How to start a barbershop business in the Philippines

A small 10–20 m² shop

₱180,000 to ₱335,000 in one 2026 budget

A barber chair

₱2,500 used to ₱50,000+, on listings and in one business plan

Permit barbershops can't skip

Sanitary permit, plus a health certificate for every barber

Barbers' share in the leading court case

50% to 60% of what customers paid

Step 1: Decide what kind of barbershop you're opening

The money, the space and the prices all follow from this, so decide it first.

• Neighbourhood shop. One to three chairs, mostly walk-ins and regulars, low prices and low rent. The budget in Step 3 is for a shop this size.
• Modern barbershop. Fades, designs and beard work in a commercial strip or a mall, with aircon and a fit-out customers notice, at higher prices.
• Premium barbershop. Hot-towel shaves, packages and bookings, with the highest rent and fit-out of the three.
• Franchise. A known brand and its system, for a fee, a royalty and a much larger budget.

The franchise figures we could find are years old or undated, so treat them as a sense of scale and ask each brand for its current package:

Step 2: Find the location, and size the room

Walk-ins decide most barbershops, so look for people passing on foot: near subdivisions, schools, offices, terminals and markets, visible from the street. Walk past the nearest barbershops at their busiest hour, note what they charge and how long their line is, and check that zoning allows the shop before you sign a lease.

A small shop needs less room than people expect: Business Diary PH's budget below is for 10 to 20 square metres with two or three chairs. Before you sign, check the space against the Department of Health's rules for barbershops, because the plumbing is the expensive thing to add later:

• At least one hand-washing facility and one water closet for every five chairs.
• Walls and ceilings that are smooth, tightly built and easy to keep clean.

You'll also want running water at the back for washing hands and tools, and at a sink if you'll offer a shampoo. Confirm the rest of the layout with your health office before the renovation starts. To see how it all fits, our barbershop design ideas have floor plans for two, three and five chairs, drawn to scale.

Department of Health, Implementing Rules and Regulations of Chapter XII, “Tonsorial and Beauty Establishments”, of the Code on Sanitation of the Philippines (PD 856), 15 December 1997. Space from Business Diary PH, “How To Start A Barber Shop Or Men's Grooming Studio: Step-by-Step Guide”, 2026.

Step 3: Budget for the shop you're opening

The most specific Philippine budget we found is Business Diary PH's 2026 one for a small shop of 10 to 20 square metres with two or three chairs:

On top of that, keep working capital. A new shop takes months to build its regulars, and the rent is due from the first one. The business plan section below turns these numbers into a break-even point, so you know how many heads a day the shop needs before it stops eating your savings.

How much is a barber chair in the Philippines?

The chair is the one piece of equipment every customer sits in, and after the renovation the chairs are the biggest line in the budget above. Prices on Philippine listings run from a few thousand pesos for a used hydraulic chair to tens of thousands for a heavy one:

Before you pay for one, check it in person:

• The hydraulic pump lifts smoothly and holds its height with someone sitting in it, without sinking.
• It reclines and has a headrest, if you'll offer shaves and hot-towel services.
• The seat is covered in something you can wipe clean between customers.
• The base is heavy and wide enough not to rock, and the footrest sits at a comfortable height.
• Someone near you can service the pump. A cheap chair you can't repair costs more by the second year.

Step 4: Register the business and line up the permits

The order varies by LGU, so treat this as the list rather than the schedule. Most offices want the earlier registrations before they'll issue the later ones.

• DTI business name registration if you trade under a shop name, or SEC for a partnership or corporation.
• Barangay clearance for the address.
• Sanitary permit from the city or municipal health office, and a health certificate for every barber. These are the barbershop-specific ones, and they have their own section below.
• Mayor's or Business Permit from your city or municipal hall.
• BIR registration for your Certificate of Registration, invoices and books of accounts.
• Fire Safety Inspection Certificate from the Bureau of Fire Protection, which the business permit asks for.
• SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG employer registration once you hire, and that includes barbers paid on commission, as Step 6 explains.

The sanitary permit and the barbers' health certificates

Section 58 of the Code on Sanitation of the Philippines covers barbershops, beauty parlours and similar establishments. Among its rules, four shape how you open and run the shop:

• The shop needs a sanitary permit from the local health authority before it operates.
• No one may be employed to serve customers without a health certificate from the local health authority.
• Every customer gets clean, fresh towels and linen.
• Tools are cleaned and disinfected before and after every use.

You apply to the city or municipal health office, which inspects the shop and issues the permit once it passes. The fee itself is small: Bago City lists ₱50 for a sanitary permit and Bacolod ₱100. What each barber needs for the health certificate depends on the LGU. Morong, Rizal lists a chest X-ray valid for a year, a urinalysis and a fecalysis, with an HBsAg test if the health officer asks for it. San Clemente, Tarlac lists a chest X-ray for barbershops. Dumaguete lists a chest X-ray, a urinalysis and an STI and HIV seminar certificate. Call your own health office for its current list before you send barbers to a clinic.

Presidential Decree No. 856, Code on Sanitation of the Philippines (1975), Chapter XII, Section 58, and the Department of Health's 1997 implementing rules for that chapter. Requirement lists published by the Municipality of Morong, Rizal (2018), the Municipality of San Clemente, Tarlac, Dumaguete City, Bago City and Bacolod City (2025). Your city or municipal health office is the authority on what applies to your shop.

Step 5: Fit out the shop and buy the tools

Spend where customers look: the chairs, the mirrors and the light at each station, and a floor that's swept between cuts. A starter list:

• Barber chairs, one per barber, and seats for the people waiting
• Mirrors and good, even lighting at every station
• Clippers, trimmers and shavers, with spare blades
• Scissors, combs and brushes
• A straight razor that takes disposable blades, so every customer gets a fresh one
• A disinfectant or sterilizer for tools, since the Code requires cleaning before and after every use
• Enough towels and capes for a clean set per customer, and a way to wash them
• Neck strips, talc, and the products you'll use and sell: pomade, wax, shampoo
• A counter, and a way to keep track of who's next

Business Diary PH's 2026 budget puts mirrors and lighting at ₱20,000 to ₱40,000, tools at ₱25,000 to ₱40,000 and towels and products at ₱15,000 to ₱30,000. Get three quotes for anything over a few thousand pesos.

Step 6: Hire barbers, and decide how they're paid

Hire for the cut, not the CV: ask an applicant to cut a willing customer and watch how they work, talk and clean up. TESDA's Barbering NC II is the national certificate for the trade, covering haircutting and the shaving and styling of beards and moustaches, and it's worth asking for, especially from a barber early in their career.

Then decide how they're paid. The usual choices are a share of each haircut, a daily rate, or a base plus a share. A share pays more on a busy Saturday and less on a slow Tuesday, which suits barbers who build their own regulars.

Commission barbers are still employees

This is the part that catches owners out. In Corporal v. NLRC, the barbers of a Manila barbershop received 50 to 60 percent of what customers paid, and the Labor Arbiter and the NLRC both treated them as partners in a joint venture rather than employees. The Supreme Court disagreed. The shop owned the premises and the equipment, the barbers owned only small hand tools, and they reported to work daily during set hours, so they were the shop's regular employees. Sharing the proceeds of every job, the Court said, didn't make them any less the shop's employees. It awarded them separation pay and 13th month pay.

So budget for what employees are owed, whichever way you pay:

• At least the minimum wage for an eight-hour day. Workers paid by results must receive it, so a share that falls short on a slow day has to be topped up.
• SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG contributions.
• 13th month pay.

Corporal, Sr. v. National Labor Relations Commission, G.R. No. 129315, 2 October 2000 (Supreme Court, Second Division). Labor Code of the Philippines, Article 124 as amended by RA 6727, on workers paid by results. TESDA Barbering NC II, under TESDA Resolution No. 2010-18. Check the current minimum wage for your region with DOLE.

Step 7: Set your prices

Price by service: a haircut, a haircut with shampoo, a shave, a beard trim, a kids' cut, and any colour or treatment you offer. Start from the three shops nearest you, then decide on purpose whether to match them, undercut them, or charge more for something they don't offer. For reference, here's what two chains list:

Know what a head costs you before you settle the price: the barber's share, the blades, neck strip and towel, and a slice of the rent. The calculator below does that arithmetic.

Step 8: Write the barber shop business plan

A plan is for whoever decides whether the money goes in: a bank or lending cooperative, a partner, a family member, or yourself. Write it for that reader, with the source of every figure. Write the executive summary last.

Break-even, worked out as you type

Break-even is the number a lender turns to first: how many customers a day before the shop stops losing money. Each customer leaves you what they pay minus the barber's share and the supplies, and that has to cover the month's fixed costs.

Then compare the answer with your capacity and your street. If break-even needs more customers than your chairs can serve, the plan can't work as written. If it needs more than plausibly pass your door, you're betting on drawing customers from further away, which is a harder business. Better to find out on paper.

Step 9: Run the day without leaks

A barbershop runs on cash and on memory: who's next, who cut whom, and what each barber is owed at closing. That's where the money and the arguments go missing. What you need to track is small but constant:

• Every customer, with their barber and their services, including the ones who paid cash.
• The price from your list, and a record of every discount and who gave it.
• Each barber's share, worked out per customer instead of remembered at closing.
• Cash apart from GCash, since only the cash should be in the drawer.
• At closing: the day's sales, each barber's share, and what the drawer should hold.

Or see everything it does on the Smapey Barbershop page.

Frequently asked questions