterwards, so spend an hour with an accountant before registering anything.

Then come two registrations that trip people up because they sound similar:

ABN: your Australian Business Number, the 11-digit identifier on every invoice. Registering is free through the Australian Business Register (business.gov.au, register for an ABN, checked in October 2026). If a website charges you to "get your ABN", you are paying for something the government does for nothing.
Business name: if you trade under anything other than your own name ("Sarah Nguyen" needs nothing, "Salt & Shears" does), register the name with ASIC. You need the ABN first; at the time of checking, ASIC charged $47 AUD for one year or $108 AUD for three (business.gov.au, register a business name, checked in October 2026). Registration does not give you exclusive rights to the name: that takes a trade mark.

GST: the A$75,000 question

GST registration becomes mandatory once your GST turnover reaches A$75,000, and you must register within 21 days of becoming aware you will cross that line (business.gov.au, register for GST, checked in October 2026). Below the threshold, registration is voluntary.

A salon with one chair busy full-time will usually pass A$75,000 well inside its first year, so most owners register at or before opening rather than watching the threshold mid-rush. Registering changes your price maths: GST comes out of what the client pays, so a service menu built without it loses 1/11th of every sale the day you register. Build your menu GST-inclusive from day one; our guide to hair salon pricing in Australia walks through the method, and remember that Australian Consumer Law requires the price you display to be the total price the client pays.

The premises: lease, planning and fit-out

The lease is the biggest financial commitment of the whole project, bigger than any equipment order. Before signing: confirm the planning permission question with the council (see above), get the lease reviewed, and negotiate a fit-out period so the rent clock does not run while the plumbers are in. Plumbing is the classic expensive surprise in a space that was never a salon, because backwash basins need water and waste where shops rarely have them.

On cost, refuse the fake national averages that circulate online. A two-chair takeover of an existing salon in a regional town and a five-chair build-out in inner Sydney are different businesses, so budget by category instead: the space (bond, first months of rent, fit-out), equipment (chairs, stations, mirrors, basins, dryers, tools), opening stock (colour, lighteners, backbar, retail), paperwork (registrations, insurance, accountant), technology (payment terminal, music licence, booking system), and a cash cushion for the slow first months. A deliberately fictional example to show the method, not the market: a modest two-chair takeover might budget A$8,000 for bond and rent, A$10,000 for refreshed equipment, A$3,000 for stock, A$3,000 for paperwork and insurance, under A$1,000 for technology and A$12,000 of cushion, landing somewhere around A$37,000. Your numbers will differ; the categories will not. One line can honestly read $0: the booking system.

Insurance: the quiet non-negotiables

Two covers matter from day one:

Public liability: not generally mandated by law for a salon, but running without it gambles the business on nobody ever having a colour reaction or slipping on a wet floor. Brokers who know salons will quote quickly.
Workers compensation: mandatory once you employ people, through your state or territory scheme. The regulators are the State Insurance Regulatory Authority in NSW, WorkSafe Victoria, WorkCover Queensland, ReturnToWorkSA, WorkCover WA, WorkSafe Tasmania, NT WorkSafe and WorkSafe ACT (business.gov.au, workers compensation insurance, checked in October 2026). Each scheme has its own registration process and premiums, so contact yours before the first hire, not after.

Add contents and glass cover for the fit-out, and business interruption if the budget stretches.

Staffing: employees, the award, or rent-a-chair

If you hire, most hair salon employees in Australia are covered by the Hair and Beauty Industry Award 2020 (MA000005), which sets minimum pay rates, classifications, penalty rates and apprentice wages (Fair Work Ombudsman, MA000005, checked in October 2026). Underpaying an award is one of the most expensive mistakes a new owner can make, and the rates move every July, so bookmark the award rather than copying a colleague's pay rates. Our guide to hairdresser wages in Australia covers the classifications and what they mean for your payroll, and once you have more than a couple of staff, rostering rules for Australian hair salons explains the notice and penalty-rate traps.

The alternative to employment is the chair-rental model, where independent stylists pay you for the chair and run their own books. It cuts your payroll risk but also your control, and getting the contractor-versus-employee line wrong has serious tax and Fair Work consequences. Read our dedicated guide to rent-a-chair arrangements in Australian hair salons before drafting any agreement.

Set up bookings before you set up the till

The permits let you open; visibility fills the chairs. Three moves, all cheap, all before opening day:

Create your Google Business Profile the week you get the keys: photos of the fit-out in progress, opening hours, your booking link. Most of your first clients will find you through Maps. Our Google Business Profile guide for Australian hair salons walks through every field.
Put online booking live before the doors open. New salons rarely have a receptionist, and clients expect to book at 10 pm. ViteUneCoupe gives a new salon a free booking page with its service menu and photos, stylist schedules, a client database and unlimited online bookings at 0% commission, permanently: a real free plan, not a trial, which is exactly what an opening budget wants. The Standard plan adds automatic email confirmations, reminders and thank-yous plus calendar sync in ICS format, from 29 € excluding tax per month with no commitment; note it is billed in euros, so the amount on an Australian card statement moves with the exchange rate and your bank may add a foreign transaction fee. Bank-card no-show protection is coming soon in a Standard + Anti No-Show plan at 49 € excluding tax per month. Two limits stated plainly: ViteUneCoupe sends email reminders only, not SMS, and it does not process payments, so pair it with the EFTPOS terminal of your choice. Comparing the whole market first is sensible: our Australian comparison of hair salon booking software lines the options up with prices verified at the source.
Open the book before you open the doors. A "we open 1 March, book now" page fills week one, and writing your cancellation and no-show policy on day one, not after the first empty chair, saves real money; our guide to cancellation policies and deposits for Australian salons gives you a framework to adapt.

Your opening checklist, in order

Talk to an accountant; choose sole trader or company.
Register your ABN (free) and, if needed, your business name with ASIC.
Check ABLIS for every licence and registration at your address; in NSW and SA, confirm qualification rules for everyone on the floor.
Ring the council: planning zoning plus any health registration of the premises (mandatory in Victoria).
Negotiate the lease with a fit-out period; budget by category, not by someone else's average.
Register for GST (or diarise the A$75,000 threshold) and build a GST-inclusive price menu.
Arrange public liability cover; register for workers compensation before the first hire.
Decide employees versus rent-a-chair; if employing, price the roster against the Hair and Beauty Industry Award.
Set up Google Business Profile and a free online booking page; open the book before opening day.
Publish your cancellation policy and connect it to your booking confirmations.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need a qualification to open a hair salon in Australia?

Owning the business and cutting the hair are separate questions. There is no national licence for either, but in NSW and South Australia the people performing hairdressing services need prescribed qualifications (typically a Certificate III), while most other states and territories impose no legal qualification requirement. Check ABLIS and your state authority for the current rules where you are opening.

Does the salon itself need to be registered with the council?

Sometimes. In Victoria, hairdressing businesses must be registered with the local council under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008. Elsewhere, premises rules vary by state and council, and planning approval for the address is a separate question again. Call your council's environmental health and planning teams before signing a lease.

When do I have to register for GST?

When your GST turnover reaches A$75,000, registration is mandatory and you have 21 days from becoming aware you will cross the threshold. Many salon owners register from day one, because a busy salon passes the threshold quickly and retrofitting GST into a price menu is painful.

How much does it cost to open a small hair salon in Australia?

There is no honest universal figure: a takeover of an existing salon space in a regional town and a from-scratch fit-out in a capital city CBD are different projects. Budget by category (space, equipment, stock, paperwork, technology, cash cushion) and collect local quotes. A modest takeover can land in the tens of thousands of Australian dollars; a city build-out can cost several times that.

Can I run a hair salon from home in Australia?

Often yes, but it depends on your council. Home-based businesses raise their own planning questions (signage, parking, clients visiting a residential address), and any state or council health rules for hairdressing premises can still apply. Your council is the first phone call, and your insurer the second, since home and contents policies rarely cover business activity.

How to open a hair salon in Australia: registration, GST and launch checklist