There are two different paths in Australia. Paid pet sitting, where you charge a nightly rate through a commission marketplace. And non-monetary house sitting, where you stay in someone's home at no cost in exchange for caring for their pets and property. This guide covers the second path, and is straight with you about the first.
Most people searching for how to become a pet sitter want paid work, so it is worth naming that difference early. For the full side-by-side, read paid pet sitting versus house sitting in Australia.
Key takeaways
- Two models operate here: paid sitting on commission marketplaces, and non-monetary house sitting where accommodation is the exchange.
- No qualification is required. An accurate account of your real experience matters more.
- Verification is optional. An AFP National Police Check costs $56, and the AFP says most are completed and posted within 48 hours.
- Homeowners can filter by police check and ID verification, so completing those widens the searches you appear in. That is how the filter works, not a measured result.
- The first sit is the hardest to get. Plan on a couple of months of applying and replying quickly.
- Sitterly is not a party to your arrangement. You and the homeowner vet each other and agree the terms.
The two paths, and which one you want
Paid pet sitting
On a paid marketplace you set a rate, the platform takes a commission, and the work is usually dog walking, drop-in visits, daycare or boarding. Sitterly offers none of those, so if a nightly rate is what you want, this is not your platform.
If you go that way, treat it as a small business from the first booking. The ATO's guidance on whether your activities amount to a business is the place to start on income, and if you are in business, consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law apply to what you sell, including providing services with due care and skill. Price public liability and animal care cover before you take money.
Non-monetary house sitting
No money changes hands for the sit. You stay in the home, care for the pets, and the accommodation is the exchange. Homeowners list free on Sitterly and there is no per-booking commission. Sitters are free during our growth phase, with a flat-fee subscription planned later. If the model is new to you, our complete guide to house sitting in Australia starts from the beginning.
It suits people whose largest cost is accommodation: remote workers, people between rentals, retirees travelling slowly, students over summer. It does not suit you if you need income this month. Free rent is not the same thing as being paid.
Is there enough demand?
Animal Medicines Australia's Pets in Australia 2025 report found 73% of households have a pet and around $21.3 billion spent each year feeding and looking after them. That figure is household spend on pet care, not the value of a pet-sitting market, and we have found no credible growth rate for sitting specifically, so we will not quote one.
The RSPCA's advice on whether to take a cat on holiday lists a sitter staying at the house as one option, often for animals stressed by a change of environment. Boarding suits plenty of pets too, and some settle better with staff on site. In-home care is one option among several, not a superior one.
Step 1: Work out what experience you actually have
You do not need a qualification. You need an accurate account of what you have done, because the homeowner reading your profile is trying to picture you in their kitchen at 6am with their dog.
What counts
- Pets you have owned or grown up with, by species, breed and years
- Animals minded for friends, family or neighbours, and for how many nights
- Work or volunteering in vet clinics, shelters, kennels, grooming or pet retail
- Study in animal science, veterinary nursing or animal care, and any first aid training
- Specific skills: oral medication, a senior dog with mobility problems, a strong dog on lead, medicating a cat that objects
- Property skills for a live-in sit: pool maintenance, a garden in a heatwave, chooks, water tanks, bin nights
How to describe it
Specific beats impressive. "Fourteen nights with a 12-year-old border collie on twice-daily insulin, coordinating with the owner's vet" says more than "extensive experience with senior dogs". Give a number, a species, a duration and a problem you handled.
Then say what you have not done. If you have never handled a large breed or given an injection, write it down. It reads as honesty, and it keeps you out of sits you would struggle with. Our profile tips that win sits works through the wording.
Turn one sit into three sentences
Take the most demanding animal you have cared for and write three sentences: what it needed, what you did daily, and what you did when something went wrong. That paragraph will tell a homeowner more than any list of adjectives.
Step 2: Decide how far to go with verification
Sitterly has two layers. Email is automatic. A police check is optional and user-initiated, reviewed by our team within a stated five business days. It is not compulsory to create a profile or apply for sits.
If you want a police check, the Australian Federal Police National Police Check costs $56 per application, and the AFP states it completes and posts most checks within 48 hours of receiving them. Checks requiring fingerprints cost more and can take 15 to 30 business days. You can also apply through an organisation the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission has accredited to submit checks, each setting its own fees and turnaround. Confirm current figures before budgeting.
Here is the honest reason to consider it. Homeowners can filter sitter listings to those who are police checked, so if you have not completed that step you are not in the results when someone uses that filter. Completing it widens the pool of searches you can appear in. That is reasoning about how a filter works, not a measurement. We do not publish enquiry data by badge and will not invent a percentage. For what each layer proves, see what pet sitter verification actually means.
Verification is not approval
Sitterly does not vet, approve or endorse users. A badge means a specific document was checked at a point in time. It does not mean anyone has assessed whether a person suits a particular home or animal. Homeowners and sitters remain responsible for getting to know each other, discussing expectations and deciding whether to proceed.
Step 3: Write applications that answer the real question
The homeowner is not asking who is available. They are asking whether they can stop thinking about this and get on with packing.
- Name the pets and mention something particular in the listing
- Match your experience to their animal, not to sitting in general
- State your dates and confirm you can be there for the handover
- Describe your day: morning walk, midday check, evening feed, photo at night
- Ask one real question about the pet or routine
- Offer a video call. Fifteen minutes on camera covers a lot of ground
Step 4: What your first three months look like
We do not publish averages for how long a first sit takes, so the shape below is reasoned from how the platform works rather than measured.
Weeks 1 to 4: the profile carries everything
Reviews can only be left once a booking reaches completed status, in both directions, so there is no shortcut, and on a platform at our stage review volume is still low. Apply to fewer listings and write better messages. Expect silence on plenty of them. It is not a verdict on you.
The one signal you build immediately is your reply rating, an automatic score from one to five based on how quickly and consistently you answer messages. Tiers run from replying in about an hour, through four hours, same day and within two days, down to New. Turn on notifications and answer from your mobile phone.
Your first sit: keep it small
Choose something short, close to home and uncomplicated. Before the owner leaves, agree terms in writing: arrival and departure, feeding and medication, the vet's details and who authorises treatment, a spending limit, visitors, and what each of you does if a cancellation becomes unavoidable. Our walkthrough of a house sitting agreement covers what to include. Save the nearest 24-hour emergency vet and the Australian Animal Poisons Helpline to your phone. For a human emergency, call 000.
Animal welfare law is state and territory based, but the principle is consistent: whoever has custody, care or control of an animal owes it a duty of care. Queensland's explanation of who counts as a person in charge sets it out plainly. Wording differs elsewhere; the transfer of responsibility does not.
Months two and three
One or two completed sits with reviews changes the conversation. From there, the most reliable source of work is a household you have already sat for, because people travel more than once and would rather not search again. Keep a short record of every sit: dates, animals, what you handled.
Common mistakes new sitters make
- Sending the same paragraph to every listing. A template is easy to spot and easy to skip
- Overstating experience. It surfaces at the meet-and-greet, or worse, at 2am with a distressed animal
- Treating it as free accommodation. The animal is the job, and homeowners can tell which way round you have it
- Leaving vet authority undiscussed until something happens
- Going quiet mid-sit. A daily photo takes ten seconds
- Accepting a sit you have doubts about. Stepping back at the enquiry stage is fine, withdrawing three days out is not
- Assuming someone else covers you. Sitterly provides no insurance and is not a party to your arrangement
Checklist before your first sit
- Meet by video call or in person before confirming
- Written agreement: dates, duties, costs, cancellation, vet authority
- Vet clinic details and after-hours arrangements
- Nearest 24-hour emergency vet saved in your phone
- Feeding amounts, times and medication doses in writing
- Microchip details and a recent photo of each pet
- Owner's emergency contact, plus a second contact who is local
- House basics: bins, alarm code, water shut-off, wifi, parking, pool or garden
- An agreed update rhythm, for example a photo each evening
What you get out of it
Accommodation, which in most of Australia is the largest line in a weekly budget. We have worked through what that adds up to in how much you can save house sitting. Do not treat the saving as clear profit: there are travel costs between sits, gaps in the calendar, and the plain fact that you cannot spend accommodation.
There is also a tax question worth knowing about. The ATO notes profit can be made by means other than money, including goods or services received in a barter arrangement, and that some non-cash benefits still need to be declared. Whether that applies to you depends on your circumstances, so speak to a registered tax agent.
Where the opportunities are
Sydney and Melbourne carry the most listings and the most competition. Regional Queensland, the WA south coast, Tasmania and the NSW Central Coast tend to have fewer sitters per sit. Australian summer runs December to February, so Christmas and January are peak travel, school holidays vary by state, and those weeks are also the hottest, which can mean heat, ticks and snakes depending on the region.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a qualification or a licence to become a pet sitter in Australia?
No national qualification is required to care for someone's pet in their home as a private arrangement. Training in animal care or first aid can make you more appealing, but it is not a legal prerequisite. The position differs if you run a commercial boarding business at your own premises, which is regulated at state and local government level, so check with your council.
How much does a police check cost and how long does it take?
The AFP charges $56 per National Police Check application and states most are completed and posted within 48 hours of receipt. Checks needing fingerprints cost more and can take 15 to 30 business days. Organisations accredited by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission also provide checks and set their own pricing. Confirm current figures before applying.
Can I make a living from house sitting?
Not directly, because non-monetary house sitting pays no money. It can remove or reduce your accommodation cost, which is why it works best alongside remote work, a pension, savings, or a period between leases. If you need earnings rather than reduced costs, the paid pet care marketplaces are the honest answer.
What happens if the pet gets sick while I am sitting?
You follow the plan agreed before the owner left, which is why that conversation matters. It should name the regular vet, the nearest after-hours clinic, who can authorise treatment, and a spending limit. If an animal is in distress and you cannot reach the owner, getting it to a vet is the priority. Sitterly does not mediate veterinary decisions or costs, and nothing here is veterinary advice.
Decide which model you want first, because these are different jobs with different economics. If it is the non-monetary path: write a specific, honest profile, decide whether verification is worth $56 to you, apply to fewer listings with better messages, and treat the first sit as the foundation for everything after it.
When you are ready, create your Sitterly sitter profile. It takes a few minutes and is free for sitters during our growth phase. Take your time over the bio, because that is the part that does the work.
This article is general information only and is not legal, tax, insurance or veterinary advice. Police check fees, animal welfare requirements and ATO positions vary by state and circumstance, and they change. Check the relevant authority's current material and speak to a qualified professional about your situation.
