Stop Doing Price Math in Your Head While the Client Is Standing There
Set grooming prices by size and coat length. BarkBook auto-selects the right price at booking. No more mental math.
A new client calls. "How much for a full groom?" You ask what kind of dog. "A Goldendoodle." Okay, but how big? "Uh, pretty big?" And the coat — is it kept short or is it grown out? "It's kind of long, I guess?"
Now you're doing mental math. Big Doodle, long coat, probably matted if they're calling a new groomer. You throw out a number that's either too high and scares them off, or too low and you're eating the difference when a 90-pound dog with six inches of matted curls shows up on Tuesday.
Groomers have been asking for breed-specific pricing that comes preloaded — a price for every breed, ready to go. But that's 200+ breed entries to maintain, and it still doesn't account for the difference between a 40-pound Labradoodle and an 80-pound one with a completely different coat.
There's a better way to think about it.
The Problem With "How Much for a Goldendoodle?"
Every groomer has a pricing system. Most of them live in their head.
The mental lookup.
You've groomed a thousand dogs, so you "just know" what to charge. That works until you hire someone who hasn't groomed a thousand dogs. They quote the wrong price, the client is surprised at checkout, and now you're dealing with an awkward conversation that could have been avoided.
The breed price list.
You made a spreadsheet with prices for every breed. It took forever. Then a client showed up with a "mini Bernedoodle" and you realized your list doesn't cover designer breeds, mixed breeds, or the fact that two dogs of the same breed can have completely different coats.
The "it depends" answer.
You tell every caller "it depends on the dog" because it genuinely does. But "it depends" doesn't help your receptionist give a quote when you're elbow-deep in a Newfoundland.
The real variables that drive grooming pricing aren't breed names. They're size and coat. A large dog with a long coat takes more time, more product, and more effort than a small dog with a smooth coat — regardless of what breed name is on the paperwork.
BarkBook's Size-Coat Pricing Matrix: 16 Prices Per Service, Zero Guesswork
Every service you create in BarkBook gets a pricing matrix: four sizes (Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large) across four coat lengths. That's 16 price-and-duration combinations per service. Set them once, and every possible dog that walks through your door has a price and a time slot that matches reality.
Quick-fill shortcuts
Copy a price across an entire row or column. If all small dogs cost the same regardless of coat length for a basic bath, fill the row in one click. If long-coated dogs always add $15 regardless of size, fill the column. You're not typing 16 individual numbers — you're setting a pattern and adjusting the exceptions.
Automatic price selection at booking
When you book an appointment, BarkBook looks at the pet's profile — their size and coat length — and selects the correct price and duration from your matrix. No mental math. No looking it up. No asking your receptionist to check the binder. The right price appears because the pet's profile already has the information.
Service statuses
Keep your catalog clean. Active services show up in booking. Inactive services are hidden but preserved. Archived services are completely retired. When you stop offering a seasonal service, you don't delete it and lose the history — you archive it and move on.
This solves the breed-pricing problem without forcing you to maintain a list of 200+ breeds. A large dog with a curly, long coat costs what a large, curly, long coat costs — whether it's a Standard Poodle, a Labradoodle, or a mystery mix the owner found at the shelter. The math is the same because the work is the same.
What Changes When Pricing Is Automatic
- Your receptionist gives accurate quotes on the first call.
- Your new groomer doesn't have to ask you what to charge for a medium dog with a double coat.
- Your checkout matches what was quoted at booking because both pulled from the same matrix.
- You stop doing arithmetic in your head while holding a pair of shears.
Pricing should be a decision you make once — and then the system handles it from there.
Start Your 14-Day Free Trial
Set up your first service, fill in the pricing matrix, and book an appointment. Watch the right price appear automatically based on the pet's profile. No spreadsheets, no mental math, no "let me check and call you back."