What to Charge?

 

For anyone considering doing house call grooming, how to price for this specialized and personal service can be a concern. In general, most house callers charge around the same as mobile groomers ($15-20 higher than salon price). But how you charge that amount (your pricing structure) can be largely dictated by how you want to run your business, the area you service, and your style of grooming. For simplicity reasons, we’ll focus on three popular options and which situations might benefit most from that specific pricing structure.

 

Hourly with a Minimum Charge

Groomers that charge an hourly rate have a set dollar amount that they charge per hour of grooming, and often have a minimum amount of billing time. For example, a groomer could have an hourly rate of $30 with a minimum billing time of 2 hours, making their base fee on all dogs starting at $60.

Pros:

• Simplified pricing
• Ensures a more consistent wage

Cons:

• Can create a pressure to rush through grooms to increase earnings
• Doesn’t include charges for gas or trip time

This type of pricing system often works best for seasoned groomers who are fairly quick and consistent in their speed of grooming. If a groomer was to choose this pricing option, a fixed area of service would also insure that they wouldn’t expend too much money on gas and loss of billable time while traveling.

 

Salon Competitive Base Price with Flat Service Fee

With this pricing structure you would charge a base price that was comparable to your local salons with an additional service fee that does not change. For example, if most salons in your area charge $40 for a full groom on a Shih Tzu, for that breed you would charge $40 plus a service fee of $20 for coming to their home.

Pros:

• Compensates you for travel time and/or gas expense
• Doesn’t have a time pressure the way hourly pricing can

Cons:

• Depending on service area, a flat fee may not adequately compensate for travel or gas

 

Salon Competitive Base Price with Travel Fee

Again this structure would use a base price comparable to local salons but the additional travel fee can vary based on the location of the client. For example, a Shih Tzu is charged $40 in a local salon plus a travel fee between $15-25 depending on the client’s relative location to you.

Pros:

• Compensates you more accurately to your gas expense or travel time
• Enables groomers to have a larger service area

Cons:

• Explaining pricing to clients is more difficult without giving a direct quote

This pricing structure works extremely well for groomers in more rural areas or those wishing to have a larger service area without absorbing the addition cost of gas or travel time.

 

 

Comments

[Chrissy Smith]

Excellent overview Alyssa! I've been doing house calls for 11 years and chose the hourly rate with a minimum charge. Travel time and mileage within my service area are figured into my on site hourly rate.