Dog Grooming Day Planner · guide

How much to charge for dog grooming: price by table hour, not breed list

Short answer: charge the table hours a groom will really occupy at the net per hour you need, plus the supplies it uses. A breed list gets the easy dogs right and the hard ones wrong, and the hard ones are where a day's money goes.

A worked example

You want to net $45 per table hour and allow 10 minutes between dogs for the clean-down and notes. A medium doodle takes 80 minutes hands-on and uses $6 of supplies. Table time is 90 minutes, 1.5 hours, so the price is 1.5 × $45 + $6 = $73.50, quoted as $74.

Now a matted cockapoo quoted at $85 that takes 150 minutes and $10 of supplies. Table time is 160 minutes, or 2.67 hours. Net is $75, which is $28.13 per table hour, well under the $45 you wanted. To hit your target it needs 2.67 × $45 + $10 = $130. The same $85 on a 60-minute dog nets far more per hour.

Choosing which dogs to take

With a waitlist the table can only hold so many minutes, and you may limit large dogs a day for your back or your tub. The Dog Grooming Day Planner takes the requests, ranks them by net per table hour, and searches every allowed combination for the set with the highest net for the day. It compares that with booking in the order requests arrived and with taking the highest price first, and for each skipped dog says what taking it would have cost. For under-target dogs it prints the price that would reach your rate, so you can requote before you accept.

What to feed it

  1. Minutes from your own history for that breed, coat and condition, drying included, not the number on a price list.
  2. Supplies per groom, if you track them; use 0 if they sit in your overhead.
  3. Turnover as the time between one dog leaving and the next starting on the table.

A target net per table hour should cover your own pay, rent, insurance, equipment and the unbooked time in your week. Work backwards from the monthly income you need and the table hours you can really sell.

Questions

How do I decide what to charge for a dog groom?

Decide the net you want per table hour, add the minutes the groom really takes and the turnover between dogs, multiply the table hours by that target and add the supplies the groom uses.

Why do matted and double-coated dogs lose money?

A breed-size price list assumes an average coat. A matted or heavy-shedding dog can take twice the minutes for a small surcharge, so the net per table hour falls well below the same price on an easy dog.

Should I take every request on a full day?

No. With fixed table minutes the dogs you take shut out others. Compare the net per table hour of each request and keep the combination that earns the most for the day.