Luana Hair & BeautySalon fit-out design · Waterloo

Turn an existing tenancy into a fully operational hair and beauty salon, with as little construction as possible and within a restrained fit-out budget.

Salons need water and drainage where the basins are. The key challenge was fitting the plumbing for hair-washing into the tenancy without extensive changes to the existing floor and services.

The main design decision was to raise parts of the floor. The raised platforms work as thresholds and carry the pipes for the hair-washing basins, which reduced the need for major plumbing work. The changes in floor level, lightweight open shelving and the placement of furniture define the washing, styling and waiting zones without closing off the compact tenancy.

The interior keeps to a simple, neutral palette: grey finishes, dark metal and warm lighting. Track lighting keeps the light flexible across the salon. The whole fit-out stays simple, adaptable and economical, which was the point.

On a tight salon budget, the money usually goes where the water goes. Basins, hot water and drainage are the expensive, hard-to-move parts; finishes and furniture are the flexible ones.

New drainage in a ground-floor slab often means cutting concrete, which costs money and needs the landlord's agreement. Raising the floor where the basins sit, so pipes run above the slab, is one way to reduce that. A raised zone still has to be reachable: the building code generally expects access to the areas customers normally use, so plan how someone who can't use a step gets to a basin. Sydney Water sets pre-treatment rules for business wastewater, even for low-risk activities that don't need a permit, so ask what applies before the plumbing is fixed.

Approvals can be lighter than for food. In NSW, a hair salon generally counts as business premises, and a change from a shop or office to business premises can be exempt from planning approval if the standards are met. Beauty services change that. Waxing and other procedures that penetrate the skin mean registering with council as a skin penetration business, a hand basin used only for hand washing and a separate sink for cleaning equipment. In the City of Sydney, the council for Waterloo, operating a skin penetration business without development consent is an offence.

We recommend putting the money into the basins, the lighting and the chairs, because those are what clients use and notice at every visit.