The pet boarding & daycare launch plan
Every step from deciding to opening, in the order it happens, shaped to your situation, with your own numbers beside it. About 49 steps in 8 phases, 22 of them specific to a pet boarding & daycare. Free to read; ticking steps off and putting in your own numbers come with membership.
The plan49 steps
- 01Not started0/6Fold
Decide with the numbersa week or two
Before a dollar is spent. Most expensive mistakes happen here, and this phase costs nothing.
A boarding and daycare facility makes money by filling a fixed set of runs and suites.
Typical for one unit is $400,000 to $2,000,000 a year; the owner keeps 28 to 34% of it before paying themselves. If that band does not cover what you need, that is the signal to pause and look again.
~50% survive 5 years. Roughly half of new U.S. businesses reach five years.
Twelve questions about your money, time, experience and temperament, scored. Then the 5 questions this business asks of its owner, about the hours and the work. Answer both before you spend a dollar.
Rule of thumb: if you can buy a well-run facility with high , a real daycare base, and a clean incident record on a kennel-permitted site, buying buys you years and skips the cold . Answer it in your situation above and the plan reshapes.
Customers, prices, rent, staff pay, what it costs to open. We filled in typical numbers; change what you know and everything on this page follows.
- 02Not started0/5Open
Plan the moneya week
What it costs to open, where the money comes from, and the cushion that keeps you alive until the business pays for itself.
Boarding is capital-heavy compared with an asset-light service, because the building is the business.
The itemized cost to open10 lines
- Interior build-out, floors and drains: $55,000 to $170,000Washable walls, a double-gate lobby, sealed floors sloped to drains; a former kennel or vet clinic costs least
- HVAC and ventilation: $10,000 to $45,000Fresh-air exchange for a building full of dogs, the disease and odor defense
- Outdoor yard turf and fencing: $8,000 to $40,000A fenced play and potty yard
- Runs, suites and playroom dividers: $17,600 to $66,100Chain link runs at Lean, more glass-front suites at Premium
- Grooming station, laundry and sanitation gear: $10,500 to $33,000Tub, table and dryer for the add-on stream, washers and dryers, foamers and vacs
- Front desk, computers, POS, webcams and supplies: $5,000 to $42,200Check-in, booking, owner webcams, run bowls and cots, opening food and cleaning supplies
- Design drawings, permits, licenses and insurance: $10,800 to $32,500Kennel license and zoning, drawings for permits, animal bailee coverage, legal setup
- Lease and utility deposits: $8,500 to $32,000One to three months of rent on a kennel-permitted site
- Sign, website, launch marketing and staff training: $12,400 to $56,000Pre-selling daycare packages and training handlers before the first dog checks in
- Initial working capital: $100,000 to $150,000Rent, payroll, and float through the occupancy ramp, often 6 to 12 months
Costs start on day one; customers take months. Map the first twelve months of cash so the business does not run out of money while it is getting going.
The business has to earn your pay like any other bill. Set it in your numbers and watch the month it move.
How deals in this business are financed4 lines
- SBA 7(a) loan (Up to 10 yr (25 with real estate) · 75-85% government-guaranteed)The workhorse for buying an existing facility or funding a buildout and working capital.
- Seller financing (Often 5-25% of price · 3-7 yr)Common when buying a facility.
- Real-estate / SBA 504 loan (Secured by the real estate · long amortization)When you buy the building, a 504 or a commercial mortgage finances the real estate over a long term, separating the property from the operating loan and freeing working capital.
- Equipment financing (Secured by equipment & fixtures)Finance runs, grooming equipment, and HVAC secured by the assets themselves, a practical way to build capacity without draining cash.
Most new shops pair an with 10 to 20% of your own cash. Know the monthly payment before you look at a single space.
Before you shop. A lender tells you what they would fund, what they need from you (credit, your cash in, a plan with numbers), and a pre-qualification letter makes a landlord or a seller take you seriously.
- 03Not started0/4Open
Set up the companya day or two
A day of paperwork, and it has to come before the space: a lease, a loan application and every permit are in the company’s name.
Your state’s business name search, the trademark register, and the domain, before the name is on a sign, a van, or a lease.
A , an , and the S-corporation election each change what you keep and what you are exposed to. Compare them with the numbers, confirm with a CPA and an attorney, then file with your state.
After:The is free from the IRS in minutes once the company exists. The bank account needs both. Keep business money separate from day one.
After:Pick the accounting software and connect the bank account now, so every cost of opening is captured and the numbers you later are real.
- 04Not started0/5Open
Find and secure the spaceone to three months
Boarding is location-bound and real-estate intensive.
What decides it for this business: high pet-owning household density, middle-to-upper household income, kennel-permitted & noise buffer, affordable, convertible real estate, not oversaturated with facilities.
One call to the planning desk with the address: is this use allowed there, and what will it take (, permits, fire sign-off)? A space that needs a change of use can add months.
Rent, free months for the , who pays for what, the and the renewals, subject to financing and permits. The lender needs this letter or a draft lease to take your application.
After: ,, renewal options, increase caps, what the landlord adds on top of rent, and what happens if you have to leave. For a location business the lease is part of the purchase price.
After:at minimum; property, workers’ compensation and the rest as the business needs. The landlord asks for a certificate at signing and the lender at closing.
- 05Not started0/2Open
Get the loanfour to eight weeks
Four to eight weeks with an SBA lender, longer if the file is incomplete. Everything else waits on this, so send a complete file.
Your plan with numbers (download it as a PDF from this page), the company’s papers, the or draft lease, the and equipment quotes, your personal financial statement, and proof of the cash you put in.
After:The lender approves against the ; you sign the lease once approved; the loan closes against the signed lease and the insurance certificate. Ask for the to match the or longer.
After:
- 06Not started0/12Open
Permits and the build-outone to three months
Boarding is a regulated animal-care use, so licensing, zoning, and inspection are real barriers, and a moat against unqualified competition.
Bind the policies you had quoted before a contractor, a vehicle or a customer is in play. Keep the certificates; the landlord, the lender and the city will ask.
After:Your contractors pull the building, plumbing, electrical and mechanical permits and close them out by inspection. Hold the free rent months for this.
After:Most cities approve exterior signs separately; signs take weeks to make. Order early.
Register your or corporation and obtain a city or county operating license.
State registration to collect and remit tax on retail and taxable services where applicable.
A state or local animal-boarding license, typically with an inspection of runs, sanitation, and safety.
Boarding is a regulated use that many zones restrict.
Care-custody-control, bite, and coverage given the incident risk, often by the lease and the license.
Many jurisdictions impose noise limits on kennels.
A required-vaccination policy and records for every dog, the primary defense against a disease outbreak and a common license condition.
Sanitation, drainage, ventilation, and fire-safety inspection of the building and the runs.
After:The city’s sign-off that the space is approved for this use. You cannot open the doors without it.
After:
- 07Not started0/10Open
Set up to runduring the build
During the build, so the business runs from day one: the systems, the prices, the people and the routine.
The backbone, books boarding and daycare, tracks vaccination records, manages packages and memberships, and logs incidents.
Collect for stays and sell recurring daycare packages and memberships up front.
You take custody of family pets in a building full of other dogs.
A dedicated account keeps boarding, daycare, grooming, and retail separate from personal money, essential for clean books and any future sale.
See the price the the business needs implies, then check it against what the market pays.
Federal plus state employer, withholding, and once you hire animal-care staff.
After:Wages are the start: , insurance, training time and the hours you stop billing. Owners usually post the jobs a month out and hire two to four weeks before opening so training happens before the doors open.
Early morning: Daycare drop-off rush and boarding check-outs overlap. Daytime: Supervised play groups run, runs and suites are cleaned and turned,... Late afternoon: Daycare pickup rush.
Opening, closing, the sale, the complaint, the cash. One page each. This is the manual a franchise would have sold you.
Free, and it is how most people will find you. Address, hours, photos and the menu or price list, live before opening day; then the sign, the soft opening and the first regulars.
- 08Not started0/5Open
Open and measurethe first ninety days
You own it. Now run it on the numbers.
Friends, neighbors and a short menu or list. Find the problems while the room is forgiving.
Enter the real numbers and see every cost line against the for this business.
Real estate & the fixed facility; Animal-care & overnight coverage; Disease, bite & escape liability.
Growth consumes cash before it produces it. Find the rate your own cash funds before you push.
Boarding facilities are sellable assets, especially ones that own or hold a long lease on a kennel-permitted site and run on a recurring daycare base.