How much to charge for a dog groom

The honest answer to "how much should I charge for a dog groom" is a number that covers two things at once: the work this particular dog puts you through, and the cost of holding a slot open for it. Price off the breed-and-size chart down the road and you'll get both wrong.

Most groomers land on a figure by checking what the shop up the road charges for a "small dog groom" or a "doodle full clip", then sitting a few dollars either side of it. That tells you what the market looks like. It tells you nothing about whether the number pays for the dog you've actually got on the table.

The number has two jobs

Every price is really two questions bundled into one. How much hands-on work will this dog take, from the bath through to the finish? And what does it cost you to keep that slot free for it — the rent, the power, the products, your own time, and the risk the dog doesn't turn up?

A good price carries both. Miss the first and you're paid for a quick tidy while you do a rescue job. Miss the second and a full diary still won't cover your week.

Why a breed-and-size chart gets it wrong both ways

Keying your prices to breed and size is the most common approach, and it's the one that quietly loses you money. A breed name is a guess at the work, and it's a bad guess in both directions.

Two dogs of the same breed and the same weight can be an hour apart on the table. The one that's brushed daily and comes in every six weeks is quick. The one that's matted to the skin and hasn't been booked since summer is a different job entirely. Charge them the same and the easy dog pays for time you never spent, while the hard dog walks out having cost you time you'll never get back.

So the well-kept regulars quietly subsidise the hard ones. You feel it as a day that ran flat out and still didn't earn what it should have.

What does an empty chair cost?

This is the half of the price a breed chart ignores completely. A slot you're holding is a slot you can't give to anyone else. When a dog no-shows or cancels late, you don't just lose that groom, you lose the booking you turned away to keep the space free. That cost is real, and it belongs in how you set your price, which is why a deposit and a cancellation policy sit alongside the number rather than apart from it.

So where do you actually land?

Start from what your chair has to earn in an hour to cover rent, products, your pay and super, then price each groom by the time it honestly takes plus a margin for the risk of holding it. The breed and the coat still matter, but as inputs to the time, not as the price itself.

One rule sits on top of all of it. If you're registered for GST, the price you advertise has to be the all-in figure the customer pays, so build the tax into the number you quote instead of adding it at the counter.

Keep reading

• What to key the price to: breed, size, coat condition, or time on the table.
• Before you've seen the dog: a fixed quote or an honest range.
• Pricing the empty chair: a cancellation and no-show policy you'll actually enforce.
• Set your rates: setting service prices in your account.
• Built for the trade: how the software fits a grooming business.