Pay guide
What Each Groom Really Pays You: Pay per Dog and per Hour
A $110 groom feels like a good dog. Divide it by the time it takes and it may be the worst-paying appointment of your day.
On commission, every groom has its own hourly rate hiding inside it. The price tells you what the salon charged. The time it takes tells you what it paid you. Groomers who know that number for their regular dogs make better decisions about pricing, booking and which add-ons to suggest.
The calculation
Effective hourly rate for one groom
(service price × commission rate) ÷ hours the groom takes
Count the whole time the dog takes you: bath, dry, cut, and the cleanup that belongs to it. If a bather handles part of the job, count only your part.
Three dogs at 50 percent
- Doodle, full groom, $110, 2.5 hours. You earn $55, which is $22 an hour.
- Yorkie, full groom, $55, 1 hour. You earn $27.50, which is $27.50 an hour.
- Lab, bath and nails, $45, 45 minutes. You earn $22.50, which is $30 an hour.
The most expensive dog of the three pays the least per hour. That is common with large, coated breeds that take most of a morning, and it is why a book full of big doodles can look busy and still pay less than a mixed day.
What to do with the number
Spot the dogs that are underpriced. If one regular client's dog consistently takes far longer than its price allows, that is a pricing conversation for the salon, not a speed problem for you. Bring the numbers: the time it takes and what it pays per hour compared with your average.
Check your add-ons. Nail trims, teeth brushing and ear cleaning take minutes. If they are commissionable, they usually pay far more per minute than the groom itself. A $10 add-on that takes five minutes earns $5 at 50 percent, which is $60 an hour. If they are not commissionable, you are doing that work for free. The guide to how grooming commission works covers what to ask.
Compare against your hourly floor. If you are on hourly vs. commission, any groom that pays less per hour than your hourly rate is effectively paid at your hourly rate, so speeding it up only helps once the day as a whole commissions out. The break-even guide shows where that line sits.
Your day's average
Add up the commission for every groom in a day and divide by the hours you worked, including the gaps. That is your effective hourly rate for the day. Track it for a few weeks and you will see which days, which dogs and which booking patterns pay best. The commission only calculator totals each day's grooms for you, so all you need to add is the time.