Home Daycare Provider Vs. Center

[tbutler]

I'm researching opening a small center outside of my home next year. I love the personal relationships that I've been able to make with some of my parents thus far. But, I started as a home provider with the intentions of moving out of my house in 1-2 years. Ideally, I would like to purchase an older one story house to make it into my center with 2-3 employees. The home can be on a major traffic road or in a neighborhood because there are no zoning rules in my city. I'm in no way trying to become like a chain center. In fact, my intent is to still be able to teach morning Pre-K class and have an assistant to come take over my class in the Afternoon. Any advice from any of you who have done this? Pros and cons? Do's and don'ts?

[Michael]

We had a thread on this toopic once before: https://daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27624

[Sugar Magnolia]

I'm researching opening a small center outside of my home next year. I love the personal relationships that I've been able to make with some of my parents thus far. But, I started as a home provider with the intentions of moving out of my house in 1-2 years. Ideally, I would like to purchase an older one story house to make it into my center with 2-3 employees. The home can be on a major traffic road or in a neighborhood because there are no zoning rules in my city. I'm in no way trying to become like a chain center. In fact, my intent is to still be able to teach morning Pre-K class and have an assistant to come take over my class in the Afternoon. Any advice from any of you who have done this? Pros and cons? Do's and don'ts?

I am a treasure trove of advice on this. I have a small center that has been very successful. If I can give one piece of advice I consider to be THE most important, its this: Location, location, location. If you are serious, the FIRST thing you need to do is research your city's zoning and find out what types of properties allow daycare facility use. I could go on and on and on, so send me a private message if you'd like more tips from me, I'd love to help. Also see my article on daycare.com called "multi-age approach to learning".