Annual business costs
Include premises, utilities, salon operations, administration, marketing and other regular costs.
Essential · Focused service pricing
Find out what one salon service really needs to charge.
Bring together the true cost of running your salon, complete appointment time, realistic capacity, owner income and profit. Essential turns those figures into a clear customer price.
£39.99one-off purchase
No subscription · Data stays on your device · 12 months of support included
Before you buy
No programming knowledge needed. Download the package for your computer and follow the included setup guide.
- For your computer: Windows 10 or 11, or a Mac. iPhone and iPad are not supported by these packages.
- Windows setup: Extract the ZIP, then open the supplied HTML app in a current version of Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome.
- Mac setup: Open the supplied HTML app. No Python installation is required.
- You receive: Windows ZIP, separate Mac ZIP and a PDF product guide. Digital download; no physical item.
Mac setup requirements, saving and support
- Download the Windows or Mac ZIP for your computer and extract it into a permanent folder.
- On Windows, open the supplied HTML app in Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome. On Mac, follow README-MAC.txt; you can open the HTML app directly.
- Keep the file location, browser and browser profile consistent. Save or print important results and export upgrade data before moving to another edition. The upgrade export is not a complete backup of every field.
Your figures stay locally on your device. Normal use does not require a customer account or an internet connection after setup.
Twelve months of email support are included, with a target first response within three UK business days.
Unsure whether your computer is suitable? Ask us before buying.
What your licence includes, support and 90-day upgrades
What happens next: the buy button opens this edition on Payhip. Complete secure checkout, download the package for your computer, then follow the included setup guide. Windows and Mac downloads are included.
Real product screens
See Essential in use.
Follow a cut-and-finish example from salon costs to a suggested price.
Fictional example. Actual planner screens with fictional figures. Your own inputs determine your results.
Open full screenshot ↗
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Scroll within a screenshot to see more, or open it at full size. The planner runs locally on a supported computer. Check the setup information and product questions below before buying.
One serviceFocused calculation
One salon or businessUses combined figures
Three price levelsEditable stylist percentages
Local and offlineNo salon-data upload
Who Essential is for
A sound choice when one pricing question needs a proper answer.
Essential suits self-employed professionals, new salon owners and smaller owner-managed salons that want to check a key service before changing a price list.
It is particularly useful when the diary looks busy but there is uncertainty about whether the price covers the full appointment, annual overheads, employee costs, owner reward and a retained profit margin.
Choose Professional instead if…
- you want to plan many services together;
- you need to test Current, Revised and Target menus; or
- you want fuller menu, capacity and scenario reports for one salon.
Owner income
Treat the owner’s required income as a business requirement before retained profit, rather than assuming unpaid labour.
Realistic capacity
Use revenue-producing weekly hours, working weeks and expected filled capacity to calculate the available earning time.
Complete appointment time
Allow for consultation, preparation, hands-on work, finishing, cleaning and reset, less only genuinely reusable processing time.
Product and waste
Add product use, a controlled waste allowance, consumables and other service-specific costs.
Tax and profit
Keep customer tax separate from salon revenue and add a retained business-profit margin after the owner-income requirement.
What it takes into account
Your price is built from the commercial reality of the service.
The calculation starts with the salon-wide cost and capacity figures you enter. It then applies the share of occupied time used by the service, adds its direct costs and builds in the retained-profit target before customer tax.
Currency changes are for display only. Essential does not use exchange-rate conversion.
A guided calculation
From salon costs to a usable menu price.
Set the business basis
Enter annual costs, employee costs, owner income, working weeks, weekly client hours and expected occupancy.
Describe the service
Record every stage of the appointment, reusable processing time, product, waste and consumables.
Review the price
Compare the calculated Senior Stylist price with the current price and see Junior and Manager/Creative Director levels.
What the results show
A price, a transparent breakdown and the reason behind both.
Suggested menu prices
Junior Stylist, Senior Stylist and Manager/Creative Director prices, rounded upwards to the selected menu increment.
Current-price gap
The cash and percentage difference between today’s Senior Stylist price and the calculated requirement.
Commercial breakdown
Occupied-hour requirement, service time, direct costs, retained-profit contribution and customer tax.
Warnings that matter
Clear prompts for omitted owner income, unusual occupancy, missing service time, zero product cost and underpricing.
Practical next steps
Guidance to check time, product quantity, tax settings or a staged price change before acting.
Printable summary
An A4-friendly result that can be printed or saved as a PDF from the browser.
Included with Essential
Clear ownership, support and a route forward.
Perpetual licence
Keep using the supplied Essential version. Maintenance and feature updates are included for 12 months under the supplied terms.
Email support
Twelve months of email support are included, with a target first response within three UK business days.
Local data
Your plan stays on your device. You remain responsible for keeping a separate backup before clearing browser data or moving computer.
90-day upgrade credit
Move to Professional for £30.00 at launch prices.
Request the upgrade within 90 calendar days and receive credit for the £39.99 Essential purchase against Professional, subject to the supplied licence and upgrade terms.
Before you buy
Essential product questions.
Does Essential create a complete salon price list?
No. It calculates one service at a time. Choose Professional if you want to store and compare multiple services as one menu plan.
How do I launch the Essential Mac package?
Extract the Essential Mac ZIP to a permanent folder. Open SBT-Essential-1.0.html in your browser, or use Start-Essential-Planner.command. No Python installation is required. Keep using the same file location, browser and profile, and save or print important results.
See README-MAC.txt inside your ZIP for full instructions.
Does Essential work on Mac?
Yes. Essential has been tested and verified on Mac and also supports Windows 10 and Windows 11. Use the package and launch instructions for your operating system.
Mac and Windows downloads are now included with purchases on Payhip and Etsy. Choose the package for your computer and read README-MAC.txt before launching. For setup help, email sales@salonbusinesstools.co.uk. iPhone and iPad are not covered by this Mac setup.
Is VAT included?
You choose whether the salon is registered and enter the applicable customer-tax rate. Tax is shown separately and is not treated as salon revenue or profit.
Where is my information stored?
Calculations and plan data remain on the device. There is no customer account, analytics or salon-data upload.
Is this accounting or tax advice?
No. Essential is a planning aid. Results depend on the figures and assumptions entered and do not replace accounting, tax, legal, employment or regulated financial advice.
Essential · £39.99 one-off
Price your next service from evidence, not guesswork.
Tested on Windows and Mac. Work locally, with no subscription or customer account. Mac and Windows downloads are included. Choose the package for your operating system.
Check computer and setup requirements before buying.
Checkout on Payhip, download your files, then follow the included setup guide.