@rtubbs Dematting by brushing takes a lot of time. It's stressful/painful for the dog. The dog struggles which makes it take more time. It can lead to injuries for both you and the dog. It's not always viable either depending on the kind of matting.
Injuries mean vet visits, insurance, payouts, liability, upset clients, bad reviews, potential loss of business, etc. A single injury/vet visit can cost you big time.
Extra time spent on one dog means you process fewer dogs. That means less profit.
Corporate groomer here. I will brush out a dog if I think I can save the coat and it's not going to take all day. If the mats are too extensive/too close to the skin/too tight I'm not going to try. It's just going to piss the dog off for no reason and make them hate being brushed/groomed which just makes my job harder and it risks injury.
From a purely profit motive: Sure I can spend 4 hours dematting a single dog. Why would I? A demat fee isn't going to make up the money lost by passing up multiple appointments.
Why would I want to encourage problem clients?
Why would I encourage them to skip regular grooming to maintain their dog properly? Matted dogs are a liability and a huge time sink. I make more money by more frequent visits with dogs that are quick easy grooms.
I have a pair of doodles that come in twice a year heavily matted. They HATE being groomed. It takes several hours to process them in part because they struggle so much and we don't even bother trying to brush them out. It's a shave down every single time and it costs me a #10 blade each time. I have to block off half a day just to do one of these dogs. If the owners would bring them in more often and maintain their coat the dogs wouldn't have come to hate being groomed so much.
Honestly my life would be so much better if I could fire them as clients. It costs me money to groom their dogs. Yes I charge demat fees. I probably ought to charge a special handling fee too. It's still not worth it to me. We'd make more money with a more frequent grooming schedule and the dogs would be happier and take less time to groom.
Got a corgi that comes in sometimes that bites for any kind of dematting. I don't brush him out. It's shave or nothing. Some dogs I can save the tail/ears/face. Some dogs I can't. Ears are prone to hematomas so if the mats are tight(usually are) they get spot shaved out. If it's just one area and I can spot shave it and blend it with the rest of the body I do that. Going short on the undercarriage or shaving out a couple mats behind the ears or the butt isn't a big deal.
If the dog is heavily matted all over I'll use the longest clip comb I can that will go through it easily. If the mats are too tight/close to the skin it's a #10 shave down. There is no way to safely brush out mats like that.
Matting isn't healthy for the dogs. They're in pain and unhappy. It can lead to injury and illness. I've seen sores under the matting, rashes, irritation, hematomas, urea burns from all the pee stuck to their pelt. I've seen dogs that hate being brushed. They're afraid or outright aggressive to being brushed.
I can't tell you how many times I've had to clean up a matted dog and they are just so dejected and unhappy when they first come in. By the time they leave they're feeling SO much better. I like being able to help them but I'd prefer not to have to offer that kind of help in the first place.
I don't use dematting fees to make a profit. At best they'll help recoup some of your financial loss from the time/resources spent and I find the concept of profiting off someone else's misery to be abhorrent. I use them to discourage unwanted behavior in the owners. I do not brush out extensive matting because it's inhumane and I don't have the time.
If the client wanted something longer they should have brushed their dog out. I will tell them flat out your dog is matted and we're going to have to go short. Don't like it, find another salon. Politely of course.
If your husband wants to specialize in demats then appointments are going to take longer, you're going to have fewer of them, and he's going to have to charge a LOT of money to make up for the lack of volume. Frankly it's not worth it.