Going from a Home Daycare to a Child Care Center

[JeepGirl6]

I operate a home daycare.

I have been thinking about possibly in the future leasing/renting a building and opening up a child care center.

How many of you have went from your home to a center?

Pros/Cons?

How do I go about this? What do I need to do first?

How many sq ft do I need for say 60 children?

Do you have the age groups of infants-6 years or do you go up to 12 years(school agers)?

Do you teach in a classroom, are you the Director or do you have someone else run the business for you?

How many children do you care for in the center? Does state set your rates or can you provide your own?

Neither my husband or I have any type of retirement. His job does not offer anything at all. We are thinking this would be a good way to help with our retirement issue and we would be able to live comfortably.

ANY advice/opinions?

Thank you!

[Annalee]

I operate a home daycare.

I have been thinking about possibly in the future leasing/renting a building and opening up a child care center.

How many of you have went from your home to a center?

Pros/Cons?

How do I go about this? What do I need to do first?

How many sq ft do I need for say 60 children?

Do you have the age groups of infants-6 years or do you go up to 12 years(school agers)?

Do you teach in a classroom, are you the Director or do you have someone else run the business for you?

How many children do you care for in the center? Does state set your rates or can you provide your own?

Neither my husband or I have any type of retirement. His job does not offer anything at all. We are thinking this would be a good way to help with our retirement issue and we would be able to live comfortably.

ANY advice/opinions?

Thank you!

Where I live I make more money in home daycare....the adult/child ratios for a center lead to high employee pay, plus they need separate director and cook which is 2 more employees to pay, not to mention the extra building overhead....Personally, I do not want to be over any employees due to the near nonexistent work ethic in personnel these days at any job...it seems employees do not even get their on time not to mention performing their work duties....just a trend I see in many jobs today....too many want to make a million so they sit home waiting rather than working along the way...:confused:

[JeepGirl6]

Sorry...for some reason my thread posted twice. My screen had froze so I have to redo it. I didn't think it had posted.

[Heidi]

Where I live I make more money in home daycare....the adult/child ratios for a center lead to high employee pay, plus they need separate director and cook which is 2 more employees to pay, not to mention the extra building overhead....Personally, I do not want to be over any employees due to the near nonexistent work ethic in personnel these days at any job...it seems employees do not even get their on time not to mention performing their work duties....just a trend I see in many jobs today....too many want to make a million so they sit home waiting rather than working along the way...:confused:

When I mentioned this to a friend of mine years ago (a former family provider who'd gone center) she said "Heidi, you will be a lot happier and a lot richer if you stick to family day care".

In our state, we can have 8 licensed at home, each one under 2 essentially takes up 2 spots. We do not have a "small group" license option, meaning 2 providers with a few more kids. It's licensed for 8, or licensed as a group, which can be 9 or it can be 120.

[Annalee]

When I mentioned this to a friend of mine years ago (a former family provider who'd gone center) she said "Heidi, you will be a lot happier and a lot richer if you stick to family day care".

In our state, we can have 8 licensed at home, each one under 2 essentially takes up 2 spots. We do not have a "small group" license option, meaning 2 providers with a few more kids. It's licensed for 8, or licensed as a group, which can be 9 or it can be 120.

I work with my mom and we keep 12, BUT if she retires, I am going back to 7 and work by myself....it works for mom and I, but NO WAY do I would I want to be with anyone else 45 hours a week.

[NightOwl]

Back AWAAAAY from the center!! I went from center to home and it was, by far, the best decision I ever made. Center work is so stressful with keeping staff and managing that many children. And after the THOUSANDS of dollars in overhead, you will be lucky to make any money at all. It's a good month when you break even. It's not worth your sanity, the extremely long hours, and the huge amount of stress.