Most clinics do not lose money because their prices are too low. They lose it because the bill does not match the work: a drug given and never charged, a large dog groomed at the small dog price, a lab test that cost more than it earned. This guide is about building a price list that makes every bill right without slowing the vet down.
Start from what each service costs you
Before choosing a price, know what a service costs the clinic. For each common service, list:
- Direct costs: drugs, consumables, lab kits, an outside lab's fee.
- Time: how long the vet, nurse or groomer spends on it.
- A share of the overheads: rent, salaries and equipment, spread over the hours the clinic is open.
You do not need perfect numbers. A rough cost per service shows you which ones lose money, and that alone changes decisions.
Separate the fee from what is given
A common mistake is one price for "treatment" whatever was used. Two dogs with the same consult can need very different drugs. A cleaner way is to split every bill into two parts:
- The service fee: the vet's time and skill for the examination, the surgery or the boarding night.
- What was given: each drug, vaccine or consumable, priced from your catalogue.
Clients understand this split, and it protects your margin. When the price of a drug goes up, the bill follows it without anyone changing the fee.
Price by the things that change the work
Some services take more work for some pets. Price them by whatever drives that work:
- Grooming by size and coat. A large long-haired dog takes far longer than a small short-haired one. Define your own sizes (small dog, large dog, long-haired cat …) and set a price for each task at each size. Price cuts and extras such as de-matting separately.
- Surgery by species. A cat's spay is not a dog's. Price each surgery type per species, with one price for any species you do not list.
- Boarding by the night, with extras for medication or special diets.
Keep the number of sizes small. Four or five sizes that the whole team understands work better than ten that nobody applies the same way.
Price diagnostics as services, and know their cost
X-rays, ultrasound, blood counts and chemistry tests are among the most profitable things a clinic does, and among the easiest to forget on a bill. Give each one its own price, and charge it only when it was actually done at the clinic.
For chemistry tests, also know what each one costs you. A test run on your own analyser uses a kit from stock. A test sent out has the lab's fee. If you do not record that cost, a test can look profitable while barely covering itself.
Let the bill build itself
The best price list is the one nobody has to remember. When the vet records what was done (the services, the drugs given, the diagnostics), the bill should already be built from it. The front desk then only checks and collects.
Two safety valves keep this practical:
- The vet can still set the final price for a case that needs it, a discount for a long-standing client or an unusual procedure, and that choice should stick.
- Once a bill is issued, its prices are frozen. Changing the price list later must never change an invoice a client already has.
Review prices twice a year
Costs change. Set two dates a year to review:
- services whose costs have gone up, especially drugs and lab fees;
- services you almost never sell (the price may be the reason, or the service may not be needed);
- services where the vet often overrides the price, a sign the list price is wrong.
Change prices in small, regular steps rather than one large jump.
How Petfolio handles it
In Petfolio, each clinic sets its own service prices: a fee per examination, recheck and boarding night, a price per surgery type for each species or pet size, with add-ons for a harder case and surgery types of its own, grooming prices by the pet's size (with cuts and extras), and prices for X-rays, ultrasound, CBC and each chemistry test. Drugs given in the clinic and preventive items are priced from the catalogue, so the bill builds itself while the vet writes, and the vet can still set the final price. With stock, a chemistry test also carries what it costs: a kit from the shelf or an outside lab's fee owed to that lab. Once an invoice is issued, its prices stay as they were.
Whatever tool you use, the principles are the same: know your costs, separate the fee from what is given, price by what changes the work, and let the record of the visit build the bill.
