Full-time Housecalls?

[daiz]

Is there anyone here who does housecall grooming as their full time job? Im wondering of there are enough people out there who would want grooming in their home? I would love to strictly do housecalls and work for myself! I have a couple clients I do in-joke but am not sure my entire book would want me doing it in their homes. You know? I would only need 3 dogs a day!

[Debbiedogs]

Some here do housecall as their only job, I believe.

I'll check back and see if any have responded.

[daiz]

Thanks Debbie. Wow my auto correct did a number on my original post. Haha! Oh man...

[JoyceVallee]

I do it full-time. There are more than enough people who will be glad to have you do their pets in their homes. I started last May 2011 and have about 160 customers. Unfortunately I had to take a 5 month medical leave and restart in Feb 2012. I am now getting lots of repeat customers and many new ones. I have a web page, advertise on Kijiji and our local papers. I get the most business from my newspaper ad, just posted under pets in the classifieds. I get more than I can handle but make sure to schedule a few days off here and there. The most I do in a day is 6 but average 3 to 4 which is fine for me. I usually try and schedule them in the same neighbourhoods to reduce the driving times. You meet some really nice people this way, and out of all the jobs I've done there was only two that went kind of flat.

[Emma123]

Do you live in an urban, suburban or rural area?
If you are planning on doing this on the books (which I hope you are), just remember that taxes would need to be paid on your earnings. So even though 3 dogs may get you the cash you need, to be able to cover expenses like taxes, equipment maintenance, continuing education, savings, 2 week vacation, you may want to aim for more clients.

[Trails & Tails]

Do you live in an urban, suburban or rural area?
If you are planning on doing this on the books (which I hope you are), just remember that taxes would need to be paid on your earnings. So even though 3 dogs may get you the cash you need, to be able to cover expenses like taxes, equipment maintenance, continuing education, savings, 2 week vacation, you may want to aim for more clients.

I completely agree with Emma123, You should definitely report your earnings and try to aim for more clients. Having a good business plan and proper financing is key to making this a successful business and provide an income for you. If you want to make this more than a hobby and make a living I would recommend following Emma123's advice. Don't take this the wrong way, I am not saying that grooming is a hobby to you, but grooming is a skilled profession that deserves professional pay as well for your hard work. I wish you luck

[fireislandmuffin]

Yes, I do house-call grooming full-time. And there is a forum for house-call dog groomers here on petgroomer.com and I believe most of the people who post there are doing it full-time.

If you are in a densely populated area it should be simple to figure out if you can get enough clients to do it full-time. I do house-calls in NYC which is densely populated so I knew the dogs were here. But even when I was mobile in the suburbs, there were house-call groomers as well as the mobile grooming vans that were in the area and there were plenty of shops too. Plenty of dogs to go around.

Just think of house-call as a premium service - better than taking the dog to a salon - at least for some people. So if there are enough dogs for the salons there will be enough dogs for your house-call service. There are people who can't get out of the house easily - seniors, people with babies, disabled, non-drivers. There are wealthy people who have staff for everything (nanny, housekeeper, etc) who would love a house-call groomer. There are people who just like to see what their little baby has to go through to look so beautiful. There are busy people who would love for you to come while they are at work and then they just come home to a clean, pretty doggie. There are many people who worry what might happen to their dog while the dog is at a salon.

Your challenge will be how to market your service. If you are traveling by car you can put one of those magnets on your car door and bumper so that people see your business information while you are driving and while you are parked at clients' homes. And there's the internet and flyers and lots of other ideas... but that's another topic. There are many free and low-cost ways to market your business.

[fantasticpoodle]

I know this is not really your original topic here, but I am really curious as how you handle safety doing house-calls. If you are going to someones home alone and you dont know them....aren't you afraid? There's alot of weirdos out there.

[fireislandmuffin]

no, I'm not afraid.

[plaidjaguar]

I know this is not really your original topic here, but I am really curious as how you handle safety doing house-calls. If you are going to someones home alone and you dont know them....aren't you afraid? There's alot of weirdos out there.

You'd be surprised how few weirdos there actually are. It's just like plane crashes--it seems like they happen a lot because its all over the media when it does, but in reality the precise reason it's all over the news is because it's rare.
You're statistically MUCH more likely to get injured in a car wreck on the way to someone's house than to actually have something bad happen while you're there.

[fantasticpoodle]

LOL you sound just like my husband...tells me I watch too much CSI....my teenage girls call me the "Safety Queen"...

[gitl]

I agree with my friend, fireislandmuffin. I, too, am a NYC housecall groomer and I've never had a problem finding clients. I don't advertise, as all my clients are referrals, and the majority of my clients like housecall because of those reasons stated by fireislandmuffin.