Pricing a groom: breed ranges, good-better-best and the policies that protect them
How to build a breed and coat based price list, present three tiers without discounting, set deposits and a cancel policy, and price for a repeat client.
Grooming pricing is genuinely hard, and it is hard for a reason nobody outside the trade understands. The same breed can take ninety minutes or four hours depending on what the owner did or did not do for the last ten weeks. You are quoting a job you have not seen yet, over the phone, to someone comparing you with a mobile van and a big-box chain.
Most groomers respond by refusing to quote at all. That loses the booking. The answer is to quote a range, tie it to something visible, and put the variance in writing before the dog arrives.
Price by size, coat and condition, in that order
A price list built only on breed breaks the first time a shaved doodle and a full-coat doodle arrive on the same day. Build it on three inputs.
Size band. Under 25 lbs, 25 to 50, 50 to 80, over 80. Simple, visible, arguable by nobody.
Coat type. Smooth, short double, long double, curly or non-shedding. Curly and double coats take the time.
Condition. Maintained, mild tangles, matted. This is the one that carries the surcharge.
A workable list looks like this:
| Maintained | Mild tangles | Matted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small, smooth coat | $55 | $65 | shave down $70 |
| Small, curly | $70 | $85 | shave down $80 |
| Medium, double coat | $85 | $100 | $110 |
| Large doodle | $110 | $135 | shave down $115 |
Publish the maintained column. Say plainly that condition changes it and that you confirm at drop-off. That single sentence prevents the argument at pickup, which is where grooming businesses lose clients and earn one-star reviews.
Good, better, best without discounting
Three tiers work well in grooming because the add-ons cost you minutes, not dollars.
Groom. Bath, dry, haircut, nails, ears, sanitary. Your base price.
Groom plus spa. Adds teeth brushing, a de-shed treatment or a specialty shampoo, paw balm, cologne, a bandana. Price it at base plus $20 to $25. Your cost is maybe $4 and eight minutes.
Full day spa. Adds a blueberry facial, nail grinding rather than clipping, conditioning treatment, and a photo. Base plus $40 to $45.
Roughly a third of clients take the middle tier and one in ten takes the top one when they are presented as a list at booking rather than upsold at pickup. That lifts an average ticket from $75 to $85 without a single price increase on the base groom, and nobody feels sold to.
Never discount the base groom to win a client. A coupon buys someone who leaves at the next coupon, and on a low ticket you cannot afford that. Add value instead: a free nail trim on the first visit, a free de-shed with a doodle groom in April.
The number that governs everything: rebooking
Here is the calculation that should drive your pricing decisions.
Client A books once, pays $75, never returns. Client B books at $75 every six weeks for three years. Client A is worth $75. Client B is worth about $2,000.
Which means a $20 price difference between you and the cheap groomer across town is worth roughly nothing next to a 20-point difference in rebooking rate. Asking every client for the next appointment at the counter, before the leash goes back on, gets 55% to 75% of them booked forward. Asking by text a week later gets about 20%.
So the highest-value pricing move in a grooming business is not a price at all. It is a sentence at checkout: "Bailey is on an eight-week coat. I have the same slot on the 14th, want me to hold it?" Then put it in the calendar while she is standing there.
This is also what makes paid acquisition viable. A booked client at $50 from Google Ads is a bad trade at a 20% rebooking rate and an excellent one at 70%.
Deposits, cards on file and the cancellation policy
A three-hour hole on a Saturday cannot be refilled. Protect it.
- Take a card on file at booking for every new client. Not a charge, a hold on file.
- Written policy, agreed at booking, in one paragraph: 24 hours notice to cancel or reschedule, same-day cancel or no-show is 50% of the groom price, two no-shows and future appointments require prepayment.
- Charge it. A policy you do not enforce trains clients to ignore it. Waive it once, for a genuine emergency, and say you are waiving it.
- Deposits, usually $25 or half the groom, for new clients booking a peak Saturday, and for anyone rebooking after a no-show.
Send reminders at 48 hours and the morning of, both with a one-tap confirm. Reminders plus a real policy typically cut no-shows by more than half, which is worth more than any price increase you were considering. The missed calls guide has the message setup.
Raising prices without losing the book
Most groomers are underpriced and know it. Raise in a way that keeps the schedule.
Give 30 days notice, by text and a sign at the counter. One paragraph, no apology and no long explanation. "Starting October 1, full grooms go up $10. Prices have not changed here since 2023 and product and insurance costs have. Thank you for trusting us with your dogs."
Raise the base by $5 to $10, not 30%. Raise the doodle and matted surcharges more, because that is where your time actually goes. Expect to lose a handful of clients, almost all of them the ones who cancel most and tip least, and expect to fill their slots inside a month if you are booked out at all.
If you are booked three weeks out, you are underpriced. That is the clearest signal in the trade.
Quoting on the phone without trapping yourself
Give a range and a condition, every time, in one breath: "For a standard poodle in good condition it is $110 to $130. If he is matted to the skin it may be a shave down instead, which is $115, and I will call you before I start rather than surprise you at pickup."
Then move straight to booking. Do not wait for her to react to the number. "I have Thursday at 9 or Saturday at 11."
Publishing the same ranges on your website removes most of these calls entirely, which is one of the seven jobs in website essentials.
Frequently asked
Should I charge extra for aggressive or difficult dogs? Yes, a handling fee stated at booking, not added at pickup. Some shops charge a flat $15 to $25; some decline. Either is defensible. Silence followed by a surprise charge is not.
Do I charge for a nail trim on a groom client? Include it. Charge walk-ins. Walk-in nail trims are a cheap way to meet future full-groom clients.
Is a loyalty punch card worth it? Less than rebooking at the counter. A card rewards people who were coming anyway. If you run one, tie it to the six-week cadence, not to visit count, so it rewards being on schedule.
Pricing pages, booking flows and the reminder sequence are all in the free 14-day trial. Text or call (385) 832-6175.