Managing bookings in one system, staff rotas in a spreadsheet, and taking payments in a separate POS -- so commission calculations at month end require reconciling three sources manually?
Client preferences and colour formulas stored in stylist notebooks rather than a shared system, so when a stylist leaves the client relationship leaves with them?
Salon and Spa Management Software Development
RaftLabs builds custom salon and spa management software -- appointment booking, staff rotas and commission tracking, client profiles with service history and preferences, product inventory, POS and payment processing, and retention reporting.
Built for salon and spa owners who need a single connected system rather than a booking tool, a spreadsheet for rotas, and a separate POS that don't share data.
Appointment booking with staff assignment and room management
Client profiles with service history, formulas, and preferences
Staff rotas, commission tracking, and payroll reporting
POS and payment processing with product inventory
RaftLabs builds custom salon and spa management software -- appointment booking with staff assignment, client profiles with service history and colour formulas, staff rotas and commission tracking, product inventory, POS and payment processing, and retention reporting. Custom salon software is the right choice when platforms like Fresha, Vagaro, or Phorest don't support your multi-location setup, commission structure, or the client data ownership your business requires. Most salon management software projects ship in 10--14 weeks at a fixed cost.
100+Software products shipped
·FixedCost delivery
·10-14Week delivery cycles
·24+Industries served
When your salon's data lives in three places, nothing works cleanly
Most salons reach the same point: bookings in one system, staff rotas in a spreadsheet, and payments in a separate POS. Commission calculations at month end mean pulling data from all three and reconciling them manually. Client information -- service history, colour formulas, preferences -- lives in the stylist's notebook. When a stylist leaves, the client often follows because the relationship, and all the information that supports it, walks out the door.
Custom salon and spa management software puts everything in one place. Bookings flow into staff rotas. Completed appointments feed directly into commission calculations. Client profiles store the full service history so any staff member can pick up where the last one left off. And when you have multiple locations, the same system runs all of them from a single management view.
What we build
Appointment booking and scheduling
Online and in-salon appointment booking with staff selection, service duration, and room or chair assignment. Real-time availability across all staff members. Buffer time configuration between appointments for cleaning and setup. Group booking for multiple services booked together -- colour and cut, facial and massage. Deposit and prepayment collection at booking to reduce no-shows. SMS and email reminders with configurable timing. Waitlist management for popular time slots and stylists.
Client profile and service history
Client profiles storing full service history -- every visit, service, product used, and stylist who performed it. Colour formula records with formulation notes, processing times, and photos. Preference notes visible to any staff member. Allergy and contraindication records with consent form storage. Purchase history across services and retail products. Birthday and anniversary tracking for marketing. The profile that means a new stylist can serve a client as well as the one who left.
Staff management and commission tracking
Staff rotas with shift patterns, time-off requests, and availability management. Commission structures by staff member, service type, and product sales -- percentage, tiered, or flat-rate configurations. Real-time commission tracking updated as appointments are completed. Monthly payroll reports showing total services, retail sales, and commission earned by staff member. Target tracking with performance dashboards for staff and managers.
Product inventory and retail sales
Retail product inventory tracking with stock levels updated at point of sale. Low-stock alerts and reorder point management. Product sales attribution to staff member for commission calculation on retail. Supplier management with purchase order tracking. Product usage tracking for backbar stock -- how much product is consumed in services versus sold at retail. Integration with your supplier catalogues for reordering.
POS and payment processing
Point-of-sale system covering services, retail products, gift vouchers, and membership redemptions in a single transaction. Split payment handling -- cash, card, voucher, and loyalty points in one checkout. Tipping configuration by service type. Refund and rebook workflow for service complaints. End-of-day reconciliation report. Integration with card payment terminals. The POS that knows about your bookings, staff, and inventory rather than treating each transaction in isolation.
Retention analytics and client rebooking
Retention reporting showing rebooking rates by service type, stylist, and client segment. At-risk client identification -- clients who haven't returned within their typical visit cycle. Automated rebooking prompts sent via SMS or email at the right interval. Revenue per client and visit frequency trends. Lapsed client win-back campaign hooks with offer configuration. The reporting that makes retention management a system rather than a manual task.
Frequently asked questions
Off-the-shelf platforms handle the standard case well: single-location, standard service menu, straightforward commission structure. Custom software makes sense when: your commission structure is complex -- tiered rates, different percentages by service category, or retail commission that doesn't map to the platform's configuration; you operate multiple locations and need consolidated management and reporting rather than separate accounts; you want to own your client data outright rather than hold it in a vendor's system; your retail and loyalty integration requirements go beyond what the platform's integrations support; or you're building a marketplace or multi-provider platform that a single-salon PMS wasn't designed for. We assess your requirements and give you an honest view on whether custom development or a configured platform is the right answer.
Yes. Multi-location is a core use case. The system manages each location's bookings, staff, and inventory separately while giving head office a consolidated view -- revenue by location, staff performance across the group, inventory levels at each site, and group-level retention reporting. Clients can be booked at any location and their profile and history is visible to staff across the whole group. Commission and payroll reporting runs per location with group rollup. If your growth plan includes adding locations, the system is built to scale with you rather than requiring a rebuild.
Yes. The booking system can be embedded in your existing website as a widget, or we can build a standalone booking page that matches your brand. Either way, online bookings flow directly into the management system -- there's no manual step to transfer them. If you also have a separate POS system you want to keep in place, we can integrate with it rather than replacing it, depending on what API access it provides. We confirm integration capability during scoping.
A focused booking and client management system -- online booking, client profiles, staff assignment, and basic reporting -- typically runs $10,000--$30,000. A full platform including POS, commission tracking, product inventory, retention reporting, and multi-location support typically runs $20,000--$60,000. Cost depends on the number of locations, commission structure complexity, integrations required, and whether you need a mobile app for staff or clients. We scope every project before pricing and provide a fixed cost before development starts.
Talk to us about your salon management software project.
Tell us your location count, the workflows that matter most, and what your current system can't do. We'll scope the right platform and give you a fixed cost.
