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I was considering a flat rate of $75 per week for part-time care up to 24 hours. My full time rate is $120 per week for toddler to school age care ranging between 25 to 40 hours. Do you think these rates are reasonable? What are some of your part-time rates? I don't want to feel like I'm selling myself short.
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I have a fulltime rate of $150 for infants. OR if they do part time its $35 a day, but they have to do contracted days. I have an hourly rate listed, but that is just for "overtime or extra hours" they may need a week.
I do alot of part timers and each family has own contract. One family needs care for only 3 hours twice a week, so she sends her child while another child is at preschool. So I still get paid for preschooler (no discount when she is gone) and then I charge $30 a week for that child.
What if a family needed a few hours in morning, or once a week, or how will you handle part timers? set days? -
I think you should charge a little more than that for PT childcare. The way I see it is you should figure out what you want to make doing FT childcare and everything else should cost more.
If you charge $120 for up to 40 hours a week that comes out to $3.00 an hour.
The rate for PT that you're thinking about charging comes out to $3.13 an hour (rounded).
Way too little of a difference if you ask me.
I charge $160 for FT for 50 hours a week which comes out to $3.20 an hour.
I charge $108 for PT for up to 29 hours a week which comes out to $3.75 (rounded)
I also allow drop-in care so when PT families need extra days/hours I charge $40 a day for an 8-10 hour day. That comes out to $4 an hour. Anything less than 8 hours a day and any hours over 10 hours is charged at $5 an hour. I also have a $20 minimum for drop-in even if they don't stay for the full 4 hours.
Personally if I were you and my FT rate was $120 a week (40 hours), then I'd make my PT rate $85.20 per week (24 hours or less), $3.55 an hour. If your PTers needed more days or hours I'd charge $38.50 a day, $3.80 an hour. Anything less than 8 hours or hours past 10 hours a day would be $4.80 an hour. But again, that would be me but I still think that a $.13 difference hourly between FT and PT is not high enough. I think you could be charging more considering that a teenager can babysit and get paid $5-$7 an hour and that's just bare minimum.Comment
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Sorry, I should have elaborated a little more as far as my rates go. Here's what I wanted to do (this is pulled from my handbook):
Payment Procedures: A weekly rate will be charged for child care services within the normal hours of operation. An additional rate will be applied for services outside of normal operating hours.
Full-Time Services: A weekly rate of $120 will be charged for services ranging from 26-40 hours per week. This service includes a daily schedule of activities, lessons, play time, breakfast (if child arrives before 8:30 AM), lunch, and two snacks.
Part-Time Services: A weekly rate of $75 will be charged for services ranging from 10-25 hours per week. This service includes a daily schedule of activities, lessons, and play time. Meals for part-time child care depend upon the arrival and departure time of the child.
Before/After School: The part-time rate will be charged for this service if care is required for more than 9 hours per week. If care is required for 9 hours or less, the daily rate of $5 per hour will be charged. This service includes breakfast and a snack after school, help with homework, and play time.
If childcare is required during school holidays, this will temporarily go to the full-time rate until school resumes.
Daily/Weekend: For services during normal business hours that equal less than 10 hours per week, a rate of $5 an hour will be charged. A rate of $30 per day will be charged for weekend services. Weekend services will be a little more relaxed. We will have meals and snacks and most likely a fun day with a movie, arts & crafts, and play time. This service depends upon the arrival and departure times of your child.
Let me know if this makes sense.Comment
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Well I think it makes sense but I still think you should charge more for PT especially now knowing that you'll be charging $5 an hour for drop-in child care. Somewhere around $85 is where you can be I think considering how much you are thinking of charging for FT and drop-in.
I've had several potential clients call about PT and sign up for FT child care instead because of the "discount" that they get. They're not really getting a discount, they'd just be paying more per hour than FT clients.Comment
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Ok, I think I'll charge $85 then. That does make more sense. I had no toruble coming with my f/t rate, but figuring out the p/t and daily rates were trouble for me.
Thanks for your help.Comment
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I had trouble coming up with PT rates too but I figured that what I REALLY wanted was FT clients so everything else HAD to be more expensive. It's harder to fill spaces left by PT clients and PT is usually preffered (more people call me to ask if I have PT openings than FT) so I think "supply & demand"
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Once you get started and get a better feel for it you can really start to see how you feel about your rates. I raised my rates within 6 months of opening because what I thought was a fair deal was really low compared to what I offered and what other DC's in my area offered. Good luck BTW!!! happyfaceComment
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I don't do hours for my rates. It's up to 9 hours a day, then I'll charge more. I go based off the day when I tell clients my rates. Do you need 3 days or 4 days? Each day is different, if you go by the hour is should be more expensive for morning hours because you would typically feed two meals or the snack and lunch and you would be doing crafts and more involved activities whereas in the afternoon hours would be nap and outside play.
I did a daily breakdown rate. Most daycares here offer 3 day minimum at $90 or if you need 4-5 days it is just a flat $125. So that turned the $25/day for five days into $30/day for 3 days...see how the rate went up 20% per day for the part time rate? This would also be similar to how your rates are setup.
The less days per week the higher the daily rate is for me. I would love to have the 3-day minimum, but what do you do with the other two days? I'm certainly not going to charge someone $90 for two days care so I did a daily breakdown rate and will personally decide whether I have a very-part-time opening to fill a gap or not. SO far, it's working out great!
If I have a 2-day and a 3-day enrollment that is $160/week whereas just a full time spot would be $130/week. It's worth it to me to be flexible....it's like getting paid for 6 days but only working 5. I feel how I priced things is fair.
As for YOU doing weekend care, I think those rates need to go up! A babysitter would charge $6-$8 an hour and be in their home eating their food using their electricity, etc. A parent would absolutely LOVE having consistancy and reliability for weekend care. You certainly should have higher weekend rates even IF you don't do a curriculum.....don't worry NO ONE else is going to be doing a curriculum on the weekends silly!
It's just the fact it is a weekend and providers normally don't work weekends. Even drop in centers have half-day limits and are closed Sundays if you have any in your area. Re think your weekend rates. If you're $20/day you should be $30/day on the weekend. Something like that.
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I just started doing part time. My fulltime rate is 28hrs or more 4days+ at 235. Part time is max of 9 hrs days 3days is 180. Rotating is between 200-235. Drop in is 60. I might play around with these numbers to see what works but that's all I have right now.Comment
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