Why pet sitting is a genuinely good small business
Pet sitting is one of the cheapest businesses you can start in the UK, and one of the few where demand genuinely follows you home. Millions of UK households own a dog or a cat, owners travel more than ever, and many would rather pay a trusted person to look after their pet at home than use a kennel. Unlike dog walking alone, pet sitting covers a wider menu: drop-in visits, overnight stays in the owner’s home, house sitting, and holiday cover.
It is also a business you can start part-time and grow. Many successful sitters begin with a handful of local clients around a day job, then go full-time once repeat bookings fill the calendar. This guide walks through the whole setup: costs, insurance, the legal position, pricing, and a first-30-days plan to win your first clients.
What pet sitting actually involves
Be clear about what you are selling, because clients use the same words for different things. Drop-in visits mean calling at the owner’s home once or twice a day to feed, water, clean litter trays, let dogs out, and give medication if needed. Overnight house sitting means staying in the owner’s home while they are away, which commands the highest price and the most trust. Some sitters also offer dog walking as an add-on service, and a few offer home boarding, where the pet stays at the sitter’s home instead.
Home boarding is a different legal animal: in England, boarding dogs in your own home usually needs a licence from your local council under the animal activities licensing rules, while looking after pets in the owner’s home generally does not. If you are starting out, stick to sitting in the owner’s home. It keeps the legal position simple, needs no premises, and is exactly what most clients want. Check with your own council before adding any service where animals stay at your address, because rules differ across the UK nations and between councils.
Startup costs: a realistic budget
One reason pet sitting works so well as a first business is that the startup bill is small. A lean start typically costs £500 to £1,000, while a more polished launch with training, a website and booking software lands around £1,200 to £3,000. Here is where the money goes.
Pet business insurance is the first and most important cost, typically £100 to £300 a year for a sole sitter, depending on cover levels. A basic DBS check costs around £20 and is not legally required for pet sitting, but it reassures clients who are handing you their house keys, so most established sitters treat it as essential. Pet first-aid training costs roughly £50 to £150 and is worth every penny, both for safety and for marketing. Basic equipment such as spare leads, poo bags, a torch, a phone charger and a small first-aid kit costs £50 to £100. A simple website can be free or very cheap to start, and local marketing through flyers, community groups and a Google Business Profile costs little or nothing at first. Booking and invoicing software is optional at the start; a spreadsheet works fine until you have regular clients.
Franchise routes exist, with published initial fees roughly £9,995 to £12,995 plus VAT at some networks, but for a solo sitter that is rarely good value. You are paying for a brand and a booking system you can build yourself for a fraction of that. Spend the money on insurance and training instead.
Registering, tax and insurance
Most pet sitters start as sole traders. Register with HMRC for Self Assessment, keep records of every booking and expense, and file a tax return each year. You must register if your self-employment income passes £1,000 in a tax year, and you should register promptly rather than waiting until the January deadline. You do not need to register for VAT unless your taxable turnover passes £90,000, which a solo sitter will not reach, though a multi-sitter agency eventually might. If you later take on staff or build a team, consider a limited company and get accountancy advice at that point, but do not complicate day one.
Insurance deserves a proper paragraph because getting it wrong is the biggest avoidable risk in this business. You need public liability cover for injury or damage to third parties, and care, custody and control cover for animals in your care being lost, injured or causing damage. Key cover matters too: you are holding keys and alarm codes to empty homes, and a lost key or a break-in linked to your keyholding is a real exposure. Check that your policy covers all three, plus loss of keys, and read the exclusions before you buy. If you drive to clients, tell your car insurer: standard social and commuting cover may not include business use, and a small upgrade usually fixes it.
Pricing: what to charge
Pricing varies by region, but the market has fairly settled ranges. Drop-in visits of 30 to 60 minutes typically fetch £12 to £20 per visit, an hour of dog walking £12 to £18 per dog, and overnight sitting in the client’s home £40 to £70 per night. Cats are usually cheaper than dogs because visits are shorter, while puppies, reactive dogs and multi-pet households justify a premium. Holiday periods such as Christmas, Easter and school summer holidays command higher rates, and many sitters charge extra for bank holidays.
Price for profit, not just for bookings. Work out your costs per booking: travel time and fuel, insurance spread across the year, and the hours you actually spend, including messaging clients and writing updates. A £15 visit that takes an hour door to door after travel is barely minimum wage once costs are counted. It is better to charge £18 and keep clients with great service than to charge £12 and burn out. Offer clear packages: a single visit, a twice-daily visit plan, and an overnight rate, with extras such as medication administration, plant watering and bringing in post priced separately or bundled openly. Always confirm the price in writing before the booking, and take a deposit for holiday periods.
Winning clients: trust first, advertising second
Pet sitting is a trust business, and clients buy the sitter before they buy the service. Your first clients will almost always come from people who already know you or who have seen you recommended locally. Start with a simple one-page website or social media page showing your face, your insurance, your DBS check and a few genuine photos of you with animals, not stock images. A Google Business Profile for your town or area is free and brings local searches straight to you.
Ask every happy client for a review and for permission to use a short quote on your page, and ask them to recommend you to one friend. Local vets, groomers and dog walkers are excellent referral partners: introduce yourself in person, leave a card, and offer to refer clients back to them. Community groups, school gates and local noticeboards still work well for this business, and a short introductory offer for first bookings can break the ice. Never discount so deeply that clients expect the low price forever; a free meet-and-greet visit is a better incentive than a cheap rate.
The meet-and-greet is your most important sales tool. Visit the client at home before the first booking, meet the pet, learn its routine, feeding, medication, vet details and quirks, and agree house rules in writing: keys, alarms, what to do in an emergency, and who to call. Clients who have met you in their home book with confidence, and the written handover protects both sides.
Running the business day to day
Good systems separate the sitters who stay busy from those who fade out. Keep a booking diary with arrival and departure times, feeding schedules, medication times and vet contact details for every pet. Send clients a short update with a photo during each visit or stay: it is the single highest-rated thing sitters do, and it turns one booking into repeat bookings. Keep keys labelled by code, never by name and address together, and store them securely.
Plan for your own illness and holidays, because clients book months ahead. Build a relationship with one or two trusted fellow sitters who can cover for you, and agree cover terms before you need them. Keep your calendar honest: overbooking leads to rushed visits and missed medication, which is how reputations are lost. Finally, keep learning: pet first aid refreshers, basic behaviour knowledge and a calm manner with anxious animals are the skills clients remember and recommend.
Your first 30 days
Week one: register as a sole trader, buy insurance, apply for a basic DBS check, and book a pet first-aid course. Week two: set up your page and Google Business Profile, write your price list, and prepare a simple booking form and terms. Week three: visit local vets and groomers, post in community groups, and offer free meet-and-greets to your first enquiries. Week four: take your first paid bookings, send photo updates on every visit, and ask each client for a review. By day 30 you should have insurance, a price list, a handful of reviews and a diary with repeat bookings starting to appear. From there, growth is a matter of consistency: show up on time, communicate well, and look after the pets as if they were your own, because in this business, that is the whole product.
Related reading
If you are weighing up pet sitting against other low-cost starts, read our guide on how to start a handyman business in the UK, our self-employed insurance explained guide, and our pricing guide for group dog walks. Dog owners may also find our dog grooming business insurance and qualifications guide useful.