How to Open a Nail Reconstruction Center

In this article we will find out together what it takes to open a nail salon (nail center) that is able to make you money and, at the same time, provide you with as peaceful a professional and personal life as possible, which also allows you to have the time and economic resources to better manage your personal life, your activities and, above all, puts you in a position to be able to spend quality time with your children.

In a nutshell, to open a nail salon at home, the steps are:

1. Acquire the necessary professionalism in highly specialized courses (like ours)
   
2. Equip yourself not only with the basic colors, but also with all the materials and equipment needed for professional applications (below is a detailed list)
   
3. Understand the requirements, tax and legal framing of your business (find numerous insights below)
   
4. Set up your workspace and start building your client base!

In the next few lines we will go into detail, not only of these points, but we will also make some mentions of the costs to be faced and how to create a suitable business plan for opening a nail salon.

But let’s start in order: if you want to open your nail sal on at home consider that the paperwork is all in all easy to complete (like everything else in Italy); the only thing really required … you will have to arm yourself with patience because there are various types of regulations to consider!

Gathering all the information to open a nails center in your home is a process that can vary from region a region and even by municipality to municipality, but in any case, one must always “comply” (be in compliance, put oneself in compliance in practice…) both from the fiscal point of view and from the municipal and sanitation office…

As for the materials needed fororganizing your workplace, there is not much deviation from that of a traditional estetic center. The only difference may be the measurements of the rooms since usually, those who open their nail salon at home have a more limited space than those who set up directly in a purpose-built salon or beauty center.

Let us now get to the heart of the “thorny” bureaucratic, legal and tax issues without, however, forgetting the importance of understanding What are the requirements for opening a nail salon at home, what it takes to open it, how much it costs to open a home-based nails center, and how to make a business plan in this area.

Is it necessary to open VAT number to do nail design?

Before open the VAT number one needs to identify what one’s Code Activities, also called Ateco Code, that is, a code determined according to the type of work performed, as depending on whether it is “Services of beauty salons” or of “Manicure and pedicure services“, we have two different possible activity codes.

Once you have identified the code inherent to your business, you can proceed to open the VAT number; normally for beauticians it is recommended by accountants the FLAT-RATE SCHEME, as it is a tax-advantaged regime that offers many advantages; however, I recommend that you consult a professional in the field for certainty in this regard.

Considering that as soon as you start practicing a new activity, the round of customers may not be so high, it may be advantageous to choose to fall within a flat-rate scheme, where you go to calculate taxes at a flat rate of 5 percent for the first 5 years and 15 percent thereafter. All this applies to an annual revenue volume that must not exceed 65,000 euros.

As I write, the Italian tax authorities also offer you another wonderful additional option: open a VAT number under the activity code “Other personal services” in that in some regions or municipalities it is not mandatory to qualify as a beautician to perform nail decoration so it falls under general personal services, for which a sum of money is paid for a service; this sum must be declared to the tax authorities by choosing a tax regulation that could be the flat-rate regime if you fall in with the volume of 65,000.00 euros per year.

Let’s see in the next section why…

Onychology law: the Italian delirium

There are many gaps in the regulations in this area: as a result, lacking in Italy a real regulation on nail technicians, regions and municipalities are free to legislate independently, creating, in fact, a bit of havoc all along the boot…

In fact, Italian law recognizes and regulates the figure of theesthetician (Law 1/90), while regarding the regulation of the figure of the nail technician, the situation varies from region to region.

“Nail technician” refers to a professional figure who is an expert in nail decoration and application of artificial nails for aesthetic purposes only. It would be a very different figure from that of an esthetician and therefore should not be assimilated as a category, however, many regions require an esthetician’s diploma in order to practice as a nail technician.

Some regions, such as Abruzzo and Lombardy, even make a distinction between “application” (nail polish and tip applied with nail glue) , and “reconstruction” (application of common gel, which, from a regulatory point of view, can come to be compared in some cases to an almost surgical type of reconstruction surgery).

Application refers to decorating with enamel and simple application of tips, for which no specific qualification is required, so one can register independently in the craftsman’s register.

Instead, when we talk about reconstruction, we mean precisely also the use of gel that is to be applied on the natural nail: an activity for which the qualification of beautician is currently required, as in the case of the Lazio region…

In conclusion, you need to refer to your region’s regulations to understand what the criteria are, not forgetting that, just to complicate matters, municipalities can also approve activities that the region would not authorize instead.

In summary, since we are in Italy, and since a priori it is not possible to determine at the level of municipal authorizations with which criteria to frame your activity, the advice I give you is, first of all, to pay a nice little visit to the‘technical office of your municipality (in Rimini, for example, there is a “one-stop shop for productive activities”) and to ask for enlightenment.

Nail technician at home vat

Those who practice the profession of nail technician by going to the home of the interested party to perform the service of nail decoration, do not need any special authorization, but only need to regularize the position from the tax point of view. Provided, of course, that my advice is to consult a registered professional accountant, a few general words of common sense can be said: the rules for opening a VAT number are the same as for other categories; a flat-rate scheme, with simplified accounting, is advisable.

For occasional nail decoration services at other people’s beauty salons, one could even use a contract for occasional services, but there are limits of €5,000 on the total volume of services.

What are the requirements for opening a nail salon at home

If you have the title of “beautician,” are registered and want to open your own nail salon at home, the requirements refer to the regulations of the health department of your city for the beautician with qualification.

One document that can be taken somewhat as a point of reference, however specific to Lombardy, is the “
INFORMATION SHEET OF THE HYGIENIC AND SANITARY REQUIREMENTS REQUIRED UNDER CURRENT REGULATIONS

FOR HAIRDRESSING, BEAUTICIAN AND RELATED ACTIVITIES.“ Another interesting document on regulatory discourse, again, however, related to the Lombardy region, which is available on the region’s website is this one.

Generally speaking however, what you might be asked to do is in the order of:

• minimum room size of 5 square meters
• floors with smooth and washable surface
• sink in the room
• Washable paint on the walls up to the height of 2 meters
• Existence of a window or opening with a certain proportion of the aero-illuminating surface area
• etc.

However, if your region does not require you to be an esthetician to practice as a nail technician, the standards are those of common sense and normal hygiene order and cleanliness.

What it takes to open a nail salon at home

In order to define what it takes to open a nail salon in one’s home, it is first necessary to define what space should be devoted to this activity. It could be an entire room or a corner of the living area of the house.

In any case, there are basic elements, items and work equipment that are indispensable, including:

• Small table to work on with ideal size 120 x 60 cm. The table should not be too deep otherwise you would struggle to hold the tools and the client’s hand properly.
• Lamp for drying nail polish (also called a “kiln”)
• Illuminating lamp with ideal magnifying glass with 5 diopters.
• Paper placemats to lay on the table at each application
• Pads and dispensers
• Set of Frida Glazes and all application materials: glaze, brushes, decorations, etc.
• A nail cutter

How much does it cost to open a nail salon at home

cost elements (we will also look at revenues in the next section)

As for the cost to be incurred, once we have decided what part of the house will be used for the work area for glaze application, we basically have to furnish and organize the equipment.

It is advisable for this space to be permanent because if at the end of every day we have to fold the table and put all the work tools in a shelf, it becomes complicated and energy wasteful.

Here is a cost table with must-have products:

Side table with drawers, white laminate (COD: 800,329)	€ 322,80
Semi-permanent nail polish and gel drying lamp (Futura Pink)	€ 59,00
Illuminating lamp with magnifying glass ideal with 5 diopters	€ 65,00
Professional 35,000 RPM nail cutter	€ 190,00
Set of 40 Frida glazes including base and top polish	€ 640,00
Products and solvent to remove semi-permanent (removal kit)	€ 21,50
Set of files and buffers	€ 10,00
Disposable paper materials such as placemats and pads	€ 20,00
Quartz sterilizer	€ 48,80
TOTAL	€ 1.377,60

How to make a nail salon business plan

You don’t need to create a business plan as if you were opening a startup and seeking joint venture capital funding! Let’s try to proceed with common sense and some numerical examples that can help you understand how to make the “business plan” for your nail center by evaluating initial costs, fixed costs and possible revenues. It will then be up to you to recompile these numbers by substituting figures based on your expected customer turnover.

For example, if we consider that the average price you would charge was €20.00 per person, if you opened in January and the first month you were joined by 5 people per week, in one month that would be 20 people in all. This is a default prediction, very restrictive in that you probably already have friends or acquaintances who are interested in your service and who will surely in turn have friends to introduce you to.

We consider that, given the seasonal trend of this market, in the following months there will be a increase, so from the second month (February) until April we will have an increase but small; you can expect a real explosion of requests starting in May, when the summer and sunnier season begins and we go to the beach. In June, clients will also start asking for application on the feet, so the work is likely to even double!

We also consider that, based on what our clients tell us, aestheticians onychologists with many years of experience, with a single 14-mL bottle of Frida nail polish can be made up to 25 different applications (50 coats), and thus in the table below, we have assumed, remaining abundant, that the product cost for 20 applications is €16.40. In addition, with regard to the amortization of initial costs (i.e., how much initial costs are recouped), we assumed to divide it equally for all 12 months of the year.

See the example below:

		REVENUE	OUTPUTS		INCOME
	Number of people per month	Price x Number of People A 20€	Cost of glaze and miscellaneous consumption	Amortization of initial costs 1,377.00 / 12	Difference between income and expenses
JANUARY	20	400	16,4	114,75	268,85
FEBRUARY	30	600	32,8	114,75	452,45
MARCH	40	800	32,8	114,75	652,45
APRIL	40	800	32,8	114,75	652,45
MAY	90	1800	49,2	114,75	1636,05
JUNE	120	2400	82	114,75	2203,25
JULY	120	2400	82	114,75	2203,25
AUGUST	80	1600	49,2	114,75	1436,05
SEPTEMBER	60	1200	49,2	114,75	1036,05
OCTOBER	60	1200	49,2	114,75	1036,05
NOVEMBER	60	1200	49,2	114,75	1036,05
DECEMBER	60	1200	49,2	114,75	1036,05

As you can see, in the hypothetical case of this example, you would have already broken even by the end of March and paid back all your initial expenses!