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?

£85 a DAY for a service near us.

I’m in N Wales and pay £45 for a day sit or £60 for overnight. She comes here and stays with doggo and walks him. As she can’t do other things whilst she’s sitting for him it doesn’t sound an unreasonable price bug it certainly makes a holiday more expensive!

So if it’s £18 for a dog walk why do you think £40 for looking after 2 dogs and your house is expensive
at best there saving £5 a day on gas an electric by staying at yours

Yes. Getting her message across that you are being ridiculous.

£40 per day? So £5 per hour? This is a wind up.

Surely this can’t be true, no one can live on £40 per day. Even if they were booked every day they’d only earn less than £15k per year. Presumably they pop out to feed other people’s cats, walk other peoples dogs? A friend of mine is a pet sitter as a side hustle and has a normal WFH job she can do from anyone’s house while pet sitting.

i do think £40 is reasonable. Last time I put my cat in a cattery (12 years ago) it was £15 per day per cat, and i think dogs were more than cats.

I paid £400 per week during the summer holidays for a pet sitter to move into my house and look after my dog.

Pet sitting is her job. She is insured and very experienced. £400 for basically being on-call 24 hours a day seems entirely reasonable to me.

You are being completely unrealistic!

look for someone who values the opportunity to live in your house. Eg a responsible adult son/daughter still living with their parents; or a graduate student living in a share house. Then it's win-win assuming your house is tidy and pleasant.

YABU
You’re very out of touch with current prices.

How often will you need them and why do you need them? Op you have to decide what’s more important to you. Oh and sitting in someone else’s house all day isn’t exactly fun is it?

No, I’m about two hours out.

No, she’s trying to be polite, but she means you’re being cheap.

She’s saying that her services aren’t in your price range so you should look for someone that is.

she’s extremely cheap you’d be daft not to use her

I would want a lot of money to have to stay in an unfamiliar house of someone I dont know well. I don't like showering and sleeping away from home unless its somewhere like a hotel. I'd feel really uncomfortable doing it around your stuff, photos and nick nacks. Locking up at night and working out the heating and lighting and having to cook in an unfamiliar kitchen. You may have an uncomfortable sofa and a rubbish TV and an annoying streetlight outside the window...

You actually couldn't pay me enough.

£40 to walk 2 dogs at least twice, and go through the discomfort of staying at yours, and to be away from home meaning I couldn't be getting on with the washing and pottering I need to do there. It's a pittance!

She's calling you cheap, which you are. All's well that ends well.

I pay a teenager £20 a day to pop in for 10 mins x 2 a day to feed my cats and empty the litter. £40 is crazy cheap and I am in frugal Yorkshire!

No, just cheap.
What's that phrase about knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing?

OP I paid £25 per day for someone to feed my cat and check she was alive! Two visits a day.

I would expect to pay a lot more for someone who was feeding and walking two dogs and checking they are alive.

Pets are expensive.

I

Gosh that's incredibly cheap. You trust them with your home and your pets yet you're unwilling to pay them £40 a day?

No, they are saying this is the price they are charging and if it doesnt suit, find someone it does suit

I used to pay back in the 90's £15 for two hours dog walking a day - he only got an hour, he would be picked up and sat in the van whilst they picked up and dropped off another 5 dogs . £15 and that wasnt even 1 to 1 . If I needed him sat overnight at the dog walkers home - £35 - and again it wasnt a 1 to 1 service - he would take up to four dogs overnight

Im very lucky that I have a great friend who has a complete menagerie of animals , so taking mine makes no difference. She doesnt charge me a penny , but I always gift to the value of least £100 for a 3 night stay - a restaurant voucher, theatre tickets etc, plus I get free food for her alpaca's and her self every couple of days

YABU,
You've not quoted for a dog walker, youve quoted someone to take care of your dogs 24 hours a day.

£1.77 an hour, 2 dogs. YABU to be annoyed at £40 a day.

The alternative is to not get a dog sitter

I bet you really miss the family member now.

Why did they move away...? 🤔😁

@VibesCurator My daughter recently watched three cats for three weeks. She went daily and cleaned litter box and changing the litter box multiple times plus the feeding etc. They gave her $500US(371 pounds?). I thought that was a little much and I would have given her some of it back but 🤷🏻‍♀️ I guess not??

We pay £15 an hour for a group walk and £35 a day/night for the dog walker to have him. We live in the north west I’d say £40/day for 2 dogs is a steal.

No they are just politely asserting why their rates are what they are. £40 is pretty standard.