Do you love animals! Especially dogs and cats! Well then, working through Rover might be the best flexible job for you!
What Is Rover
Rover acts as a third party, neutral venue, for animal lovers and pet owners to connect. Rover utilizes independent contractors to provide pet care either in the owner’s home or within the worker’s home. It can be as simple as an afternoon walk or as long as a few weeks stay while the owners are away on vacation.
There are 5 main ways to make money through Rover –
- Boarding – Caring for dogs at your own home, usually overnight for a few days at a time.
- Dog Walking – Walking dogs around the owner’s home and neighborhood. Usually for 30 or 60 minutes each walk. Can be 7 days a week or a one-off walk.
- Doggy Day Care – Caring for dogs at your own home during the workday for pet parents.
- Drop-In Visits – Caring for dogs and other animals at the owner’s home. Typically for 30 or 60 minutes each visit. Usually includes feeding and bathroom breaks for the pets.
- House Sitting – Caring for dogs and other animals at the owner’s home, usually overnight for a few days at a time.
This post will focus on the general overview of working for Rover. To learn more about each one of the ways to make money through Rover, click here, or jump to the specific post you are interested in above.
How Much Money Can You Make Working With Dogs And Cats On Rover?
This largely depends on how much the going rates are in your city. Workers on Rover charge different pay rates for the various care tasks. Being able to set your own rate is one of the best things about Rover! However, you can’t just set a really high rate and expect a full schedule from the start. Two of the biggest factors on pay are, how long you have been working for Rover and how many repeat clients and positive reviews you have. The more established you are as a good pet care taker, the higher you can charge for your services and the more clients you will be able to have.
I pulled this data from only the first 50 workers who came up for my area –
| Care Tasks | Average Price | – | Lowest Price | – | Highest Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boarding | $43.06 | – | $25.00 | – | $65.00 |
| Dog Walking | $19.10 | – | $10.00 | – | $28.00 |
| Doggy Day Care | $35.80 | – | $20.00 | – | $100.00 |
| Drop-In Visits | $18.22 | – | $10.00 | – | $30.00 |
| House Sitting | $51.16 | – | $25.00 | – | $135.00 |
Needless to say, there are a lot of folks already out there for you to compete with. This is a drawback of joining an existing market, but it does not make it impossible. The neat thing about Rover is, you get to set your own rates on what you charge per service. Meaning, you can adjust those rates based on specific clients and readjust them when it is necessary for you. The bad thing about Rover, is the 20% fee they take out of your regular earnings.
Fees And Expenses To Consider When Working For Rover
When looking at your take home pay, you need to factor in your expenses –
- Rover’s Fee – Rover takes 20% of your regular earnings. But, not from any tips you earn.
- Gas – Based on the cost of gas in your area and the gas mileage your vehicle gets (If you use one).
- Vehicle Wear and Tear – I estimate about 2 cents a mile to for work travel (If you use a vehicle).
- Taxes – The current self-employment tax rate is 15.3% (You have to file an income tax return if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more.)
- Poop Bags – It is important to always have extra poop bags on hand when walking and caring for dogs.
- Cleaning Supplies – Pets, like children, are messy. From mud and dirt to smeared poop and vomit, you will likely need to scrub your carpet or floors when you host a dog at your place.
Your expenses will vary based on what services you are offering. The more driving you do, the higher your expenses will be and the more time you will spend travelling back and forth. If you work exclusively out of your own home, you will only face a few expenses. Let’s take a look at a simple breakdown for a visual.
| Earnings | Rover Fees (20%) | Gas and Maintenance | Taxes (15.3%) | Net Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10.00 | -$2.00 | -$1.52 | -$0.99 | $5.49 |
| $20.00 | -$4.00 | -$1.52 | -$2.22 | $12.26 |
| $30.00 | -$6.00 | -$1.52 | -$3.44 | $19.04 |
| $40.00 | -$8.00 | N/A | -$4.90 | $27.10 |
| $50.00 | -$10.00 | N/A | -$6.12 | $33.88 |
| $60.00 | -$12.00 | N/A | -$7.34 | $40.66 |
I will break down expenses and what you can earn for each service provided in their specific posts, here. But the simple answer is yes, you can make money from doing Rover!
How Do You Get Paid Through Rover?
Payment processing services are provided by the third party – Stripe. Rover initiates payments 48 hours after the completion of a booking. Unless it is a reoccurring booking. Then Rover issues payouts once a week based on the past week’s bookings for that client. You will need to provide bank account information so the payment’s can be directly deposited into your account.
Cons To Working Through Rover –
Building up a client list is hard work! At the beginning, it can be hard to break into and see a positive return on your time. Especially when it comes to walking dogs and doing drop-in visits. The cost of gas and time spent driving between clients really eats away at your wallet.
The market is over saturated in places. When someone is looking for a new sitter, they are often reaching out to multiple people at the same time. Which means you need to be able to respond quickly to have a shot. And, new clients will most likely want to do a meet and greet before the first visit. This is fine if you are boarding at your own home. But, if you have to travel to the clients home, you won’t get paid for that trip. No gas or time spent will be compensated. Once you have developed a set of repeat clients, it is smooth sailing.
Clients will ghost you, lead you on, and then leave you wondering what happened. You can have a booking all scheduled and set up only for the client to reach out at the last minute to cancel. Or they may reach out with an immediate request for a last minute booking. Those are hard for me personally, because I tend to follow a schedule and feel guilty if I can’t help. The good thing is you can filter out requests just like that!
Rover offers great protection to sitters in the clients home. But, no coverage for damages or injuries that occur when you are walking a dog or boarding a dog in your own home. You will truly be an independent contractor to them and if you are considering boarding multiple dogs at a time you might want to consider your own business insurance!
Pros to Working Through Rover –
Rover offers a lot of ways to make money. You can own your own home or rent a room and still spend time with animals. You don’t need a car or even a smart phone to board dogs at your own home. And, you can easily set your schedule, and what clients/pets you are and are not willing to work with.
The flexibility alone makes Rover a good side hustle. Especially if you work from home or want to spend time with animals but cant have them in your apartment. It brings pets and animal lovers together and you can make decent money from it.
Rover gives you free range to talk directly with your clients and set up how many pets you want to handle at one time. I have see people board dogs overnight while also running a doggy day care during the day. They had multiple dogs running around the back yard and were making very good money doing this in their own home!
What Are The Requirements To Work For Rover?
- Be at least 18 years old
- Pass a simple background check
- To walk dogs and complete drop-in visits you must have a cell-phone that runs the Rover App.
How Do You Become A Pet Sitter Or Dog Walker For Rover?
You can simply click this referral link to sign up today! – Or copy and paste the link, https://www.rover.com/ambas-refer-a-friend/gWWam6yg into your search engine.
You will need to create a simple profile that shows your experience working with pets and animals in the past and some basic information about you and your home. Next, pass the background check and setup your payment information and you are all set to go!
Resources:
https://www.rover.com/become-a-sitter
Gig Economy Tax Center | Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov)
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