Running a pet business in Australia: compliance, regulations, and local market insights
Petboost is built by Australian pet business owners. We share what we've learned running our own businesses.
Published prices, October 2026
What Australian dog walkers and pet sitters charge
Median $35, lowest $20, highest $80. 12 of the 22 are 30-minute walks.
Median $53, lowest $30, highest $80. Where the business also publishes an hour.
Median $39.50, lowest $30, highest $50. 10 of the 17 are an hour long.
Median $35, lowest $25, highest $50. 11 state exactly 30 minutes.
Median $32, lowest $25, highest $50. 6 are cat-only prices.
Median $88, lowest $45, highest $130. 6 of the 9 are "from" prices, so read this as a floor.
Prices read from 43 Australian walking and sitting businesses' own websites on 9 October 2026, no more than 6 from any one capital city per row. Median, not average. The dark mark is the median; the grey bar runs from the lowest published price to the highest. GST-inclusive or not stated.
Insight 03
Price from your costs, not from the business down the road
Priced by comparison
Priced from cost per bench hour
$120.00 · Full Groom (Large)
Stripe · 3 Apr
Kiwi
Pawfect Grooming · Tue 10:00am
The number nobody runs
You are not paying an hourly rate, you are paying for every hour they are there
Miscellaneous Award, casual level 1
ordinary hours, Monday to Friday, from 1 July 2026
Superannuation
12% of qualifying earnings
Workers compensation and cover
a real cost, set by your state and industry classification
Hours on the clock, not on a dog
set-up, clean-down, waiting on you, the one you re-do
$36.04 an hour spread across six productive hours in an eight-hour day, before workers compensation is added. Price the help against that number, not the one on the ad.
