Pet Sitting

[Bee12]

Hi there

I just recently moved back home from living 3 years in Thailand and I really miss Thailand and would love to go back. I don't want to teach as I am more animal focused. I have a degree in animal care and welfare and spent almost 3 years working with the street cats and dogs in Bangkok. I know from experience that Bangkok is lacking in good quality boarding facilities so me, a dog trainer and vet nurse came up with offering people around Bangkok Pet sitting. Basically I am on this site to see if this concept would work in Thailand. It works well in America, England, Australia and NZ so just would like to see if it would work here. What we would offer is someone to come to your house, feed, play, exercise, clean up after your pet while you're away or in some cases stay at the house. I know a lot of expats have maids that will do that but many don't have that luxury. So anyway just wanted to hear people's thoughts. I have Pet/ housed sitted before in Bangkok and I know that I use to get tonnes of phone calls from people that were in need of finding a place for their dog and cat to stay while they went away.

We could also offer vet pick up and drop offs and I have 2 years of experience with importing and exporting dogs so that could also be another avenue.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[Cuban]

As a business in Thailand you would need a Work Permit etc etc etc. So your business costs will be high and thus your hourly rate. (What will you do with your four Thai staff?)

Considering the size of BKK your biggest expense is likely to be travel so factor in the cost in terms of travel time that is effectively non-productive (non-earning, non-marketing) time and the fuel costs as motorbike is probably offered the fastest transit.

Sort out good life insurance as dashing between client houses on a motorbike in Bangkok will probably not extend your lifespan.

Being tied to a or a few kennels as a specialist service might work and this would also ease your Work Permit issues, however your 50,000 Baht a month salary might be difficult to balance. My very rough calculation suggests that you need to change 500 Baht an hour just to cover your salary costs, to make any profit your rate must be higher thus it is cheaper to take the dog to a kennel.

Look at a map of BKK and consider the transit times between three clients randomly placed on the map, work out your route, fuel costs and time taken multiply that journey by 14 to cover a two week holiday and really think if you could do that for two weeks.

There might be a business opportunity to fill but not by a degree educated non-Thai doing the donkey work.

When we travelled overseas we had a trusted relative stay in our house to take care of the three dogs and the house. As I recall the total end to end costs worked out at under 10 Baht an hour for 24 hour live-in care with grooming, playing and walking etc.

Most people have relatives in Thailand that will house sit and take care of pets.

Edited August 12, 2011 by Cuban

[SadieMBeagle]

Jeez, Cuban. Who pissed in your cheerios?

OP, I think it's a great idea. In Chiang Mai there is a maid company that I thought would never work. It is owned and managed by a farang. Well, its business is through the roof! I think you can find a way to do this. Obviously, you'll have a few things to figure out. But what business doesn't?

I would use such a service, as long as the cost weren't too high. But there are thousands of people in BKK who make lots more money than me, for whom the cost wouldn't be an issue.

At any rate, I'd say your idea is worth some thought!

[shepsel]

If you were in Chiang Mai, I would hire you now.

[LeCharivari]

There might be a business opportunity to fill but not by a degree educated non-Thai doing the donkey work.

When we travelled overseas we had a trusted relative stay in our house to take care of the three dogs and the house. As I recall the total end to end costs worked out at under 10 Baht an hour for 24 hour live-in care with grooming, playing and walking etc.

Most people have relatives in Thailand that will house sit and take care of pets.

Agreed, Cuban - there's a pretty big difference between a farang doing dog/house-sitting themselves and making a legal living from it and a farang setting up a company supplying cleaners and maids (and/or caretakers/dogsitters).

Those "for whom the cost wouldn't be an issue" will almost certainly already have either a live-in maid or one who visits who would probably live-in temporarily whom they already knew and could trust.

Those who don't have a maid, either because they can't afford it or don't want one, will usually have a known and trusted Thai "in-law" who will do the same for very little. I have too many dogs to make kenneling them feasible, so when we have been away I either paid an in-law to house-sit @ 500 baht per day plus return bus fare for two, or paid a farang I knew who was equally happy to make some "pocket-money" and have a free quiet holiday out of the city for a few days.

I just can't see that sort of money being enough to make it feasible as a full-time job for a farang to do themselves - once you add in the problems of doing it without a work-permit and only freelance (not full-time) it just wouldn't be worth the risk. If Bee12 is thinking about setting it up as a business with Thais doing the legwork then that's a different matter, but in that case it would be business skills that would be required rather than dog handling skills.

If you were in Chiang Mai, I would hire you now.

You're a more trusting man than me.

I wouldn't trust anyone I didn't know (or at least know of ) to take care of my dogs just because they posted on TV, farang or Thai, let alone give them free run of my house and everything it contains.

[F1fanatic]

Like Shepsel, I would be only to happy to find a Westerner that would pet sit for me. However, LeCharivari is right that their credentials would need to be checked first.

The problem is, as previous posters have pointed out, you will be unable to start a company here without employing Thai workers - and most ex-pat Westerners who are prepared to pay a lot of money for someone to move into their house to look after their pets would not trust a Thai, unless they know them v well.

Edited August 18, 2011 by F1fanatic

[LeCharivari]

Like Shepsel, I would be only to happy to find a Westerner that would pet sit for me. However, LeCharivari is right that their credentials would need to be checked first.

The problem is, as previous posters have pointed out, you will be unable to start a company here without employing Thai workers - and most ex-pat Westerners who are prepared to pay a lot of money for someone to move into their house to look after their pets would trust a Thai, unless they know them v well.

I am guessing you mean "would NOT trust a Thai ...."! In my case I wouldn't trust anyone to move into my house unless I knew them "v well" - nationality would be irrelevant.

[F1fanatic]

Like Shepsel, I would be only to happy to find a Westerner that would pet sit for me. However, LeCharivari is right that their credentials would need to be checked first.

The problem is, as previous posters have pointed out, you will be unable to start a company here without employing Thai workers - and most ex-pat Westerners who are prepared to pay a lot of money for someone to move into their house to look after their pets would trust a Thai, unless they know them v well.

I am guessing you mean "would NOT trust a Thai ...."! In my case I wouldn't trust anyone to move into my house unless I knew them "v well" - nationality would be irrelevant.

Thank you, you're right - and I have edited my post accordingly.

[doggie888888]

To the OP, I recently googled Pattaya dog hotels or kennels as I needed the services of one. And I found the attached. I know it does not answer your query directly but it may give you an idea what is available here already.

http://www.bjdogresort.com/

[Cuban]

OP, I think it's a great idea. In Chiang Mai there is a maid company that I thought would never work.

Maids are a regularly required service for which as an employer there are many would-be employees for many potential vacancies, the core USP of that business model I would guess is the process of vetting staff and ensuring that there are sufficient surplus to fill in for sick days, holidays and other staff absences. What the farang management does is provide an assurance that the staff are vetted, traceable and worthy of trust. Farang communication and organisational skills, the economy of scale within the industry allow for the business to support the farang overhead costs.

I would use such a service, as long as the cost weren't too high.

How often do you go on holiday and for how many days?

How much would you pay per day; 200B, 400B, 600B?

To gauge the value for money of dog walking for a few hours a day at your unoccupied house look at some of the very good services that the OP will be competing against, this is the first Thai Kennel result I found via Google. Consider what that guy offers for 600 Baht a day, compared to a few hours attention, would you leave the A/C running for your dog during the day?

The thousands of people in BKK who make lots of money generally have relatives or staff already that would give better longer term care to their pets while on holiday. It's a short term requirement, with (I speculate) limited repeat business during the year. I have not mentioned the issue of dealing with client dogs that might be temperamental responding to a strange person turning up smelling of other dogs.

My point was that I believe that the OP had only considered the nice image of walking a friendly dog and collecting the money. I was offering some thought about the costs of running the business, transport and wasted waiting time being the biggest cost overheads. I've no idea about the liability insurance but it's listed in my scribbled cigar box calculations.

The biggest benefit to promote the service would be to tie-in with either a travel agent or existing kennel, however the risk in doing so is that without a binding contract in place, it will be assured that someone within the Thai run business is very likely to duplicate the business model if there is any money to be made from doing so. That and ensure the staff don't "freelance" as this business would have to be run without an office (cost overhead) so remote management is an issue in itself. The lack of a staffed office in itself might be problematic in term of the WP4.

If I'm wrong please tell me where I have misunderstood the pitfalls.

[LeCharivari]

What the farang management does is provide an assurance that the staff are vetted, traceable and worthy of trust.

... and an insurance that if the maid/dog-watcher disappears with the house contents their company (and the farang company director) are directly and personally responsible!

[Bee12]

Hey

Thanks for your feedback. It has been really helpful. This isn't the only forum that I have gone to in order to see if this idea would work. I have someone that will be approaching the British Womens Club, the Australian and NZ Societies as well as other Societies, clubs and orgainsations to see what kind of response we get as well as find out if this was to go through what they would be looking for. I understand that many people have maids or in-laws that would do this job but again many don't have that luxury and there are very few (only one) boarding kennel that I would ever have sent my dogs too while living in Bangkok. I have done pet sitting on and off while living in Bangkok and also helped set up and run a pet sitting business in NZ and Aussie - I do know that Thailand is a lot different and I am lucky to have very close Thai friends that would back me on setting this up. I won't be doing this half-heartedly and I wouldn't hirer any tom dick or harry as my rep would be at stake if shit hit the fan with a client - there would also be a introduction faze when meeting new clients as just like me I don't just want anyone looking after my dog or coming into my house. At the moment it is an idea - next is the business plan to see if this would be financially viable. I will keep you posted.

Again thanks for your feedback.

[Marie1]

Hi Bee12! I know this topic hasn't been active in years but I was wondering if you ever managed to set up a petsitting business? I am very interested on the subject. ????

Thanks a lot!