The short answer: a paid house sitter who stays overnight and looks after pets costs about $40 to $70 a night in Canadian cities, averaging around $50 in most cities and $60 in Toronto. A week with pets runs about $280 to $490 in Toronto and averages about $350 elsewhere. Without pets, sits price lower, and a home-watch visit (a check-in with no overnight, common for snowbirds) runs about $30 to $75 a visit. Here's the full ladder, how paid sitting compares with free-stay exchanges, and how to set your own rate.
House sitting rates in Canada (2026)
House sitting prices step up with how much of your time and your nights the job takes. Pets are what move a sit from the bottom of the ladder to the top:
| Service | Typical range | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Home-watch visit, no overnight | $30–$75 a visit | $49.99 a visit in Ottawa |
| Snowbird home watch, weekly visits for a month | $120–$300 a month | 4 visits at $30–$75 |
| Overnight house sit, no pets | $20–$50 a night (varies widely) | Below the with-pets rate |
| Overnight house sit with pets | $40–$70 a night | Averages $50 (most cities), $56 (Vancouver), $60 (Toronto) |
| Week-long house sit with pets | $280–$490 | Averages $350 (most cities), $422 (Toronto) |
| Month-long house sit with pets | $1,200–$2,100 | Averages $1,500 (most cities), $1,808 (Toronto) |
With-pets rates from Rover Canada's city house-sitting price guides (for example Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa), which Rover dates September 2025 (Toronto) and May 2026 (other cities). Home-watch rates from AwayCare (Ottawa, $49.99 a visit; $74.99 outside the core) and Home-Watch.ca ($30 a visit). There is little published data on pet-free overnight sits: House Sitters Canada puts paid sitting at $20 to $100+ a day depending on workload and pets, so the no-pets row is our estimate of the low end of that range. All checked September 29, 2026; prices exclude GST/HST.
What should you charge?
Two picks and a slider — your range, your projected income.
That's the plan — Biller is how it actually lands in your account.
Book and bill your sits — freeEstimates from this guide's market ranges — your market decides the rest.
Watching homes for snowbirds? Bill the whole winter without chasing.
Biller gives clients a booking link to request dates, lets you invoice each sit or month of visits with GST/HST when you need it, and sends payment reminders. Clients pay by e-Transfer or card.
Start free — no credit cardPaid house sitting vs free-stay house sitting
Search for "house sitting jobs in Canada" and you'll find two different things under the same name:
- Paid house sitting. You charge the owner per night, per visit or per week, like any service business. This is what the rates above describe, and it's what this guide is about.
- Free-stay exchanges. Platforms such as TrustedHousesitters match travelling sitters with pet owners: the sitter cares for the pets and the home in exchange for a place to stay, and no money changes hands between members. Both sides pay the platform instead. As of September 29, 2026, TrustedHousesitters lists sitter plans at CA$169 a year (Basic) and CA$219 (Standard), each plus a CA$17 booking fee per confirmed sit, or CA$339 (Premium) with no booking fees. Pet-parent plans are CA$199, CA$299 and CA$399 a year. House Sitters Canada describes the same free-exchange model as the most common arrangement in Canada.
Neither model is better; they serve different people. An exchange suits someone who wants to travel cheaply and doesn't need income from the sit. Paid sitting suits someone building a local business with repeat clients. You can do both, but don't quote a paid rate to an owner who came looking for a free exchange, and don't give away local sits you could be paid for.
House sitting with pets vs without
The pets are what the owner is really paying for. With a dog or cat in the house, you're doing an overnight pet sit with the home thrown in, and the rate follows pet-sitting prices: about $40 to $70 a night on Rover, plus about $27 to $34 a night for each extra dog and $16 to $20 for each extra cat. Puppies add a few dollars a night (Toronto's puppy house-sit average was about $67 against $60). Our pet and cat sitting rates guide and dog sitting and boarding rates guide cover those add-ons in detail.
Without pets, the job is presence and upkeep: mail, plants, lights, garbage day and a lived-in look. It takes less of your attention, so it prices lower, and many owners only need a visit every day or two rather than someone sleeping there. Offer both an overnight rate and a per-visit rate and let the owner choose.
Home-watch visits for snowbirds
Canadians who winter in the south still need their home checked. A home-watch visit is a walk through the house and around the outside: checking for leaks, heat, break-ins and storm damage, collecting mail and flyers, watering plants, and sending the owner a short report with photos. Published rates run from about $30 a visit for a basic walk-through (Home-Watch.ca) to $49.99 to $74.99 a visit for an inspection with a photo report (AwayCare, Ottawa area).
The visit schedule usually comes from the owner's home insurance, not from you. Many policies set conditions on homes left unoccupied, especially in the heating season; Square One, for example, advises a visit at least weekly and daily during the heating season. Ask the owner to confirm their insurer's requirement in writing, then quote the whole winter as a package: a per-visit rate times the visits their policy needs, plus extras.
Common extras to price separately: snow clearing (Home-Watch.ca lists it from $40), letting in contractors, a one-time availability fee for being the alarm contact on long absences, and getting the house ready before the owner returns.
What's included, and what costs extra
Put your standard inclusions in writing so the owner knows what the nightly rate buys. A typical overnight sit includes:
- Feeding, walks, litter and fresh water for the pets, with photo updates
- Mail, parcels and flyers brought in; garbage and recycling out on collection day
- Plants watered, lights and blinds varied, a quick walk-through for leaks or problems
Charge extra for anything beyond that: medication or injections, extra pets, vet or grooming trips, snow clearing or lawn care, pool or hot-tub checks, and holiday dates. Rover's Canadian guides show holiday house-sitting averages about 15 to 20 percent above normal ($70.58 against $60.26 in Toronto). Our free pet and house sitting contract template lets you list these duties and your rate, and it has a house-sitting version for sits with no pets.
Pricing models
- Per night for overnight sits. The standard for anything with pets.
- Per visit for home-watch and pet-free check-ins. Set a minimum visit length and a travel surcharge beyond your area (Home-Watch.ca adds $5 beyond 10 km).
- Per week or month for long sits. Price the nights, then round; keep any long-stay discount small.
- Seasonal package for snowbirds: a fixed monthly fee for a set number of visits, invoiced monthly.
Setting your own rate
- Start from the ladder. Decide which rung the owner is actually asking for: visits, an overnight, or a long sit. Then use your city's range.
- Price your nights, not your hours. An overnight means you can't take another sit that night and you're responsible for the home until morning. That is worth more than the hours you're actively busy.
- Count travel. Home-watch visits across town cost you time and fuel. Cluster clients by neighbourhood or add a travel charge.
- Charge for trust. Insurance, a criminal record check, references and a written contract let you price in the upper half of the range.
Are you undercharging?
Five quick questions. Be honest — nobody's watching.
Are you booked solid more than two weeks out?
A full calendar is the market telling you your price is too low.
Have you raised your rates in the last 12 months?
Costs went up this year. If your rate didn't, you took a pay cut.
When you quote a price, does anyone ever say no?
If nobody ever pushes back, you're leaving room on the table.
Do you charge for travel time — or build it into your price?
Unpaid driving between sits quietly eats your real hourly rate.
Do you drop your price whenever someone asks for a deal?
Discounting on request trains clients to always ask.
Priced about right
You're showing the classic signs of healthy pricing — price pushback now and then, regular raises, travel accounted for. Your next win isn't the rate, it's the time you lose to admin between sits.
You're leaving money on the table
A couple of undercharging signals showed up. The fix is usually one honest raise for new clients — $5 more per sit on a full week is thousands a year you're currently donating.
You're seriously undercharging
Almost every signal fired. Booked solid, never raising, never hearing no — that's not luck, that's a price well below what your market would pay. Raise your rate for every new client starting this week; your regulars can follow later.
Look professional from the first booking.
Clients request dates from your booking link, you send a clean invoice for each sit, and reminders go out for you. Free to start; Pro is $99 a year.
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Not ready? Try the free invoice generatorHow to become a house sitter and find paid clients
- Decide what you'll offer: overnights with pets, pet-free sits, home-watch visits, or all three, and the area you'll cover.
- Build trust up front. Get a criminal record check, line up references, and get liability insurance that covers work in other people's homes (and animals in your care, if you sit with pets). Ask about bonding if you'll hold keys for many homes.
- Write your terms once. Rate, duties, visit schedule, key handover, emergency contacts and cancellation policy. The contract template covers these.
- Find your first clients. Neighbours, friends of friends, local community groups, and your existing dog walking or pet-sitting clients are the fastest sources of paid sits. Snowbird clients often come by word of mouth from one retiree to the next. Rover brings pet house-sitting bookings in exchange for its fees; see what Rover charges sitters in Canada.
- Turn good sits into repeat bookings. Send the report, send the invoice, and ask to book their next trip before they unpack.
When GST/HST starts to apply
House sitting and home watch are taxable services, but you don't charge GST/HST until your revenue passes $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, the CRA small-supplier threshold. Twelve snowbird clients at $250 a month for six months is $18,000, so a busy winter plus summer pet sits can get you there. Once you're over, you register, add GST/HST to every invoice and remit it. Our GST/HST guide explains how.
Rates compiled September 2026 from Rover Canada's city house-sitting price guides, Canadian home-watch providers' published rates, House Sitters Canada, and TrustedHousesitters' pricing page, all checked September 29, 2026.
Common questions
How much does a house sitter cost per night in Canada?
A paid house sitter who stays overnight and cares for pets costs about $40 to $70 a night in Canadian cities, based on Rover's city price guides. The average is about $50 a night in most cities, $56 in Vancouver and $60 in Toronto. Sits without pets usually cost less, and a daily home-check visit without an overnight runs about $30 to $75 a visit.
How much should I pay a house sitter for a week?
A week of pet house sitting runs about $280 to $490 in Toronto on Rover, and averages about $350 in most other large Canadian cities and $392 in Vancouver. Add extra for a second dog, a puppy, medication or holiday dates.
What are house sitting rates with pets?
With pets, house sitting is priced as an overnight pet sit: about $40 to $70 a night, plus about $27 to $34 a night for each additional dog and about $16 to $20 for each additional cat, according to Rover's Canadian city guides.
Do house sitters get paid, or do they stay for free?
Both models exist. Paid house sitters charge per night or per visit. Exchange platforms such as TrustedHousesitters match sitters with pet owners for free stays: both sides pay the platform an annual membership, and no money changes hands between members.
How do I become a house sitter in Canada?
Start with people who already trust you: neighbours, friends of friends and your pet-care clients. Get a criminal record check and liability insurance, write a simple contract, set a per-night and per-visit rate, and collect reviews. Marketplaces like Rover bring pet house-sitting bookings for a fee, and exchange platforms suit travellers who want a free place to stay rather than income.
How much should I charge snowbirds for home-watch visits?
Published Canadian home-watch rates run from about $30 a visit for a basic walk-through to $50 to $75 a visit for an inspection with a photo report. Weekly visits across a month come to about $120 to $300. Check what the owner's insurer requires, since some policies expect more frequent checks in winter.
Do house sitters charge GST/HST?
Not until their taxable revenue passes $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, the CRA small-supplier threshold. After that they register, add GST/HST to every invoice and remit it.