What would you charge?

[williams2008]

So right now she's paying $80/week for 9 hrs/day and 45 hrs/week (I'm cringing btw). That breaks down to $1.78/hr.

If she were my client I would consider the following choices:

#1 She can pay 3 days a week flat rate with a choice to be able to bring him that 3rd day on that every other week or not. Her spot is guaranteed.

#2 She can pay 2 days a week flat rate and a higher drop-in rate for that 3rd day that she needs every other week.

#3 Even though her pick up time now is 4pm each day to me that's FT because she goes 5 days a week and for me my FT clients pay less (when broken down hourly) than my PT clients. She's reducing her hours and going from 5 days a week to 2-3 days per week. I would think about charging a higher hourly rate for 2-3 days/week.

Either way if you now typically start at 7am-7:30am and you are comfortable with that yet are open minded about opening up an hour earlier for her then I would charge the drop in rate for that 6am-7am hour then the regular rate after that.

6am-7am hour = $5
7am-6pm = 11 hours x 1.78 = $19.58
$19.58 + $5 = $24.58 per day

2 days/wk = $24.58 x 2 = $49.16
3 days/wk = $24.58 x 3 = $73.74
Drop-In = $5/hr x 12/hrs = $60
You can offer a discount drop-in daily rate of like $40 or something.

So she can either pay:
$73.74/wk for 3 days each week or
$49.16 for 2 days one week and $89.16 for 3 days (because of drop in rate of $40/day) the next week

Of course the drop in rate would be based on your local rates (mine is $6/hr and mid-range for my area).

Take into consideration that even though you will only be opening early 2-3 days a week those are still long hours. You should make it worth your while. And I definitely think that your client is now FT and so if she is reducing her hours you should charge her a higher hourly rate. Personally I would increase it by rounding it up so for me (based on your rates) I would offer:

6am-7am hour = $5
7am-6pm = 11 hours x $2 = $22
$22 + $5 = $27 per day

2 days/wk = $27 x 2 = $54
3 days/wk = $27 x 3 = $81
Drop-In daily rate= $40

Yep that's what I make $1.78/hr and it's pulling teeth to get them to pay that. Thanks for your input! I told her I will let her know something by tomorrow, so I will take everything you'll have said into consideration. Thanks again

[williams2008]

I would go up to at least $100 a week since it is a lot more hours daily and it is such an early start.

[MarinaVanessa]

Yep that's what I make $1.78/hr and it's pulling teeth to get them to pay that. Thanks for your input! I told her I will let her know something by tomorrow, so I will take everything you'll have said into consideration. Thanks again

But already she's not seeing it as $1.78 an hour, she's seeing it as $16 per day.

What if the next thing she says is that she wants 5 days a week of 12 hour shifts and wants to go back to paying $80 a week.

If you decide to accommodate her even if it's only for the meantime until you find replacements explain that your pay is based by the number of hours they want, not by the number of days.

[Crazy8]

personally I just wouldn't do it. I don't like to get up early and I enjoy the evenings with my own family. I hate when I have to work till 5pm for one family, that extra half hour kills me!!

Sounds like you aren't that interested in keeping this family and I would simply tell them you can not accommodate their new schedule.

But if you wanted to do it, I would let them know that their rate of $16/day (also cringing at that!!) is for 9 hours a day/5 day a week clients. Dropping down to part time puts them at a part time daily rate which is higher (maybe $19/day?) PLUS the extra 3 hours a day is billed on top of that at a rate of $5/hour. So with those rates I just threw out there 2 days of 6am-6pm would be $68/week and 3 days would be $102/week. You'd make $20 more in 4 weeks and have the child only 10 days instead of 20 days. If mom doesn't want to go for that she can look elsewhere. Are all daycares in your area really so inexpensive?? I mean no offense at all, but I couldn't even imagine doing this for that amount money.

[williams2008]

personally I just wouldn't do it. I don't like to get up early and I enjoy the evenings with my own family. I hate when I have to work till 5pm for one family, that extra half hour kills me!!

Sounds like you aren't that interested in keeping this family and I would simply tell them you can not accommodate their new schedule.

But if you wanted to do it, I would let them know that their rate of $16/day (also cringing at that!!) is for 9 hours a day/5 day a week clients. Dropping down to part time puts them at a part time daily rate which is higher (maybe $19/day?) PLUS the extra 3 hours a day is billed on top of that at a rate of $5/hour. So with those rates I just threw out there 2 days of 6am-6pm would be $68/week and 3 days would be $102/week. You'd make $20 more in 4 weeks and have the child only 10 days instead of 20 days. If mom doesn't want to go for that she can look elsewhere. Are all daycares in your area really so inexpensive?? I mean no offense at all, but I couldn't even imagine doing this for that amount money.

No offense taking at all. There is one child care center here that is the most expensive and I think their rate for preschoolers is $95.

Tbh I'm really not that interested in opening up any earlier, but I told her I would give it some thought and let her know.

[williams2008]

But already she's not seeing it as $1.78 an hour, she's seeing it as $16 per day.

What if the next thing she says is that she wants 5 days a week of 12 hour shifts and wants to go back to paying $80 a week.

If you decide to accommodate her even if it's only for the meantime until you find replacements explain that your pay is based by the number of hours they want, not by the number of days.

If she decides she wants 5 days a week for 12 hours, then I would tell her buh-bye!!::