Most hairdressers and beauty professionals start out employed in a salon, and plenty of them end up wondering if they'd do better on their own, renting a chair or setting up at home or taking their kit out to clients. Running something small is hardly unusual in this line of work. According to the Ministry for Regulation, hairdressing and barbering in New Zealand is a billion-dollar industry made up of more than 5,000 mostly small businesses.
None of them is right for everyone. Each trades one set of costs and risks for another, and which one suits you depends a lot on your clients and your finances, and on how you like to work. Below are the four usual options side by side, with Auckland prices and rules as they stood in September 2026 and a link to the source for every fact, figure and rule.
This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and prices change, so check the sources, and talk to an accountant before a big move.
Which suits you?
You'd like steady pay and paid time off, and someone else to run the business.
Read more Renting a chairYou have your own clients and want a salon setting without running a salon.
Read more Home studioYou've got the right space on the right street, and clients who are happy to come to you.
Read more Going mobileYou like variety and have a reliable car, and your clients value the convenience.
Read more Mixing and matchingYou'd like a mix, say a chair a few days a week and mobile visits on the others.
Read moreRunning your own numbers
Before deciding, it helps to know what each option would leave you with. The pay calculator below does the maths, or you can work it through by hand. You'll need:
- what you need to earn in a year, before tax
- how many weeks you'll work (self-employed, your holidays and sick days are unpaid, so leave room for them)
- your fixed costs for each option, whether that's chair rent, studio running costs and licence fees, or your vehicle and insurance
- your costs per client, such as products, and travel if you're mobile
- the hours you'll spend with clients once travel, cleaning up and admin are taken out.
Add your yearly income target to your yearly fixed costs and divide by the client hours you'll realistically work in a year. What you're left with is the least each hour with a client needs to bring in, before products and travel, and you can hold that up against what clients in your area pay. Our price calculator does this for you, service by service, once you've picked a way of working.
On top of that, self-employed people pay their own income tax and ACC levies. ACC puts self-employed people on its standard CoverPlus cover automatically and invoices the levies once a year, around September (ACC). Setting money aside as you go saves a nasty surprise, and an accountant can help you estimate how much.
Pay calculator
Pick a benchmark (what you earn employed now, say) and the calculator shows what each of the other ways of working would need to charge to leave you with the same amount after tax and costs. Untick any under Compare that you're not considering. The starting figures are typical Auckland examples for the service you choose, so swap in your own; the results change as you type.
Your service sets typical Auckland starting figures. Anything you've changed stays as you left it.
Employed
From your payslip. Use your pay before KiwiSaver and student loan deductions if you can find it. Hours are only used for the per-hour figure.
More settings
You're paid for all 52 weeks, so leave only changes how often you travel to work and the per-hour figure. Six weeks is 4 weeks' annual leave plus about 2 weeks of public holidays and sick days. Your own travel cost replaces the estimate and can include parking or fares. Minutes each way count towards the per-hour figure.
Rent a chair
More settings
Six weeks off allows for 4 weeks' holiday plus about 2 weeks of public holidays and sick days. Other costs means things like a booking app, tools and an accountant; many salons include basin products and insurance in the rent.
Home studio
No travel: clients come to you.
More settings
Running costs means extra power, water and laundry. Set-up covers things like a basin, plumbing, a styling chair, lighting and flooring. In Auckland, manicures, pedicures, waxing and exfoliation need a low-risk health licence. Other costs include insurance that covers clients in your home.
Going mobile
Your vehicle
More settings
Your own km a day replaces the estimate. Other costs include public liability insurance and a booking app. The licence applies if you offer licensed services such as nails or waxing.
The breakdown
Swipe to see each option.
Tax settings
How this is worked out
- Matching your benchmark: for each option, the calculator finds the lowest average price per appointment (or, for employment, the hourly wage or take-home pay) that leaves you with the same amount after tax and costs as your benchmark, with everything else as you've entered it.
- Starting figures change with your service. The employed wage is the middle of the most common pay range on Tahatū, the government's careers site. Prices and appointment lengths are typical of Auckland salons, clinics and barbers listed on Fresha, checked against salon price lists, and allow about five hours of appointments in an eight-hour day. Mobile prices add $20 for travel, at the low end of what the Auckland mobile professionals we checked charge. Chair and room rents are advertised Auckland day rates. Product, set-up and running costs are rough estimates.
- Income tax uses IRD's rates from 1 April 2025, which still apply in 2026–27: 10.5% to $15,600, 17.5% to $53,500, 30% to $78,100, 33% to $180,000 and 39% above. The independent earner tax credit is $520 a year on income from $24,000 to $66,000, reducing to nothing at $70,000.
- Employees pay ACC's earners' levy through their pay: $1.75 per $100 in 2026–27, on earnings up to $156,641. If you enter your take-home pay, the calculator works back to your pay before tax.
- Self-employed people pay ACC's CoverPlus levies after filing their tax return, based on the year before. ACC's levy estimator puts them at $2.42 per $100 of income for hairdressing and beauty and $2.06 for massage therapy, including GST. If you work 30 hours a week or more, ACC charges on at least $50,501. The levies are a tax-deductible business expense.
- GST registration is compulsory once takings reach $60,000 over 12 months. The calculator then treats 3/23 of what clients pay as GST and claims back the GST in your costs. Chair rent is entered before GST. Because GST starts at $60,000, charging a little more can briefly leave you with less, so matching prices can jump at that point.
- Travel to work for employees and chair renters is private, so it isn't tax-deductible. It's estimated at IRD's 2025–26 running-cost rate for a petrol car, 37 cents a km, for the return trip on each day worked.
- Mobile driving counts as business travel. The daily distance assumes clients are spread evenly within your travel radius and that you drive from home to the nearest client, then the next nearest, and back home at the end. Road distance is taken as 1.3 times the straight line; a study of 40 US cities found driving routes 18% to 52% longer than the straight line, about 28% for the middle city.
- Car costs use Rightcar's on-road fuel estimates. Default prices are $3.16 a litre for petrol and $2.87 for diesel (MBIE national average, week ending 18 September 2026) and 41 cents per kWh for electricity (MBIE, Auckland, August 2026). Road user charges are $76 per 1,000 km for diesel and electric cars and don't apply to petrol cars. Servicing and tyres default to 7 cents a km, based on AA's estimate for a new small car (2021); older cars usually cost more. IRD's kilometre rates are for 2025–26, and when you use them there's no GST to claim.
- Regular clients are your appointments a year, times how many weeks a regular goes between visits, over 52. The starting figure changes with your service, from NZ salons' price lists and a couple of US surveys where we have them, and our estimates otherwise; our price calculator guide explains where each comes from. Plenty of new clients only come once, so you'd likely meet more people than this over a year.
- Not included: KiwiSaver contributions, student loan repayments, Working for Families, income from other work, and when tax and levies fall due.
- It's an estimate for comparing options, not tax advice.
Employed in a salon
As an employee you're paid a wage or salary, sometimes with commission on top, under an employment agreement. The salon covers the premises, products, bookings and marketing, and deducts the tax on your pay.
Employees also have minimum entitlements that contractors don't, including paid annual holidays, sick leave and employer KiwiSaver contributions (Employment New Zealand). And there are colleagues, training on the job, and usually a flow of clients you didn't have to find yourself.
As for pay, the government's careers site, Tahatū, puts most hairdressers and barbers on $24 to $33 an hour before tax, with the upper end around $43 (Tahatū). Its most common ranges for other roles are similar: $24 to $31 an hour for beauty therapists, $24 to $34 for nail technicians and massage therapists, and $24 to $41 for make-up artists.
What you give up is mostly control. You have less say over your hours, prices and services, and what you earn is set by your wage or commission rather than by how busy you make yourself. The salon may also expect the clients you build up there to stay with the business if you leave.
So read your employment agreement before you plan a move, because some include a restraint of trade clause. The kind that matters most here is a non-solicitation clause, which lets you work elsewhere but stops you contacting the salon's clients about your new business for a set time. A restraint has to be reasonable to be enforceable, and if you're not sure what yours means, get independent advice (Employment New Zealand).
Suits you if you're early in your career, want predictable income and paid time off, or would rather someone else ran the business side.
Renting a chair
Renting a chair (booth rental, some call it) means paying a salon for a station by the half day, day or week, and running your own small business from it. You set your own prices and keep your takings, and in return you pay for your own products, tax and ACC levies. Depending on the salon, you might handle your own bookings and card payments as well.
What it costs in Auckland
These are the advertised rates at the Auckland salons we checked on 26 September 2026.
- The Workroom Collective, Karangahape Road: $100 plus GST a day for hair, and $80 plus GST for makeup and nails. Basin products, towels, capes, power, wifi, security and insurance are included (rates, inclusions).
- Hair Intentions, North Shore: $100 plus GST a day (rates).
- Elina's Workroom, Grey Lynn: $100 plus GST a day, including basin shampoo and conditioner, tea and coffee, and wifi (rates).
- Narae Hair Studio, Mount Albert: $120 plus GST for a half day of up to four hours, $180 plus GST for a full day of up to eight hours, or $600 plus GST for a five-day week, including a station, basin access, parking and utilities (rates).
We're not connected to any of these salons, and prices change, so check with the salon directly.
What's included varies a lot. Some salons build basin products, towels and insurance into the rent, while a bare-bones rental might bill you separately for power, wifi, basin products, towels, insurance and security. Colour, foils, tools and styling products are usually yours to buy, and some salons charge extra to use their booking system (example).
Chair rent is usually quoted plus GST. If you're registered for GST you can claim that part back; if you're not, it's just part of what the chair costs you. You must register once your turnover reaches $60,000 in 12 months, or you expect it to (Inland Revenue).
The big risk is that rent's due whether you're busy or not. Commit to set days or a weekly rate and a quiet week still costs you the chair, and there's no holiday pay or sick leave when you take time off. While you're building up, half-day rates can help you match the rent to your bookings.
Contractor or employee?
Some arrangements called "contracting" work more like a job, for instance when the salon sets your hours, takes your clients' payments and pays you a percentage. What the agreement calls it isn't the end of the story.
Since 21 February 2026, a new "gateway test" has applied. You count as a contractor if all of these are true (Employment New Zealand):
- you have a written agreement that says you're an independent contractor, or that you're not an employee
- you're allowed to work for other people, though not at the same time
- you can choose when you work, or can subcontract the work
- you can turn down extra work without losing the arrangement
- you had a reasonable chance to get independent advice before you signed.
If any of them don't apply, the long-standing common law tests look at the true nature of the relationship instead. Being treated as a contractor when in law you're an employee can mean missing out on holidays, sick leave and KiwiSaver contributions. Employment New Zealand can help on 0800 20 90 20.
Before you sign
Ask for the agreement in writing, and find out:
- exactly what the rent includes, from basin products and towels to insurance, the booking system and card payments
- which days and hours you can use the chair, and whether you can change them
- how much notice you need to give to leave, and how much the salon has to give you
- who keeps your client records if you leave
- whether you can sell your own retail products.
Suits you if you have a client base, or can build one quickly, and want a professional salon setting without the cost of running a whole salon.
A home studio
Working from home does away with rent and the commute, and some clients would rather a quiet, private space than a busy salon anyway. Against that there's the cost of setting up, and having clients in your home while keeping work apart from the rest of your life. There are also a handful of rules to check first.
Check the rules first
Zoning comes first. You can find your zone by entering your address in Auckland Council's GeoMaps, and then it's worth talking to a council planner on 09 301 0101 before you start. The council notes that no-exit roads, high-density housing and a lack of parking can all bring extra restrictions (Auckland Council).
In the Single House and Mixed Housing Suburban zones, the Auckland Unitary Plan allows a "home occupation" without resource consent if it meets standards including these (Unitary Plan, standard H3.6.2; H4.6.2):
- at least one person working in the business lives there, no more than two people who don't live there work in it, and no more than four people work in it in total
- customers only come between 7am and 7pm
- there are no more than 20 car trips a day to and from the business
- rubbish and recycling from the business is stored on site, out of public view
- anything you sell is made on site, ordered online or by mail, or related to the service you provide, such as hair products.
A home business that doesn't meet the standards needs resource consent. Other zones have their own rules, so check yours.
If you rent, you'll need your landlord's permission to run a business from the property (Auckland Council).
Plumbing and building alterations, like adding a basin or a partition, can need building consent, so ask the council's building team before any work starts (Auckland Council).
You may need a council licence, depending on what you offer. Hairdressers and barbers no longer need to register their premises with the council; those rules were revoked at the end of July 2025 (Ministry for Regulation). In Auckland, though, manicures and pedicures, hair removal (including waxing, tweezing and threading), exfoliation and sunbeds need a health and beauty licence. It costs $329 including GST for one of those services, or $441 for more than one, with an inspection before you open and every year after. Services that pierce the skin, such as tattooing and body piercing, are licensed as higher risk, at $535 (Auckland Council).
Makeup and lash extensions aren't on the council's list of licensed services. Massage is less clear. The council's page on home businesses lists massage therapists among those who need a licence, but its page on massage clinics says they don't, although they must still meet its hygiene bylaw and codes of practice. Check with the council on 09 301 0101 before you open.
Insurance. Talk to your insurer before the first client comes. The Insurance Council of New Zealand lists homes with business activity as a common exclusion in house and contents policies, and notes that insurers may treat having people to your home for business differently from ordinary working from home. Business equipment and liability may not be covered either, so ask about business cover (Insurance Council of NZ).
Hygiene. The Ministry of Health's voluntary guidance for hairdressers and barbers covers home-based set-ups. It includes cleaning and disinfecting tools after every client, and good airflow where chemicals are used (Ministry of Health). Licensed beauty services must also follow the council's codes of practice.
Suits you if you have a suitable space, ideally with its own entrance, on a street with parking, and clients who are happy to come to you.
Going mobile
Going mobile usually has the lowest fixed costs of the self-employed options, with no rent to pay and no studio to fit out. It reaches people who find a salon hard to get to as well, like older people, new parents, people with limited mobility, busy professionals and bridal parties. That first group is growing, too. Stats NZ projects that about a million New Zealanders will be 65 or older by 2028, one in five people (Stats NZ).
Where it costs you is the travel. Time spent driving is time you can't spend with a client, and you'll fit fewer appointments into a day than you would in one place. Vehicle costs add up too. Inland Revenue's 2025–26 kilometre rate for business travel in a petrol car is $1.20 a kilometre for the first 14,000 km the car travels in a year, which covers fixed costs such as insurance and depreciation as well as running costs. After that it's 37 cents a kilometre, for running costs only (Inland Revenue). It's a tax figure, not a price guide, though it makes a handy benchmark. At $1.20, a 30 km round trip comes to about $36 in vehicle costs before you've counted your time.
You can cover the travel with a travel fee, a minimum booking value or different prices for different areas, and it helps to group bookings in the same part of town on the same day.
As for rules, mobile hairdressers don't need council registration, and the Ministry of Health's guidance covers mobile set-ups too. Licensed services such as nails and waxing have more to them. Auckland Council's licensing guide has a separate code of practice for mobile and temporary sites, and its minimum standards include:
- hand-washing facilities with hot and cold running water, with alcohol-based hand gel allowed only where running water is physically impossible
- lighting of at least 300 lux at working surfaces
- wipeable covers on tables and cushions
- separate containers for clean and used equipment and linen, including while you're travelling (Auckland Council).
If you're not sure what applies to your services, ask the council before you start.
Insurance and safety. Check that your kit is covered while it's in the car and at clients' homes, because contents policies may not cover business equipment (Insurance Council of NZ). Public liability cover is worth thinking about as well. And when you visit new clients on your own, let someone know where you'll be and when you expect to finish.
Suits you if you enjoy variety, have a reliable car, and your clients value convenience enough to pay for it.
Mixing and matching
You don't have to pick just one. You could rent a chair two or three days a week and take mobile appointments on the other days, which keeps a salon base while you build up a mobile client list. A home studio goes well with mobile visits for clients who can't easily travel. Or you might stay employed part-time and take on a few independent clients, though check your employment agreement first in case it says anything about outside work.
Half-day chair rates, like the one Narae Hair Studio advertises, make it easier to test the waters.
Whichever way you're leaning, talk to someone who already works like that. Other independent professionals are usually the best people to ask what it's like day to day.
Sources
All checked on 26 September 2026.
- Auckland Council, Running a home-based business
- Auckland Council, Open a health and beauty business (licensed services and fees)
- Auckland Council, Mobile or temporary business sites: code of practice summary
- Auckland Council, Massage clinics, gyms, swimming pools, colon hydrotherapy
- Auckland Council, Health and beauty businesses
- Auckland Unitary Plan (July 2026), H3 Residential: Single House Zone, standard H3.6.2, and H4 Residential: Mixed Housing Suburban Zone, standard H4.6.2 (PDFs)
- Ministry for Regulation, Hairdressing and barbering regulatory review
- Ministry of Health, New public health guidance for hairdressing and barbering (17 July 2025)
- Employment New Zealand, Employee or contractor?
- Employment New Zealand, Restraint of trade
- Inland Revenue, Registering for GST
- Inland Revenue, Kilometre rates 2025–2026
- ACC, Cover for self-employed
- Insurance Council of New Zealand, Common exclusions for house, contents or personal vehicle insurance policies
- Tahatū Career Navigator, Hairdresser and barber, Nail technician, Beauty therapist, Make-up artist and Massage therapist
- Stats NZ, One million people aged 65+ by 2028
- Pay calculator, tax and ACC: Inland Revenue, Tax rates for individuals, Independent earner tax credit, ACC earners' levy rates, IR3B schedule of business income, July 2026 (ACC levies as a business expense) and KiwiSaver changes; ACC, Estimate your levy (self-employed hairdressing and massage therapy, 2026–27)
- Pay calculator, travel: Inland Revenue, Vehicle expenses and IS 25/01, travel by motor vehicle between home and work; Geoff Boeing, The Morphology and Circuity of Walkable and Drivable Street Networks (2019)
- Pay calculator, costs: Auckland Council, Health and beauty licence fees; MBIE, Weekly fuel price monitoring (week ending 18 September 2026) and Quarterly Survey of Domestic Electricity Prices (15 August 2026); NZ Transport Agency, About RUC; Rightcar on-road fuel cost estimates (collected 26 September 2026); AA, The cost of running a vehicle (2021)
- Chair rental rates and inclusions: The Workroom Collective and its rent-a-chair guide, Hair Intentions, Elina's Workroom, Narae Hair Studio, AB Hair & Makeup
- Pay calculator, starting prices: Fresha's Auckland listings for women's haircuts, hair colouring, men's haircuts, gel nails, Brazilian, leg and eyebrow waxing, facials, eyelash extensions, lash lifts, make-up and massage (relaxing, deep tissue, full body, therapeutic); price lists from Glamour Hair Boutique and Morgan and Morgan
- Pay calculator, mobile prices and room rent: Courier Cuts, Amy Cowie Hair, Mandala Mobile Massage, Auckland Therapeutic Massage (clinic prices, mobile prices and room rental)