The station grid sets the plan
Everything in a salon plan derives from the station spacing. A stylist needs to work all the way around a seated client, and a second stylist needs to pass behind them while they do it. That requires 1.8 to 2.2 metres between station centres along a wall, and a clear circulation strip of at least 1,200 mm behind the chairs. Squeezing stations to 1.5 m centres, which is common in small Indian salons, adds a station and reduces the usable capacity of every other one.
| Element | Dimension | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Station centre to centre | 1,800–2,200 mm | Stylist works 360° around the chair |
| Circulation behind chairs | 1,200 mm minimum | A second person passes while a stylist works |
| Station counter depth | 300–400 mm | Tools and product without blocking the mirror |
| Mirror size | 600 x 900 mm minimum | Client sees head and shoulders seated |
| Backwash unit footprint | 1,400 x 900 mm | Reclined chair plus stylist standing space |
| Backwash to styling ratio | 1 per 3–4 stations | Peak wash demand follows appointment slots |
| Reception and retail | 80–160 sq ft | Retail display is a real revenue line |
| Back of house | 18–25% of total | Colour bar, laundry, stock, staff |
Back of house is the most under-provided area in small Indian salons. A colour bar with a sink, storage and a work surface is not optional if chemical services are offered.
Plumbing and the wet zone
Backwash units are the hardest services item in a salon and the one most often underestimated at site selection. Each unit needs hot and cold supply, a trapped waste with a reasonable fall, and access for clearing hair from the trap, which happens weekly rather than annually. A row of four backwash units needs a drainage run with adequate fall to the building's stack, and in a first-floor tenancy in an older Mumbai building that fall may simply not be available without raising the floor.
- Check the drainage point before signing the lease. The position of the existing stack determines where the wash area can go, and everything else plans around it.
- Hair traps at every wash point, accessible without dismantling the unit. Salons that skip this have a blocked line within three months.
- Hot water: 15–25 litres per station per day. A 50-litre storage geyser serves two to three backwash units at typical usage; four needs an instant or a larger storage system.
- Raise the floor in the wash zone if the fall is marginal, with a ramped transition and an anti-slip R11 finish.
- Waterproof the wash zone as a wet area, with the membrane taken 300 mm up the walls. It is a bathroom in everything but name.
- Provide a separate utility sink in the back of house for colour mixing and equipment cleaning. Mixing colour in a backwash basin stains it permanently.
Ventilation for chemical services
Colouring, bleaching, straightening and nail services release ammonia, persulphates, formaldehyde and solvents into a room where staff spend eight hours a day. Air conditioning is not ventilation — a split AC recirculates the same air and removes nothing. What is needed is mechanical extraction with make-up air, at 8–12 air changes per hour in the areas where chemical work happens, and considerably more at a nail station.
The practical specification is a ducted exhaust fan sized to the room volume, discharged to the outside rather than into a ceiling void, with a louvre or an openable window providing make-up air on the opposite side of the space. At a dedicated nail station, a downdraft or source-capture extraction unit at the table is the correct solution and costs ₹18,000–₹55,000 per station. Without it, acrylic and gel work fills the salon.
Lighting: the technical requirement
Salon lighting has a harder job than almost any other commercial interior, because colour accuracy is the service being sold. A client judging a colour result under CRI 80 lighting is judging it under light that renders reds and warm tones inaccurately, and the result looks different in daylight outside. Specify CRI 95 or better at 4000 K at every mirror and at the colour bar, delivered vertically onto the face rather than from overhead downlights.
| Zone | Lux | CCT | CRI | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Styling station mirror | 500–700 on the face | 4000 K | 95+ | Vertical, both sides of the mirror |
| Colour bar | 750–1,000 | 4000 K | 95+ | Overhead task on the work surface |
| Backwash area | 150–250 | 2700–3000 K | 80+ | Indirect; the client is looking up |
| Reception and retail | 300–500 | 3000 K | 90+ | Accent on the retail shelving |
| Nail station | 700–1,000 at the hand | 4000 K | 95+ | Task lamp at the table |
| Circulation | 200–300 | 3000 K | 80+ | General |
The backwash area is the one place to go warm and dim — the client is reclined and looking directly at the ceiling for fifteen minutes.
Costing a 900 sq ft salon
| Element | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Civil, partitions, wet-zone waterproofing | ₹5–₹9 lakh | Includes raising the wash zone if needed |
| Plumbing, hot water, drainage | ₹3–₹6 lakh | The line most often under-budgeted |
| Electrical, extraction, HVAC | ₹4–₹9 lakh | Ducted extraction, not just split ACs |
| Stations, mirrors, joinery | ₹5–₹12 lakh | 8 stations at ₹60,000–₹1,50,000 each |
| Backwash units and chairs | ₹3–₹8 lakh | 3 units, commercial grade |
| Flooring and finishes | ₹2.5–₹6 lakh | R11 in wet zones, hair-resistant elsewhere |
| Lighting | ₹1.5–₹4 lakh | CRI 95 is the non-negotiable line |
| Reception, retail, signage | ₹1–₹5 lakh | Retail display earns its space |
| Total | ₹25–₹59 lakh | ₹2,800–₹6,500 per sq ft |
Finishes, hair and cleaning
Hair is the material a salon interior actually has to cope with, and it behaves unlike any other debris. It works into grout lines, wraps around castor wheels, collects in floor junctions and clings to any textured surface. A salon floor is swept between every client and washed nightly, so the finish has to survive both frequency and chemistry — colour spills, bleach, acetone and peroxide all reach the floor regularly.
The specification that survives is a large-format R10 or R11 porcelain with 2 mm epoxy grout, or a welded homogeneous vinyl in the wet zones, both with coved skirting so the broom reaches the junction. Avoid textured tile, wide grout lines, carpet anywhere, and open-pore timber on any horizontal surface. For station joinery, use solid-surface or compact-laminate tops with sealed edges: they resist colour staining, which a standard laminate does not, and a bleached patch on a station counter is permanent.
- Coved skirting throughout. Hair collects in a square floor-wall junction and cannot be swept out of it.
- 2 mm epoxy grout, not cementitious. Colour spills stain cement grout on contact.
- Solid-surface station tops. Bleach and colour destroy standard laminate within months.
- No fabric on client chairs. Wipeable PU or vinyl, with a sealed seam.
- A dedicated broom and bin position at every two stations, or sweepings travel across the floor.
Service-led interiors planned around plumbing and extraction
Selected work by Greenbox Design Studio. Tap any image to enlarge.
Frequently asked questions
How much space does a salon station need?+
1,800–2,200 mm between station centres along a wall, plus 1,200 mm of clear circulation behind the chairs. That works out at roughly 55–70 sq ft per styling station once circulation is allocated. Tighter spacing adds a station on paper and reduces the working capacity of the ones either side of it.
How many wash points does a salon need?+
One backwash unit per three to four styling stations. Wash demand is concentrated at the start of appointment slots rather than spread through the hour, so a salon with eight stations and two wash points will have clients waiting in a gown at every changeover.
What ventilation does a salon need?+
Mechanical extraction at 8–12 air changes per hour in areas where colour, bleach or straightening work happens, ducted to the outside with make-up air from the opposite side. Air conditioning recirculates and removes nothing. Nail stations need source-capture extraction at the table, at ₹18,000–₹55,000 per station.
What lighting should a salon use?+
CRI 95 or better at 4000 K, delivered vertically onto the face from both sides of each mirror at 500–700 lux. Colour accuracy is the service being sold, and under CRI 80 lighting a colour result looks different the moment the client steps outside. Keep the backwash area warm and dim by contrast.
What does a salon fit-out cost in India?+
₹2,800–₹6,500 per sq ft ex-GST at 2026 metro rates, which puts a 900 sq ft salon at ₹25–₹59 lakh. Plumbing, hot water and extraction together are typically 28–35% of the total and are the lines most often underestimated when a budget is set from a per-square-foot rule of thumb.
What should I check before signing a salon lease?+
The position of the drainage stack and the available fall to it, the electrical load available, whether a duct route to the outside exists for extraction, and whether the landlord permits a wet-area build-up. Any one of these can make an otherwise attractive unit unworkable or add several lakh to the fit-out.