PetGroomBossPro Blog — Online Booking & Quotes

Building Grooming Estimates From Your Service List

The booking page handles the standard jobs. Estimates handle everything else. When a job needs a closer look, a written estimate gives the customer a clear price to agree to before the van shows up, and gives you something to point to if there is ever a question about what was promised.

When to Use an Estimate

In Quoting Grooming by Phone or Text Without Losing Track of the Price, estimates were the third option for quoting. Here is when they are the right one:

• Jobs outside your standard prices. A heavily matted coat, a very large household, a giant breed with a lot of coat.
• Monthly accounts. A senior living community, doggy daycare or apartment community wanting a regular pet day.
• Custom packages. A family that wants three dogs groomed, one bathed and the cat's nails done.
• Anything you want in writing. If you would be uncomfortable if the customer remembered the price differently, write it down.

Start From Your Service List

Estimates in PetGroomBossPro are built from your service list, the same services and prices you use everywhere else. That matters for two reasons.

First, consistency. A full groom on an estimate costs what a full groom costs on the booking page and on the invoice. Customers who compare will find the same numbers.

Second, speed. You pick services rather than typing descriptions and prices from scratch. A typical estimate might be a full groom, a size adjustment, de-matting and teeth brushing, each picked from the list. Adjust the price on a line when the job calls for it, such as extra time for a heavy coat.

Building from the list also keeps your reports honest. When every estimate, booking and invoice uses the same services, you can look back and see what you actually sell, which services make up most of your work and where your prices sit, without untangling a dozen slightly different descriptions of the same full groom.

Put the Pets on the Estimate

An estimate is not just a list of prices. It carries the pets: name, Dog or Cat, breed, size, coat, and the notes line for the cut and behavior. Add the add-ons too.

This is what makes an approved estimate useful. When the customer approves, the estimate becomes the job, and the same pet details carry onto it. Nobody re-types Biscuit the Goldendoodle, Large, Curly / Doodle coat, “teddy bear face, nervous with the dryer.” It is already on the job the groomer will see.

Write a Clear Description

Line items say what. A short description says why. A few plain sentences make a big difference:

• “First visit includes de-matting for the coat condition you described. Future visits on a 6-week schedule would be the standard full groom price.”
• “Pet day for residents' dogs, one Tuesday each month, priced per pet.”
• “Price assumes all three dogs on the same visit.”

Keep the description about the job and the price. Avoid medical or behavior advice; if the customer has health questions about their pet, the vet is the right person to answer them.

Send It and Let Them Approve Online

Once the estimate is ready, send it. The customer opens it and approves it online. No printing, no signing a paper in the driveway. The approved estimate becomes the job. How that works step by step is covered in Online Estimate Approval: How an Approved Grooming Estimate Becomes the Job.

If they do not respond, estimate follow-up emails remind them. Many customers mean to approve and just forget.

Send the estimate soon after the conversation that prompted it. A customer who just talked to you about their matted doodle is ready to say yes that evening. The same estimate sent a week later lands with someone who has half forgotten the call.

Save Repeat Estimates as Templates

Some estimates you write over and over: the matted doodle first visit, the senior living pet day, the three-dog household. Templates let you start from a saved version instead of a blank estimate. Pick the template, adjust the pets and prices, send. The article on templates later in this series covers how groomers use them.

Estimates and the Booking Page Together

The two tools work as a pair. The booking page answers “how much?” for the common jobs without you lifting a finger. Estimates are for the jobs where you want a closer look. A booking request that looks unusual in Leads can turn into an estimate: you call to confirm, learn the dog has not been groomed in a long time, and send an estimate with de-matting instead of booking the standard price.

For the rest of the booking and quoting tools, visit the pet grooming booking software page.