What should you charge for pooper scooper service?
Work out a per-visit price from the time a visit really takes and what you want to earn an hour. Change any number and the price updates.
Charge per visit
$20
once a week, 1 dog
Per month
$87
4.33 visits in an average month
Per year
$1,039
From this one customer
How it's worked out
About 11 minutes on the yard plus 8 minutes driving is 19 minutes. At $60 an hour that's $19.00, and adding the 3% card fee and rounding up to the dollar gives $20.
The minutes are starting guesses: about 6 to park and walk the yard, about 2 per dog, more when visits are further apart. Time a few of your own visits and change the numbers.
- Price by time, not by guesswork
- A visit costs you the minutes on the yard plus the drive to it. Price those minutes at the hourly rate you want, and the price holds up as the route grows.
- Less often means more to pick up
- A yard cleaned every other week or monthly has more waste on it, so each visit takes longer. That's why less frequent service costs more per visit.
- More dogs, bigger yard, higher price
- Each extra dog adds a couple of minutes. A large or very large yard adds walking time even with one dog.
- Keep the card fee in the price
- A card charge costs about 3%. Building it into the price means autopay doesn't eat into what you earn.
Questions
- How much do pooper scooper services charge?
- Weekly service for one dog is often priced around $15 to $25 a visit in the US, and more for more dogs, bigger yards and less frequent visits. Your price should come from your own visit times and costs, which this calculator works out.
- Should I charge per visit or per month?
- Most scoop businesses quote per visit and bill monthly. A monthly bill is simpler for customers and keeps card fees down, since one charge a month costs less in fees than four.
- How do I price an initial cleanup?
- Price the first cleanup by how long it's been since the yard was last cleaned. A yard left for months can take an hour or more, so many businesses charge a separate one-time price for it.
- What hourly rate should I aim for?
- Enough to cover your pay, fuel, supplies, insurance and software, with profit left over. Many owner-operators aim for $50 to $80 an hour of route time.
More free tools
- Route profit calculator →
How many stops fit in a day, what a route brings in each month, and what a few minutes less driving between stops is worth.
- Scoop software cost calculator →
What each pet waste removal software costs a month for your office, technicians and routes, from each company's published prices.
- Starting a scoop business →
The first month, step by step: prices, a website, routes and billing.
Run these numbers on your real customers.
Prices from your own price list, routes ordered by distance, and invoices that go out on their own.