Set prices from your own numbers, not from someone else’s. Choose the gross rate you want a field hour to earn. Count the minutes a visit really takes, driving included. Then the minimum visit price is target hourly rate × total minutes ÷ 60. Price biweekly service from the extra time it actually takes, give the first cleanup its own time-based floor, and test the result on your next 10–20 real quotes.
A new enquiry just asked the question you cannot dodge: “how much?” The number you type now is one you will live with for a long time, because raising it later is harder than starting right. This article gives you a way to calculate that number — and then a few labelled examples to sanity-check it against.
Start from your hour, not from someone else's price#
Every pricing question in this business reduces to one number: what you want an hour of your field time to earn, before costs. That is your target gross field-hour rate — gross because fuel, supplies, card fees and taxes still come out of it. It is not profit. It is the dial that turns minutes into prices.
Pick it deliberately. If you want the business to pay you like a skilled trade, the target is higher than if you are testing an idea on weekends. $60 an hour is used in the examples below — it is an input, not a recommendation.
Price a weekly visit in two steps#
Step one: count the real minutes. Time on the yard, plus the driving this customer adds to your route, there and back. How to count added route time is here — it matters, because a yard on your path and a yard across town are different products.
Step two: turn minutes into a floor. Minimum visit price = target rate × total minutes ÷ 60. Say a visit takes 10 minutes of scooping and adds 5 of driving — example numbers, use your own:
| Your target gross field-hour rate | Floor for a 15-minute stop |
|---|---|
| $60 an hour | $15 |
| $80 an hour | $20 |
| $100 an hour | $25 |
The floor is not the quote — it is the line below which the customer makes your route worse. Quote at or above it, and let the market answer. More dogs or a bigger yard simply means more minutes, and the same formula prices them; time a few multi-dog visits rather than guessing a flat add-on.
Biweekly: price the time, not a multiplier#
Every-other-week visits carry two weeks of accumulation, so they take longer — but how much longer is a fact about your yards, not a universal ratio. Time a few: if a 10-minute weekly yard runs 16 minutes biweekly, then at a $60 target with 5 minutes of driving the visit prices at $21, not half your weekly rate. Whatever your numbers are, the method is the same: real minutes through the same formula.
The first cleanup: a time floor and a photo rule#
A yard that sat all winter is a different job from a maintained one, and you will not know which you got until the gate opens. So the first cleanup gets its own price, built the same way: decide the minimum time you must reserve for an unknown yard, and charge for it. First-cleanup floor = reserved minutes × target rate ÷ 60. Reserve 45 minutes at a $60 target and the floor is $45; reserve an hour and it is $60.
On the quote form, ask when the yard was last cleaned and price in bands above that floor: under two weeks, about a month, longer. And keep one rule for the surprises: if the yard is materially worse than described, send a photo and get approval for the revised price before you start. Not an argument after.
That first visit is also your best sales moment — here is how it becomes a weekly customer.
Examples we found, for a reality check#
After you have calculated your own number, it is fair to ask what others charge. The operator discussions we studied included weekly-price examples around $22–$30 in one Chattanooga discussion, and monthly-ticket examples around $85–$100 from a few operator self-reports elsewhere, geography unspecified. These are starting references, not a market rate. Your route time, dog count, yard condition, service frequency and local competition determine your number.
If your calculated floor lands far outside figures like these, that is worth a second look at your inputs — in either direction.
Test it on the next 10–20 quotes#
Prices are hypotheses until real enquiries answer them. Hold your new numbers steady for a defined sample — the next 10 to 20 qualified quotes — then read the result. A very high acceptance rate can be one signal that you have room to test a higher price. A very low one says check your reply speed and quote experience first, because those lose more customers than a few dollars do. A visible starting price on your website helps customers compare and self-qualify — here is how the quote form shows it.
Raising prices on an existing route#
Start where there is no risk: new customers. Every new quote gets the new price from today, and nobody you currently serve is affected.
Then look at existing yards, lowest per-minute first. A short note works better than a long apology: new price in 30 days, thank you for being a customer.
Will some leave? Possibly. Run the arithmetic before you fear it. Raising from $21 to $24, you can lose one customer in eight and still collect the same gross revenue — from a shorter day. That is a gross-revenue break-even, not profit, but it turns the decision from a gamble into a trade you chose. The same arithmetic works at the low end: at $15 a visit you need 60% more customers than at $24 for the same gross.
- Pick your target gross field-hour rate.
- Time a normal visit and its added driving; calculate your weekly floor.
- Time a biweekly yard; price it from its real minutes.
- Set a first-cleanup time floor, condition bands, and the photo re-approval rule.
- Put a starting price on your website, and hold steady for the next 10–20 quotes.
Should I show prices on my website?
Yes, at least a starting price. A visible starting price helps customers compare and self-qualify, and it filters out the enquiries that were never going to book. If your price varies, show a range and let your quote form narrow it.
Should I quote by the hour instead?
Calculate from your hour privately, but quote per visit. Customers cannot compare hourly prices, and hourly billing punishes you for getting faster. With a per-visit price, your speed becomes margin.
Cash, check or card?
Card on file, charged automatically. Chasing checks is unpaid admin. In the discussions we studied, one customer described leaving a service over cash-only payment — a single account, but payment friction is real friction.
Should I charge more to haul waste away?
If you offer it at all, yes. Bagging into the customer's own bin usually adds little direct cost compared with hauling waste away, which costs truck space, smell and disposal rules — that is why many operators simply don't offer haul-away for homes.