Why not just charge what everyone else charges?

A published market rate does not know your rent, your award wages or the van you still owe money on. Two businesses can charge the same visit and one of them is losing money. Use the price index to see the market, then use this calculator to see whether that market rate actually pays you.

How should a house sit be entered?

Switch to house sit, set visits per day to 1, put the nightly fee in the price, and drop travel to 0. The minutes field is the awake work, not the 24 hours you are in the house. If you want to be paid for sleeping there, raise the nightly fee until the hourly rate on the right looks like a job.

Meet-and-greets are free. Should I count them?

Yes, in unpaid weekly hours. A week with four new meets can eat an evening. Free meet-and-greets are marketing. Marketing is a cost.

Why does worn-out equipment sit in the price?

Because you will buy it again. Spreading the cost over its useful life is a replacement reserve, not a depreciation lecture. If you skip it, the next dryer, treadmill or fence comes out of the pay you thought you were taking home.

Are these figures GST inclusive?

They are whatever you type. Use the same basis on every line. If your prices include GST, enter costs the way they hit your account. Mixing a GST-inclusive price with GST-exclusive costs will understate the gap.

Is this financial advice?

No. Every figure comes from the numbers you typed. The minimum price is the point where your visits cover operating costs, the equipment reserve, card fees and the pay you said you wanted. It is a planning tool, not tax, accounting or financial advice.

What you need to charge per visit

Drop-ins look cheap until you count the car, the keys and the gaps between houses.

Start here. Your target

What you want to earn per yearWhat the business should pay you, before tax. Super is added on the next line.

Super on that pay12% is the Australian guarantee if you pay yourself a wage. Sole traders still need to put this aside.

What you charge now per visit or nightA 30-minute drop-in is the usual unit. House sits should be the nightly fee.

Your setup

Business type

Visits or sits per dayDrop-ins can be 8 to 12. A house sit is usually 1.

Days per weekSitting is a seven-day trade more often than walking is.

Weeks worked per year

Visits cancelled and not refilled

Time on each job

Hours in the working day

Minutes in the home30 for a drop-in. Overnight sitters can type the awake hours they actually work.

Updates and admin per visitPhotos, notes, key logs.

Travel minutes per visitType 0 for a house sit where you stay put.

Unpaid hours per weekMeet-and-greets, key collection, routing, marketing.

Operating costs

Monthly lines are what you pay whether a customer turns up or not. Annual bills (permits, CPD) are labelled in the hint.

InsurancePublic liability and animals in care. Keyholder risk is the point of this policy.

Car repayment or leaseIf drop-ins pay for the car, the repayment belongs here.

Software and phoneVisit reports, GPS, keys register, phone.

MarketingDirectories and the meet-and-greets that go nowhere.

Accountant and bookkeepingMonthly equivalent.

Team

Sitter wages per monthOther sitters. Most independents leave this at 0.

Cost of each visit

Consumables per visitBags, wipes, the odd emergency treat. Not the owner's food.

Vehicle cost per drop-inFuel and wear between houses.

Card and platform feesStripe, Square, Tyro and any booking-platform cut. Typically 1.6 to 2.2%.

% of sales

Equipment you will have to replace

Cost spread over useful life becomes a yearly reserve, then a slice of the price. Type $0 if you truly will not replace it.

Lockboxes and key gear

The unglamorous kit that loses you a client when it fails.

Cost

Years

Car you will replace

Drop-in businesses are car businesses.

Cost

Years

First-aid and emergency kit

Per-car or per-sitter kit.

Cost

Years

Phone you replace

Business handset.

Cost

Years

Your minimum sustainable price

$40.96

per visit, to cover costs and hit your income target

You are charging $5.96 too little per visitAt $35.00 you are short roughly $12,798 a year of take-home against your target.

Effective hourly rate

$26.98

at your current prices

Visits per year

2,189

46 a week after leakage

At your current prices

Annual revenue	$76,608
Card and platform fees	-$1,456
Operating costs	-$8,160
Equipment reserve	-$3,617
Variable costs	-$8,974
What you actually keep	$54,402

Profit per visit

$24.85

visits a week to hit target

54.4

If the diary does not fill

Load	Volume	Revenue	You keep
50% of diary	1,094	$38,304	$21,313
75% of diary	1,642	$57,456	$37,857
Full diary	2,189	$76,608	$54,402

What a price rise is worth

Change	New price	Extra per year
+$5 per visit	$40.00	+$10,736
+$10 per visit	$45.00	+$21,472

Same number of visits. Demand is usually less price-sensitive than owners expect, but test a rise on new clients before applying it across the book.

Then run the diary

Petboost is the software this calculator came from. Bookings, occupancy, packages and the record of what you actually charged.

Book a demo

Pet sitting software · What the market charges

How this one works

Eight drop-ins with 12 minutes of driving is not four hours of work. It is closer to six, plus the meet-and-greets you did for free to win the week.

A house sit priced like a drop-in will pay you for one visit and buy the owner 16 hours of presence.

Every figure comes from the numbers you entered. The minimum is the point at which revenue covers operating costs, team wages, the equipment reserve, card fees and the pay you said you wanted, across the visits you realistically complete in a year. It is general business information, not financial, tax or accounting advice. Last updated August 2026.

All nine calculators · Pet sitting prices by country · Pet sitting software