Commission Salon vs Chair Rental: The Real Numbers for Melbourne Stylists
A commission salon pays you a percentage of what you bring in, handles your tax, super and most costs, and gives you structure and support in return for a share of your revenue and a degree of control over how you work. Chair rental lets you keep everything you earn minus a fixed fee, gives you full autonomy, and puts all the responsibility on you. Neither model is universally better. The right one depends on where you are in your career, how strong your client base is, and how much you want to own your practice.
I'm Billie. I founded KOHORT on Bridge Road in Richmond after spending years working inside the traditional commission model and eventually deciding I wanted something different. I am not going to tell you chair rental is right for everyone, because it is not. What I can do is lay out both models honestly, without the spin that comes from someone who has only ever worked one way.
How the commission model works
In a commission salon, you are an employee or sometimes a contractor on a percentage deal. The salon sets the prices, manages the front desk, handles bookings, processes payments and takes care of the back-end running of the business. At the end of a pay period, you receive your share of what you generated, minus whatever the split is.
The commission percentage varies between salons and is rarely something you will see published. It depends on your experience level, your client following and how much the salon wants you. Alongside the commission, employed stylists also receive superannuation contributions, leave entitlements and other employee protections under the Hair and Beauty Award or equivalent agreements.
What the salon gets in return is straightforward: a share of your revenue, and the ability to direct your work to some degree. They set the book, control the pricing and decide how the salon operates. You work within that structure.
How chair rental works
As a chair renter, you pay a regular fee for access to a workstation and shared facilities. That fee is fixed or structured in a way you agree on upfront, and it does not move based on how much you earn in a given week. Everything you bring in above that fee is yours.
You set your own prices. You manage your own bookings. You choose your own products and supply them yourself. You decide your own hours. You are running a business, not filling a role inside someone else's one.
You also carry costs that employed stylists do not: your own product spend, your own insurance, your own accounting, your own super contributions as a self-employed person, and your own quiet weeks with no safety net beneath them.
A direct comparison across the things that actually matter
| Factor | Commission salon | Chair rental |
|---|---|---|
| Income model | Percentage of what you generate, paid as wages | Everything you earn minus a fixed regular fee |
| Income predictability | Tied to your output but buffered by employment entitlements | Variable with no floor; busy weeks are very good, quiet weeks bite |
| Who sets prices | The salon | You |
| Who owns the client list | Often the salon; check your contract carefully | You, always |
| Who controls the schedule | The salon's booking system | You |
| Product costs | Usually covered by the salon | Your cost to carry |
| Insurance | Usually covered by the salon | Your responsibility |
| Super and leave | Paid by the employer if you are employed | Your responsibility to fund yourself |
| Admin and tax | Handled by payroll | Yours to manage |
| Autonomy over services | Limited to what the salon offers | Full, within the space's facilities |
| Earning ceiling | Capped by the commission rate | No ceiling; limited by your hours and pricing |
| Risk if you have a slow month | Lower, you still have your base or the award rate | Higher, the fee is still due |
The income question: where do you actually come out ahead?
This is the question most hairdressers want answered first, and the honest answer is that it depends on variables you need to model for your own situation rather than take from a general comparison.
What is true structurally is this: in a commission arrangement, the salon's cut is continuous. Every service you do, every week of your career, a portion goes to the business. Over a full working life, that adds up to a significant sum. In a chair rental arrangement, your fee is fixed regardless of how much you earn. A stylist with a strong, loyal book who prices their work at the market rate can come out considerably ahead on a per-hour basis compared to commission. A stylist who is still building their client base and has variable weeks may find the fixed fee stressful and the commission model more forgiving.
The crossover point, where chair rental starts to make more financial sense than commission, is different for every person. It depends on your current commission rate, how booked you are, what you charge and what the rental fee is. These are the numbers worth running before you make a decision, and a conversation with an accountant or a business mentor who understands the industry is worth having before you commit either way.
Autonomy: the part that numbers do not capture
For a lot of hairdressers, the decision to move to chair rental is not primarily a financial one. It is about ownership. When you rent a chair, you decide what you charge, who you take on, what services you offer and how you run your day. You are not building someone else's brand; you are building your own.
That autonomy has real value that does not show up in a weekly earnings comparison. Being able to take on the clients you want to work with, price yourself correctly for the market you are in, and build a reputation under your own name rather than a salon's, changes how you experience your work.
It also comes with the weight of that responsibility. There is no manager to escalate a difficult client situation to, no payroll team to call when something goes wrong, and no one else to blame when a quiet month hits. Some stylists find that energising. Others find it genuinely difficult, and there is no shame in that.
Who the commission model suits
Commission employment is a good fit if you are earlier in your career and still building your skill set and client base. The structure of an employed position means you are not carrying the full risk of your own quiet weeks, you have a team around you, and you can focus on the craft while the business side is handled. You are also building a foundation: skill, speed, clients, confidence.
It can also suit stylists who genuinely prefer to show up, work their column and hand the business side to someone else. Not everyone wants to manage their own accounting, insurance and product supply, and that is a legitimate choice.
Who chair rental suits
Chair rental suits stylists who have enough of a client following to carry the fixed cost reliably, have the appetite to run a small business, and want full ownership of their practice and their results. In practice, this often means stylists who are several years into their career, have a loyal base and have started to feel constrained by the commission model.
It particularly suits stylists who have a specific specialty or a distinct approach that is getting buried inside a larger salon's brand. As an independent, that specialty becomes your brand, and clients seek you out for it.
Inner Melbourne, and Richmond specifically, is a strong market for independent stylists. The neighbourhood draws clients who value skill and consistency and return reliably to a stylist they trust. Building a loyal book here is realistic if you are genuinely good and you show up for your clients.
What KOHORT is looking for in a stylist
At KOHORT, the stylists are not employees filling a roster. They are independent professionals who chose this model because it suits them and their stage of career. The studio works best for hairdressers who are ready to own their practice and want a space that was designed for exactly that.
If you are weighing up whether the move to independent makes sense for you right now, the best next step is a direct conversation. The specifics of the arrangement, what the fee structure looks like, what the space includes and how the community works, are covered there rather than in a blog post.
Start at the join KOHORT page and reach out. You can also get a sense of the studio and the current team on the about page and the meet the team page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the main difference between commission and chair rental?
In a commission salon, you earn a percentage of your revenue as wages and the salon handles most costs and admin. In chair rental, you pay a fixed regular fee and keep everything else you earn. One trades a share of income for structure and support; the other trades that support for full autonomy and ownership.
Is chair rental more profitable than commission?
It can be, for a stylist with a strong, fully booked client base who prices their work at market rates. For a stylist who is still building or has variable weeks, the fixed fee in a rental model can be harder to absorb than commission's variable cost structure. The answer depends on your specific numbers.
Who owns my clients in a commission salon?
This varies and is often determined by your employment or contractor contract. In many traditional salons, the client list belongs to the business, not the stylist. In chair rental, your clients are always yours. This is one of the most important practical differences between the two models.
Do I have to pay super if I rent a chair?
As a self-employed person, you are responsible for making your own superannuation contributions. This is one of the costs that comes off the top when you model the real earnings difference between commission and rental.
What about slow weeks as a chair renter?
The rental fee is typically due regardless of how much you earn. A quiet week in a rental arrangement costs you more in real terms than a quiet week as an employed stylist. Having a financial buffer before you make the move is sensible.
Is there a minimum client base needed before moving to chair rental?
There is no universal rule, but a sensible approach is to be confident you can cover your fee in most weeks from existing clients before you make the move. Having a reliable book behind you reduces the stress of the transition considerably.
What is a co-working salon versus a traditional chair rental setup?
Both involve independent stylists in a shared space. A co-working salon is designed specifically around that model, often with a curated community of stylists and a culture that supports independent work. A traditional chair rental arrangement may just be an available seat in a salon that otherwise runs on commission.
How do I find out if KOHORT is the right fit?
The best way is a direct conversation. Visit the join KOHORT page and reach out. The specific details of the arrangement are covered there, and it gives us both the chance to see if the fit is right.