Craig spent over a decade as a bank loan officer, assessing applications and meeting customers face to face to talk through their finances. When his bank rolled out an AI-driven credit decisioning system that could approve or decline most standard applications in real time, his branch’s lending team shrank from twelve to three, and Craig — then in his late forties — was let go in the second round of cuts. He’d always been the one in his street who other people trusted with their dogs when they went on holiday, and he found himself, in the strange limbo of redundancy, spending more time at the local dog park than he had in years. A groomer there suggested he look into training. The appeal was obvious once he thought about it: no algorithm can read a nervous, wriggling animal’s body language, calm it down, and safely handle it through a full groom — that combination of physical skill, animal instinct and genuine patience is something only a person can do.

This guide sets out what it actually takes to start a pet grooming business in Australia — the training path, how to set the business up, realistic costs, and how to find your first clients in a market that runs almost entirely on trust and word of mouth.

What Does It Take to Start a Pet Grooming Business?

Pet grooming is not a licensed profession in Australia in the way hairdressing or tattooing is, meaning there’s no mandatory national certificate required to legally groom animals. That said, working directly with live animals, sharp equipment and sometimes anxious or aggressive pets means proper training is essential both for safety and for building a credible, trustworthy business. Most successful groomers complete a Certificate III in Animal Studies (Companion Animal Services) or a dedicated dog grooming course through a private college, covering breed-specific styling, handling techniques, health and skin conditions to watch for, and safe use of clippers and equipment.

Many new groomers also complete a period of supervised work or an informal apprenticeship under an experienced groomer, since real competence with different coat types, temperaments and breeds takes hands-on repetition to build. If you plan to offer mobile grooming (increasingly popular and often a lower-cost way to start), you’ll also need to become comfortable working within a converted van or trailer, which has its own logistical learning curve.

The temperament for this work matters as much as the technical skill: genuine calm around anxious or reactive animals, physical stamina for a day spent bending, lifting and standing, and excellent communication with pet owners, who are often anxious themselves about how their pet will be handled.

It’s also worth deciding early which breeds and coat types you want to specialise in. Some groomers build a strong reputation around a particular niche, such as double-coated breeds requiring de-shedding work, or show-style grooming for specific breeds, while others prefer a general practice covering all comers. Neither approach is wrong, but knowing your strengths lets you price and market more confidently, and avoids the common trap of taking on a difficult breed or temperament you’re not yet equipped to handle safely.

Setting Up the Business

Register your ABN through the Australian Business Register and choose your business structure, with sole trader being the common starting point for solo groomers. If you’re operating from a fixed premises, check your council’s requirements for animal-related businesses, which can include zoning restrictions, noise considerations (barking), and waste disposal requirements. If you’re running a mobile grooming service from a van, check registration and parking requirements with your council and confirm your vehicle meets any relevant modification and safety standards.

Public liability insurance is essential given you’ll have members of the public’s animals in your care, and many groomers also carry “care, custody and control” insurance (sometimes bundled as animal bailee cover), which specifically protects against injury or incident involving an animal in your possession — a genuinely important policy given that even the calmest animal can behave unpredictably. If you employ staff, workers’ compensation insurance is compulsory, and it’s worth checking whether your state has any specific animal welfare or handling regulations that apply to commercial grooming operations.

What It Costs to Get Started

Costs differ significantly depending on whether you set up a fixed-premises salon or a mobile grooming van, both of which are common and viable models:

  • Grooming equipment (clippers, dryers, grooming table, bathing tub, brushes and tools): $3,000–$10,000
  • Fit-out for a fixed premises (plumbing, drainage, ventilation): $10,000–$30,000, or a converted mobile grooming van/trailer: $25,000–$60,000
  • Training/certification if not already completed: $1,500–$5,000
  • Insurance (public liability and care, custody and control cover): $1,000–$3,000 per year
  • Booking software and point-of-sale: $30–$150 per month
  • Council registration and any vehicle compliance costs: a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars
  • Initial supplies (shampoos, conditioners, consumables): $500–$1,500

A fixed-premises grooming salon typically requires a realistic total budget of $20,000–$50,000, while a mobile grooming van setup — often preferred for its lower ongoing overheads and no-commute convenience for clients — can run $35,000–$75,000 due to the vehicle conversion cost, though it eliminates the need for commercial rent. Many groomers starting out choose to lease a chair or a bay within an existing pet care business first, which can reduce the up-front cost significantly while you build a client base and decide whether a fixed premises or mobile model suits you better long term.

Finding Your First Customers

A complete Google Business Profile is critical, since “dog groomer near me” and “mobile pet grooming” are exactly the kind of high-intent local searches pet owners make. Reviews matter enormously in this trade because owners are trusting you with a much-loved family member, so make it easy for happy clients to leave one.

Instagram and Facebook both perform strongly for pet grooming — before-and-after photos of scruffy dogs transformed into neatly groomed ones are genuinely shareable content, and local pet-owner Facebook groups are often very active and receptive to grooming recommendations. Build referral relationships with local vets, pet shops, dog walkers and dog trainers, all of whom regularly get asked for grooming recommendations by their own clients. Attending local dog park meetups or community pet events, even informally, is a surprisingly effective way to build initial trust and word-of-mouth in a tight-knit local pet-owner community.

Once you have a small base of regular clients, a simple reminder or rebooking system pays off enormously, since most dogs need grooming on a fairly predictable cycle, and a text or email reminder a week or two before a pet is next due is a genuinely appreciated nudge that keeps your calendar full without you having to constantly chase new customers.

Common Mistakes First-Time Owners Make

  • Underestimating how much time certain breeds and coat types genuinely take, leading to an overbooked schedule and rushed, lower-quality work.
  • Skimping on proper handling training for anxious or aggressive animals, risking injury to the groomer, the animal, or both.
  • Not carrying adequate care, custody and control insurance, leaving the business exposed if an animal is injured or something goes wrong during a groom.
  • Underpricing to win early clients, which is especially risky in this trade given the physical toll of the work — a booked-out but underpriced diary can burn out a new groomer quickly.

Your First 90 Days

Weeks 1–3: complete or finalise training and certification, register your ABN and business structure, and confirm council or vehicle requirements depending on your fixed-premises or mobile model.

Weeks 4–7: fit out your premises or grooming van, arrange insurance including care, custody and control cover, and set up booking software and your Google Business Profile with quality photos.

Weeks 8–9: soft-launch with friends, family and neighbourhood pets at a discounted rate to build your first reviews and before-and-after photo library.

Weeks 10–12: open fully, reach out to local vets and pet shops to propose referral relationships, and start posting consistently on social media. By day 90, aim for a steady weekly booking rhythm and at least one or two active referral partnerships bringing in new clients.

Considering a related venture? Our guides to cleaning business, tutoring business and event planning business walk through the same kind of first-90-days planning.

Losing a career to a system that reduced years of judgement to a set of automated rules is a genuine loss, but there is real relief in building work around something a computer will never be trusted to do — calm a frightened animal and send it home looking and feeling better. GrowOnline can help with the market research, website, and marketing systems to get your grooming business known to every pet owner in your area.