To think this is a ridiculous price?

[VibesCurator]

First time getting a housesitter for my 2 dogs as a family member who used to watch them moved away. I got quoted £40 total per day by a sitter, AIBU for thinking this is ridiculous?

I'm not boarding them, the sitter would be staying in my house using my gas and electric. I have replied to them as much, but now that I am looking around at more sitters, it seems like an average price. How much does everyone else pay?

She’s calling you tight. And she’s not wrong.

No, thanks for mentioning it though - I honestly hadn’t thought of it

Are you happy for them to go out and earn wages elsewhere while they are looking after your dogs? £250-£350 a week is not really enough to live on.

unless you live in an incredibly desirable location this seems cheap - by which I mean I know a couple of people who do overseas pet / house sitting as part of their travel / remote working and don’t charge because it’s a reciprocal arrangement, saving them accommodation costs. Assuming you don’t live on the Amalfi coast or similar.

It's not about how much work they are doing - it's about the time they are freeing up for you to do whatever it is you are doing that means you can't look after your own house and dogs. While they are doing that, they can't stack shelves, or drive a bus, or perform heart surgery, or or do anything else at all that would bring in money. £40 per day is literally only viable for a young person who wants to earn some pocket money. Or someone who is homeless (and jobless).

Yeah, you're being unrealistic. That's a very reasonable price for two dogs!

No she is passive aggressively calling you tight. Which you are.

😬

She’s calling you tight which is what you are being, they don’t want your business and I wouldn’t either

Her reply was polite considering you told her she's overcharging. You might want to find a teenage neighbour and offer then £20 to feed your dogs twice a day and walk them for an hour but if you want a professional service you'll have to pay for it.

I think it's time for a reality check..... I pay £30 for my walker and I'm out in the sticks in Somerset.

£40 is amazing.

I don't think you quite get current pricing, don't forget they have to have insurance, DBS and a good reputation built over time.

Sounds extremely reasonable for a professional sitter to me. I thought it would cost more. If you feel comfortable paying some random with no experience or insurance to look after your dog then go for it!

You are like someone I know, she knew the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Honestly you sound like you want something for next to nothing. Pay the going rate.

But even with your quoted £15-£18 for a dog walk…you’d be getting a whole day for 2 dogs for £40…seems reasonable to me! I am not London and used to pay £24 for 1 dog to go to a dog day care with other dogs.

Well you sure seem to be! YABVU

I am interested in doing this and do it’s interesting to know what people charge/expect to pay.

On one hand I thought £40 was ridiculous amount but I used to pay £20 for my dog to go into kennels and if I had 2 dogs it would have been almost double the cost, even if they were sharing.

Are you ok with her working another job?
As I couldn’t afford to live off £40 a day.

I assume the rate is because she’s staying there and you need her all day/night.
If you only need her to walk the dogs then perhaps look into a dog walker instead.

YABU. She is at your home overnight, and will presumably be spending the majority of the 2 days with your pets, feeding, stroking, walking them etc. £40 per day is a bargain!

She's calling you cheap, because you are.

She's callng you tight

Will this person also not be walking your dogs? 2 x1 hour walk per day and that’s already nearly the full amount they are charging, without looking after them and your house for the rest of the day. Sounds like a bargain.

The perfect job for a younger person who can work from anywhere and who can get enough clients to not need to rent anywhere. No bills, no boring purchases e.g. laundry detergent or crockery. A bit of cash on top of the day job salary.

Nah, she is calling you out for the cheapskate 😎you are...

It does sound like quite a lot @VibesCurator but sadly, this is what you are going to be paying these days. You could put them in a dogs boarding kennel but that is very likely to not be much cheaper. Especially if there is more than one dog. I am going to have to say that YABU though, because I think this price is what you should be expecting to pay in 2025.

As has been said, these dog sitter people are taking time out of their day to come to your home, (and spend time with your dogs,) they are incurring travel costs, they are feeding, petting, and walking your dogs, and cleaning up their shit, and they will have to allocate more time if the vet is needed for some reason, and many people want the sitters on weekends and bank holidays.

One sitter in my village looked after the dogs of 4 different families (2 families in the village and 2 families 4-7 miles away,) between 20th December to 2nd January, (all 4 were at least 5-6 days,) so she was doing her job Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day. (As well as all the other days in between.) She couldn't drink as she had 2 visits per day, and had to drive to some of the dogs ... So she was working all over Christmas/New year.

I think £40 a day is actually what you can expect to pay to be honest. You need to factor these new/higher prices into the price of your holiday. Obviously if you're away for 10 days, that's £400 extra. But this is the price you pay for having dogs. Are the kennels not an option? They may be a bit cheaper...

That sounds good value/cheap to me. I am in the South East. My dogs have been dead for about ten years, but when we had a live in sitter for the pair of them it cost around £50 per day, as I recall. I did it through an agency which was a bit more expensive than some options, but if the sitters concerned became unwell last minute or there was some other problem then the agency would step in and sort it. The sitters were pleasant, cared well for the house and the dogs and left the house at least as clean and tidy as they found it.

Yes. Or stingy.

Which you are coming across as.

£65 per 24 hours here. North West. Suburbs of a large city and loads of dog walkers and house sitters.