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Six dogs at $95 nets $443 a day — $68/hr — while the salon pays a commission groomer $285 for the same dogs. The driveway is the difference.
Mobile grooming is a pricing lesson wrapped in a van: the same groom that bills $65 in a salon bills $95 in the driveway, because you are selling one-on-one attention, no cage drying, and no drop-off logistics. Six dogs a day nets $443 after the van, fuel, and supplies — $68 an hour across 6.5 route hours — while a salon commission groomer takes home $285 for the identical work. This calculator runs your prices, route density, and van costs into the real day.
Groomers use it before leaving the salon: 6 dogs at $95 nets $443/day ($68/hr) against the salon's $285 commission day — the driveway premium is the whole business.
30–60% above salon pricing, and do not apologize for it — you are not a salon on wheels, you are a premium service that eliminates drop-off logistics, cage drying, lobby anxiety, and multi-dog wait times. Market rates run $85–150+ depending on region, breed size, and coat condition, with doodle coats and de-matting priced as the labor they are. The pricing architecture: base by weight class, coat-condition surcharges quoted from photos at booking (a matted doodle is a two-hour job — price it or dread it), de-shedding treatments at +$20–40, and senior/anxious-dog premium slots booked at double time. The capacity math is why the price must carry the day: 5–7 dogs is the honest daily ceiling (bath-dry-trim cycle plus drive time), so six dogs at $95 nets $443 while the same six at salon pricing nets $263 — the van payment does not care which you charged. Membership-style standing appointments (every 6–8 weeks, auto-booked) fill the book and kill the re-marketing cost.
Mobile, decisively, once the book fills — the example nets $443/day ($68/hr, ~$9,300/mo) against $285/day on 50% commission for the same grooms. The trade is the van and the book-building year: a grooming van runs $30–70k new (less used), conversion maintenance and generator care are real, and the first 6–12 months of route-building pay below the salon wage while the recurring book fills. The salon path has its own ceiling: commission groomers top out around 50–60% of service revenue, house grooming at a salon is capped by table count and the owner's pricing, and the wage floor states are pushing employed grooming toward hourly-plus-commission hybrids. The hybrid many groomers run: keep 2 salon days for stability while the mobile book fills — the salon days also feed the mobile waitlist. Physical economics matter more here than anywhere: grooming wrecks backs and wrists, so the dogs-per-day ceiling is also a career-length decision — price so the ceiling is enough, and the premium pricing is what makes fewer dogs sustainable.
Route density is the entire game — the 20-minute gap between stops is where profit leaks. Cluster bookings by neighborhood on fixed days (Tuesday is Oak Hill day), publish a service radius with a travel surcharge beyond it, and watch 5 dogs become 7 at the same price — that difference is the year's profit. The rebooking discipline: book the next appointment before the dog leaves the van — 6–8 week cycles on standing appointments — because a full book of 120–150 recurring households is a sellable business, not a job. Acquisition that works: vet offices and boarding facilities (referral partnerships), breed-specific Facebook groups and Nextdoor (doodle owners find each other), and the van itself as a billboard — wrap it. Between-groom nail trims ($20, 10 minutes) fit the gaps between full grooms and keep dogs on the books. Cancellation policy: 48-hour notice with a fee — a missed mobile slot cannot be backfilled that day, unlike a salon walk-in. Insurance note: the dog in your van is someone's family member — grooming liability coverage (including animal bailee) is not optional, and it is priced into the day rate here.