Also, keep in mind that the kid down the street is not your direct competition. You are delivering a professional service so you will always be more expensive than them. We used our Free Rate Calculator Tools to pull the national averages for dog walking, dog sitting, cat sitting, and pet sitting services across the country. Overnight rates for pet sitting will vary greatly based on location.
If you have any employees or workers other than yourself, you will need to account for their pay. Factor in labor, insurance, gas, marketing, materials, and any other miscellaneous expenses. Your profit is not what you make from each event, but rather your revenue minus your expenses. Make sure your rates cover your business expenses with something left over for profit. Also, remember that even though a visit might be short, you still need to include travel time and resources that take you away from other clients.
Then work backward on how much you need to charge for events. You have to also factor in travel time and overhead. When setting your rates, it is most likely going to be a combination of what you want to make per hour and what the typical rates are for your area.
We recommend frequency discounts because it encourages more use and loyalty from clients. Of course, some months like February - there will be fewer walks, and other months like January , there will be more. Additional pets. More pets can often require more time and work. You may want to simply set your costs based on the time you spend but charging for extra pets is a very common and accepted fee in the pet care industry.
It is common for pet care companies to charge extra rates for holidays. Think of it this way. How much would your customer expect to be compensated for working on Christmas? Be sure you value your time on holidays appropriately. No matter how fair your price is, there will always be potential clients that try to haggle on price. There will also likely be people outside your desired service area that would like to be customers. This is where you must decide if taking on a particular customer is in your best interest.
It can be hard to turn down business, especially when you are first getting started and are eager to grow but it is okay to say no. There are also questions you can ask potential new clients before you even have the meet and greet. Use our new pet care rate calculators to find out what you should be charging for pet sitting and dog walking. Companies that charge more are often passing more to their sitters.
A company that pays its sitters and walkers well prevents employee turnover, and provides more consistency for you and your pets. Professional pet sitting companies will hire either employees or independent contractors to build out their team.
Companies that hire employees will usually charge a few dollars more to cover the costs and benefits they offer their employees. But, companies with employees usually offer better service, because they are able to train their staff to follow standard processes. Independent contractors, on the other hand, cost the company less, so you may find a cheaper professional service. But, independent contractors can perform job duties in any manner they see fit. Most professional pet sitting companies will advertise online.
Look for companies that show up in the local results, have been around for a few years, and have some good reviews. The cost for daily dog and cat pet sitting visits will be somewhere around:. This would be for three 30 minute visits each day. If you would like more information about how many pet sitting visits per day to book for a dog or cat, see these articles:.
Some companies will offer a 10 or a 12 hour overnight service. Overnight service will usually start at — pm and end at am. Overnight service should include an evening and a morning walk. Mid-day visits can be added to overnight services for the cost of a mid-day visit.
Most pets do not need overnight service, but some pets with isolation distress a medical issue will benefit from overnight service. The reason for the large differences in price for overnights is that companies that hire employees might have to pay their sitters at least minimum wage while the sitter sleeps.
There are many different types of hobby pet sitters. Usually, hobby sitters are working for some extra side cash. Hobby pet sitters are generally the kid next door, vet techs, dog groomers, platform or app-based sitters, such as those that advertise with Rover or Care.
You can find these sitters by asking around, or looking on an app-based pet care site. You might find a hobby sitter who charges a very low rate for their services. At these prices, nobody can sustain a business or a livelihood, much less a family. Paying someone such a low amount for so much service is taking advantage. If you pay a hobby sitter a very low amount, your relationship will likely not last for long.
Sitters will either realize they are worth more, or get burnt out from working 7 days a week for such low pay with no resources to grow their business. Please do not take advantage of new hobby sitters. For most hobby sitters, this is their first venture into business.
Some will not value themselves highly enough to cover their time, expenses, and opportunity cost. So, if they charge a low amount, keep this economy rolling and be sure to help them out with a big tip! Hobby sitters will usually be the only sitters who offer all day service.
Prices vary widely here. You should not expect your hobby sitter to always have availability , especially on short notice. Be sure to coordinate with them before you book flights or hotels.
Keep in mind that hobby sitters tend to not carry insurance. Keep in mind pet sitting visits can vary from 10 minutes to 1 hour. Overnight pet sitting can range from hours. Or even better, your sitter may have an employee for back up pet sitting.
The cost to have employees that are covered by workers compensation insurance is significant. High rates can be expected in cities and high-income areas. For pets with special needs or for driving outside of service areas higher rates can be expected. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Previous Next. Get Started We can't wait to meet you and your pets!
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