What To Look For In A House For Home Daycare

[Controlled Chaos]

I have been caring for a few children part time in my apartment, keeping with in the license exempt guidelines for 2 1/2 years now. We are finally ready to buy a house!!! I am so excited to grow my daycare and get licensed!

I would LOVE to get some feedback and advice on what to look for. We are touring a few homes with mother in law apartments tomorrow. I love the idea of a completely separate space. Is there anything about a specific lay out you love or hate? Yard issues? I have read the licensing restrictions several times, but I am sure there are practical things that you only discover in practice.

Advice? What do you loveabout your home daycare physically? What one thing would you change?

Thanks!

[Play Care]

One of the things I wish my house had is another entrance to the basement and higher foundation walls so the basement windows were larger. I'd move dc downstairs in a heartbeat if I could. But since my basement feels "basement" like and doesn't have the second entrance, I can't.

[DaveA]

A room on the main floor or a walkout basement that can be used separately as a classroom is good, a mother in laws apartment would work great. As for things to look for: easy access to driveway, few stairs getting in or out, bathroom and kitchen visible or close from the main room, and lots of natural light in main room.

One thing to check- occasionally MIL apartments are classified as income/rental units. Most likely you will be fine, but double check with your licensing on whether that still counts as "in home daycare" and not group home or center status.

Good luck.

[Second Home]

A seperate space for daycare where you can close the door and be done working . If you find a home with an in law that would be great .

[permanentvacation]

I completely agree with Second Home. I would want a completely separate room with it's own bathroom and in the perfect dream, it's own little kitchenette and clothes washer and dryer.

I know another daycare provider near me who installed a kitchen complete with a full-sized stove/oven and refrigerator in her basement where she does daycare. She can cook complete meals, wash the daycare kids sleeping bags and clothes if they make too much of a mess without leaving the daycare room at all. Then after daycare hours, she closes the daycare (basement) door and doesn't see a sign of her job at all until the next working day. Her house is just her house! I want that! However, I would rather have a room on the main floor, not in the basement. It would just be brighter and cheerier because of being able to have more natural light and I would be able to see other people in the world as they walk past. In the basement, I just feel so cut off from the world.

[cheerfuldom]

A walkout basement with a lot of natural light and an entrance that parents have access to (a mudroom or entrance area would be great!), a fenced yard, full kitchen downstairs, storage options (either already there or space where you can add stuff), quiet street where there is no danger of a kid getting hit (because you can't count on parents watching their own kids out front), and easily accessible driveway or parking option. Drive by several times during the day or evening and see what the traffic is like, if the neighbors have large dogs or whatever.

[Blackcat31]

Besides the obvious in my case (separate home all together) the things I could NOT live without are:

Separated entry way. It keeps all the "outside" from getting too far inside. Plus it is a natural boundary for parents and they tend to stay only in the entryway/coatroom and rarely enter the rest of my house.

LOTS of light! Everything is just much more cheery when there are windows that allow the natural light in.

Viewable rooms/open spaces.... I love being in any room but still being able to see into others without having to be in one closed off space

I also love that my bathroom is really close to the entryway...again much less intrusion into the house and no one has to be out of site when I need to use the bathroom.

HTH

[melilley]

Definitely a completely separate space!
But, if you can't do that, at least a separate room. We have me a family room and living room. I set up my living room as a daycare room and put up a gate. We do have to use the rest of the house, but the toys and majority of our inside time is in there. My front door is there too.

[AmyKidsCo]

I don't like being in the basement so I'd need a space above ground with a separate entrance (preferably at the front or side instead of the back like mine is now), bathroom and kitchen close by, another room for baby naps, an entrance directly to the yard, a big yard with access to water. And while I'm dreaming, how about a maid to clean it too? ::

[Meeko]

My daycare is in my basement with it's own entrance. I love going upstairs and there is not one sign of daycare anywhere. My youngest daughter is 18 and so I can (and do) have breakables everywhere ::::

I don't have a kitchen down there, which would be nice. But our basement stairs go up into the kitchen, so it's very close.

It sounds like you are heading in the right direction looking at homes with MIL apartments.

[butterfly]

I have my daycare in my basement. The entire basement is dedicated daycare space. I have a full kitchen and full bathroom down there, a living room (I use for the older kids' naptime) a separate bedroom with walk in closet (babies sleep in the bedroom, extra toy/curriculum storage in the walkin closet) and a classroom/playroom. I have large egress windows in the playroom and it lets in lots of light. I love my space, but I do wish I had a separate "walkout" to the back yard. A separate entrance straight into the basement would have been nice too; however my basement stairs are right at my front entrance so it's not a big deal.

When you are looking at homes, I'd keep in mind parking too. A wide driveway is nice or somewhere where on-street parking is allowed.

Good luck in your search!

[cheerfuldom]

definitely a bathroom too!

[Unregistered]

parking

Enough parking for people pickig up and droping off their kids. I wish my daycare had a drive through window like McDonalds so people could drive through and I hand them their kids through the window this would eliminate 15 minute chats about their kids

[Controlled Chaos]

Enough parking for people pickig up and droping off their kids. I wish my daycare had a drive through window like McDonalds so people could drive through and I hand them their kids through the window this would eliminate 15 minute chats about their kids

I will ask the realtor if there are any drive thrus in our price range ::

Thanks everyone for the tips. I am super excited and nervous. Did anyone have any trouble with stairs and licensing? One house we saw was awesome only the mil apt was upstairs so we would have to go down them to get to the yard.

[BrooklynM]

I think it all depends on the area you live in. Being that I live in the San Francisco bay area where it is crazy expensive and we don't have basements, I had to be a little more creative with my space. Luckily I have a separate living room and family room and a patio off of the living room which is the room I only use for the daycare. I have a covered patio which works as an extension of my space. I have all of my ride on toys, a play house, sandbox, etc on the patio. I also like the fact that I can look out from my daycare room onto the driveway (through the kitchen window) and be able to see when a parent arrives. In the morning I just meet them at the door and take their child. At the end of the day, I just take the child to them. I pretty much know when to expect everyone.

Having the kitchen be in view of the room to me has been such a huge blessing so I can keep an eye on them while I'm cooking. My laundry room is right off the kitchen so I also have a view from the laundry room if I need to throw a load in.