How to price nail services from your own costs

Work out what my time is actually worth, from my own numbers.

MY MONTHLY COSTS: [every cost, with its amount — e.g., suite rent $900, products and supplies $350, booking app $35, insurance $30, education and tools set-aside $50, phone and software $45]
HOURS WITH CLIENTS: [booked chair hours per week, honestly — e.g., about 28 hours a week]
UNPAID HOURS: [admin, cleaning, content, DMs, per week — e.g., about 8 hours a week]
WEEKS I DON'T WORK: [holiday, sick, training, per year — e.g., 4 weeks a year]
WHAT I WANT TO TAKE HOME: [per month, after tax set-aside — e.g., $3,800 a month, after I've set my tax money aside]
MY TAX SET-ASIDE: [your number, from your accountant or your own records — e.g., 25% of my profit (my accountant's number)]
MY CURRENT PRICES: [each service with price and time — e.g., Gel-X full set $70, 90 min. Builder gel overlay $65, 75 min. Soak-off $10, 15 min. Art $15 per 15-minute block.]

Do it in this order, and show every step as math I can check.

1. MY COSTS. Add up my monthly costs, line by line.

2. PROFIT I NEED. The profit that leaves my take-home after my tax set-aside:
   take-home ÷ (1 − my set-aside %).

3. MONEY I NEED TO BRING IN. Profit needed + monthly costs.

4. MY PAID HOURS. Chair hours per week × working weeks per year ÷ 12 = paid hours per
   month. Working weeks = 52 − the weeks I don't work. Do not count my unpaid hours here.

5. MY RATE. Money I need ÷ paid hours = my hourly rate. ÷ 60 = my per-minute rate. Round
   the per-minute rate UP to the next cent.

6. EACH SERVICE, CHECKED. For every service I listed: its time × my per-minute rate =
   the price it needs. Put that next to my current price and show the gap in dollars. A
   table is fine.

7. THE HIDDEN HOURS. One line: what I actually earn per hour of work if my unpaid hours
   are counted too, using my current prices only if I gave you enough to work it out —
   otherwise, what my needed rate becomes when spread over all hours.

Rules: don't suggest a tax rate, and don't tell me what other techs charge or what's
"normal". Use only my numbers. If anything I gave you is ambiguous, say what you assumed
before you use it.

Run on Jade's real inputs

My monthly costs: suite rent $900, products and supplies $350, booking app $35, insurance $30, education and tools set-aside $50, phone and software $45
Hours with clients: about 28 hours a week
Unpaid hours: about 8 hours a week
Weeks I don’t work: 4 weeks a year
What I want to take home: $3,800 a month, after I’ve set my tax money aside
My tax set-aside: 25% of my profit (my accountant’s number)
My current prices: Gel-X full set $70, 90 min. Builder gel overlay $65, 75 min. Soak-off $10, 15 min. Art $15 per 15-minute block.

What Your Time Is Worth

Assumptions I made before starting:

• A month is 1/12 of a year. Your monthly costs are paid all 12 months, including your 4 weeks off.
• Your costs come out before profit. Profit means money in minus monthly costs, and your 25% set-aside applies to that profit.
• Your 8 unpaid hours happen in working weeks only. I assumed they happen in the same 48 weeks as your client hours. This only affects step 7.
• Art means one 15-minute block. In the table I priced a single block at $15.
• Soak-off is its own line. I checked it as a separate 15-minute service, whether it’s sold alone or as an add-on.
• Rounding. I carry full decimals through the math and only round when showing results. The per-minute rate is rounded up, as you asked.

---

1. My Costs

Item	Monthly
Suite rent	$900
Products and supplies	$350
Booking app	$35
Insurance	$30
Education and tools set-aside	$50
Phone and software	$45
Total	$1,410

Check: 900 + 350 = 1,250 → + 35 = 1,285 → + 30 = 1,315 → + 50 = 1,365 → + 45 = 1,410

2. Profit I Need

$3,800 ÷ (1 − 0.25) = $3,800 ÷ 0.75 = $5,066.67

Check: $5,066.67 × 25% = $1,266.67 set aside. $5,066.67 − $1,266.67 = $3,800 ✓

3. Money I Need to Bring In

$5,066.67 + $1,410 = $6,476.67 per month

4. My Paid Hours

• Working weeks: 52 − 4 = 48
• 28 hours × 48 weeks = 1,344 hours per year
• 1,344 ÷ 12 = 112 paid hours per month

5. My Rate

• Hourly: $6,476.67 ÷ 112 = $57.83 per hour (57.827…)
• Per minute: $57.827… ÷ 60 = $0.96379…, rounded up to $0.97 per minute

Because of the round-up, $0.97 × 60 = $58.20 per hour. That covers slightly more than you need: 112 hours × $58.20 = $6,518.40, against the $6,476.67 target.

6. Each Service, Checked

Service	Time	Math	Price it needs	Current price	Gap
Gel-X full set	90 min	90 × $0.97	$87.30	$70.00	−$17.30 (under)
Builder gel overlay	75 min	75 × $0.97	$72.75	$65.00	−$7.75 (under)
Soak-off	15 min	15 × $0.97	$14.55	$10.00	−$4.55 (under)
Art (per block)	15 min	15 × $0.97	$14.55	$15.00	+$0.45 (over)

7. The Hidden Hours

I can’t work out what you actually earn per hour at your current prices, because you didn’t give me how many of each service you do. Instead, here is your needed rate spread over all your hours:

• Total hours: (28 + 8) × 48 ÷ 12 = 144 hours per month
• $6,476.67 ÷ 144 = $44.98 per hour of total work

Put another way, your chair rate has to be $57.83 so that every hour you work, paid or not, earns $44.98.