1.3 Salon/Shop, Mobile Unit & Personal Services Location Licensing

1.3 Salon/Shop, Mobile Unit & Personal Services Location Licensing

Washington separates who may perform a service from where the service may be performed. Your cosmetologist license answers the first question. A location license answers the second, and you need both.

The Location License Rule (WAC 308-20-520)

WAC 308-20-520 opens flatly: no person shall operate a cosmetology, hair design, barbering, esthetics, master esthetics, or manicuring salon/shop, mobile unit, or personal services business in this state unless the business has qualified for and has in their possession a location license issued by the department of licensing. It then adds four operative subsections:

1. An operator that leases space must obtain both a valid operator and salon/shop license for that specific location. This is the booth-rental rule, stated directly.
2. A business with one or more branch locations must obtain a separate salon/shop license for each location.
3. A licensed operator who provides services to placebound clients in the client’s home or in a long- or short-term health care facility is not required to obtain a location license.
4. A long- or short-term health care facility that establishes a salon/shop and operates it on a for-profit basis for clients other than placebound clients must obtain a location license.

Two further rules from the same section: if ownership of the business changes, a new complete application must be submitted for approval and license issuance, and licenses are not transferable. You cannot buy a salon and inherit its license.

The Three Location License Types

RCW 18.16.020 defines them:

• Salon/shop — the conventional fixed premises.
• Mobile unit — a location license where the practice is conducted in a mobile structure. Mobile units must conform to the health and safety standards set by rule under the chapter.
• Personal services — a location license where the practice is performed for clients in the client’s home, office, or other location that is convenient for the client.

Note that "personal services" is itself a location license type, not a practitioner endorsement. It is what a mobile stylist who works out of clients’ homes holds — unless every client is placebound, in which case subsection (3) exempts them entirely.

Statutory Facility Requirements (RCW 18.16.175)

The physical standards for a salon/shop or mobile unit are statutory, and they are more concrete — and narrower — than the elaborate architectural rules that circulate in unofficial study material. RCW 18.16.175(1) requires the business to:

That separate-entrance clause in (a) is what governs a home-based salon. The statutory test is an outside entrance separate from sleeping or residential rooms and a salon room not used for residential purposes — not a specific wall construction or door-closer specification. Do not memorize invented engineering details; memorize the statutory test.

WAC 308-20-110(19) adds the operational restroom rule for all locations: a restroom must be available, located on the premises or in reasonably accessible adjoining premises, and kept clean and in proper working order at all times. WAC 308-20-110(1)(a) adds the other physical fixture every chemical-service location must have: a dispensing sink with hot and cold running water, used for mixing chemicals and disinfecting supplies, tools, equipment and materials, and labeled "not for public use."

Public Liability Insurance Drives the Renewal Clock

This is a Washington-specific mechanic worth understanding rather than memorizing blindly.

• RCW 18.16.175(1)(g) makes public liability insurance a condition of holding the location license.
• RCW 18.16.170(1)(a): a salon/shop, personal services, or mobile unit license expires one year from issuance or when the insurance required by RCW 18.16.175(1)(g) expires, whichever occurs first. A school license likewise expires one year from issuance. Operator and instructor licenses expire two years from issuance.
• WAC 308-20-560 requires each salon/shop, mobile unit and personal services license to be renewed yearly, and the renewal request must be accompanied by the renewal fee and an affidavit of certification of public liability insurance stating the provider name, policy number, effective date, expiration date, amount of coverage, and the licensee’s signature — plus a statement of any changes from the original application.

Let the policy lapse and the location license does not merely become non-compliant; it expires.

The Booth Renter’s Position

Booth rental (chair or room leasing) is common and legal in Washington, but the licensing consequence is unambiguous. Under WAC 308-20-520(1), an operator who leases space must obtain both a valid operator license and a salon/shop license for that specific location. A booth renter cannot operate under the building owner’s salon license. The practical result is that a six-chair booth-rental salon may carry several active salon/shop licenses on file at one address, plus the establishment’s own.

The fee schedule in WAC 308-20-210 makes the cost concrete: a salon/shop, mobile unit, or personal services license application is $121.00, the one-year renewal is $121.00, the late renewal penalty is $60.00, and a license print fee is $5.00. A reduced $15.00 rate applies in the narrow case where a licensee holds a permanent-cosmetics artist license and artist shop location license under chapter 18.300 RCW at the same location as the salon/shop license.

Booth renters also carry ordinary Washington business obligations that sit outside chapter 18.16 RCW — a state business license and Unified Business Identifier number, and business and occupation tax administered by the Department of Revenue. RCW 18.16.030(9) expressly authorizes DOL to share licensee information with the Department of Revenue to assist in collecting those taxes.

Required Postings (WAC 308-20-550 and RCW 18.16.180)

Posting is a facility obligation, so it belongs here as much as with renewal. WAC 308-20-550 requires that licenses, the consumer notice required by chapter 18.16 RCW, the apprentice salon/shop notice, and the most current inspection form be posted in direct public view, with original school, instructor, salon/shop, and mobile unit licenses posted in the reception area and personal services licensees displaying their license and consumer notice in direct view of the client.

RCW 18.16.180 is the source of the consumer notice: the director prepares and provides a notice to consumers stating at minimum that salons/shops must be licensed, that they must maintain minimum safety and sanitation standards, that complaints may be reported to the department, and a telephone number and address for complaints. An approved apprenticeship shop must additionally post a notice in the reception area reading: "This shop is a participant in a state-approved apprenticeship program. Apprentices in this program are in training and have not yet received a license."