PetGroomBossPro Blog — Billing, Tips & Payments

Multi-Pet Homes on One Grooming Invoice: Two Doodles and a Cat, One Bill

Multi-pet homes are some of the best stops on a mobile grooming route. One driveway, one setup, one water hookup, and three pets to groom. They are also where billing most often goes sideways, because three pets with three different sizes, coats and add-ons make for a lot of numbers to keep in your head.

One Visit, Several Pets

The add-on side of billing was covered in Add-Ons on the Grooming Invoice: Teeth Brushing, Nail Grinding, De-Shed and Every Extra. A multi-pet home is where pets and add-ons come together on one bill.

In PetGroomBossPro, a single visit can hold up to four pets. Each one is saved on the job with its own name, Dog or Cat, breed, size, coat, rabies due date and cut notes, so a home with two doodles and a cat is one job with three pets on it, not three separate appointments. The groomer sees all three on the card in the groomer app, works through the checklist for each, and taps Complete once.

One Invoice, a Line for Each

When Complete is tapped, the invoice comes out as one bill with a line for each pet. With example prices it might read:

• Full groom — Biscuit, Goldendoodle, Large: $115
• Full groom — Maple, Goldendoodle, Medium: $100
• Cat groom — Olive, Domestic Longhair: $95
• Teeth brushing x2: $30

The customer pays one invoice, gets one card charge and sees one email. They can also see exactly which pet cost what, which matters when the two doodles are different sizes and priced differently.

Different Pets, Different Prices

Two dogs of the same breed are not always the same job. One is a large dog with a curly coat that takes a long time to dry; the other is smaller and quicker. If you price by size and coat, the invoice needs to reflect that per pet, not as an average.

Because size and coat are saved on each pet, the right price goes on each line. That also keeps the multi-pet discount question honest. If you choose to give a multi-pet home a break, decide what it is and write it down on the client, rather than quietly lowering one dog's price and forgetting why. The pricing side is covered more in Size and Coat on the Grooming Invoice: Pricing a Giant Double Coat Differently From a Toy Poodle.

When Not Every Pet Is Groomed Every Visit

Plenty of multi-pet homes do not get every pet groomed every time. The doodles come every six weeks, but the short-coated lab only needs a bath every other visit. The cat gets done when the customer can catch her.

The job should match what is being groomed on that day. If the cat is not getting done, take her off this visit and the invoice follows. If the lab is just a bath this time, change his service to bath & brush. The office can set this up when confirming the visit, and the groomer can note anything that changes once they are on site.

Because each pet stays saved on the home, taking one off a visit does not lose the details. The next time she is groomed, her breed, coat and cut notes are still there.

Card on File, Tips and the Customer App

A multi-pet home almost always does best with a card on file. A three-pet invoice is a larger bill than most, and charging it the moment the groom is complete keeps the visit closed out instead of waiting on a check. The customer gets the invoice in the customer app and by email, and on the paid invoice they can leave a tip for the groomer.

Multi-pet homes are often generous tippers, because they can see how much work went into three pets in one visit. Making the tip easy, with $10, $20, $30 or another amount right on the paid invoice, helps the customer who was at work during the groom say thanks.

Grooming Reports for Each Pet

An invoice tells the customer what they paid for. A Grooming Report tells them what was done. The grooming checklist in the groomer app is filled in for each pet — coat and skin on arrival, brush-out, bath, dry, haircut, nails, ears and so on — plus a note for the customer. The office can print a Grooming Report from that.

For a multi-pet home, that report matters even more. It is easy for a customer to wonder whether the second dog got the same attention as the first. A report that covers each pet answers the question before it is asked. To see how the invoice, the card and the tips report fit together for every kind of home, visit the pet grooming invoicing software page.