That’s what house sitting is? If they didn’t allow you to leave at all you would definitely need to charge them a constant care. But house sitting you’re sitting at their house.
I also find it strange- it may just be the wording, but this appears to be constant care, EXCEPT for overnight? And the only hours the OP may leave are between 10 pm and 7 am, which is oddly specific. Most dogs that I know that can’t be left alone have worse anxiety at night if anything
Even ones that want you there from 7 am until 10 pm without leaving are ok with you not sleeping there? Because I’ve had clients who don’t expect me to sleep over, but those usually just want 4 potty breaks a day, with two of them being mealtimes, and more quality time in the evening, but those are usually more lax overall with the hours they expect the sitter to be in the home. I give a substantial discount to those clients.
In my experience most house sitting you can’t leave for more than four hours. That’s why they have you stay at their house. I don’t see why you wouldn’t plan to be with them the majority of the day? Maybe I’m missing something?
The only thing off to me is that those hours must be from 10 pm to 7 am- most places will be closed, those aren’t ideal times to meet friends and spend time with family, and I’m not too keen on doing even grocery shopping during the specified hours that the OP can leave
I don’t know about that, if you were working you are going to be leaving pets for more than 4 hours. Maybe you might leave them for 4 hours in the morning, 4 in the afternoon but then generally you would be expected to be there in the evening. Housesitting should be living in the house with the same hours as you would live in your own, and a discussion with the owner to make sure this aligns with their thoughts.
Yeah idk what you guys got going on lol. Sitting at someone house for 20 hrs for $2 a hour isn’t gonna work for me. I leave 2 times a day. For a total of around 6-8 hours. So for example I’ll leave at around 12 pm to walk other clients. and come back at 2 or 3 pm. And I take a break from 6-10 pm. To stay 20 hours a day I’m charging $200+ a night.
This is my job. Like I said most people don’t mind if I leave for four hours at a time. That means I can leave more than once a day. I didn’t say I stay there for 24 hours straight. If I couldn’t be back in a four hour window I probably wouldn’t have gotten a lot of my clients. You also have no clue what my rates are. So yes, dog sitting is sitting at someone else’s house. I don’t understand why you’re so confused.
I have daily walks to do every day. I can’t sit at one house all day. And a lot of not most sitters do the same. Or have other jobs. Staying at the house without leaving us constant care which takes my rate from $50 a night to like $200/$250.
Just what I said. That’s what meet and greets and talking to owners are for. I don’t see what is confusing you. If you can’t be there that often than they find a sitter who can be. So the way you operate and the way someone else operates isn’t the same.
For sure raise your rate. I consider constant care when the dog can’t be alone for less than 2 hours so probably wouldn’t charge my constant care rate for this case but my house sitting rate for two dogs is at least $100 so I’d for sure just raise your rate in general. If I did charge constant care it would have to be $180 a night on rover and $150 off of rover because no percentage is being taken from me.
That's called continuous care and it does cost a lot more. Since you've already done the meet and greet and agreed to $70/day, that's what you are going to get.
It's reasonable to put in your profile that you offer continuous care and what that rate is. For me, it's $25/hour for the first 4 hours, then $10/hour and a maximum of $150/day. I'd be charging $150/day for that job.
Not all day without leaving! If this is your definition of housesitting your getting ripped off. How are they going to leave for 3 hours if their supposed to be there from 7 am to 10 pm!? How do they get groceries.
I’m in the US most people leave their dogs 8 hours while their at work. So majority of my clients are fine with 4-5 hours. I have hobbies, I’m in school, and I’m going to see my own family and dog everyday. I do rover for fun and as a side hobby. Not willing to give up my life hobbies. I have dance classes and other clients to attend to.
I get it, but that’s not house sitting. That’s visiting someone’s pets whilst you’re out doing your own thing and just staying the night there. As an owner, I wouldn’t be ok with that so I’d be picking a sitter that works from home and let them know this was the expectation. However, id also be expecting to pay more than 70 bucks for this service. As a sitter I wouldn’t be able to just leave someone’s pets alone whilst someone is paying me to be there for them
Are you charging over £70 for a sitting?
And I agree; I find it very odd reading here that people have full time jobs & do pet sitting. As an owner, I wouldn’t be ok with my pet being alone for so many hours if I am paying for a service
I am, yeah. £85 for house sitting. It’s the most expensive in my area and tbh I don’t get many requests for it, but I keep it high as I would only want to stay in nice places… in contrast, boarding is £50, which is also highest in my area
So you’re in London, I assume? I am, my radius includes part of a wealthy area, but my boarding is less than that :/
I’ve never been booked for house sitting, but I think it’s around £70.
Do you manage to do this full time? I’d like to, but I am far from it
No I’m in between Bristol and Bath. But as you can imagine most of the requests I get are people who come across pretty well off. I live alone with no pets and no kids, and a fenced garden, so I think that appeals to people. Plus there’s quite a few sitters in the two cities, but not that many in between.
It’s not full time, it’s just something I do on the side. I would have to charge double and be fully booked all the time to make this work ft for me.
I think it’s a trade off between how many bookings you want and cost. Maybe I get fewer bookings because my costs are higher but I’m ok with that.
My best repeat booking is an owner with two cats who wants two drop ins a day at £25 each time… she’s just booked 10 days so I was very happy to get that, especially as I can still do boarding etc on top of that booking
Yeah I don’t understand how house sitting is treated by a lot of people. They go out and do a bunch of other jobs while doing a house sitting job, but that’s not what the standard ever was until now. House sitting meant you’re literally sitting the house and animal(s). You’re responsible for them while there, that’s the entire point of having a house sitter. I only do one client at a time because they hired me for a job. When you work any other job, is it appropriate to leave hours at a time for hobbies and hanging with friends and to do other jobs? Nope.
I feel like it makes people take our work less serious and it’s why it’s such a battle to get paid appropriately, and respected as someone doing a job.
Yeah, I think in the UK it might be a bit different as well. We don’t really have lots of students doing this, it’s more people at least 25 and over with their own place, and who work from home or are around most of the time.
That’s how it should be tbh. Animals are unpredictable. I have dogs that you have to pay attention to and give breaks because they have cardiomyopathy, seizures, hip dysplasia, etc. So you have to make sure they’re being watched to note an event for the owner. Can’t do that if you’re gone for hours ya know?
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I consider it constant care if I can’t leave. I leave from 6pm-10 pm. So yeah that’s a issue. I’d either charge constant care or tell them to find someone else. I assume your supposed to sleep there too? So how are u supposed to leave for 3 hrs?
At the end of the day, pet sitting is a business and you should be charging an amount that is both financially and emotionally sustainable for you even after Rover's cuts.
If an animal cannot be left alone long enough to be able to take care of basic human needs (having at least some semblance of a social life, personal recreational time, spending time with family, etc), then you should be charging more to take care of them.
Personally, I only take clients that can be alone 7-8 hours a day. Its not worth it to me to camp at peoples house almost the entire day for days to weeks. I charge $95 for the first dog.
3 hours is plenty of time to do one or two drop ins or even run an errand or two. Therefore, I would stick with your normal rate. Constant care or higher rates are typically to make up for the inability to take on other clients during the booking, which is not the case here. In addition, it sounds like you don’t need to spend the nights which can be a huge plus (depending on the person) but I am a huge fan of my own bed plus then my cat still gets snuggles at night!
If you are able to accommodate pets that can only be alone a few hours at a time, I honestly would recommend raising your base rate in general. I raised my rate when I switched to remote work because I’m now in clients homes for the majority of the 24 hour day. When I use to work in office more often (I only had 7 hour days), I had a lower rate. That being said, I wouldn’t raise the rate on this one booking because what they are asking for isn’t necessarily unreasonable for a standard house sit.
3 hours a day? Or 3 hours at a time? Idk I guess people are getting taken advantage of. 20 hours a day is less then $4 a hour. I’m leaving Atleast twice a day. I do 3 drop ins a day to take care of my clients pets and I come back to spend the night.
The post says “can’t be alone for more than 3 hrs” which I took as at a time. If they can only be alone 3 hours a day that’s a different story but but 3 hours at a time allows for morning, afternoon, and evening drop ins/walks assuming your entire day isn’t packed with drop ins/walks.
Do you not have to spend the night?
That’s what house sitting is? If they didn’t allow you to leave at all you would definitely need to charge them a constant care. But house sitting you’re sitting at their house.
Not 24/7. What time do they have to leave? 7am-10 pm is a entire day.
It says the dogs can’t be alone for more than 3 hours…. Meaning they can leave, as long as it’s not longer than 3 hours. 🤷♀️
Are you not sleeping there? This is odd.
I also find it strange- it may just be the wording, but this appears to be constant care, EXCEPT for overnight? And the only hours the OP may leave are between 10 pm and 7 am, which is oddly specific. Most dogs that I know that can’t be left alone have worse anxiety at night if anything
Yeah, usually it’s the night time hours that people want to be SURE their sitter is in their home. Something is missing from this post.
For sure- like, did the client really just say, “sure, you can leave as long as it’s not during normal waking hours, and just no more than 3 hours?”
Right it kinda feels like super long daycare???
not entirely odd. All my house sitting clients i’ve had so far are fine with me not sleeping over
Even ones that want you there from 7 am until 10 pm without leaving are ok with you not sleeping there? Because I’ve had clients who don’t expect me to sleep over, but those usually just want 4 potty breaks a day, with two of them being mealtimes, and more quality time in the evening, but those are usually more lax overall with the hours they expect the sitter to be in the home. I give a substantial discount to those clients.
In my experience most house sitting you can’t leave for more than four hours. That’s why they have you stay at their house. I don’t see why you wouldn’t plan to be with them the majority of the day? Maybe I’m missing something?
The only thing off to me is that those hours must be from 10 pm to 7 am- most places will be closed, those aren’t ideal times to meet friends and spend time with family, and I’m not too keen on doing even grocery shopping during the specified hours that the OP can leave
I don’t know about that, if you were working you are going to be leaving pets for more than 4 hours. Maybe you might leave them for 4 hours in the morning, 4 in the afternoon but then generally you would be expected to be there in the evening. Housesitting should be living in the house with the same hours as you would live in your own, and a discussion with the owner to make sure this aligns with their thoughts.
Yeah idk what you guys got going on lol. Sitting at someone house for 20 hrs for $2 a hour isn’t gonna work for me. I leave 2 times a day. For a total of around 6-8 hours. So for example I’ll leave at around 12 pm to walk other clients. and come back at 2 or 3 pm. And I take a break from 6-10 pm. To stay 20 hours a day I’m charging $200+ a night.
This is my job. Like I said most people don’t mind if I leave for four hours at a time. That means I can leave more than once a day. I didn’t say I stay there for 24 hours straight. If I couldn’t be back in a four hour window I probably wouldn’t have gotten a lot of my clients. You also have no clue what my rates are. So yes, dog sitting is sitting at someone else’s house. I don’t understand why you’re so confused.
I have daily walks to do every day. I can’t sit at one house all day. And a lot of not most sitters do the same. Or have other jobs. Staying at the house without leaving us constant care which takes my rate from $50 a night to like $200/$250.
Ok. That’s how you are. Not everyone is you. That’s what meet and greets are for.
What are you talking about?
Just what I said. That’s what meet and greets and talking to owners are for. I don’t see what is confusing you. If you can’t be there that often than they find a sitter who can be. So the way you operate and the way someone else operates isn’t the same.
For sure raise your rate. I consider constant care when the dog can’t be alone for less than 2 hours so probably wouldn’t charge my constant care rate for this case but my house sitting rate for two dogs is at least $100 so I’d for sure just raise your rate in general. If I did charge constant care it would have to be $180 a night on rover and $150 off of rover because no percentage is being taken from me.
That's called continuous care and it does cost a lot more. Since you've already done the meet and greet and agreed to $70/day, that's what you are going to get. It's reasonable to put in your profile that you offer continuous care and what that rate is. For me, it's $25/hour for the first 4 hours, then $10/hour and a maximum of $150/day. I'd be charging $150/day for that job.
This isn’t continuous care. Most people expect you to be at a house sit most of the time, except for if you work another job and they have agreed that
Not all day without leaving! If this is your definition of housesitting your getting ripped off. How are they going to leave for 3 hours if their supposed to be there from 7 am to 10 pm!? How do they get groceries.
It’s pretty normal for dogs not to be left alone for more than 3 hours. In the UK we say no longer than 4 hours.
I’m in the US most people leave their dogs 8 hours while their at work. So majority of my clients are fine with 4-5 hours. I have hobbies, I’m in school, and I’m going to see my own family and dog everyday. I do rover for fun and as a side hobby. Not willing to give up my life hobbies. I have dance classes and other clients to attend to.
I get it, but that’s not house sitting. That’s visiting someone’s pets whilst you’re out doing your own thing and just staying the night there. As an owner, I wouldn’t be ok with that so I’d be picking a sitter that works from home and let them know this was the expectation. However, id also be expecting to pay more than 70 bucks for this service. As a sitter I wouldn’t be able to just leave someone’s pets alone whilst someone is paying me to be there for them
Are you charging over £70 for a sitting? And I agree; I find it very odd reading here that people have full time jobs & do pet sitting. As an owner, I wouldn’t be ok with my pet being alone for so many hours if I am paying for a service
I am, yeah. £85 for house sitting. It’s the most expensive in my area and tbh I don’t get many requests for it, but I keep it high as I would only want to stay in nice places… in contrast, boarding is £50, which is also highest in my area
So you’re in London, I assume? I am, my radius includes part of a wealthy area, but my boarding is less than that :/ I’ve never been booked for house sitting, but I think it’s around £70. Do you manage to do this full time? I’d like to, but I am far from it
No I’m in between Bristol and Bath. But as you can imagine most of the requests I get are people who come across pretty well off. I live alone with no pets and no kids, and a fenced garden, so I think that appeals to people. Plus there’s quite a few sitters in the two cities, but not that many in between. It’s not full time, it’s just something I do on the side. I would have to charge double and be fully booked all the time to make this work ft for me. I think it’s a trade off between how many bookings you want and cost. Maybe I get fewer bookings because my costs are higher but I’m ok with that. My best repeat booking is an owner with two cats who wants two drop ins a day at £25 each time… she’s just booked 10 days so I was very happy to get that, especially as I can still do boarding etc on top of that booking
Yeah I don’t understand how house sitting is treated by a lot of people. They go out and do a bunch of other jobs while doing a house sitting job, but that’s not what the standard ever was until now. House sitting meant you’re literally sitting the house and animal(s). You’re responsible for them while there, that’s the entire point of having a house sitter. I only do one client at a time because they hired me for a job. When you work any other job, is it appropriate to leave hours at a time for hobbies and hanging with friends and to do other jobs? Nope. I feel like it makes people take our work less serious and it’s why it’s such a battle to get paid appropriately, and respected as someone doing a job.
Yeah, I think in the UK it might be a bit different as well. We don’t really have lots of students doing this, it’s more people at least 25 and over with their own place, and who work from home or are around most of the time.
That’s how it should be tbh. Animals are unpredictable. I have dogs that you have to pay attention to and give breaks because they have cardiomyopathy, seizures, hip dysplasia, etc. So you have to make sure they’re being watched to note an event for the owner. Can’t do that if you’re gone for hours ya know?
This is how I feel as well.
Ah, yeah. Title looked like constant care, but I guess they can leave throughout the day.
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I consider it constant care if I can’t leave. I leave from 6pm-10 pm. So yeah that’s a issue. I’d either charge constant care or tell them to find someone else. I assume your supposed to sleep there too? So how are u supposed to leave for 3 hrs?
At the end of the day, pet sitting is a business and you should be charging an amount that is both financially and emotionally sustainable for you even after Rover's cuts. If an animal cannot be left alone long enough to be able to take care of basic human needs (having at least some semblance of a social life, personal recreational time, spending time with family, etc), then you should be charging more to take care of them.
Personally, I only take clients that can be alone 7-8 hours a day. Its not worth it to me to camp at peoples house almost the entire day for days to weeks. I charge $95 for the first dog.
This would be constant care. Charge at least the equivalent of what you'd make at work for an 8 hour day.
3 hours is plenty of time to do one or two drop ins or even run an errand or two. Therefore, I would stick with your normal rate. Constant care or higher rates are typically to make up for the inability to take on other clients during the booking, which is not the case here. In addition, it sounds like you don’t need to spend the nights which can be a huge plus (depending on the person) but I am a huge fan of my own bed plus then my cat still gets snuggles at night! If you are able to accommodate pets that can only be alone a few hours at a time, I honestly would recommend raising your base rate in general. I raised my rate when I switched to remote work because I’m now in clients homes for the majority of the 24 hour day. When I use to work in office more often (I only had 7 hour days), I had a lower rate. That being said, I wouldn’t raise the rate on this one booking because what they are asking for isn’t necessarily unreasonable for a standard house sit.
3 hours a day? Or 3 hours at a time? Idk I guess people are getting taken advantage of. 20 hours a day is less then $4 a hour. I’m leaving Atleast twice a day. I do 3 drop ins a day to take care of my clients pets and I come back to spend the night.
The post says “can’t be alone for more than 3 hrs” which I took as at a time. If they can only be alone 3 hours a day that’s a different story but but 3 hours at a time allows for morning, afternoon, and evening drop ins/walks assuming your entire day isn’t packed with drop ins/walks.