Pet services
Pet Sitting Cost Calculator
Works pet sitting cost, where visits and overnights are different products.
Result
A planning estimate, not a quote. Access, the age of the equipment, what is found once it is opened up and local labour rates all move the real figure, sometimes a long way.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
Sitter time per visit plus travel, at a burdened rate, plus mileage and overhead, calculated separately for drop-in visits and overnight stays. An overnight is a fundamentally different commitment from a visit, occupying a whole evening and night rather than twenty minutes.
What moves the number
- Visits per day and travel between them.
- Overnight stays, which occupy the whole period.
- Number of animals and their needs.
- Medication or special care requirements.
Where this one goes wrong
An overnight stay prices against the sitter's whole evening and night rather than against the hours of active care, which is why it costs what it does and why pricing it as a long visit is unsustainable. Price the commitment. Medication administration and special needs are the other item, since they require competence and carry responsibility, and they belong priced rather than absorbed as a favour.
Before you quote
- Price overnights against the whole period, not active hours.
- Charge for medication and special care requirements.
- Count travel between visits in the cost.
Questions
About this calculator
Why do overnight stays cost so much more than visits?
Because an overnight occupies the sitter's whole evening and night rather than twenty minutes of active care. Pricing it against active hours is unsustainable, since the sitter cannot do anything else during that period.
Should medication be charged for?
Yes, since it requires competence and carries responsibility. Absorbing it as a favour both undervalues the work and obscures which bookings are genuinely more demanding than the standard visit they are priced as.
How many animals does a visit cover?
Whatever the price states, which is why a per-additional-animal charge is normal. Two dogs and a cat take meaningfully longer than one dog, and a flat visit price for any household underprices the busy ones.
The formula
total = hours x people x rate + parts + call-out, then sales tax
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How to use this calculator
- Hours per appointment (h). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 1.2 h.
- Groomers needed. Enter your own figure; the page starts at 1.
- Hourly rate charged ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $65.
- Shampoo, product and consumables ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $6.
- Intake or assessment fee ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $95.
- Sales tax (%). Leave at zero if you are quoting before tax.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to estimated total, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Hours per appointment | 1.2 h |
| Groomers needed | 1 |
| Hourly rate charged | $65 |
| Shampoo, product and consumables | $6 |
| Intake or assessment fee | $95 |
| Sales tax | 0% |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Estimated total main result | $179 |
| Labour | $78 |
| Before tax | $179 |
| Sales tax | $0 |
About $179: $78 of labour, $6 of parts and a $95 call-out.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only hourly rate charged, this is what happens to estimated total. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Hourly rate charged ($) | Estimated total |
|---|---|
| $33 | $140.60 |
| $49 | $159.80 |
| $65 example above | $179 |
| $98 | $218.60 |
| $130 | $257 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Hours per appointment (h)
- Measured in h, between 0 and 400, starting at 1.2 h.
- Groomers needed
- A number, between 0 and 40, starting at 1.
- Hourly rate charged ($)
- A money amount, starting at $65.
- Shampoo, product and consumables ($)
- A money amount, starting at $6.
- Intake or assessment fee ($)
- A money amount, starting at $95.
- Sales tax (%)
- Leave at zero if you are quoting before tax.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| Estimated total | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Labour | A money figure. |
| Before tax | A money figure. |
| Sales tax | A money figure. |
Estimating is the easy part
The jobs you never hear about cost more than the ones you mis-measure. BDEVY builds the marketing, systems and automation that bring them in.