NEW REFLECTIONS SALONS
owner Diane Keller answers some questions:

1 • What prompted your decision to remodel?

It's important to keep "fresh" in our industry. It's much like a restaurant.

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2 • When you contemplated your remodel, what were some of the things
      that kept you up at night?

Not much but if I were to say one thing, is the control of the numbers.
It requires discipline at times when it is so exciting.  

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3 • What parts of the process where the most challenging?

Working with the city  for permit was most challenging.
Highly recommend being up front in the beginning to save yourself
the headaches during construction.

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4 • What advice do you have for someone considering a remodel?

Strong communication. Get your contractor, subs and architect together
for a meeting to ensure nothing gets lost in translation. Be there daily
to check progress.

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THE MENS DEPT
founder Kurt Kueffner was interviewed in American Salon magaizine.


When Kurt Kueffner first envisioned MensDept., he had two goals at the top
of his list – to transform clients' ordinary trip to the barbershop into an
extraordinary grooming experience and to deliver innovation in men's hair
design.

" A lot of the more demanding technical work involved with cutting men's hair
is below the widest part of the head, so we needed balanced task lighting
that illuminates all the way down to the collar line," Kueffner says. "The lights
are, by far, one of the greatest assets in the salon from a service delivery
standpoint."

VOLUME SALON

Help!

Just before the weekend, and as a couple of contractors were about
to start working on their part of Volume's "build-out," Jenny and Nate
were presented a huge challenge: the local building inspector, while
making his rounds, noticed construction taking place in a space that
was not on his "active projects" list.

Based on information provided by one of the project participants, Jenny
and Nate thought they were "good to go" but had to put the brakes on
the project until a building permit was obtained. The real concern was
not the need for the permit, but the possibility of losing their contractors
to a different job due to the time delay.

Salonshift was asked to expedite the drawing effort required to obtain a
building permit and keep the project on schedule. Through emails, text
messages and phone calls with Jenny and Nate, we were able, over the
weekend, to have a set of drawings in Nate's hands for delivery to the city
by Monday afternoon.

After a few days at the city plan review department, and with permit in
hand, Volume's remodeling was back on track with only a minor blip.

Every project is different and unique and Salonshift Architecture is
pleased to have helped Volume meet the goal and expectation of making
their Grand Opening on schedule!

INDULGE SALON

Did you feel well informed about what to expect during the design
and construction process?

We had communication with salonshift throughout the process.
 

If you were to do it over or ever consider doing another "build-out",
what part of the process would you want to do differently?

We had to jump into the process quickly because we needed to get it
done in a short period of time, and in the future I would take more time
to figure out exactly what we wanted before putting anything down on
paper, if time allowed. The plans were very detailed from the beginning,
and I think, for our purposes, the partners should have worked through
some of our details before putting them on paper. It created a lot of
drawing re-dos that we probably could have avoided if we knew more
about what we wanted prior to meeting with salonshift.  Again, this was a
concept that came to fruition in a very short period of time - and the
end result was exactly what we wanted. 
 

Having gone through the entire process of starting a salon business
from "scratch" to your grand opening, what observations and advice
would you pass on to salon owners contemplating a remodeling
and/or new construction?

Consider the noise that will be created in all areas of the salon and
ensure that you make allowances for sound proofing where necessary.
Really walk through how you think the traffic will flow once clients are
there for services, and allow the appropriate amount of space. 
Remember that your clients come in all shapes and sizes and allow for
that when purchasing your equipment and laying out your stylist areas.
The front entrance is what everyone will remember and will make them
feel welcome - make sure that your front desk is in an area where you
can greet people as soon as they walk in, and you can see people from
throughout the salon. Visit as many salons as you can to see what you
like and don't like about them so you can incorporate that into your plan. 
salonshift is so helpful about showing pictures of ideas and concepts
that will help you determine the exact feel of your salon.