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I don't know for sure. I used to but with the economy the way it is I think it has lowered substantially.
I think a really GOOD paid provider in my area... let's say within five miles is about 125 maybe 130. I live in bluecollarville. The average house in my neighborhood is about 130-140,000 and my city is 500,000
I have a center less than two blocks from here and they are 185 for a baby but they are at 40 percent capacity right now and 80 percent of their kids are State paid which means that they actually get like 155 for the babies.
I put the bottom rate that I HAVE to have for the slot at the three p.m. and then go up from there. I have to have 135 minimum. Most of my clients leave by 4:30 but I have two that are 5.
How I raise rates is every year I had five dollars per week to every level for any INCOMING kids. I also do not raise rates on current clients. So kids that are with me over years are paying their rates for the year they started. If a kid starts in 2010 and leaves at 3 p.m they pay 135. A kid with the same schedule that started in 2009 was 130. A kid who started in 2008 would be 125. That's the base rate so if they change schedules I can pull up the rate schedule for that year and give them a quote.
Almost all my clients start at a near three p.m. departure and then as they advance in their jobs they increase the departure time. I only have one kid here now that leaves at three and he has just been here for a month. He will most likely increase to a later departure as his parents get promoted and make more money. No matter what ... as long as he stays the base rate table that you see above will be the rates I will apply to that family. So if he changes to a four p.m. departure in 2011 then it will be 155 per week for them. My average length of stay for kids is 3 years 8 months.
It seems complicated but it's very easy once you do the system. I always get paid for any hours where the child needs more direct care hours. If they stay later in the day they have more "awake" hours at my house. I get paid for that. Kids who leave at three receive less direct care hours because they either come in early ( like six a.m. or so) and go back to bed or they come in later and I work less than eight hours in a day for that family.
It's a HUGE incentive to get kids picked up early. I don't have parents switching schedules to longer harder hours on me unless they HAVE to do it for work. I don't have any parents who pay for longer hours and are not at work. It just gets too expensive for them to be here too late. That's the idea.
It doesn't come without a price tho. It's not a cure all situation. You have to remember that there is plenty of providers who will do eleven/twelve hours a day open hours and allow the parents to drop off and pick up any time within those hours. That's what I'm up against. People who come here WANT their kid to be here and want to keep the cost down to an affordable rate.
There are legions and legions of parents who want really long hours of care and the flexibility like Centers have. They want that for home day care price. Then end up paying MARKEDLY less per hour for care and don't have their kids for many awake hours a day. That will not stop until Centers and Home Day Care's start charging for the extra hours and start paying attention to the amount they are getting per hour per child and looking at the "awake" hours per day where they HAVE to have a certain number of staff per child (as in Centers who get to lower the staff during nap) or in home day care's where it's just plain harder to have kids up than it is when they aren't. I have a staff assistant who is not here during nap so the cost per hour of the hours the kids are napping is markedly less.
I hope this bad economy forces Centers to start limiting the total number of hours daily and the flexibility to use hours without a schedule other than the Centers hours of operation.
I think a really GOOD paid provider in my area... let's say within five miles is about 125 maybe 130. I live in bluecollarville. The average house in my neighborhood is about 130-140,000 and my city is 500,000
I have a center less than two blocks from here and they are 185 for a baby but they are at 40 percent capacity right now and 80 percent of their kids are State paid which means that they actually get like 155 for the babies.
I put the bottom rate that I HAVE to have for the slot at the three p.m. and then go up from there. I have to have 135 minimum. Most of my clients leave by 4:30 but I have two that are 5.
How I raise rates is every year I had five dollars per week to every level for any INCOMING kids. I also do not raise rates on current clients. So kids that are with me over years are paying their rates for the year they started. If a kid starts in 2010 and leaves at 3 p.m they pay 135. A kid with the same schedule that started in 2009 was 130. A kid who started in 2008 would be 125. That's the base rate so if they change schedules I can pull up the rate schedule for that year and give them a quote.
Almost all my clients start at a near three p.m. departure and then as they advance in their jobs they increase the departure time. I only have one kid here now that leaves at three and he has just been here for a month. He will most likely increase to a later departure as his parents get promoted and make more money. No matter what ... as long as he stays the base rate table that you see above will be the rates I will apply to that family. So if he changes to a four p.m. departure in 2011 then it will be 155 per week for them. My average length of stay for kids is 3 years 8 months.
It seems complicated but it's very easy once you do the system. I always get paid for any hours where the child needs more direct care hours. If they stay later in the day they have more "awake" hours at my house. I get paid for that. Kids who leave at three receive less direct care hours because they either come in early ( like six a.m. or so) and go back to bed or they come in later and I work less than eight hours in a day for that family.
It's a HUGE incentive to get kids picked up early. I don't have parents switching schedules to longer harder hours on me unless they HAVE to do it for work. I don't have any parents who pay for longer hours and are not at work. It just gets too expensive for them to be here too late. That's the idea.
It doesn't come without a price tho. It's not a cure all situation. You have to remember that there is plenty of providers who will do eleven/twelve hours a day open hours and allow the parents to drop off and pick up any time within those hours. That's what I'm up against. People who come here WANT their kid to be here and want to keep the cost down to an affordable rate.
There are legions and legions of parents who want really long hours of care and the flexibility like Centers have. They want that for home day care price. Then end up paying MARKEDLY less per hour for care and don't have their kids for many awake hours a day. That will not stop until Centers and Home Day Care's start charging for the extra hours and start paying attention to the amount they are getting per hour per child and looking at the "awake" hours per day where they HAVE to have a certain number of staff per child (as in Centers who get to lower the staff during nap) or in home day care's where it's just plain harder to have kids up than it is when they aren't. I have a staff assistant who is not here during nap so the cost per hour of the hours the kids are napping is markedly less.
I hope this bad economy forces Centers to start limiting the total number of hours daily and the flexibility to use hours without a schedule other than the Centers hours of operation.
So I casually ask what their work hours are. Turns out she works 6-3 and he works 8-4 or rarely as late as 5. I just have to ask myself why why why (in these extreme cases I mean) these people had children in the first place. :confused:
It makes me sad for their children. I made my hours like this to be able to accommodate different schedules. I feel like I am being taken advantage of but don't know if that right or not... I am open:
It eats me up because my second family have half their children on a waiting list to be in my daycare. I considered droping this last family because of this but thought it would be unprofessional...? What do you think?
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