Opening a Child Care Center

[JeepGirl6]

I have been thinking about this for a while now about opening up a child care center with my husband and I getting older(both almost 28 and just had our first child 3 weeks ago ) and both having no retirement ( His place of employment does not have a retirement plan or 401k and I operate my In Home Child Care so no retirement there) We are hoping to make a profitable amount of money with owning our own businesses. We also worry about having to pay for our own health insurance with being self employed, on average how much are you paying if you don't have insurance through your spouse's job?

For those of you who have went from operating an In Home Child Care to operating a child care facility, Does the profit increase significantly? My husband and I are thinking of opening a child care facility and then him starting his lawn care/excavating business back up. With both of us being successful self employed professionals we were thinking this would be the way to go to be able to better ourselves for the future/retirement. I enjoy caring for children out of my home but I do really feel like something is missing. I was thinking maybe I need to go back to school for the 3rd time and get a 3rd Degree but I don't even know what I would go back for...considered nursing or getting my bachelors in Teaching but then I wouldn't be able to operate my In Home Child Care with going to school which won't work financially for us. Plus, teaching jobs in public schools around here are hard to find.

My husbands grandfather has a nice building in a great location for a child care business. He will charge us $1,000 a month to rent it out.

Where do I start with wanting to open a facility?

How long does it take to get children? If children enroll that are different age groups are they allowed to be in the same room until I have a bigger ratio to hire more employees to separate the age groups?

I would like to call someone who does licensing in my area and have them come to the building to tell me exactly what I need to do to get it up to code and such to be able to open. Will they do this? Who is it that I call?

Do you work at your center during open hours? Are you the Director? Do you teach a classroom? Do you have someone else run & operate the center?

Anyone that has any opinions/advice would be greatly appreciated

[nanglgrl]

I don't know about other states but here I believe you have to have a certain degree to be director or you have to hire someone. I know here its hard for centers to make a good profit even though they are full and have long waiting lists. I've been told a big part of the job is finding grants so they can make a profit. We also live in a college town where a lot of people go to school to get their teaching degree and do their student teaching hours. I think part of why its so hard for centers to make money is because they have to maintain the student/teacher ratio with people coming/going at all times.

[JeepGirl6]

How many of you would rather run your In Home Child Care over owning/operating your own Child Care Facility or the other way around?

Those of you who have switched from one to the other, what are your feelings on it?

Thanks!

[JeepGirl6]

I have been thinking about this for a while now about opening up a child care center with my husband and I getting older(both almost 28 and just had our first child 3 weeks ago ) and both having no retirement ( His place of employment does not have a retirement plan or 401k and I operate my In Home Child Care so no retirement there) We are hoping to make a profitable amount of money with owning our own businesses. We also worry about having to pay for our own health insurance with being self employed, on average how much are you paying if you don't have insurance through your spouse's job?

For those of you who have went from operating an In Home Child Care to operating a child care facility, Does the profit increase significantly? My husband and I are thinking of opening a child care facility and then him starting his lawn care/excavating business back up. With both of us being successful self employed professionals we were thinking this would be the way to go to be able to better ourselves for the future/retirement. I enjoy caring for children out of my home but I do really feel like something is missing. I was thinking maybe I need to go back to school for the 3rd time and get a 3rd Degree but I don't even know what I would go back for...considered nursing or getting my bachelors in Teaching but then I wouldn't be able to operate my In Home Child Care with going to school which won't work financially for us. Plus, teaching jobs in public schools around here are hard to find.

My husbands grandfather has a nice building in a great location for a child care business. He will charge us $1,000 a month to rent it out.

Where do I start with wanting to open a facility?

How long does it take to get children? If children enroll that are different age groups are they allowed to be in the same room until I have a bigger ratio to hire more employees to separate the age groups?

I would like to call someone who does licensing in my area and have them come to the building to tell me exactly what I need to do to get it up to code and such to be able to open. Will they do this? Who is it that I call?

Do you work at your center during open hours? Are you the Director? Do you teach a classroom? Do you have someone else run & operate the center?

Anyone that has any opinions/advice would be greatly appreciated

I have an Associates Degree in Early Childhood Education and also a Medical Assisting Degree.

[butterfly]

I would contact licensing. Usually your local social services office could direct you to the right person for this. They can come do an inspection for you and tell you what you need. Another thing to consider is the building zoned in your city for such a business? What remodeling costs would there be? Is there room for outdoor play? Fenced in area? Child friendly restrooms? ....

For me, it's much more profitable for me to run my business from home. If I opened a center, I could only have 20 kids versus the 12 I'm allowed now. I'd have rent, additional utitlities, construction costs, insurance, employee wages, etc, etc to house my business else where. It wouldn't be worth the headache of trying to keep employees. I just don't think the finances would work. In order to keep a GOOD employee, I'd have to pay them more than it would profit me in the end...

I wish you luck in your endeavor! I would suggest just spending some time with your own little sweetie at home for a while...

Also, on the retirement aspect... There is no reason you can't open your own retirement plan. I have a ROTH IRA that I put 15% of my income into. I make my contributions online, so if my numbers of children are low, I can adjust the amount going in it and vice versa.

There are other types of retirements plans available to self employeed, such as SEP. Speak with a good financial advisor and they can set you up.

[Blackcat31]

My original intent when purchasing my child care home was to actually run a child care center but I quickly changed my mind when I read about a few of the licensing rules required of centers. The biggest one being that if you are licensed as a center in my state, you MUST accept school age children and that is NOT something I am willing to do.

I can remain licensed as group family care and enroll enough kids to make the mortgage payment and cover other operating costs while still bringing home a profit.

I HAVE considered opening a center in my town but my participation would be limited to admin only and not the actual hands-on care of the kids. When I reach the point in my career that I no longer want the one-one interaction with the kids, I may consider opening a center but we'll see.....life has a funny way of working out the way it SHOULD rather than the way I would like.

[JeepGirl6]

Becoming a Type A Family Home

I am currently a type B home for child care. After looking into it I think it might benefit me more to become licensed out of my home instead of actually opening up a center. I charge $35.00 a day. I would be allowed 12 children if I get licensed and say I pay my assistant $10.00 an hour for 8-10 hours a day, subtract around $1,600-$2,000 a month to pay her, subtract $1,600 a month for my 1/2 of the bills, this is including Liability insurance on the daycare(my husband and I split everything right down the middle), withhold $2,000 a month for taxes...With all these deductions I would still be bringing in between $38,000-$42,000 a year in profit. I understand I will have daycare expenses added in to those deductions...Is this really what Type A providers are making??

I don't know if I am getting my hopes up but if this is possible, I really think this would be a much better option than opening up a center. I can still be at home with our children and still have control over my business.

Do you like being a Type A home provider?

Pros? Cons?