It would be hundreds of dollars a day, like probably 300-400 at least depending on how much time you spent each day and night.
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And another point is that, if I pay for an air bnb, my time is my own 100%. Totally different scenario if I have to do anything besides whatever I want all day and night.
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I’m not sure where you get these prices for pet sitting. They aren’t at all accurate.
A random pet sitting company that I found charges $60 an hour, plus $125 per night from only 7 pm to 7 am. Plus extra for extra pets. No extra tasks at all included. That would obviously add up. Of course we would not leave a home dirty. But as a homeowner myself and someone who is new to this site – I’m extremely surprised that there seem to be expectations of perfection as far as cleaning. That’s not something we are willing to do on our vacation. We will provide good care for pets and leave homes reasonably clean. Not perfectly clean. That is really taking advantage when you consider the actual rates for many hours daily of 25/7 of in home pet care from any pet sitting company. I’m pretty sure that rate would easily exceed and possibly double or more what your house would be rented for. I’m brand new to this site and concerned about what home owners seem to expect, which is unfortunate because we would be excellent pet and home sitters for the great majority of people and their expectations.
Edited to meet Community Guidelines.
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If you want a house cleaner, then that needs to be disclosed in the responsibilities section. Where we live, the price to have someone stay in your home with your pet is very expensive. Like several hundred dollars per day. That should be enough besides basic cleaning. Perfection should not be expected. We will also spend thousands traveling to this location in our case.
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I agree. I’m new to this site and starting to really have doubts even though I had been very excited. I’m not a house cleaner. We will clean up after ourselves and take excellent care of the pets. But I’m not anyone’s employee or house cleaner. That’s off-putting in the extreme and I think we are great choices for anyone to care for their pets and home. If they have OCD or are just obsessed with having a perfect home, they need to disclose that in the responsibilities section (which I would then never apply).
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I agree, for all intensive purposes, its pet sitting (assuming there are pets involved) and the vast majority of HO would be grateful for happy, well looked after pets.
If I was a HO, that would be my hope and expectation.
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Totally agree and I find it extremely condescending to criticize a petsitter for anything other than pet care. Ok, sitters can water my plants, but they are not servants. They are offering a free service to care for beloved pets. Owners own them a huge gratitude. Entitlement is out of control and gratitude should take its place.
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Exactly. We joined to experiment with the entire platform. But we definitely might put our home on the platform at some point. Hopefully we will. And we would be thrilled as long as nothing was broken, the place wasn’t filthy, and our pets were safe and happy! What would mean far more would be video updates seeing them living their lives happily, receiving love and attention, etc. We really wouldn’t care whether our house was perfect. And we pay a house cleaner at our own house. We expect only to do basic upkeep not intensive cleaning. I really hope that’s not the cultural expectation on this platform. The focus should be on the pets primarily staying safe but also getting that love and attention so they don’t feel lonely or sad.
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I think cleaning so the house is as clean as it was when you arrived is normal and expected @CuriousCat - you aren’t expected to deep clean a place but if you’ve been there for a week or two it’ll need a hoover and clean before you leave and the sheets washed.
You could specify to homeowners that you’ll only take sits where there is a cleaner but this will really limit you. In our 20+ sits we’ve had one host who had a cleaner come in the day we left. Offering to pay for the cleaner might make it more likely that hosts would offer you the sit potentially
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While I’m happy that @Amanda56 was able to sort things out with the HO and received a 5* review (congrats!), I recommend checking the TrustedHousesitters cleanliness guidelines, for both pet owners and pet sitters.
There’s a cleaning checklist for both parties. Here’s the one for sitters, and here’s the one for pet owners. Everyone has their own definition of what “immaculate” means, so I’ve found the lists really helpful.
All that said, giving private feedback on both sides is a great thing. I’ve received it and given it. It adds to the community feeling that I love about TH.
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As a sitter, I see cleaning after myself and the pets as part of the exchange. I don’t go beyond, because I’m not offering a cleaning service.
The funny thing is, I get raves from hosts. Like my latest ones said they’d not seen the house as clean before. But I returned it to them as they’d turned it over to me — after their weekly cleaner had been there.
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Is it possible to have an immaculate house when you have pets?
Dogs that travel miles for walks, cast hair all over the place, tread in mud and similar, and the same for cats?
Do owners with these immaculate homes clean and sanitise their pets every time they come back in?
I’m genuinely curious.
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Regarding the checklist, on one of our sits, 7/10 of the things on the HO checklist certainly had not been done before our arrival 
We are sitters that have stayed in many pristine and clean homes with pets and a few not so immaculate.
The main difference was the flooring , facilities to clean and dry dogs after a walk and the cleaning equipment and products available .
Homes with hard flooring not carpets are easily kept clean with a working vacuum cleaner and mop.
For example we have stayed in home on a working farm with a dedicated boot room where wet dogs can dry off after a walk. Other homes have an outside warm water tap for washing muddy paws and plenty of towels to dry them off .
In contrast a countryside home where the only entrance after a muddy walk is a carpeted area , the only vacuum cleaner is broken (and it appears has been for a long time ) there is no mop or floor cleaning products to be found anywhere.
Leather couches are easily wiped down from pet hair, fabric is not as easy but having throws ( which can be machine washed ) for the pets to lie on solves the problem .
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So you haven’t stayed in any homes that could be called immaculate?
You are in the vast majority
@Hallt64 we have stayed in many immaculate and pristine homes with pets and our reviews have said that we left it immaculate too - but we only cleaned as we would do in our own home . There was no deep cleaning required on our part - they were already perfectly clean and tidy when we arrived .
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Ok, just you said you’d stayed in Clean homes, i believe Immaculate has a higher definition than clean.
Its all about interpretation really.
I would always look to stay in a clean home, but not in an immaculate home, which to me means an effective show home.
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The key word there is ‘perfectly’, which matches my interpretation
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“Launder pet beds and blankets, and clean all of the pet’s dishes” this is part of the sitters’ checklist….
I might not have laundered the pet beds/blankets on a very short sit… hmm but yes to keeping the dishes clean daily tbh.