Not an easy question to answer as it usually leads to several other questions~ one doesn’t fit all and pet sitting isn’t like PET SITTING, ya know.
What and who are YOU looking for and have in mind when searching for a pet sitter online,
what are your first priorities?
A. I tried to board but all kennels in town are already full so I have no other choice as to go with a pet sitter
B. I just need someone to stop by and feed my pets
C. I can’t see my pets being caged at the boarding kennel, I want them comfortably home
D. My cats would be traumatized when being taken somewhere
E. I need care for my pets as cheap as anyhow possible
F. I had pet sitters before, for me the only way to go and the price is secondary
G. I just heard of pet sitters and now I’m curious about this type of pet care
The list could probably go on and on and on
The Various Call Mentalities
When receiving phone calls from interested pet owners, many of the calls start with [no, not a ‘Hi, my name is……, I’m interested in…..], the introduction is “Hi, how much do you charge per day?” and we can almost tell that those callers are to say better off with engaging Craigslist or care.com for inexpensive sole operating private pet sitters who might even be happy to negotiate the price to get ‘a gig’ over someone else. ~~~~Those are B. and E. calls mostly
Then other calls begin with “I want to board my dog for 3 days….how much is it?” … humm.. “I’m sorry Sir, we are not a boarding facility, we provide pet care in the comfort of your own home” … oh, okay [click] ….. [umm…you too have a nice day ] ~~~~ B. and E. and maybe A. might apply to those
C., D. and F’s we love, as the callers which have already utilized the information on our website, know of what we are doing and it often leads to a pleasant and casual friendly phone conversation and usually our free initial consultation lined up for the next couple of days where we can sit in person and chat about what we cherish the most, our pets and it is obvious at first talk, that the priorities are set to that priority is the HOW care is for the pets.
G.’s are fun to talk to too as there is sincere interest in what we do and how pet sitting at home works and being a great alternative with all it’s additional bells and whistles which sets it apart from kenneling, understanding that it cannot necessarily be compared to boarding a pet as our care includes the home as well.
So those are 2 motives for calling a pet sitter or professional pet sitting company~
- the pet as first priority
- the price as first priority
In consideration should also be what you expect from a service like that as it is most definitely and indeed not the cheapest service out there as long as you can’t negotiate with someone from above mentioned websites.
What Comes With Price~ You Get What You Pay For?
Prices reflect overhead costs a company has in it’s daily operations like insurance and bond, scheduling and other systems in place for it’s clients convenience and security.
A professional company like EaseMyMind is actually an employer of a staff of employees so has employment taxes, workers compensation and else to add to the overhead costs which definitely make it more pricey compared to a single operating pet sitter but with the advantage that a professional company with staff can guarantee a backup system when a pet sitter falls out due to illness or accidents versus most sole pet sitter most likely not having a backup plan in place.
Overall a professional pet sitting company runs more sophisticated and serious as a full time service with policies, procedures and employee manuals in place and developed from years of experience, versus offering pet sitting on the side in some spare time.
Though the overall perspective is oh, how cute and easy is it to play with dogs and cats all day but it is actually serious business to care for the various pets and clients homes and no place and no care routine alike!
—> good read: ‘Why I Should Hire A Professional Pet Sitting Company‘
Some Other Things To Consider
Depending on the pet sitter or the pet sitting company, other specifications might be reflecting in price as well as there is
- number of pets in a household
- client’s home location~ within or how far outside of pet sitter’s service area
- are there any medication administration involved
With EaseMyMind those specifications are all included and don’t cost extra but some other companies and sole operating pet sitters may have a different and more complex pricing structure.
Length Of A Pet Sit Visit Is Also Defining The Pricing
To define a pet sit visit by it’s length of time is a common procedure in the pet sitting industry to give the client options to choose from short to extended to long visits depending on the number of pets in a client’s household, their special needs and the client’s preference in how much time he wishes for the pet sitter to allot to his beloved pets. Here again it reflects in pricing.
The National Average
The national average lies at $25 per average pet sit visit but again, it depends on location (state, city), the criteria above and the specifications of each pet sitter and pet sitting company.
