Cost per station, not cost per machine

Quoting a studio budget from reformer prices alone understates it by 15–20%. Every station needs a box, a pole, a mat and usually a jumpboard, and those add up across ten stations.

Working in cost per fully equipped station makes the budget honest and makes scaling arithmetic trivial.

  • Reformer: $3,000–$5,000 studio grade
  • Sitting box and pole: $150–$300
  • Jumpboard: $150–$350
  • Mat: $40–$80
  • Share of spare parts stock: roughly $100 per station

Where quantity pricing changes the plan

Because tiers apply per product, ordering six identical reformers reaches the 15% tier where ordering four different models reaches nothing. On a six-machine order that difference is several thousand dollars.

This is a second, financial reason to standardize the room — and it usually pays for the accessories outright.

What to buy later

A Cadillac, ladder barrel and chairs can wait. They serve private clients and advanced work, and a new studio’s revenue comes from group reformer classes. Adding them in year two, funded by revenue rather than startup capital, is the lower-risk sequence.

The exception is one chair. It costs little, takes almost no space, and immediately widens what you can offer in privates.

Budget for consumables from day one

Springs, ropes and upholstery are operating costs, not capital costs. A ten-station studio should expect to spend $1,500–$3,000 a year on wear parts once the machines are a few years old.

Studios that treat these as unexpected expenses end up running machines past the point where they should have been serviced, which clients notice.