Your daycare charges $35 per day, boarding charges $55 per night, grooming charges $65 per groom, and the bank shows one deposit. The deposit hides which service actually makes money, which package is a liability, and whether the $120,000 play-yard and kennel buildout is earning its keep.
Three Streams, Three Margins
Daycare: Day passes and packages (10 days for $320). A package is deferred revenue — Dr Cash $320 / Cr Deferred Revenue $320 — recognized per day used: Dr Deferred Revenue $32 / Cr Revenue — Daycare $32. Breakage on expired, unused days is not revenue until expiration.
Boarding: Per night, with add-ons for late pick-up and medication. Boarding has higher overnight labor and utilities, and its occupancy peaks on holidays. Track occupancy by night, not by headcount, and revenue per available run.
Grooming: Per groom, with material cost (shampoo, blades) and groomer labor, often commission-based. A groom at $65 with $8 in materials and $30 in groomer commission yields $27 contribution before overhead — very different from daycare's $32 per day with $12 in labor.
The Six-Figure Buildout
Play areas, kennels, flooring, fencing, and HVAC depreciate over 7–15 years as leasehold improvements, often 15-year straight line for tax and a shorter life for management. A $120,000 build over 10 years is $1,000 per month in depreciation — the single largest fixed cost. Without splitting revenue, you can't see whether daycare, boarding, or grooming covers it.
Keep Your Finances Organized From Day One
A dog daycare is three businesses sharing one front desk and one buildout. Split the streams, defer the packages, and depreciate the buildout by stream.
Beancount.io keeps each stream as a separate revenue account with deferred revenue and depreciation, version-controlled and auditable by the package or the night. Get started for free and make the next tail wag also wag the ledger.