I'm new to Rover & only do walks, drop ins, & overnight house sitting. My last client booked overnights, but I do not stay the night. Is there a way to charge for daycare in the owners home? I ask because I think I'm confused on how many days I get paid for on overnights. This stay was from 1/15-1/17. I know this is going to sound stupid, but shouldn't I get paid for 3 days if I'm there all day each day?
In terms of how much you get paid for how many days, it's easier to think of overnight services like hotel bookings. You get paid for one "night," even though you are with the dog for two days. I believe Rover considers one night to be a 24-hour period. Some sitters will charge extra based on how long they are taking care of the dog. For example, if someone needs you from 9am on Day 1 to 8PM on Day 2, then you could charge for an overnight and a day of daycare. The most important thing is to be clear (preferably both verbally and in writing) about what you are and are not going to do. If someone asks you to stay over in their home, either tell them no or take the stay and then spend the night. Be very clear about how YOU define your services (and also how Rover defines them). For daycare in the owner's home, I would probably select Rover's Drop-In Visits and tell the owner's what services you will be providing and the rate. This way, you are technically providing MORE services than the booking is for, as opposed to less (aka booking it as house sitting/an overnight in the owner's home, then not staying the night), so there's less risk of negative repercussions. Just be clear about what you provide.
Yes, you can do day care in an owner's home if both of you agree to it. I saw your walk/visit rate is $15 and your sitting rate is $28. What makes it a little confusing is the terminology, because daycare usually takes place in your home, often with dogs from different families, which is why day care is not listed on your profile, versus house sitting which usually is 24 hours and does not include having dogs from elsewhere (other than the client's dog unless agreed to in advance - which sometimes happens).
So, I'm guessing the dog benefited from 2 or more walks/day, which is priced @ $28 (giving the client a deal off of an each visit price because you stay and don't go back&forth). So, if the client was fine with you not sleeping there, it would be reasonable for your rate based on being there all 3 days = $28 x 3. Hope that helps.
So should I tell the client to book my service as dog walking instead, is the 24 hour time frame of overnights causing the price to be different than I thought it would be? Is this something I should post on my profile so other potential clients can choose that option?
I'm confused. I thought you wanted to give the client a multi-walk discount- which you could do by booking either under dog walking or house sitting. The house sitting is whatever price you list, even if under 24hr. You may want2review your profile section:As for the services I provide:(remove O/N).
In your profile you mention you can stay overnight or just for the day, go home to sleep, and return. That sounds like it would be priced at whatever your house sitting rate is. Of course,you can adjust the rates. You can add in your profile services private day care in their home with hours&prices.
Thanks, I'll update my profile will better info. This is all new to me lol.
Since you're planning to offer 6-8 hours max. I'd suggest you include the times available (i.e. start as early as AM and as late as PM) and the price on the profile. The most important thing is the clients know &agree, even though it's truly not the definition of house sitting, daycare, or a walk.
Before you updated profile, it sounded like you'd be there more than 6-8 hours, so you may consider removing house sitting services to avoid a lot of confusion & disappointed clients, and instead keep in your profile that you can spend 6-8 hours there, &the dogs get play, etc between walks for $ XX.
First off, you should definitely read Rover's definitions for each type of service at the link in Deb's response.
If you offer housesitting, then you are supposed to stay overnight at the client's home. It is very important that you provide the service for which the client has paid. Housesitting is a 24-hour service, unlike daycare. With the job you have described, who is taking the dog out in the evening? If I were the client, I would expect you to stay in my home, feed the dog X number of times during the day, walk the dog at least 3 X a day, plus give it personal attention throughout. Being with a pet for 6-8 hours is more of a daycare window, rather than housesitting.
Yeah I think I'm confused, because to me if I'm at the owners home for 3 days I think I should be paid for three days, & when I got booked from 1/15-1/17, which to me that is 3 days, the website said its only a 2 days. The owner booked it as an overnight asked me to show up on 1/15 @9 am, then came home late in the evening on 1/17. If they book an overnight stay & they ask me to come in @9 am they need to be back by 9 am on the last day right? And if they are late more than an few hours, I should charge them for the overage? should I include that in my profile so they are aware beforehand? I guess I take it for granted the customer knows how much time is...
Yes, the client only paid for dogsitting until 9 am on the last day and should have been charged for daycare or more because you indicated that they did not come home until late that evening. I would have charged for another day/night. The reason this is so messed up is that you are not conforming to the Rover definition of services/rate structure. Under the cirumstances where you only spent 6-8 hours/day with the dog, I really don't think you are entitled to another day's charges for housesitting, a 24-hour commitment. If you used drop-in visits, you could have charged more accurately for exactly what you did without any confusion. I do like Deb's idea of offering a private daycare service at a client's home, but that could cause more problems because once you offer daycare, other people will assume you provide it...
When I first asked the question my profile said I did overnights (house sit) but then after I got an answer from Deb I modified it to the 6-8 hours. I've been up all night modifying my profile one way or another to try and show what I provide. I've now updated it to say I do overnights, how much time that covers & that there would be a extra charge for late stays. With my client, before the stay we talked about me not staying the night if I didn't feel comfortable, so I would stay as late as I could then return in the morning, & she was fine with that. I think I just asked a stupid question, made to many changes, & confused everyone on here. I'm sorry. If I can't get this to work out I'll shut down my...
I hope my replies don't sound snarky, I don't mean for them to. I HONESTLY do appreciate all the input, especially since I've caused so much confusion. ❤️❤️❤️
The revised profile seems to explain what you offer. Yes, sitting past 24 hours could be 1/2 (as you wrote) or full day charge, depends # of hours. Sitters have to adjust quote to account for those late returns (system doesn't do it auto.) Rover Support maybe able to help w/that overage due &any?s.
On the latest revision, be more general about overtime charges. Why lock yourself in to a 1/2 charge. It should depend on the amount of the overage past 24 hours. I don't believe either Deb or I are confused, just that you are overly complicating things. Simplify. Think per visit or per 24 hours. It can be quite simple to work within the Rover structure. Just make sure the client knows what they're getting. When it was originally booked and the client said he/she wasn't coming home until late that day. then you could have told them about an additional charge for daycare, depending on the length of time or whatever service you planned to provide (one or two drop-ins??) Try to simplify it, not overly complicate everything.