How to Open a Hair Salon or Nail Salon in Brevard County: The Space Checklist
To open a hair salon or nail salon in Brevard County, start by knowing what you need from the space before you sign the lease.
At Reach Commercial Real Estate, we represent tenants. We help you find locations, compare costs, investigate property questions and negotiate the lease. Reach founder Cassandra Hartford has worked in Brevard County commercial real estate for 17 years and has closed more than 1,500 sales and leases.
This is our guide to the leasing process for a salon, from your first conversation with us through taking possession and preparing to open.
Quick answer: what the space needs to open a hair salon or nail salon
Zoning that allows personal service. In Melbourne's C-1 and C-2 districts, personal service is permitted.
Enough parking for your stations. Melbourne sets beauty salons and barbershops at two spaces per station.
Shampoo bowls with hot and cold running water.
Mechanical exhaust. The Florida Building Code requires it for beauty salons and nail salons.
A salon license from DBPR.
Lease terms for the buildout. Ask for a permit contingency, a TI allowance and free rent during the buildout.
1. Bring us these details before we search
Before we send listings, we need to understand your operation. Will you offer hair services, nail services or both? Which chemical services will you offer? Will you rent floor space to independent stylists?
We start with these details from you:
Your services, including any chemical services.
Your number of stations and shampoo bowls.
Your equipment list, with specifications.
Your busiest hours and expected staffing, including how many cosmetologists or specialists work at once.
Your preferred areas.
Your opening budget and your monthly occupancy budget.
Your target opening date.
What you will compromise on and what your business needs to function.
You do not need every detail settled. We need enough information to search for your business rather than send every available storefront.
2. Screen salon spaces before you tour
We map headcount, parking, power and signage before you tour. A listing gives us a starting point, and we ask for the information needed to evaluate the property.
For each candidate, we request the asking rent, CAM or NNN estimates, previous use, parking arrangements, existing equipment, proposed landlord work and the improvement allowance. CAM means common area maintenance.
If a critical answer is missing, we keep the property under investigation. We do not treat an unanswered question as an approval.
3. Tour for how a salon runs
During a tour, we look beyond the finishes. Where will customers enter and wait? Where will employees receive supplies, store inventory and take out trash? Where will the shampoo bowls with hot and cold running water go?
4. Check zoning before signing a salon lease
A landlord's willingness to lease to a hair salon or nail salon does not replace the local government's review.
Melbourne's use tables (Appendix B, Tables 1A and 1B) list personal service as a use, and it is permitted in the C-1 and C-2 districts. The code defines it as a service use primarily engaged in providing services involving the limited care of a person, his or her apparel, pets or small appliances. Its examples include barbershops and beauty shops. Nail salons are not named, and for a use that is not listed, the Community Development Director decides whether it is allowed in the district.
Planning and Zoning will check an address to help determine whether a business would be permitted there, according to Melbourne's Starting a New Business Toolkit. If additional approvals are necessary, we bring the expected process and timing into the lease discussion.
See How to Find Out If Your Business Is Allowed in a Melbourne Zoning District. See also How to Get a Zoning Confirmation Letter in Melbourne. See also How to Handle Parking for an Unlisted Use in Melbourne.
5. Check parking, shampoo sinks, exhaust and floor space for a salon
Your services and equipment list should guide the questions.
Parking: Melbourne sets beauty salons and barbershops at two spaces per station (Land Development Code, Section 9.72). For 6 stations, that's 12 spaces.
Plumbing: Each salon must have shampoo bowls equipped with hot and cold running water (Rule 61G5-20.002).
Exhaust: The Florida Building Code, Mechanical, Table 403.3.1.1 lists exhaust of 0.6 cfm per square foot for beauty salons and nail salons and prohibits recirculating the air from those spaces. For a 1,200 square foot nail salon, that's 720 cfm. Each manicure and pedicure station needs a source capture system capable of exhausting not less than 50 cfm.
Floor space: Rule 61G5-20.002 requires a minimum of 100 square feet. Only one cosmetologist or specialist may be employed in a salon that has only the minimum, and each additional one needs another 50 square feet. With 4 cosmetologists, that's 250 square feet.
See How to Count the Parking Your Business Needs in Melbourne. See also How to Meet Salon Ventilation Requirements in a Hair or Nail Salon.
6. Know what your broker, architect, contractor and attorney each do
Reach handles the search, the cost comparison, the property questions and the business terms of the lease.
Your contractor and design professional evaluate the technical work and cost. In unincorporated Brevard County, the commercial permit application lists construction documents signed and sealed by a Florida registered architect or engineer. Your Florida commercial leasing attorney reviews the legal language and documents.
7. Compare the full cost of each salon location
We compare more than base rent. Your occupancy review should include base rent, CAM and other charges, scheduled increases, utilities, repairs assigned to you, construction and equipment installation, deposits and rent due before opening.
The comparison should show what you pay to get open and what you pay to stay open.
See How to Read the CAM and NNN Section of a Lease. See also How to Work Out Your Real Monthly Occupancy Cost.
8. Negotiate the lease around your opening plan
Once you select a property, we negotiate the business terms. We focus on:
A permitted use clause that describes your operation and planned activities.
Approval contingencies for zoning, permits, financing and construction feasibility.
Landlord delivery and the tenant improvement allowance.
Rent commencement and construction delays.
Maintenance, additional charges, the personal guaranty and exit terms.
An allowance, rent-free period or other concession only helps when the written terms fit your project.
See How to Ask for Free Rent While You Build Out. See also How to Ask for a Tenant Improvement Allowance. See also How to Add a Permit Contingency to Your Lease.
9. Keep lease dates aligned with the buildout
After signing, your contractor and design team manage plans, permits and construction. We stay focused on the lease dates: possession and delivery, landlord work, allowance submissions, construction deadlines and rent commencement.
Melbourne requires building permits for tenant buildouts. The city's Building Section says commercial permits typically average 14 to 21 working days on a single review.
See How to Find Out How Long a Melbourne Commercial Permit Takes. See also How to Tell Who Pays for ADA Fixes, Landlord or Tenant.
10. Get your DBPR salon license and business tax receipts
Section 477.025(1), Florida Statutes, says no cosmetology salon or specialty salon may be permitted to operate without a license issued by DBPR. Before opening, the owner submits an application, pays the registration fee and meets the safety and sanitary requirements, which include complying with all local building and fire codes (Rule 61G5-20.002).
Melbourne's License Requirements for Businesses lists, for a barber shop or beauty salon, a salon license required for each location and a state license required for each cosmetologist, both from DBPR. Anyone licensed by DBPR must submit a copy of their current, active state license before obtaining a business tax receipt.
Melbourne's business toolkit directs businesses to obtain the city business tax receipt followed by the Brevard County receipt. Your reviewing agencies confirm when you have satisfied their opening requirements.
Extra items to add to your salon checklist
Equipment a former salon left behind. Before assigning value to its sinks, counters and equipment, we ask who owns them, what records exist and whether your team finds them suitable for your operation.
Restrooms. Rule 61G5-20.002 requires at least one toilet and one sink with running water on the premises or in the same building within 300 feet.
A separate area for nail services. Rule 61G5-20.002 requires nail services to be provided in a separate area that is adequately ventilated for the safe dispersion of all fumes.
Shared walls. Where a salon adjoins another business, Rule 61G5-20.002 requires permanent walls separating the salon from the other business and separate, distinctly marked entrances for each.
Floor space you rent to stylists. The Department of Revenue says no state sales tax or discretionary sales surtax applies to rent or license fees for occupancy periods beginning on or after October 1, 2025, and applies that to a salon that rents floor space to independent stylists (TIP 25A01-04).
Signs and utility work. Melbourne's Building Section lists signage, plumbing, electrical, gas and HVAC work among the work that requires a permit, according to its permit FAQ.
Start your search with Reach
You do not need to find the property before calling us. In most deals the landlord pays our fee.
Call 321-514-0876 with your services, station count, budget, preferred area and target opening date, or with the address of a space you have found.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does DBPR inspect a new salon?
DBPR's Cosmetology FAQs say that after the salon license is issued, an inspector visits the salon unannounced within approximately 90 days for the initial inspection. They also say you can open your salon when you receive your license and do not need to wait to open until you are inspected.
Can a salon license move to a new location?
DBPR's Cosmetology FAQs say the location for a cosmetology salon license is tied to the license, so a location change requires submission of a new application. They also say the salon license is not a transferable document.
How many parking spaces does a nail salon need in Melbourne?
Melbourne's parking table does not name nail salons (Section 9.72). Where a use is not listed, the parking requirements of a similar use apply. The city engineer sets the number when you submit a development plan showing the use. Appeals go in writing to the board of adjustment within 30 days of the engineer's decision (Section 9.73).
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Written by Cassandra Hartford, founder and CEO of Reach Commercial Real Estate. She has worked in Brevard County commercial real estate for 17 years, representing buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants across Florida's Space Coast.
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