Pricing

What does each chair need to earn an hour?

Work backwards from the income you want and what the business costs to run, to the hourly rate every chair must actually earn — then turn it into a floor price no service should sit below.

Desired annual owner income

What you want to take home (pre-tax drawings).

Annual running costs (ex GST)

Rent, power, software, insurance, marketing, admin wages — everything except the stylist labour you price per service.

Target profit on top %

Buffer above break-even for reserves/growth (20–25% is a common guide).

Chairs being priced

Revenue-earning stylists/chairs this rate is spread across.

Billable hours per chair per week

Truly chargeable hours, not roster hours. A 38hr roster is usually ~26–30 billable.

Working weeks per year

Allow for leave and public holidays.

Sample service time (mins)

Used to show a sample floor price.

Utilisation sensitivity

1.0 = your billable-hours assumption. Enter 0.80 or 0.70 to see the rate needed if chairs only fill that share.

Target hourly rate per chair

$45.39/hr

At that rate, a 45-minute service has a floor price of about $37 inc GST. Anything below that is being sold at a loss against your goal.

Break-even hourly rate

$37.20

before any profit

Sample floor price

$37

45 min, inc GST

Implied annual revenue

$183,000

at full billable hours

Rate at 100% utilisation

$45.39

if chairs fill less

Floor price = target rate × (service minutes ÷ 60), then × 1.10 for GST. The utilisation row shows the higher rate you'd need if chairs don't fill all their billable hours — the gap between roster hours and truly billable hours is where most owners quietly lose money.

A working tool, not financial advice. It uses the figures and assumptions you enter — check them against your own numbers and your accountant before any pricing, wage or financial decision. Award and tax figures change (often each 1 July); verify current rates at fairwork.gov.au and ato.gov.au. Shear Profit gives no tax or financial advice.

Want this across your whole business — properly? Run your free Profit Snapshot and we'll show you exactly where the money's going. Matt and Aaron, in your corner.

Get your free snapshot