Management Insights | How to Price Veterinary Services with Confidence

Are you accidentally giving away skilled labor? In this Management Insights episode, VGP Practice Coach Megan Bauer reveals the most common pricing mistake in veterinary hospitals: undercharging for your team’s time—and shows a simple way to fix it without adding more appointments.

Most clinics have solid inventory markups, but lose margin on service fees that don’t reflect actual time, skill, and manpower. From “quick” nail trims that take two techs, to unbilled nursing care and interpretation time on in-house labs, these leaks drive burnout, rushed appointments, and razor-thin margins.

In this video, you’ll learn:

A simple 3-step approach to pricing services: fully loaded hourly costs → add overhead → multiply by time
Real numbers for doctor and technician costs (and why doubling labor often works as a shortcut)
The nail trim example: why a $25 fee often breaks even—or loses money
How undercharging fuels burnout, turnover, and “impossible” raises
Practical fixes: raise tech appointment fees, add nursing care fees, tier nail trim/restraint fees, and reevaluate doctor time on complex rechecks
The mindset shift: clients pay for expertise, time, judgment, and risk—not just a task

Action steps to try now:

Audit 10 common services and estimate true time and labor used
Compare to fully loaded costs and adjust fees 20–30% where needed
Add (or update) nursing care, interpretation, and restraint tiers to capture real work

Charging appropriately isn’t greedy—it’s responsible and sustainable. It protects your team, supports raises and training, funds equipment upgrades, and ensures you can keep delivering high-quality care.

Need help reviewing your fee structure or inventory pricing? Reach out to a VGP practice coach—we’d love to help your team feel supported and valued.