Colour prices are ranges because hair length and thickness genuinely change the work. The ceiling is stated rather than left open.
Full head colour
2 hours 30 minutes · $96 to $140 depending on length and thickness · any colour-qualified stylist.
Before you come
Patch test48 hours before · requiredRequired
Hair washingCome with day-old hairAdvised
AllowUp to 3 hours in the chairNote
Who can do it
Rhea VandalSenior colourist · 11 yearsQualified
Karin ProstColourist · 4 yearsQualified
Jonah FrayneCutting onlyNot qualified
A patch test 48 hours ahead is a legal and insurance requirement for most colour work. It is stated here rather than discovered when you arrive.
The team
Rhea VandalSenior colourist · 11 yearsAll colour
Karin ProstColourist · 4 yearsMost colour
Jonah FrayneSenior stylist · 8 yearsCutting
Otto LindqvistStylist · 2 yearsCutting
What that means
Balayage and corrective colour are senior only. Everything else in the colour list can be done by either colourist. Cutting is any stylist unless it is a restyle.
Saying who cannot do something is more useful than listing who can. It is the thing that otherwise causes an appointment to be moved.
What we do
Brand and identity6 services
Websites5 services
Photography4 services
Print3 services
Eighteen services. A studio of nine people that lists forty things it does is listing things it has done once.
Identity, from scratchFrom $12,000, 8 weeks
Identity refreshFrom $6,000, 5 weeks
NamingFrom $4,000, 4 weeks
GuidelinesFrom $3,000, 3 weeks
Workshop, one day$1,800
Prices start where they start. A studio that will not say a number until it has seen your budget is deciding what to charge you rather than what the work costs.
Identity, from scratch
From$12,000
Typical$14,000 to $18,000
Most we have charged$31,000
What moves itNumber of applications, not company size
What is included
Discovery and workshopsTwo daysAlways
Three routes, one developedAlways
Logo, type, colour, toneAlways
GuidelinesDigital, about 40 pagesAlways
ApplicationsPriced per itemVaries
The last line is where budgets move. Stationery and a website are different orders of magnitude, and they are priced separately so the difference is visible.
Six steps
A conversationFree, 45 minutes1
A written proposalScope, price, dates2
Deposit, 40%Work starts3
Two review pointsYou can stop at either4
Delivery and handover5
BalanceOn delivery6
You can stop at either review point and pay only for the work done. Studios that do not offer this are asking you to bet the whole budget on the first meeting.
A real person reads this. There is no automatic quote and no drip sequence afterwards.
About you
Name
Organisation
Email
About the work
What you need
WhenRoughly is fine
BudgetA range, if you have one
Budget is optional and asking for it is not a trick. If a job costs $14,000 and you have $6,000, both of us would rather know in the first email.
Thank you
Your enquirySent 6 September, 14:20Received
Read byMarta Reyes, studio lead
You will hearWithin one working day
If it is not a fitWe will say so, and suggest who is
If we are not right for it we will say so in the first reply rather than in the third meeting, and we will name two other studios.
Proposal 0412
Identity, from scratchAldercroft$16,400
ApplicationsStationery, signage, vehicle$4,200
Total$20,600
Dates
Start29 September
First review20 OctoberStop point
Second review10 NovemberStop point
Delivery24 November
Terms
Deposit40% to start$8,240
If you stop at review oneYou pay 40%, keep the routesFair
If you stop at review twoYou pay 75%Fair
OwnershipYours on final payment
Aldercroft identity
DiscoveryComplete, 2 OctoberDone
Three routesComplete, 18 OctoberDone
Review oneYou chose route BDone
DevelopmentIn progressThis week
Review two10 NovemberNext
Delivery24 November
On schedule. If it slips you will hear before the date rather than on it, which is the only promise about timing that is worth making.
About Aldercroft identity
Marta ReyesRoute B in three colourways · 4 SepNew
YouCan we see it on a vehicle? · 2 Sep
Marta ReyesYes, adding it to review two · 2 Sep
This reaches the two people doing the work. There is no account manager between you and them, which is deliberate and is why the studio is nine people.
Everything so far
Route B, final24 NovemberLatest
Guidelines, draft18 November
Three routes18 October
Discovery notes2 October
Formats
Working filesYours on final paymentIncluded
FontsLicensed to you, not to usYours
PhotographyLicensed for five years5 years
Fonts and photography are licensed separately and the terms differ. The five-year photography licence is stated here rather than found in year six.
Northgate CareIdentity and signage, 2026
Barrow InstituteWebsite and guidelines, 2025
Prior’s YardIdentity, 2025
Fennel & AshIdentity and print, 2024
Four projects rather than forty. Everything here is work we would do again and clients who would say so.
Northgate Care
A care provider with eleven homes and eleven different signs. The work was mostly deciding what stayed the same.
What we didIdentity, signage, print
How long14 weeks
Cost$28,000
What changedEnquiries up 22% in six monthsMeasured
The last number came from the client, not from us, and it is one number rather than a page of them. We do not know how much of it was the identity.
Asked most often
Do you work with small organisationsYes, from $3,000
Can we stop partwayYes, at two points
Who owns the workYou, on final payment
Do you take a retainerRarely, and we will say why
How busy are youNext start is 29 September
When we could start
Next start29 September3 weeks
After that10 November
Small workUsually within a fortnight
Rush workWe do not do itNo
We do not take rush work. Nine people cannot absorb it without letting down somebody already booked, and that somebody would be you next time.
Ines DuarteAldercroftClient
Your project
Aldercroft identityIn progress
ProposalAccepted 22 September
Files4
Messages1 new
Invoices1 paid, 1 due
More
Who does the work
Availability
Questions
Aldercroft identity
Deposit, 40%Paid 24 September$8,240
Balance, 60%Due on delivery$12,360
Terms
Payment14 days
LateWe ask once, then stop workHonest
OwnershipTransfers on final payment
Stopping work for late payment is stated up front. A studio that keeps going and says nothing is one that will surprise you later.
Review one, 20 October
Three routes, shown together. You can stop here and pay forty per cent, keeping all three.
Route AClosest to what you have now
Route BThe one we would choose
Route CThe furthest from where you are
What happens next
You choose oneOr ask for a fourth
We develop itThree weeks
Or you stop40% paid, routes are yoursFair
We say which one we would choose and why, before you say anything. A studio that presents three routes with no opinion is asking the client to do the hard part.
What you get at the end
Working filesHanded overDone
FontsLicence transferred to youDone
GuidelinesDigital, 42 pagesDone
A two-hour sessionFor whoever will use itBooked
Six months of questionsFree, by emailIncluded
Six months of answering questions is included because guidelines nobody can apply are guidelines nobody applies. It costs us a few hours and saves the work.
The practical parts
PrintRecycled or FSC stock onlyAlways
TravelTrain where the journey allowsDefault
StudioRenewable electricity since 2023
OffsettingWe do not buy offsetsNo
We do not buy offsets. They let a studio this size claim something it has not done, and the four rows above are things we actually control.