Doggy Daycare Bath Days: Running a Monthly Account in a Mobile Grooming Business
Dogs come home from daycare tired, happy and, quite often, dirty. Many daycares like to offer baths so dogs go home clean, but running a bathing station in-house takes space, staff and equipment. A mobile groomer who parks outside on a set day and works through a list of dogs is a neat answer. For the groomer, a daycare bath day is a full van at one address, with dogs who are already there waiting.
A Different Pace From Senior Living
The calmer version of a monthly account was covered in Senior Living Pet Days: A Monthly Account for Your Mobile Grooming Business. A daycare bath day moves faster. Most of the work is baths, brush-outs and quick tidy-ups rather than full grooms, and the list of dogs can change from week to week.
That makes organization the key. You need to know which dogs are booked, what each one gets, what each one is like, and who is paying.
Agree on the Menu and the Price
Before the first bath day, sit down with the daycare owner and agree on a short menu. A typical daycare menu might be a bath and brush, a bath and brush with a nail trim, and a few add-ons such as de-shedding, ear cleaning or teeth brushing. Keep it simple so daycare staff can explain it to dog owners.
Price by size, the same way you price at a home. Your base prices and size steps from Toy to Giant come from your service list in PetGroomBossPro. You might choose a lower price for daycare dogs because you save on driving and setup. Put it all in an estimate built from your service list, which the daycare can approve online. The approved estimate becomes the job. Size pricing is covered in Setting Service Prices by Size in a Mobile Grooming Business.
Decide Who Pays
Daycares tend to fall into one of two setups. The daycare pays you for every dog and charges its own customers however it likes, or each dog owner pays you directly.
If the daycare pays, set the daycare up as a client with billing set to Monthly. It gets one statement each month covering every visit, which suits a business that is used to monthly bills. If dog owners pay, set each one up as their own client with a card on file, so Complete on the groomer app can charge that card when the bath is done.
Book a Fixed Bath Day
A fixed day lets the daycare promote it to customers: “Bath day is every Friday.” Add Recurring Grooming books the daycare on the same weekday, time and van every week, 2, 3, 4 weeks, monthly, or custom days. Every visit is written up front and waits on Pending Jobs with its planned day, time and van until the office confirms it.
Ask the daycare to send you the list of dogs for each bath day a day or two ahead, so you can confirm the visit with the right dogs on it. The office schedules the day before, and Pending Jobs shows tomorrow first.
Keep Each Dog's Notes
Daycare dogs come back again and again, and many of them have their own quirks. Each pet in PetGroomBossPro has its name, breed, size, coat, rabies due date and a notes line: “Nervous with the dryer,” “Jumps out of the tub, keep a hand on him,” “Owner wants the oatmeal shampoo.” Each visit holds up to four pets, so a busy bath day can be split into several jobs at the daycare's address.
The rabies due date is typed on each pet. The daycare may already keep that information, and sharing it with you means it shows on the groomer's card.
Work Through the List
On the day, the groomer app shows each job with its dogs, add-ons and van notes: where to park, where the outlet and water hookup are, and which staff member brings the dogs out. The grooming checklist runs for each dog, including the add-ons, and the groomer can leave a note for the owner, such as “Max was great today, the de-shed made a big difference to his coat.”
Before and after photos are saved on the job. Daycares often like to share a few with their customers, and photos are a good record if anyone asks what was done.
Billing the Daycare
At the end of the month, the daycare's statement shows every visit and every dog. Sales tax can be added if it applies to you, and past-due follow-up handles a late payment. The daycare can see its invoices, update its card and pay from the customer app.
The third type of monthly account is covered next in Apartment Community Grooming Days for a Mobile Grooming Business. To see how repeat grooming days, pet records and monthly billing fit together, visit the mobile grooming business software page.
Bath Day Every Week, One Bill Each Month
PetGroomBossPro books a daycare bath day on a fixed slot, keeps every dog's notes, and bills the daycare on one monthly statement.
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