The order of decisions
Some decisions are blocking: your personal position on licensing, permitted use and the suitability of the space. Until they're resolved, every other financial commitment is at risk, because a negative outcome makes everything else pointless.
Then come the structural decisions, which constrain the ones after them: which services to offer, with how many stations, at what price level. They determine the design of the space, the utilities, the equipment and the funding need, and changing them later means redoing work.
Finally there are the reversible decisions: furniture, communication, hours, consumable suppliers. Those are the ones that attract the most emotional energy and that, paradoxically, can be corrected at any time without consequence.
How much it costs to reverse each one
The chart is qualitative and shows how expensive it is to change each type of decision after making it.
The phases and what they contain
The table distributes the decisions across the phases, with the constraint each imposes on the next.
| Phase | Decisions | Constrains |
|---|---|---|
| Blocking | Licensing, space, permitted use | Whether the project exists at all |
| Structural | Services, stations, price model | Design, utilities, funding need |
| Delivery | Utilities, layout, equipment | Daily operations |
| Reversible | Furniture, communication, hours | Nothing permanent |
The sequence in four phases
Blocking phase
Licensing, space, permitted use.
Structural phase
Services, stations, price model.
Delivery phase
Utilities, layout, equipment.
Reversible phase
Furniture, communication, hours.
How to proceed
- Don't commit money until the blocking decisions are resolved.
- Define the services before designing the space, not after.
- Postpone the reversible decisions: they consume time and constrain nothing.
The costliest sequencing mistake is designing the space before deciding which services to offer. The number of stations, the size of the colour area and the position of the wash units all derive from that choice, and retrofitting them produces compromises you live with every day.
Reversible decisions tend to absorb attention because they're the most concrete and visible. Deliberately postponing them frees energy for the structural ones, which are less enjoyable to face and far more consequential.
The service to include in the new salon
Saloria fits into the opening project as a consultation tool, not as management software.
To consult before deciding
Frequently asked questions
Where do you start?
From the blocking decisions: your licensing position and the suitability of the space. Before resolving those, every financial commitment is at risk.
When do you design the space?
After deciding which services to offer and with how many stations: the design follows from that choice, not the other way round.
What can be postponed?
Furniture, communication, hours and consumable suppliers: decisions correctable at any time.