How Do You Charge?

[LeslieG]

I currently have a child care and it's gone pretty well, but now my husband and I are going to be moving out of town and I will be starting a new child care at our new place. I'm just starting to set things up in my mind about how I would like to do things this time...

How do you do your rates?.. Do you charge by the week, the day or the hour? Do you have part time care, and if so, how do you charge for that? I would really appreciate your opinions of what you like best and why!

I currently charge by the week, but am just wondering if there is a better way to be doing it.

Thanks!

[Blackcat31]

I charge by the week (3 day, 4 day and 5 day rate options) all based on pick up times.

I only accept children for less then 3 days per week on a drop in, space available basis only.

I started out 20 years ago charging by the hour, then went to a day rate about 8+ years in (?) and have charged a weekly rate now for several years.

Moved to PRE-pay only at the same time I moved to a daily rate.

[jenn]

I charge $30 per day. Everyone pays the same rate, full time and part time. I do require a 3 day minimum ($90 weekly) for part time.

Everyone does it differently and has different reasons for doing so. I think whatever you are comfortable with is fine.

[daycarediva]

I charge for the space.

I am paid weekly, the Friday before care is given. Contracted times, for up to 10 hours of care/day.

5 days is $175/week (or $35/day)
4 days is $160/week ($40/day)
3 days is $135/week ($45/day)
2 days is $100/week ($50/day
drop in is also $50/day

In fall I will be implementing a rate scale based on pick-up times and offering my later families the option of paying slightly less each week if they can pick up earlier, almost all of my families are gone by 4:00-4:30. I have 2 families who contracted until 5:30, and neither NEED me until then so I am hoping the financial incentive will allow me to have some earlier closing times.

[sharlan]

I charge a flat fee for the week. I don't restrict my parents to a number of hours, but I do charge $1 a minute after 5:45. I charge and I do collect.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I currently have a child care and it's gone pretty well, but now my husband and I are going to be moving out of town and I will be starting a new child care at our new place. I'm just starting to set things up in my mind about how I would like to do things this time...

How do you do your rates?.. Do you charge by the week, the day or the hour? Do you have part time care, and if so, how do you charge for that? I would really appreciate your opinions of what you like best and why!

I currently charge by the week, but am just wondering if there is a better way to be doing it.

Thanks!

Rates are a weekly fee. The tuition is paid bi-weekly or every 4 weeks. There are no other payment optiosn available for my clients. They are invoiced online through Minute Menu Kids childcarepay.com and all of them pay it online as well.

I have a very limited amount of part-time spots (2 on M/W/F and 2 on Tuesday/Thursday currently, although I will eventually drop it to 1 I believe). I charge a weekly rate for each of those part-time spots as well. It ends up being a higher daily rate than the full-time children.

If I have room, I do drop-in care for $11.00 more per day than the full-time children pay OR for $6.00/hour. It depends on how much care they are wanting. For clients trying to save money by only paying a drop-in rate on days they need it, I tell, "I only offer drop-in days 2 times per month per family."

[melilley]

I charge a weekly fee for 5 days a week and then I have a daily rate with a minimum of 2 days. I don't do half days because I can only have 6 children (including my son) and it wouldn't benefit me. When I opened, I figured that to comfortably live I would have to have at least 3 full time kids and the other 2 could be full or part time-preferably part time.

I just looked through CL ads to see what other licensed providers charge and you used to be able to see what others charged through my CC&R agency, but they don't show rates anymore. I am $10 more or less than licensed providers in my area, but I am going to raise my rates by $10 for new families because after seeing what other providers offer, I know I offer more and am worth the $10...

[AmyKidsCo]

I'm similar to daycarediva in that each shorter amount of time costs more per day.

I offer full time (less than 20 hours/week), full day (2-3 days, up to 20 hours/week) and AM or PM half day. I have the rates set that 2 days is almost as much as full time, to encourage parents to contract for full time instead of part time care.

[mamac]

I charge a weekly rate for full-time and part-time as well as a daily rate for full day and half day drop-in care.

-Full-time is 4-5 days and 45 hours max.
-Part-time is 1-3 days and 27 hours max. For part-time I have two different rates: one for the same set days each week and a more expensive option for varying days each week. I figure it will be harder to fill the open days so they can pay more.
-If they need more than their allotted hours for the spot, I charge an hourly rate. (only available to contracted clients, not drop-in.)
-Anything over 30 hrs for either part-time slot on a regular basis must switch to full-time contract.
-Drop-in full day is up to 10 hours, and half day is only from 7am-11:30am.

Not sure how any of this will actually work because I don't open until September. I'll probably change my mind about 10 more times before then. ::