@overthethamesfromyou
£125 a night
how does anyone go on holiday with that additional cost.
My dog sitter charges £25 a night, £35 with a walk, and does the chickens for that as well
At £125 per night, the customer has someone in their home caring exclusively for their animals. In addition to getting professional pet care, they're getting their home sat in while they're away which also reduces the risk of burglary. Remember there's companies out there that offer just house sitting services (no pets included!) so with a professional pet sitter you're getting a 2 for 1 service.
The pet sitter can only sit in one client's house per night so cannot take on other work while they're there, whereas a kennels can have 30 or 40 dogs from different households in one go so therefore the cost is significantly less.
It makes me sad that our industry is the only one expected to work for a pittance. £35 for 24 hour care is not even £1.50 per hour. Minimum wage is £8.91. I'm pretty sure most customers wouldn't go to work for 7 quid an hour less than the minimum wage!
Sadly the industry is also completely unregulated (only home boarders and kennels/catteries have to have a licence from the local authority) and people often pick it up as a "hobby" alongside their day job, hence, the shockingly low prices offered by many pet sitters.
From a business point of view, I hate the overnights as they don't make financial sense. Yet customers expect a pet sitting company to offer them so we have to have them listed as a service but price them accordingly so that a) my staff are still paid legally and fairly, and b) the business isn't out of pocket.