Med Spa Startup Budget: Opening Costs and a 12-Month Cash-Flow Example
See how opening payments, owner pay, bookings and prepaid treatments affect the cash your practice needs. Work through a fictional first year, then save an editable model with your own figures.
Build my opening cash model ↗What an opening budget needs to tell you
What it takes to open
Our fictional one-room example pays or sets aside $59,000 before opening. Replace every estimate with costs for your location and service plan.
What you need afterward
Starting with $120,000 leaves $61,000 for operations. Cash reaches its lowest point in month 5, before the stronger later months.
What you still owe
Prepaid packages bring cash forward. They also leave visits to deliver, with supplies and time still required.
What happens if plans change
Test slower bookings, a delayed opening and another device payment. Save the assumptions and come back to revise them.
By NuWays MD · Business planning example · Sources checked September 16, 2026
How much does it cost to open a med spa?
A useful med spa startup budget has two parts: the money needed to get the doors open and the money needed to keep operating while bookings build. Your space, services, staffing and equipment determine both. A room inside an existing practice and a new multiroom location are different projects, even if both advertise injectables and skin treatments.
For the worked example below, we start with $120,000 in cash, allocate $59,000 to opening payments and keep $61,000 available for operations. These are invented planning figures, not a claim that $120,000 is enough for your practice. The example makes the timing visible so you can replace its assumptions with your own.
The SBA separates startup expenses, assets and the cash needed before a business can support itself. That last part is easy to underestimate when most early conversations concern equipment, interiors and launch day. SBA startup-cost framework.
Your role changes the budget
You own the practice and perform treatments
Your calendar must cover treatment time, consultations, follow-up, ordering and running the business. Include personal cash needs. A forecast that works only because you take no pay for a year needs a separate household plan.
You own the practice and hire clinicians
Payroll can begin before enough appointments exist to support it. Budget for recruitment, training, coverage and employer costs as applicable. Revenue needs to fit actual staffed hours, not every hour the practice is open.
You are adding services to an existing practice
Count the additional cash and staff time the service needs. Some patients may switch from an existing treatment, so all sales are not necessarily new revenue. Check whether shared rooms, reception and follow-up can absorb the work.
Opening costs: separate the number from its certainty
Write down both the amount and what supports it. A written quote has a scope and expiry date. A signed commitment has payment dates and cancellation terms. An unknown is work still to do, even when a spreadsheet cell is blank.
| Status | What it means in your budget | Useful note to keep |
|---|---|---|
| Estimate | A planning allowance that still needs verification. | Who estimated it, assumptions and what might be missing. |
| Quoted | A supplier has priced a defined scope. It may still change. | Quote date, included work, tax, delivery and expiry. |
| Committed | You have agreed to an obligation. | Due dates, deposit, recurring terms and exit conditions. |
| Unknown | The amount or scope is unresolved. | Who will clarify it and by when. A blank does not mean free. |
| Opening payment | Fictional allowance |
|---|---|
| Deposits and pre-opening occupancy | $9,000 |
| Room preparation, furniture and IT | $18,000 |
| Professional advice, insurance and setup | $7,000 |
| Initial treatment inventory | $8,000 |
| Training, software setup and pre-opening payroll | $9,000 |
| Launch marketing and booking preparation | $3,000 |
| Contingency spending allowance | $5,000 |
| Other opening payments | $0 |
| Total paid or set aside before month 1 | $59,000 |
The room-preparation allowance assumes a modest existing space. It does not establish the cost of a build-out, a particular machine or clinical requirements in your state. The example has no financed equipment at opening; any purchase or lease for your service plan must be added. Obtain advice on the ownership, clinical oversight, insurance and operating requirements that apply to your situation before relying on this budget.
Keep refundable deposits and equipment purchases visible even when they are treated differently from expenses in your accounts. They still use cash. Here, the contingency allowance is spent or held outside the available operating balance, rather than counted twice as both spending and accessible cash.
The monthly assumptions behind the example
| Assumption | Fictional figure | What to check in your own plan |
|---|---|---|
| Rent and occupancy | $3,500 per month | Add utilities, maintenance and other charges if your quote excludes them. |
| Fixed staffing allowance | $3,000 per month | Replace with your actual staffing and employer-cost plan. It is not a clinician salary benchmark. |
| Admin, insurance and software | $1,000 per month | Check recurring subscriptions and annual renewals. |
| Marketing | $1,000 per month | Separate spending from proven bookings. A marketing budget does not guarantee demand. |
| Owner cash withdrawal | $2,500 per month | Your household needs and business structure may require a different amount. |
| Tax reserve | $0, unfilled allowance | Add an accountant-informed reserve. Zero is not an assumption that no tax is due. |
| Pay-as-you-go visit | $250 collected | A single simplified service, not a treatment price recommendation. |
| Package | $660 for three visits | Money is collected when sold; later visits bring no second payment. |
| Supplies | $60 per delivered visit | Replenishment cash allowance, including package visits. |
| Card-processing allowance | 3% of collections | Replace with actual fees and payout timing. |
| Visit capacity | 120 visits per month | Include treatment, turnover and available staff time. |
Fixed overhead is $8,500 a month. Including owner cash brings the recurring outflow to $11,000 before supplies, card fees, tax reserves and additional equipment. Initial inventory is funded before opening; the model then reserves replenishment cash on every visit. This is a conservative stocking assumption, not an accounting claim that the same supplies are consumed twice.
Pay-as-you-go bookings rise from 12 to 100 visits a month in this fictional plan. New packages sold rise from two to six. That growth is an assumption to test against inquiries, booking rates, repeat visits and available capacity. A smooth upward spreadsheet is not evidence that patients will arrive.
A 12-month cash-flow example
In month 1, 12 pay-as-you-go visits collect $3,000 and two packages collect $1,320. Fourteen visits are delivered: the 12 paid visits plus two package visits. Supplies use $840, card fees use $129.60 and fixed costs plus owner cash use $11,000. The month uses $7,649.60 more cash than it brings in, leaving $53,350.40.
| Month | Cash collected | Supplies + fees | Fixed + owner | Net cash | Ending cash | Package visits owed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,320 | $969.60 | $11,000 | -$7,649.60 | $53,350.40 | 4 |
| 2 | $6,980 | $1,649.40 | $11,000 | -$5,669.40 | $47,681 | 9 |
| 3 | $9,640 | $2,329.20 | $11,000 | -$3,689.20 | $43,991.80 | 15 |
| 4 | $11,640 | $3,109.20 | $11,000 | -$2,469.20 | $41,522.60 | 17 |
| 5 | $14,300 | $3,789 | $11,000 | -$489 | $41,033.60 | 20 |
| 6 | $16,300 | $4,449 | $11,000 | $851 | $41,884.60 | 21 |
| 7 | $18,960 | $5,128.80 | $11,000 | $2,831.20 | $44,715.80 | 23 |
| 8 | $20,960 | $5,788.80 | $11,000 | $4,171.20 | $48,887 | 23 |
| 9 | $22,960 | $6,328.80 | $11,000 | $5,631.20 | $54,518.20 | 23 |
| 10 | $24,960 | $6,868.80 | $11,000 | $7,091.20 | $61,609.40 | 23 |
| 11 | $26,960 | $7,408.80 | $11,000 | $8,551.20 | $70,160.60 | 23 |
| 12 | $28,960 | $7,948.80 | $11,000 | $10,011.20 | $80,171.80 | 23 |
The lowest balance is $41,033.60 in month 5. By month 12, the model has $80,171.80 left. That year-end balance does not erase the early cash draw, and it does not all represent money available to take home. There are still 23 prepaid visits to deliver, worth $5,060 at the package price, with $1,380 of modeled supplies plus time and overhead remaining.
Cash flow records when money moves. Profit follows accounting rules about when revenue and expenses are recognized. Owner withdrawals, tax-reserve transfers, refundable deposits and loan principal can affect cash differently from profit. This tool estimates available cash; it does not prepare financial statements.
Why selling packages can make cash look better than the workload
At the sale
A three-visit package collects $660. The 3% processing allowance takes $19.80. You now owe three visits, whether they happen this month or later.
As visits happen
Each visit uses supplies and calendar time. Three visits use $180 of modeled supplies, leaving $460.20 before staffing, overhead, owner pay and taxes.
At the end of a month
Keep a count of visits still owed beside the cash balance. Refund, expiry and cancellation terms also matter. Do not count a redemption as a new cash sale.
The tool starts with no existing prepaid visits. For an established practice, bring forward the actual remaining visits, their terms and any possible refunds in your full forecast. A fresh startup model cannot substitute for that opening balance. If you change package size or price here, all packages use the new assumption; mixed packages need separate schedules.
What if bookings are slower, opening is delayed or you add a device?
| Scenario | Lowest month-end cash | Month 12 cash | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base case | $41,033.60 | $80,171.80 | The fictional operating plan above. |
| 70% of expected bookings | $22,996.70 | $31,072.40 | New visits and package sales fall, rounded down. Planned package redemptions continue where visits have been sold. |
| Open one month later | $30,033.60 | $59,160.60 | Treatment activity shifts back. Fixed commitments and owner cash continue. |
| Add $2,000 a month from month 6 | $39,884.60 | $66,171.80 | Seven extra payments, without assuming new revenue. |
| All three happen together | $1,935.80 | $2,456.60 | The lowest balance is only $1,935.80 in month 11, before missing costs. |
The combined scenario never shows a negative month-end balance, but a $1,935.80 cushion is fragile. An annual renewal, refund, late card payout or repair could change the picture. Because this is monthly, rent due on the first can create a shortfall even when the month ends positive. Use a weekly cash calendar around opening and other tight periods.
Explore equipment ownership costs ↗See when the cash gets tight.
Start with the fictional example, then replace the assumptions with your own figures. Calculation happens in this page. Saving requires your separate permission.
Keep an opening model you can come back to.
Save your assumptions, source notes and 12-month plan in your private NuWays MD workspace. Return to edit it or download the calculated cash-flow table.
Before you use this to make a commitment
- Replace the estimates. Get comparable quotes for the actual scope, record payment dates and leave unresolved costs marked unknown.
- Make the bookings believable. Work backward from available appointments and realistic demand. Distinguish inquiries, consultations, paid visits and package redemptions.
- Check personal and business cash separately. Include owner needs, employer costs, taxes, debt payments and anything funded outside this model.
- Choose a minimum cash buffer. A nonnegative spreadsheet is not the same as a resilient business. Decide what you need available before signing another recurring obligation.
- Set a review trigger. For example, if bookings remain below your downside case for two months, reconsider hiring, marketing allocation or a planned equipment purchase before cash becomes urgent.
No automatic financing, refunds, chargebacks, inventory expiry, service interruption or investment return is modeled. If you need different prices and supply costs by treatment, extend the forecast by service rather than averaging away a costly treatment. Your accountant can help turn the operating assumptions into a full financial plan.
Startup budget questions
How much working capital should I keep?
Use the deepest cumulative cash draw in a realistic downside case, then add a buffer for missing costs and timing. A generic number of months can be a useful check, but it should not replace your payment schedule.
Should I include my own pay from the start?
Include the cash you actually need to take out. If you plan to defer it, show how personal expenses will be covered and when the practice must begin supporting them.
Does leasing equipment solve the opening budget?
It can reduce an upfront payment while adding a recurring commitment. Enter deposits, fees and monthly payments. Compare the whole agreement and what happens if treatment demand disappoints.
Can I use package sales to finance growth?
They provide cash earlier, but they also commit future time and supplies. Keep outstanding visits visible and consider refund obligations before using that cash for another purchase.
Keep your opening plan useful after today.
Save the figures, cost statuses and source notes you have. Return as quotes arrive and compare the result with the commitments you are about to make.
Save and edit my opening model ↗Sources and editorial notes
Sources checked September 16, 2026. This is a fictional business-planning example, not a survey of startup prices or individualized accounting, tax or legal advice.
- SBA estimating startup costs: separating startup expenses, assets and cash needed before a business supports itself.
- NuWays MD equipment ownership guide: our worked ownership framework and disclosed founder experience.
Original diagrams, calculations and fictional examples explain the topic; they do not represent clinical testing or market averages. Our editorial and commercial standards.