What to charge for looking after someone’s horses?

[Cadbury]

Hi everyone,

For the last year or so I’ve been looking after and exercising other peoples’ horses. I normally charge £10ph plus petrol and everyone seems happy with that.

A lady whoI’ve helped out a couple of times is going on holiday for four days and has asked if I can stay in her house while she is away (she has a horse that can’t be turned out for long periods of time so I’d be constantly back and forwards if I didn’t stay over).

I’m happy to do it but have no idea what to charge! Do I just ask her for the same amount per hour as normal or do I charge an overall higher fee as well/instead of this because I’m having to stay away from home?

If anyone has any ideas or has done this before then please feel free to advise!

 

[AmyMay]

I think you’d be looking at a day rate. But not entirely sure what that would be. I’m tempted to say £50

 

[Cadbury]

I think you’d be looking at a day rate. But not entirely sure what that would be. I’m tempted to say £50

Thank you, that’s what I was wondering! That sounds like a reasonable rate to be honest.

 

[Carrottom]

I would think it depends on the work load, if there is just the one horse £30 a day is reasonable.

 

[wren123]

I think £30 a day is too little, £50 seems reasonable to me.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Would you be loosing other work by staying over? Even £50 sounds too low to me. Difficult one!!

 

[southerncomfort]

I know someone who does this for a living and charges £50 per day.

 

[Cadbury]

Thanks for your replies everyone. I forgot to include how much work there will be. It’s 2 horses in overnight so it will be mucking out 2, plus feeding, hay, poo picking etc. One horse will be out all day and the other brought in around midday so there will be skipping out as well plus 2 cats to look after and a few chickens to feed. I can just about fit that around my other jobs.
Do you all think that £10 ph (in general not in this case) plus fuel ( I calculate what it costs per mile in petrol and charge accordingly) is the right amount or should I be charging more/less? I am in Peterborough in Cambridgeshire in case it varies area to area. Thanks everyone for your advice!

 

[LadyGascoyne]

I am paying £30 a night for two horses to be:

Checked in the evening and given a handful of chaff and some supplements

Checked in the morning and feet cleaned

Automatic troughs checked

Fencing checked if there has been bad weather/ high winds

Stay in house overnight if preferred, but no obligation, and access to everything in the fridge / larder etc except the wines and whiskies.

Then I pay my usual hourly rate on top of that for yard duties

 

[Sprig]

I pay my house sitter £50/day. I would happily pay more.

 

[honetpot]

If you are doing this as a business, you should be business like, I assume you have insurance.
It is not just the hours you are there, but the hours you will spend if you need to call a vet, move horses because the fencing is broken etc. While you are there you can not do any other work.
So as I see it, you have your normal hourly rate, plus premium for your availability, to stay over night from say 18.00-08.00, any other work to be charged as an extra. That's what I will be paying, and the hourly rate is more.

 

[throwaway2022]

House sitter and care of my dogs is £100 per 24 hours. Don’t undersell yourself

 

[LadyGascoyne]

House sitter and care of my dogs is £100 per 24 hours. Don’t undersell yourself

Gosh, that’s quite pricey. What happens if you’re away for two weeks or something like that? Is there a discount? And are they expected to be there 24/7?

 

[Goldenstar]

I would say £50 to £75 a day .

 

[Tiddlypom]

House/pet/horse sitting is a huge responsibility, and a responsible/insured person should be paid accordingly for all the hours that they are present and are in charge.

 

[honetpot]

Gosh, that’s quite pricey. What happens if you’re away for two weeks or something like that? Is there a discount? And are they expected to be there 24/7?

It's actually under minium wage/hourly rate, if its day rate. There is a rate for 'sleep ins', you are on call but not working, when you are working you should be receiving minium wage.
We had a two week holiday several years ago, by the time I had organised holiday livery for five ponies, and elderly dog, I would have quite happily paid £100 a day. The daughters now house sit two dogs, with a daily help who comes in and does the work. It still cost me more than £100 a day, as DD get use of the credit card.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

It's actually under minium wage/hourly rate, if its day rate. There is a rate for 'sleep ins', you are on call but not working, when you are working you should be receiving minium wage.
We had a two week holiday several years ago, by the time I had organised holiday livery for five ponies, and elderly dog, I would have quite happily paid £100 a day. The daughters now house sit two dogs, with a daily help who comes in and does the work. It still cost me more than £100 a day, as DD get use of the credit card.

I can see that would be the case if the person was expected to be ‘on duty’ 24/7. But I couldn’t see the need for that.

I pay for the night spent (£30) regardless of whether or not she chooses to stay over, and wouldn’t expect her not to go out for supper or visit friends in that time. Similar to the concept of a sleep in rate.

I then pay per hour for work done, at her usual rate. For two horses living out, that’s poo picking, tidying up, cleaning buckets or tack etc. Its a couple of hours in the morning, a few days a week. She will continue to work her other jobs as usual.

When I’m not on holiday, I’m not home 24/7 anyway so I wouldn’t see the need to have someone permanently watching them.

 

[Rowreach]

This might help.

https://houseandhomesitters.co.uk/rates/

 

[Cadbury]

If you are doing this as a business, you should be business like, I assume you have insurance.
It is not just the hours you are there, but the hours you will spend if you need to call a vet, move horses because the fencing is broken etc. While you are there you can not do any other work.
So as I see it, you have your normal hourly rate, plus premium for your availability, to stay over night from say 18.00-08.00, any other work to be charged as an extra. That's what I will be paying, and the hourly rate is more.

I understand your point but I’ve been totally up-front about it and the owner knows and expects that I have other commitments (even if she were to pay me a rate to be there all the time I can’t let the other people I work for down) and she asked me on the basis that I wouldn’t be there ‘on call’ as such, because she isn’t there 24/7 under normal circumstances herself.

 

[Red-1]

Personally, I would do other people's horses for a favour, no charge without insurance but not paid for. I no longer do things paid for as I need to pay insurance and also declare the cash to HMRC. It is a faff I can do without.

 

[Cadbury]

That’s fair enough if it’s a favour for a friend, I’ve done that before. Unfortunately circumstances dictate that I can’t afford to do favours now - too many bills to pay!

 

[Cadbury]

House sitter and care of my dogs is £100 per 24 hours. Don’t undersell yourself

Thank you, yes that’s what I’m trying to avoid! I think I’ve sold myself short in previous situations!

 

[Shilasdair]

If this is your full time work, then you need to start charging more than £10 per hour. You also need to have insurance, contracts (esp. detailing what you will do should an animal in your care become ill or injured) and set travel rates (both time and cost of running your car).

You are not a charity, doing horses for low/no cost - and the people employing you wouldn't work for £10 an hour.

 

[throwaway2022]

Gosh, that’s quite pricey. What happens if you’re away for two weeks or something like that? Is there a discount? And are they expected to be there 24/7?

No, no discount and she isn't required to be with them for the full 24 hours. She still has dog walks and visits to fit in, I think around 4/5 hours worth of work per day out of the house. It's cheaper than putting them into kennels which I wouldn't be comfortable with anyway. In theory I could split them up and farm them out to friends and family but its a hassle and I'd rather just pay for care and know they're in good hands.

 

[irishdraft]

I have to have house sitters for 3 dogs walked 2x a day plus 2/3 horses out in field so just poo picking . Precovid I generally pay £50 to £75 per 24 hrs. I'm happy for them to do the work and then leave the property during the day but like them there is overnight. I would think 60/65 per 24 hrs would be reasonable for what you are doing .

 

[Cadbury]

If this is your full time work, then you need to start charging more than £10 per hour. You also need to have insurance, contracts (esp. detailing what you will do should an animal in your care become ill or injured) and set travel rates (both time and cost of running your car).

You are not a charity, doing horses for low/no cost - and the people employing you wouldn't work for £10 an hour.

Thank you. I looked on this forum when I started doing this and the general consensus was that £10 ph was about right. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with you and would like to charge more, but I’m not sure if people would pay it. I have asked for £12 per hour before and the response wasn’t great. I calculate how much petrol I use per mile and charge what it costs me to get to that location but you’re right, I need to add more on top for my time. I have insurance.
Sadly an awful lot of people have no option but to work for £10 per hour - many office/retail jobs only pay the minimum wage of £9.50. Sad but true.

 

[Shilasdair]

Thank you. I looked on this forum when I started doing this and the general consensus was that £10 ph was about right. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with you and would like to charge more, but I’m not sure if people would pay it. I have asked for £12 per hour before and the response wasn’t great. I calculate how much petrol I use per mile and charge what it costs me to get to that location but you’re right, I need to add more on top for my time. I have insurance.
Sadly an awful lot of people have no option but to work for £10 per hour - many office/retail jobs only pay the minimum wage of £9.50. Sad but true.

The people responding on this forum are potential customers. No turkey would vote for Christmas, and similarly no customer volunteers to pay more.
I've worked in the equine industry for decades (I don't now) and if you are reliable, skilled, and competent, you should charge a living wage. You need to charge more than office jobs pay - as you have to consider your own equipment, tax, NI, pension payments.
And if you are travelling between sites you won't be able to work a full 37 hour week.
I'd tactfully suggest that if you can't charge a living wage, then this is not sustainable for you long-term (unless you have a trust fund) as you will be unable to afford a new car, a mortgage, etc. when you want to progress with your life.

 

[Arzada]

I looked on this forum when I started doing this and the general consensus was that £10 ph was about right. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with you and would like to charge more, but I’m not sure if people would pay it. I have asked for £12 per hour before and the response wasn’t great. I calculate how much petrol I use per mile and charge what it costs me to get to that location but you’re right,

Pretty much everything is increasing in price so noone should be surprised if someone increases their prices. £10 ph is definitely too low. I'm not convinced the £12 is adequate. I guess it depends how long you are in one location. Even you're doing an hour here, another hour there it's definitely not enough. As for charging petrol cost per mile what are you doing about the other transport costs ie servicing, wear and tear (eg tyres) MOT Vehicle Excise Duty etc? And the cost of your time on the road needs to be factored in somewhere.

 

[Cadbury]

I realise that a customer wouldn’t offer to pay more but I was interested to know what people are actually charging/paying curr

The people responding on this forum are potential customers. No turkey would vote for Christmas, and similarly no customer volunteers to pay more.
I've worked in the equine industry for decades (I don't now) and if you are reliable, skilled, and competent, you should charge a living wage. You need to charge more than office jobs pay - as you have to consider your own equipment, tax, NI, pension payments.
And if you are travelling between sites you won't be able to work a full 37 hour week.
I'd tactfully suggest that if you can't charge a living wage, then this is not sustainable for you long-term (unless you have a trust fund) as you will be unable to afford a new car, a mortgage, etc. when you want to progress with your life.

I realise that a customer wouldn’t offer to pay more but some of the responses and comments (on this forum and others) are from people who are doing the charging. My previous work has all been office-based so I don’t have your experience and have therefore overlooked things but out of interest, if you were to do this as a full-time job, what would you charge? I’m aware that it isn’t sustainable long term but neither am I planning on doing it for too long, I had to leave my previous job for mental health reasons and started doing this as a way of getting back into work gradually and doing something I enjoyed and the work has just built up, I’d never planned on doing it to be honest so I’m not surprised that I’ve overlooked some of the things you mention!

 

[Cadbury]

Pretty much everything is increasing in price so noone should be surprised if someone increases their prices. £10 ph is definitely too low. I'm not convinced the £12 is adequate. I guess it depends how long you are in one location. Even you're doing an hour here, another hour there it's definitely not enough. As for charging petrol cost per mile what are you doing about the other transport costs ie servicing, wear and tear (eg tyres) MOT Vehicle Excise Duty etc? And the cost of your time on the road needs to be factored in somewhere.

Thank you, I definitely need to up what I charge looking at these replies! I’d been thinking of increasing the travel costs anyway, especially in view of the ridiculous fuel prices at the moment. Thanks for your advice on this, much appreciated!