Why a salon at home is not a smaller version of a shop
On paper, starting at home looks like the easy route. No rent, no deposit, no refit, and you are already there. Financially that holds up: the largest items in a startup budget disappear and what is left is fitting out one workstation, your stock, and registration with the Chamber of Commerce (KVK) at 85.15 euro, according to kvk.nl, checked September 2026.
The difficulty only moves. In commercial premises the question "may a salon sit here" was usually answered by the previous tenant. At a residential address that question is open, and the answer comes from your municipality (gemeente), from your landlord or mortgage provider, and for some treatments from the municipal health service (GGD). Three parties that can each say no on their own.
Which is exactly why this check belongs at the front and not at the end. A fit-out bought for a room where you are not allowed to receive clients gets sold on at a loss. Below is what each party checks, what you can arrange yourself, and which parts differ per municipality.
What your municipality actually checks
Your municipality records which functions are allowed at which address in the zoning plan (omgevingsplan). A house has a residential function, and a salon is a public facing function: people come from outside, at set times, by car or by bike. According to kvk.nl and ondernemersplein.overheid.nl the rules differ per municipality and a salon at home often needs permission or a permit. So there is no national percentage and no national rule: it sits in your own municipality's zoning plan.
How to look it up: go to Regels op de kaart in the Omgevingsloket, enter your address, and it shows which national and local rules apply at that spot. Source: rijksoverheid.nl on the Omgevingsloket and ondernemersplein.overheid.nl on starting a business from home, both fetched on 10 September 2026.
To show how concrete a municipal rule gets, here are Utrecht's conditions: the floor area used for living must stay larger than the floor area used for the business, the business may occupy at most 60 square metres, you may put up a small nameplate but no advertising that needs a permit, and only residents may work in the business. Source: utrecht.nl/bedrijfaanhuis, fetched on 10 September 2026. Dordrecht, meanwhile, allows 25 percent of the floor area up to 50 square metres. That gap is exactly why you look up your own municipality instead of trusting a figure you read somewhere.
What a municipality looks at in practice:
- The balance between living and working. Does the property still read as a home, or does it become a shop with a flat above it?
- Parking and traffic pressure. Five clients a day in a quiet street lands differently from fifteen in a street where parking is already tight.
- Nuisance for the neighbours. Noise, the smell of colour or acetone, and footfall on a Saturday.
- Signage on the facade. Many municipalities set separate requirements for, or simply forbid, shop signage in a residential area.
There is no national norm stating how many square metres or what share of your home you may give over to a business. Numbers you find on forums come from the zoning plan of a single municipality and say nothing about yours. So call your own municipality, name your address, your treatments and your expected number of clients per day, and ask for written confirmation. An email from the desk is enough, and it is worth its weight later if a neighbour complains.
What your lease or mortgage says about it
This is the trap most starters fall into: permission from the municipality is not the same as permission to do it.
If you rent, almost every lease contains a clause about the permitted use of the property. In social housing, business use is often limited or excluded, and in private rentals it depends on the landlord. Ask for written permission and keep the answer. Skip it and, in the worst case, you have given grounds for termination, which means losing your business and your home at the same time.
If you own with a mortgage, the conditions of your lender apply. Many mortgage deeds assume residential use and set conditions on business use, certainly once you start building work or permanently convert part of the house into a treatment room. Here too: a phone call takes half an hour, and sorting it out afterwards takes months.
In an apartment there is one more layer. The deed of division and the house rules of the owners association can limit business use or client footfall regardless of what the municipality thinks.
The room itself: setup and hygiene
Once permission is settled, it comes down to the room. A separate room with a door that closes is the minimum, and a separate entrance is not a legal requirement but makes a big difference in practice: clients do not walk through your living room and you keep home and business apart.
Practical points that tend to bite in a house: a basin or treatment chair needs water and drainage where there is none, a dryer and a device on the same circuit will trip the fuse, and colour or nail products need ventilation that goes further than a window on the latch. Budget for those three items in your building work.
Beauty treatments fall under the hygiene guidelines of the national institute for public health (RIVM), and laser treatments fall under the Dutch healthcare quality and complaints act (Wkkgz), according to ondernemersplein.overheid.nl, checked September 2026. Those guidelines cover hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfecting instruments, separating clean from dirty, and safe disposal of needles and other sharps. Cutting and shaving have no comparable regime, but clean towels per client, disinfected tools and running water are the floor there too. A diploma is not legally required for either trade according to kvk.nl, though trade bodies such as ANBOS do require a recognised diploma for membership.
Permanent make-up, tattooing and piercing: the permit sits on your address
If you offer permanent make-up, microblading, tattoos or piercings, the game changes. These need a permit, and it is tied to the location rather than to you as a person. The permit is valid for 3 years and the municipal health service (GGD) inspects your workspace before you get it. That working from home is no exception, the food and product safety authority NVWA states in as many words: "Werkt u vanuit huis of huurt u als zelfstandig ondernemer een stoel in een studio? Ook dan heeft u een vergunning nodig", working from home or renting a chair still requires a permit. Source: nvwa.nl, fetched on 10 September 2026.
Two consequences weigh heavier at home. First, the GGD literally comes to your house to look at the room you work in, the separation of clean and dirty, your sterilisation and your waste stream. Second, if you move, the permit does not travel with you and the application starts again at the new address.
The inks used have fallen under the European REACH restriction since 4 January 2022, and since 4 January 2023 it also covers Pigment Blue 15:3 and Pigment Green 7. NEN-EN 17169:2020 is designated as the safety code for tattooing and permanent make-up under the Dutch tattooing and piercing decree (Warenwetbesluit tatoeeren en piercen, Staatscourant 2022, 4132); piercing has its own hygiene guideline. Checked September 2026 via ondernemersplein.overheid.nl and the Dutch food and product safety authority (NVWA). So file the application well before you plan to open: the lead time is set by the GGD calendar, not by yours.
Insurance and liability when clients visit your home
No business insurance is legally compulsory for a self employed person, according to ondernemersplein.overheid.nl, checked September 2026. The only things compulsory for everyone are basic health insurance and, with a car or scooter, third party motor cover. That is the legal position, and it is not the same as the sensible one.
Three covers come up at a home based salon. Business liability insurance for damage to clients or their belongings, from an irritated skin to a coat with colour on it. Cover on your equipment and stock, because a contents policy is written for a home and not for a treatment room full of expensive equipment. Ondernemersplein is clear about it: a private buildings policy usually does not cover damage to your workspace, and a contents policy does not cover damage to business assets. Source: ondernemersplein.overheid.nl, fetched on 10 September 2026. Call your insurer before you book the first client, not after. And disability cover, or an alternative such as a bread fund, because you work with your hands.
One point that is specific to working at home: report the business use to your home insurer. Contents and buildings policies assume private use by default, and damage that happens during a treatment can fall outside that cover if you never disclosed the use. That conversation costs one phone call and prevents an argument at the worst possible moment.
Privacy and boundaries when your address becomes known
Working at home means your business and your home share an address, and that calls for agreements you never need in commercial premises.
Your business address goes into the Dutch trade register. Which address details are visible and what shielding options exist is published on kvk.nl, and those rules have been adjusted in recent years, so check them there rather than at a third party. Towards clients you have more control than you think. You do not have to put your address on a public page: a booking page with your neighbourhood, your service area and your availability is enough, and the exact address goes out in the confirmation once the appointment is fixed.
Guard your time as well. Without a shop front and without opening hours on a door, your calendar becomes the only boundary you have. Fix your opening hours, block your evenings deliberately, and let clients book inside the hours you released rather than sending you a message on a Sunday. An automatic confirmation and a reminder before the appointment also cut no-shows, and that weighs heavier at home: you prepared the room and blocked your afternoon.
Finally, agree how you handle children, pets and housemates during working hours. It sounds like a detail, and it is the reason a home based salon either feels professional or does not.
How to apply this next week
Five steps, and the first two decide whether the rest is worth doing.
Week 1: call your municipality about the zoning plan at your address. Name your treatments and your expected number of clients per day, and ask for written confirmation.
Week 2: check your lease, mortgage conditions or deed of division and ask for written permission where needed. Only once both are green do you buy anything.
Week 3: set up your treatment room, sort water, circuits and ventilation, and get hygiene in order according to the guidelines that fit your treatments. If you do permanent make-up, file the permit application now.
Week 4: call your insurers. Business liability, cover on equipment and stock, and disclosure of the business use to your home insurer.
Week 5: fix your prices, your opening hours and your cancellation terms, and open your calendar.
For that last step CelerBook is built on pay-as-you-go: the first 5 appointments each month are free, after that you pay 0.25 EUR ex VAT per completed appointment, capped at 30 EUR per month for a solo business plus 5 EUR per additional active staff member. No contract, so a quiet month costs you almost nothing. You get your own booking page on your own subdomain that you style yourself with photos and colours, your cancellation terms and your no-show policy. Your address sits on that page and in the confirmation email. It comes with working hours and days off that you set yourself, an approval mode so you accept every request first, automatic confirmation emails, SMS reminders at 0.11 EUR ex VAT per appointment, and client management with notes and history. No usage means no cost. Try CelerBook for free.