Newbie Ready To Start Daycare

[DCBlessings27]

Check your county, local, HOA, regs too. Not just state!

A provider collegue who was getting licensed here in the same county as me lived in a town right next to mine. She went through all the licensing requirements training, had her inspection, just was waiting on the firemarshal inspection. Fire marshal said okay where is your local use permit? She didnt know she needed one, but apparently she needed one from her little town (about 3000 people) . NO ONE ever said anything to her about it! No problems she goes down to the local city governnment to get a use permit. $10,000 dollars and it has to be renewed every 5 years!

$10,000! No way would I pay that.

[annafaye1985]

Not in my home...

I am renting a building to start my Childcare... I live in Minnesota though and we can do this without paying more. I am a little nervous just because it is an added exspense but it is 600.00 per month and includes all utilties and they do the snowplowing and yard mowing. The place is 2 blocks from the local ECFE & 2 blocks from the big park & beach in my town. The library & local community center would be withing walking & the preschool is 2 blocks away as well.

I have done childcare before out of my home and loved it when my kids were first born and I know after subbing for the school and headstart this is what I want atleast for the year lease..

I'm also spending a good 3500.00 off the bat to buy things I need so that everything is setup for when I start, like you want to do.

I think the hardest thing is the employee issue... I would love to hire someone but I don't want to have to pay the taxes and work compensation unless I have good numbers & a waiting list...
Good Luck!

[Blackcat31]

I am renting a building to start my Childcare... I live in Minnesota though and we can do this without paying more. I am a little nervous just because it is an added exspense but it is 600.00 per month and includes all utilties and they do the snowplowing and yard mowing. The place is 2 blocks from the local ECFE & 2 blocks from the big park & beach in my town. The library & local community center would be withing walking & the preschool is 2 blocks away as well.

I have done childcare before out of my home and loved it when my kids were first born and I know after subbing for the school and headstart this is what I want atleast for the year lease..

I'm also spending a good 3500.00 off the bat to buy things I need so that everything is setup for when I start, like you want to do.

I think the hardest thing is the employee issue... I would love to hire someone but I don't want to have to pay the taxes and work compensation unless I have good numbers & a waiting list...
Good Luck!

In our state having an assistant or additional adult would only net you two additional kids so IMHO, it isn't worth hiring someone when the wage you would have to pay them would basically equal the income you bring in.

[MamaBear]

Could you start a daycare in your own home and then see if you REALLY like it before opening a center based daycare outside your home? Sounds like a big leap to jump into with both feet. Also it takes awhile to get enough children to really make good money when your first starting out... sometimes a year or more to get full capacity. I would just be worried that you wouldn't make enough money to pay the rent & all other bills attached to get a separate location. If you started a daycare at home and found that you really love it and could fill capacity and make good money, then consider renting a space somewhere? ALso I was breastfeeding my youngest when I first started out too. It can work, but it was really hard too. I had to take a lot of breaks from the kids to feed him. You don't want the other kids to "see" you feeding him either, so that makes it difficult. If you have an assistant, thats great to help, but you will need to get MORE kids to afford to pay the bills and the assistant. Just my thoughts...

[Wasiris1]

In my state people pay an average of 225-325 per infant (depends on location) and in between 180-225 per toddler.... The place I was considering would be a $1000.00 rent, with utilities about $1300 a month.... I live in a good neighborhood with a school across the street and a preschool down the block, the preschool is where my daughter attended they are GREAT, love their program but are very costly.. They only take 3-4 yr old and they charge a hourly rate of $6.75 for FT and $7.20 PT, while my daughter attended I was paying over $330 a week which I think it's a lot for a 3-4 year old but I never complained and kept her for the 2 years, it was convenient for me and my husband and if we could not make it my mom could pick her and my son up in less than 10 minutes. I spoke to Ms. Barb (director of preschool ) and she mention that she won't mind to refer me to anyone needing my service (I love her) also I was thinking about talking my sons principal who I know would not mind as well. I figured it may take me 10-12 month to fill all spaces. I am trying to reach a licensing specialist to find out what is needed to open up a group daycare, what kind of background they require. In order to obtain my certificate or my c.d.a I have to complete a semester in a childcare environment. I would have to find a program that I would like to work for part time. Or maybe care for 2 kids in my house (no more) I don't want my house to be turned into a daycare facility. Uugghh now I feel like I have no where to start I don't want to return to the bank after the year, and I always have wanted to work with children (that's why I majored in child spychology) .... I would keep you posted with what I find out from the licensing specialist

[MamaBear]

My advice would be to really list out how much everything would cost to run it from another building... Rent, Utilities, Paying an Assistant, etc and then how much you realistically could make according to how many kids you will be allowed to care for... and then how long it will take to get your maximum capacity. It would definitely be a lot cheaper to do it from home and then you can really see if you like it or not. I did it for the past 6 years in my home... I put ALL my daycare stuff away on weekends and try to not let my home feel like a daycare when I'm closed... It helped I'm closing down now though and very excited about selling all of my things.

What state are you in? Do you have to take courses or have a certification to get a home daycare license there? Do you have to take Child Psychology courses? In California (where I am), you don't have to do all that... but I guess it will look better on your advertising if you have a degree in some sort of child care studies I guess.

[Blackcat31]

In my state people pay an average of 225-325 per infant (depends on location) and in between 180-225 per toddler.... The place I was considering would be a $1000.00 rent, with utilities about $1300 a month.... I live in a good neighborhood with a school across the street and a preschool down the block, the preschool is where my daughter attended they are GREAT, love their program but are very costly.. They only take 3-4 yr old and they charge a hourly rate of $6.75 for FT and $7.20 PT, while my daughter attended I was paying over $330 a week which I think it's a lot for a 3-4 year old but I never complained and kept her for the 2 years, it was convenient for me and my husband and if we could not make it my mom could pick her and my son up in less than 10 minutes. I spoke to Ms. Barb (director of preschool ) and she mention that she won't mind to refer me to anyone needing my service (I love her) also I was thinking about talking my sons principal who I know would not mind as well. I figured it may take me 10-12 month to fill all spaces. I am trying to reach a licensing specialist to find out what is needed to open up a group daycare, what kind of background they require. In order to obtain my certificate or my c.d.a I have to complete a semester in a childcare environment. I would have to find a program that I would like to work for part time. Or maybe care for 2 kids in my house (no more) I don't want my house to be turned into a daycare facility. Uugghh now I feel like I have no where to start I don't want to return to the bank after the year, and I always have wanted to work with children (that's why I majored in child spychology) .... I would keep you posted with what I find out from the licensing specialist

Here is the licensing info for Connecticut

https://www.daycare.com/connecticut/

[Wasiris1]

Well I finally got the information that I needed

I called the CT licensing department and they said being that I want to provide childcare outside of my home the process is somewhat like for a center, meaning a head teacher, a director, staff, zoning and fire hazard inspection.... please correct me if I am wrong... Funny thing is that last week when I called the childcare info line they did not tell me any of this.

:confused: will call tomorrow again just to make sure the information I received was accurate. I am looking to start a group home daycare not a center.

[Wasiris1]

Q: If I start as an Infant care provider in my house would I have to change my house around to be structured as a daycare?

And also If I am able to start the group daycare, is backyard space is required? or is it ok if we walk to the park that's two blocks away? I have not asked if I can turn their backyard into a playground ()

[MrsB]

In some states Family childcare means the home has to be your primary residence. Not sure about your state?

[DCBlessings27]

In my state, you have to reside in the home you are wanting to do care. If I tried to rent an apartment/house, I would have to reside there enough to meet residency requirements. KS also just made it so no providers can have a daycare without having an outside play area as of March 1st. You would have to ask your state if walking to a playground would work there.

[3myjob]

In my state, you have to reside in the home you are wanting to do care. If I tried to rent an apartment/house, I would have to reside there enough to meet residency requirements. KS also just made it so no providers can have a daycare without having an outside play area as of March 1st. You would have to ask your state if walking to a playground would work there.

I'm also from Kansas and have thought about renting a separate home for my daycare. There is no regulation that I could find that states you have to live in the home where you do care. That particular home would just have to meet all the safety requirements.

I may be wrong though?

[nannyde]

Just remember that when it comes to the care of OTHER people's kids... it's supposed to be hard.

Any experience you have as a parent will profit you very little in the care of other peoples kids. If you are going to manage a big group of other peoples children you really really need a LOT of experience caring for other peoples children.

Start really small and take one. Get that experience first. Just ONE of the other people's kids may be enough to dissuade you from having twelve.

It's really hard work especially when you have your own newborn. I was seven years in the home day care biz and over 20 years in the child care biz when my ds was born and it kicked my arse. It was SO hard and I KNEW how to take care of other people's kids. I was really good at it by then and it was still really really hard.

[DCBlessings27]

I'm also from Kansas and have thought about renting a separate home for my daycare. There is no regulation that I could find that states you have to live in the home where you do care. That particular home would just have to meet all the safety requirements.

I may be wrong though?

I asked some other providers. I guess you can if your city/county says it's okay. In my city, they don't allow you to do so if you don't live in the house you're doing care from. Of course, they also don't allow us the have the preschool overlap for lunch either. Max 10 kids even for group. Stupid city. It's actually never been a problem for me bc I haven't had any SA yet.