How to Start an Aesthetic Business in Montréal: Permits, Health Contacts, Market Data

Planning to open a med spa, a laser clinic, a skin and esthetics studio or a laser hair removal or tattoo removal business in Montréal? This guide is written for owners and founders. Montréal is the largest aesthetic market in Québec, with a population that speaks many languages (see the census table below). It is also a city where your first permit comes from a borough, not from City Hall, and where the Court of Appeal has sided with an esthetician who performs laser treatments. In the sections that follow: the clients you can reach, how many businesses already compete for them, the lasers worth buying first, the costs to plan for, and what your borough, regional public health and the CNESST will look for.

Is Montréal a good place to start an aesthetic business?

Montréal gives an aesthetic business scale: 1,762,949 residents at the 2021 Census, nearly a quarter of them aged 20 to 34, and a diverse population. You need a borough occupancy permit before you trade, written guidance from Montréal’s regional public health directorate, CNESST-level workplace safety and Health Canada-licensed lasers.

Every figure and rule below links to the official source. Where there is no official figure, the guide explains how to find the answer yourself.

Who are Montréal’s potential clients?

The figures come from the 2021 Census Profile for Montréal and Statistics Canada’s municipal population table. Census day was May 11, 2021, and income figures cover calendar year 2020.

What that means for your treatment menu (planning guidance, not a forecast):

• Young adults are a large share of the city. Close to one resident in four is between 20 and 34, the core audience for laser hair removal, tattoo removal and acne-related skin work.
• Mid-career clients are an even bigger group. At 27.2%, the 35-to-54 band supports pigment, sun-damage, redness and texture treatments.
• Build for every skin type from day one. With Arabic and Spanish the leading non-official mother tongues and almost four in ten residents identifying as a visible minority, wavelength choice and operator training for medium and darker skin are core requirements, not extras.
• Price by neighbourhood. The citywide median household income of $63,600 hides large differences between boroughs. Price for the trade area around your address, not the average.

How many personal-care businesses already operate in Montréal?

Statistics Canada’s Canadian Business Counts (table 33-10-1176-01, June 2026) gives these totals for the Ville de Montréal, counting locations with employees:

Group 8121 is Statistics Canada’s Personal care services industry. It covers hair salons, esthetics and other personal care services such as depilatory salons and day spas. It is the broad beauty-services market, not a count of laser clinics, and no official laser-clinic count exists. Statistics Canada also warns that chains are counted once per location, businesses without employees are not published at city level, and the series should not be read as a trend over time.

The 2,862 physician offices matter more in Montréal than in most Canadian cities, because physician-led clinics compete for the same clients and are where CO₂ resurfacing sits (see below). To map real competitors, search “épilation laser”, “détatouage”, “clinique esthétique” and “med spa” around each address you are considering, in French and English, and note services, posted prices and review counts. Repeat for each borough on your shortlist; the Plateau, the Sud-Ouest and Saint-Laurent behave like different markets.

Which business model fits Montréal?

Choose the model first, because the permit description, the staffing plan and the professional rules all depend on it.

1. Esthetics and skin-care studio — facials, peels, waxing and skin quality, often owner-run, sometimes from a home-based space where the borough allows it.
2. Laser hair removal studio — one high-repeat service sold in packages.
3. Multi-device laser and skin clinic — hair removal, pigment, redness, tattoo removal and resurfacing under one brand.
4. Physician-directed medical aesthetics clinic — laser and skin services plus injectables and CO₂ resurfacing, with the medical supervision those services need in Québec.

Across all four, laser services usually earn the most per treatment room, since clients buy courses of sessions and one versatile platform can serve several menu items.

Which laser platforms should a Montréal clinic start with?

Federally, no one may import or sell a Class II, III or IV medical device unless its manufacturer holds a Health Canada medical device licence, and every licence can be looked up in MDALL. A verifiable licence for the exact model is the first thing a regulator or insurer will ask about. Look up the licence yourself (our MDALL verification walkthrough shows how), and get training, warranty, service and financing terms in writing before you sign.

Pro 1 Laser supplies these platforms manufacturer-direct, with clinical training included, an 18-month warranty and lease-to-own options on approved credit:

• Pro 1 Pico (MDL 114765) — picosecond laser for tattoo and PMU removal, pigment and skin rejuvenation, a natural anchor for a menu built around diverse skin tones. From $999/month OAC.
• DioLase Titanium (MDL 111503) — triple- wavelength diode for high-volume hair removal. From $599/month OAC.
• DPL Elite (MDL 112071) — narrowband DPL for pigment, redness, acne and rejuvenation. From $499/month OAC.
• Alexa CO₂ Aesthetic (MDL 114909) — fractional and ablative CO₂ resurfacing, best placed in a physician-directed clinic. From $799/month OAC.
• Canadian Cryo (MDL 114775, licence name Canadian CryoSculpt) — localized CO₂ cryotherapy for therapeutic and rehabilitation use by qualified medical providers. Pricing by quote.

Monthly amounts depend on configuration and term; see the financing page for current programs.

What should you budget to open in Montréal?

No official source sets a startup figure for a Montréal aesthetic business, so the budget has to come from quotes for your own borough and unit. The items this guide can confirm:

• Borough occupancy permit — each borough sets its own processing fee; the listed examples are $237 in Ahuntsic-Cartierville and $250 in Anjou. Confirm the amount at your borough’s permit counter, and expect to pay again if you later change operator, floor area or services.
• Renovation permit — a separate application if you build out the space.
• Equipment — lease-to-own on approved credit runs from $499/month (DPL Elite) to $999/month (Pro 1 Pico); see the platforms above and the financing page.
• Insurance — liability coverage that names laser services; get quotes before you commit to a lease.
• Laser room and protective equipment — the controlled room, signage and the eyewear an employer supplies free of charge, covered in the sections below.
• Rent, payroll and marketing — price these for the borough and trade area you choose, since incomes vary widely across the city.

Then test the plan against treatment revenue. Each ROI calculator weighs monthly treatment volume and pricing against the lease payment for one platform: DioLase Titanium, Pro 1 Pico, DPL Elite and Alexa CO₂.

What permit does a Montréal aesthetic business need?

Montréal’s rule is simple to state: “You must get an occupancy permit, also called a certificate of occupancy, to conduct a commercial or industrial activity in a building for purposes other than housing” (Ville de Montréal, page updated September 24, 2026). Practical points from that page:

• Your borough runs it. Each borough has its own permit counter, urban planning by-law and fee. Listed processing fees include $237 in Ahuntsic-Cartierville and $250 in Anjou; check the figure for your borough.
• It belongs to you and the space. The permit stays valid while the same operator runs the same activities on the same premises. A new permit is needed if the operator changes, the floor area changes, or activities are changed or added. Adding laser services to an existing esthetics studio can therefore mean a new application.
• Check before you sign. The City advises confirming that your activity is permitted at the address before you rent or buy.
• Typical documents. Proof of ownership or the owner’s authorization, the company charter and declaration of company name, and a layout plan of the premises. A renovation permit is a separate application if you build out the space.
• Home-based studios. For Ahuntsic-Cartierville, the page allows personal care services in part of a dwelling with its own exterior entrance and a maximum of 50 m² or one third of the dwelling, whichever is smaller. Other boroughs set their own limits.

Comparing Montréal with other cities? Our licensing and local health directory for Canada’s 100 largest municipalities links each city’s permit office and health authority.

What does public health expect in Montréal?

Here Québec differs from Ontario and British Columbia. We found no Québec regulation that creates a personal-service-setting permit, notice period or routine inspection program for laser or esthetic services. That gap in our findings is not a clearance: infection-prevention, waste and hygiene questions still apply to a treatment room, and practitioner rules apply to anything medical.

The practical step is to contact the Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal before you lease. Send a short package: the services you plan to offer, the devices (with their Health Canada licence numbers), who will perform each service and a floor plan. Ask what applies to your project and request the answer in writing, then keep it in your opening file.

Who may operate lasers in Québec?

Staffing a Montréal laser business is straightforward once you split the menu in two.

• Estheticians and laser technicians. Trained estheticians and laser technicians perform laser hair removal, tattoo and PMU removal, pigment treatments and IPL/DPL skin treatments. That covers most of what a laser studio sells.
• CO₂ under medical supervision. Ablative and fractional CO₂ resurfacing is performed under medical supervision. Section 31 of Québec’s Medical Act reserves to physicians treatments that are “invasive or entail risks of injury, including aesthetic procedures.”
• Medical procedures. Injectables and other medical procedures remain with physicians, nurses and other regulated professionals.

The courts have backed estheticians on laser work. According to news reports, the Court of Québec (2022), the Superior Court (2024) and the Court of Appeal (May 28, 2025) all rejected the Collège des médecins’ illegal-practice case against an esthetician who performed laser tattoo removal. The college’s own practice guide, La médecine esthétique (2020), states that it does not cover laser hair removal performed by estheticians.

What workplace laser-safety rules apply?

Section 51 of the Act respecting occupational health and safety, enforced by the CNESST, says every employer “must take the necessary measures to protect the health and ensure the safety and physical and mental well-being of his worker.” Among its listed duties: lay out the workplace to protect workers (para. 1), give workers adequate information and training (para. 9) and provide individual protective equipment free of charge (para. 11). Québec’s occupational safety regulation contains no laser-specific provisions, so no provincial rule names a laser safety officer or a CSA standard.

That leaves the detail to recognized standards. CSA’s catalogue lists CSA Z7001:24 as the successor to Z386:20, and Health Canada’s laser hair removal safety guidelines describe a program built on a laser safety officer, a controlled room, wavelength-rated eyewear and written procedures. Using them is how a Montréal employer shows it took “the necessary measures.” Our laser safety requirements guide walks through the room setup.

What must a Montréal treatment room have?

Drawn only from the sources above. Your borough and public health may add conditions for your specific premises.

Your Montréal opening checklist

Timings are suggestions; any deadline your borough or public health gives you takes priority.

1. About six months out — pick the model, draft the menu and list competitors around each candidate address.
2. Before you sign a lease — confirm with the borough permit counter that the activity is allowed at the address; plan estheticians or laser technicians for each laser service, and medical supervision if you add CO₂ resurfacing.
3. Four to five months out — register the business, shortlist devices, check every licence in MDALL and arrange financing.
4. During design — send the regional public health directorate your service list, devices and floor plan; plan the controlled laser room, eyewear and signage; name a laser safety officer.
5. Two to three months out — file the occupancy permit (and any renovation permit) with your borough; buy liability insurance that names laser services.
6. Six to eight weeks out — take delivery, complete clinical and safety training, and finalize consent, aftercare and record templates.
7. Before the first client — hold the occupancy permit and the written public health answer; file both with your training records.
8. Whenever you change operator, floor area or services — apply for a new occupancy permit.

Open with the questions answered

Montréal rewards a well-planned aesthetic business with a large, young and diverse clientele. Settle the permit with your borough, get public health’s view in writing and staff each service the Québec way, estheticians on the laser menu and medical supervision for CO₂, and laser services can carry the business.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Requirements change; confirm them with your Montréal borough and the Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal before you sign a lease. Sources were checked on October 11–12, 2026.