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 session 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.

The treadmill was a grant or already paid off. Do I still enter it?

Yes, at what it will cost to replace, not what you paid in 2019. A grant bought the first one. It will not buy the second. If you type $0 the session rate assumes water therapy is a labour business. It is not.

Initial consults are longer. Should I average them in?

Type your follow-up as the current price. Initials should sit above the floor this calculator prints. If initials are half your week, raise minutes per session until the diary matches the week you actually live.

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 sessions 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 session

The treadmill is a six-figure machine. If utilisation is low, the session rate has to carry it.

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 follow-up sessionA standard hydro or physio follow-up, not the initial consult.

Your setup

Business type

Sessions per dayAn underwater treadmill is often the bottleneck. 8 to 10 paying sessions is a strong day.

Days per week

Weeks open per year

Late cancels you cannot refillA cancelled hydro slot is a tank you already heated.

Time on each job

Clinic hours per day

Minutes per sessionHands-on plus in-water time.

Notes and vet reports per session

Unpaid hours per weekReferrer relationships, case reviews, compliance, 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.

Rent and outgoingsClinical rooms are not industrial daycare rents, and they are not cheap.

InsurancePublic liability, animals in care and professional indemnity.

Water, heat, chemicals and plant serviceThe monthly cost of keeping a pool or treadmill legal and warm.

Equipment service contractTreadmill and filter servicing. Skipping this is how a $90k machine becomes scrap.

Software and phoneClinical notes, booking, imaging storage.

Referrer and owner marketingThe vet lunches and the ads. Referrals are a cost centre.

Accountant and bookkeepingMonthly equivalent.

Continuing education and membershipsThe letters after your name have a yearly bill.

Team

Therapist and assistant wages per monthOther qualified hands. Your own pay is the target. Mobile solos can type 0.

Cost of each session

Towels, chemicals share and disposables per sessionLaundry and the water you treat as used by that dog.

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.

Underwater treadmill

The machine. New units commonly land between $50k and $150k installed.

Cost

Years

Laser, PEMF and other modalities

The extras on the treatment card.

Cost

Years

Clinical fit-out

Wet rooms, floors, changing, reception.

Cost

Years

Your minimum sustainable price

$183.16

per session, to cover costs and hit your income target

You are charging $73.16 too little per sessionAt $110.00 you are short roughly $128,161 a year of take-home against your target.

Effective hourly rate

-$10.49

at your current prices

Sessions per year

1,786

37 a week after leakage

At your current prices

Annual revenue	$196,416
Card and platform fees	-$3,732
Operating costs	-$86,160
Team wages	-$102,000
Equipment reserve	-$15,571
Variable costs	-$10,714
What you actually keep	-$21,761

Profit per session

-$12.19

sessions a week to hit target

63.4

If the diary does not fill

Load	Volume	Revenue	You keep
50% of diary	893	$98,208	-$112,746
75% of diary	1,339	$147,312	-$67,254
Full diary	1,786	$196,416	-$21,761

What a price rise is worth

Change	New price	Extra per year
+$10 per session	$120.00	+$17,517
+$20 per session	$130.00	+$35,033

Same number of sessions. 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.

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How this one works

Capital recovery is not greed. A treadmill that sits at four sessions a day needs a higher rate than one that runs ten.

Heating a tank for a dog that cancelled still spent the gas. That is why late-cancel policy and the rate are the same conversation.

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 sessions you realistically complete in a year. It is general business information, not financial, tax or accounting advice. Last updated August 2026.

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