Pet Boarding & Daycare
A boarding and daycare facility is a hotel for dogs. You build a fixed inventory of runs and suites, then live or die on how full you keep them. The real estate and overnight staffing cost the same whether the kennels are half empty or packed, so occupancy is the whole game, and recurring daycare smooths the holiday boarding lumps.
Read the launch plan: every step from deciding to opening, free →The Snapshot
Is this worth your attention?
Estimated Typical bands for this kind of business, estimated from adjacent public data where no direct benchmark exists; treat them as rough. Estimates, not forecasts; a specific business varies with its location, lease, equipment and owner. Last reviewed 2026-07-07. smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice.
A fit if you…
- Are comfortable around dogs and the realities of animal care
- Want recurring revenue from daycare packages and memberships
- Can keep a fixed facility full across lumpy holiday demand
- Can run staffing ratios, overnight coverage, and tight cleaning
- Can carry the real estate and buildout cost of a fixed location
Probably not if you…
- Want a hands-off, asset-light business from day one
- Are not prepared for disease, bite, and escape liability
- Can not carry fixed rent through the slow weeks between holidays
- Dislike managing animal-care staff and overnight shifts
Step Inside the Layout
A live look at one tool inside
This is the actual 3D floor from the full model. Drag to explore it. Inside, you configure the space yourself and watch the economics move with every choice.
Sources and method6 public sources, with the year and a link where the source gives one. The benchmark bands on this page are estimated from adjacent data and labeled as estimates.
Sources & Method
Figures are estimated from the public sources below and from adjacent data; the bands are labeled as estimates
How these numbers were built: establishment counts and industry size come from the U.S. Census Bureau (County Business Patterns and SUSB for NAICS 812910, Pet Care except Veterinary Services); animal-care wages come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS, SOC 39-2021); industry standards and benchmarks come from the International Boarding & Pet Services Association; financing terms and the size standard come from the SBA; the survival signal comes from the Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics; the owner cash margin and resale multiples come from BizBuySell’s dog daycare and boarding sales from 2021 to 2025; and the cost to open comes from the opening kit, priced line by line from a facility cost table for 25 to 40 units, franchise Item 7 tables (Hounds Town USA, Camp Bow Wow), kennel panel, grooming and insurance prices. Every source below links to the underlying public material so you can check any figure yourself. These are starting assumptions; the moment you enter a real facility revenue, run count, occupancy, blended ticket, and labor costs, your numbers should replace ours. Figures are industry-typical and refreshed as the sources update.
The margin band is owner cash flow (SDE) before any owner pay, from BizBuySell’s dog daycare and boarding sales from 2021 to 2025 (28.1% to 34.2% of revenue by year). The animal-care labor anchor is the BLS animal caretaker wage (SOC 39-2021). Occupancy, daycare-package share, and revenue-per-run figures are estimated from the simulator defaults and general boarding-industry patterns rather than a single cited benchmark study, so treat them as directional.
This is just the surface
The full model is the complete, interactive deep-dive, and every business here is built to the same standard: a live economics simulator you tune to your own numbers, an interactive 3D walkthrough, a location scorecard, an owner-fit assessment, a buy-versus-build comparison, and the full breakdown of how it makes money and what quietly kills margin.
then $29 a month
Time to choose and start, then month to month.
$99 today for your first 3 months, then $29 a month until you cancel.
about $17 a month
The best price: a year to decide, open and run it.
$199 today, then $199 each year until you cancel.
Renews until you cancel. Cancel any time from your account; you keep access to the end of the period you paid for, and your saved plans stay in your account. What membership opens
smbnest is a self-assessment tool. It does not give individualized financial, investment, legal or tax advice. Figures are estimates and benchmarks, not forecasts. Speak with a qualified financial adviser and a licensed attorney before you start, buy, finance or sign anything.