Seeking advice for how to go about telling my client I need to charge more for our overnights
Hi. I have a client whose one cat needs to be fed every 1.5-2.5 hours from the hours of 8am-10pm approximately due to a serious GI condition. Recently I increased my prices due to gas prices, but for this client specifically I need to transition them from overnights to constant care/12+ hours live-in pricing due to feeding frequency and I’m looking for advice on how to say that without sounding greedy.
I’m considering sending them this:
Hi (client name)! I’ve updated my prices in response to the current gas prices and attached a screenshot. Also not listed is my rate for live-in jobs of over 12 hours which is (_). I’ve been looking at the jobs I will have during the time period of our (month) dates and (cat’s name)’s feeding schedule is no problem! I’ll just need to charge my 12+ hour live-in rate to compensate for the extra travel expenses going back and forth from the house for the feedings outside of the hours the usual overnight fee covers. I will still be returning to the house in between jobs and errands and such whenever possible to spend extra time with (cats) like last time. Let me know if everything looks within budget!”
*Should I add a sentence apologizing for the change in between last time and now, or going into detail about how I looked at what I made last time and realized I needed to adjust my price to accommodate for the extra travel? Like, “I apologize for the change in pricing from last time to now, but looking over the details I realized I needed to be charging more to accommodate for the extra travel.” ? Or I could add “Sorry for the change,” before that last sentence.
Also, I’m conflicted on whether to charge that higher rate per day or per overnight as we were previously doing, especially since they had inquired about a weekly rate for longer duration stays and I had given them a number based off of my regular overnight fee so I’ll have to adjust that too and let them know.
Context: We are booked for a job in August but the finer details aren’t finalized yet so I have some time to do this but don’t want to spring this change on them last minute. I really like the client, cats, and house, and do not want to lose their business. I also think I am a good fit because I have experience with cats who have gastrointestinal issues and require specialized feeding so the frequency doesn’t bother me at all, I just need to make it make sense cost-wise since I do this full time and need my drop-in income. They book me for longer consecutive overnights and for convenience (and to spend extra time with the cats:) ) I usually treat those jobs as live-in as long as it doesn’t interfere with my drop ins. At this time except for holidays I am not usually so busy that their feedings would be causing me to turn down drop-in jobs, but it would increase my travel expenses going back and forth significantly. Luckily they are not far away and in some cases are even closer to my regular drop-ins than my own home is. However, due to the small time increment between feedings that does mean driving back and forth to the house between drop-ins instead of grouping them for efficiency in gas/mileage/time like I usually do.
I dropped the ball during the meet and greet and when I brought up my constant care rate the client said they wouldn’t be needing constant care as I was welcome to leave the house for drop-ins and I was a little caught off guard and let it slide instead of correcting them on what I define as needing constant care. We did the first sit and it went very well, the clients will be using me again, however I only charged my regular overnight rate. Please don’t berate me, I know I messed up and I am relatively new to doing this professionally. I’m looking for advice on how to broach the topic without sounding like I am completely switching up pricing on them after one sit, which I basically am and again is totally my fault.
During the meet and greet I was told their usual sitter is on maternity leave (not sure how long for. I wasn’t given a time frame and we are booking out months in advance currently) and from some of the questions asked I got the feeling maybe that sitter charges less than me (I charge in the lower range for professionals) or that maybe they don’t do this professionally/full time and can work from home as to not need to charge more for constant care which adds to my apprehension charging more, though I understand I need to.
Really looking for advice with word choice and phrasing to help this come across smoothly and not like I’m pulling the carpet out from under them. By their house I can only assume they are wealthy and this would be within budget, but I do find that my wealthiest clients sometimes tend to be the ones that want the lowest rates and might be out of touch with current professional sitter rates. I know I am very good at what I do, but sometimes as we all know clients don’t have the same ideas of value and are looking for a certain price. I am also not in a position right now to be turning down lots of jobs.
Thank you so much if you read all of this!!