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How much do you pay your house/pet sitter while away?

mdurette

mdurette

Sighting Expert & TUG Review Crew: Expert
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My 25 cousin house/pet sits for us. She usually is here at least twice per day and also spends the night most of the time. She lives about 20 minutes away. I'm up to $40 per night. They are indoor/outdoor, but are in for the night once they eat dinner.
 
Seems very reasonable. We pay $15/day to kennel 25# IzzyBear. He's been staying there since he was a pup- and his predecessor before him. He has his own 'bedroom' (crate with blankets) and goes out to play with other like-size dogs at least 3 times a day plus all meals and snacks. When we drop him off there he wags all over and can hardly wait to go play. It's just a second home for him.
 
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Our nephew stays at our house while we’re gone and takes care of our pets. We pay him $35 a day and leave plenty of prepared meals for him.


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We paid our long time housekeeper $25 a day and she stayed here. She retired early this year, and the new person wanted $50 day to come morning and early evening. We used her all summer, then she took fall off to be available for her first grand baby. Next person we found asked for $25 for feeding cats twice a day. I like the price, but she was not washing morning cat dishes (wet food in morning, dry available all day, make sure the dry bowl is full in the evening). Plan to use that gal again in Feb, but leave her a note to soak wet dish over night.
 
Maybe there are regional/city differences. We pay $100/day for someone to stay with our 3 large dogs. This includes walks, play time and sleeping at our house.
 
$20 for college kid who lives in neighborhood to stop by for 20 minutes. minimum of $50 for overnight stay.
 
We currently have 1 dog and 2 cats. We have had up to two of each. For 15 years we have been paying $25 per day. The House/Pet Sitter moves into our House.
 
My retired sister likes to stay at our house, enjoys taking care of our two smaller dogs, (one of which is special needs, and can't be boarded away from the house.) Sis totally enjoys being away from her unpleasant living situation. She'd stay here for free, but I insist on paying her something. I give her a minimum of $100 a week, and another $50 a week for groceries, even though the fridge and freezer are well-stocked with food and so forth. Some of that is to put extra money in her pocket, since her only income is a smaller Social Security pension. It's kind of a win-win for all of us.

Dave
 
We used to have our dogs stay at a neighbor's house. She introduced us to one of our boys which led to us adopting him. She charged us $50 a day. For a recent trip the neighbor was not available. We did a search on Rover.com for a sitter nearby. We found a woman with a lovely young family that took in pets for short stays. They have a 5 year old boy and 2 dogs of their own. We had a half day trial to be sure all would get along, which they did. This woman charges $30 a day. We provide all food and treats.
 
We have 2 dogs and 2 cats. We have someone come and stay at our house.
We pay her $80.00 per day. She keeps a daily diary of what they did and anything out of the ordinary. She also sends us pictures from her cell phone. We feel very comfortable going away and know our animals will be well taken care of.
 
A retired friend of ours stays at our house with our two dogs. We pay her $50 a night. I found a girl on Rover that will do it for $100 a day. We have not found a boarding facility that doesn't just cage the dogs to be more affordable.

My wife, who works, thinks that I, happily retired, should be pet sitting.
 
I guess it costs a lot more in southern California. I pay $85./night for someone to sleep here. She guarantees that she'll be here from 8pm-8am. If I ask her to come by for a 30 min midday visit, it's another $25.

The cheapest boarding place I use is $29./per dog per night and I have 4 dogs. When I had an older sick dog I would board at the vet. It was $65./per dog per night for their nicest "room" and a half hour of outdoor time.

The high cost of pet sitting is one of the reasons why I got rid of my timeshares. It's just too expensive and I miss them too much.

EDIT TO ADD: when I needed a day visit once, I tried to use Rover. Everyone in my area wanted $25./per dog for a half hour visit. That's $100. for a half hour visit. I do consider taking up pet sitting, but I don't want to sleep away from my own dogs and my husband is allergic to most breeds, so I can't easily offer it in my home.
 
We have several options but none of them are ideal:

1. We can leave the dogs with their breeder, if she’s not traveling for some dog show. This is great for the dogs (staying in a place they know well, ie where they were born, with people and dogs they’ve known since they were born, and is a totally great set up for dachshunds with someone who fully understands that the threat of coyote attack is no joke) and it’s great for us in one way (it’s free!). But it’s a 5-6 hour RT drive to drop them off or pick them up. So not exactly convenient unless we’re heading east like to Sedona.

2. I can leave them at the clinic for the employee rate of $15/day/dog. Also very safe, but not really enjoyable for the dogs and it freaks one of them out a little so I avail myself of this opportunity rarely.

3. I have a friend who is a dog walker. She doesn’t Board dogs but will watch ours for a night or two. She’d do it for free but since it’s her biz, I give her $40/night.

4. One of the techs at work has a soft spot for the older of my two dogs. She’d have her come stay at her house for free. I get along with everybody and am well respected by the staff in general, and this particular tech has issues with many of the doctors at our hospital. Looking after my dog I think makes the statement that one of the core senior doctors likes and trusts her, so this gives her clout/status. She’s always refused $ so I’d get her a gift card and a Christmas present. I wish she’d take $ because now with two dogs, I don’t feel right about asking her to watch them.

Husband isn’t ok with someone staying at the house, so that complicates things. A kennel is not an option. Someone stopping by three times a day (can’t do a dog door for small dogs in SoCal) would be prohibitively expensive.

I’d love to find some retired person who is local, will watch the dogs in their home, understands coyote danger and is reasonably priced.

We increasingly just seek pet friendly accommodation when we travel. The dogs are great travelers, we enjoy spending time with them, and it saves the stress of figuring out where they will stay when we’re away. If anything made me give up on timesharing, it would be the Dogs. Sell the timeshares and buy a small RV perhaps...
 
It is illegal to pay someone who does not have a business license to pet sit, house clean etc. Call it whatever you want but if the person trips and falls at your house you are liable. When you hire someone, you are responsible for their wages at minimum wages + overtime, payroll taxes and workers compensation. Pet sitters are never independent contractors, unless they own a business license which makes them an employer. Someone is always an employer.

We don't pay under the table for that reason and we always use an agency which employs their staff, for pet sitting and cleaning. Even for handyman, we make sure that they show us their business license.

We were paying pet sitting at $40 for a 20-minute visit for about 2.5 years with one agency and late this year we switched to one which charged $20 for a 30-minute visit, for 3 visits a day. We supplement this with friends who drop by and after we come back from trips we take them to fancy restaurants for dinner so that no money is paid directly to them.
 
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We watch the neighbors dog, they watch ours. Works out great. Except when we are traveling at the same time. We have used a local kennel in the past. Kennel charges $24/1, $35/2, $46/3 to board if they stay in the same kennel.
 
VacationForever said:
It is illegal to pay someone who does not have a business license to pet sit, house clean etc. Call it whatever you want but if the person trips and falls at your house you are liable. When you hire someone, you are responsible for their wages at minimum wages + overtime, payroll taxes and workers compensation. Pet sitters are never independent contractors, unless they own a business license which makes them an employer. Someone is always an employer.

We don't pay under the table for that reason and we always use an agency which employs their staff, for pet sitting and cleaning. Even for handyman, we make sure that they show us their business license.

We were paying pet sitting at $40 for a 20-minute visit for about 2.5 years with one agency and late this year we switched to one which charged $20 for a 30-minute visit, for 3 visits a day. We supplement this with friends who drop by and after we come back from trips we take them to fancy restaurants for dinner so that no money is paid directly to them.
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I’m not a lawyer but I believe this would vary greatly by state. Being liable for an accident in your home and being an employer are 2 different things.


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Rolltydr said:
I’m not a lawyer but I believe this would vary greatly by state. Being liable for an accident in your home and being an employer are 2 different things.


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This law is at the Federal level. When you "hire" someone privately and the person is working under your control, i.e., you tell them the tasks they need to perform and need to be at a location at a certain time, it makes you an employer. Otherwise the person needs to have a business license that makes them their own employer. All states follow the law and some are even more stringent in enforcement in that they are going after specific industries like in California.
 
I would give my dog sitter an exchange vacation. I would just pay for her lodging. She loved it, staying in great condos instead of hotels and even taking friends. This worked out great as I got enough points or weeks from one deposit to get multiple weeks. She has gone all over from Northern Wisconsin, Puerto Rico, Florida Keys, California, Kauai and Maui this coming spring. I probably owe her a couple more weeks for all the times she has watched our dog and I let her know that before we left. Can’t wait to see her in April.
 
slip said:
I would give my dog sitter an exchange vacation. I would just pay for her lodging. She loved it, staying in great condos instead of hotels and even taking friends. This worked out great as I got enough points or weeks from one deposit. She has gone all over from Northern Wisconsin, Puerto Rico, Florida Keys, California, Kauai and Maui this coming spring. I probably owe her a couple more weeks for all the times she has watched our dog and I let her know that before we left. Can’t wait to see her in April.
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That is a cool idea!


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Fredflintstone said:
That is a cool idea!


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it worked great because she loves to travel. She took friends a lot and I needed to get her a two bedroom a few times. She is taking 5 others on her trip to Maui in April.
 
Bunch of wealthy people in here.

We may our neighborhood girl $5 per day. She's 14 and will come feed and play with our dog. There are times where her parents won't let us pay her and calls it her charity work for the week.
 
VacationForever said:
This law is at the Federal level. When you "hire" someone privately and the person is working under your control, i.e., you tell them the tasks they need to perform and need to be at a location at a certain time, it makes you an employer. Otherwise the person needs to have a business license that makes them their own employer. All states follow the law and some are even more stringent in enforcement in that they are going after specific industries like in California.
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So, does this also mean I couldn't pay my neighbors’ 12 year old child to petsit while we’re gone without breaking federal law? (I’m assuming federal law prohibits hiring 12 year olds.)
 
StevenTing said:
Bunch of wealthy people in here.

We may our neighborhood girl $5 per day. She's 14 and will come feed and play with our dog. There are times where her parents won't let us pay her and calls it her charity work for the week.
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Take it if you can get it. :)
We had the same for our cat. They loved coming over but we still gave them some money. It was way cheaper and better for the cat than going to the kennel.

We had a bad experience with a local kennel and never wanted to return to kenneling any of our animals. There are good ones out there but not in the area I used to live.
 
Rolltydr said:
So, does this also mean I couldn't pay my neighbors’ 12 year old child to petsit while we’re gone without breaking federal law? (I’m assuming federal law prohibits hiring 12 year olds.)
Click to expand...

I suppose I was breaking "federal law" when we had dogs.
yes, I'm a scofflaw ;)
 
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