before getting into this business, i would like to some feedback on the revue on the daycare business ? how much can a daycare business make ? any tips or help would be much appreciated .
How Much Can An In-Home Group Child Daycare Make?
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It depends on a lot of factors.
- How much will it cost to run your business? Food? Art supplies? Curriculum? Extra utilities?
- How many kids will your state allow you to watch?
- How much can you charge in your market?
- Will your children take any of those spots? Mine take 2, so I get income from 6 of my 8 spots.
- Taxes
- Accountant
- Assistant
- Professional Development classes
- Cost of certifications
- Yearly re licensing costs ($400 in my state including business license, inspections etc)- Flag
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It does vary a lot. How many families can you have legally? Are you able to stay full? What are your business expenses? I think it would be really hard to know without actually sitting down and doing some math. And then some things are still hard to factor. I have been back in the business for a year and a half and just got my second family. But in some areas you might fill up in a few days.- Flag
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Factor into this long hours. I worked from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Also factor in that you are often not at full capacity. If a family leaves with little or no notice it may take a while before you find another client.
Pay is low but I still liked it. Some benefits are that you are your own boss, you save on childcare costs for your own child if you have any, you work at home, you don't commute, etc.
Paywise though, not good in most cases. It also depends on your area's rules. We can only have 6 legally. Some providers on here can have 10 so that makes a big difference. When my friend had a center she said rent also went up every year so factor in that for centers.- Flag
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As others have said, it's going to depend on a lot of factors and your location.
I'm in an area where childcare is in high demand, so I am usually always full, have a wait list and can comfortably take the time to pick/choose who I want to interview.
My license allows up to 12 children in varying ages (including my own).
However, I offer organic foods, which leaves my grocery budget taking a big chunk of my profits. But, that's important to me.
The awesome thing is pretty much anything can be a tax write off. We just redid windows, water heater, furnace, air conditioning and fencing to our home and have a pretty big tax write off for it.
It's by no means a high paying job, but can be a high reward job in a very personal way.- Flag
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I can take six full-time and two part-time. I have a variation of this right now. I am usually full. I also offer about 90% organic but I'm on the food program and my food is covered. Before expenses I make around $43,000. In home providers have a ton of expense right-offs. I'm open M-F with one Friday per month I'm closed. I'm open 7am-5:30pm. I'm working on becoming a group family child so I can hire someone to work with! I don't like the isolation.
Yes, you have to find out what the demand is in your area. You will have to advertise, advertise, advertise unless there is a really big demand in your area. You need to estimate your income by not assuming you will have all full-time children unless your area has a large enough demand you can charge for full-time even if kids are not there 5 days per week.
You will have to calculate start up costs, extra lights and water, and any improvements such as a fence. Also new equipment like porta-cribs, mats (kids bring sleeping bags here), art supplies, toys, business supplies, licensing requirements, etc. There's more...there are always extra expenses!
I do well financially for my area. It's rural and a lower income area.- Flag
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Like we have said as far as income it can vary a ton from week to week and month to month. It really depends on your enrollment and your expenses. Someone else sharing their revenue won't help you, so please don't base anything on that. Someone else's revenue will likely be nothing like yours. I will tell you that it is hard to make a living doing it if you are a single parent, I couldn't afford to do this if I didn't have a husband who works. Some providers are able to make it work being single parents, but it is not easy!- Flag
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You can make $60 a week for 50 hours in some areas and $400 a week in some areas. It's that broad of a range.
You also need to be certain you know how to take care of kids. Caring for other people's kids in a group is completely different than caring for your own. There's virtually nothing in common.
You have to do the work yourself.- Flag
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Like we have said as far as income it can vary a ton from week to week and month to month. It really depends on your enrollment and your expenses. Someone else sharing their revenue won't help you, so please don't base anything on that. Someone else's revenue will likely be nothing like yours. I will tell you that it is hard to make a living doing it if you are a single parent, I couldn't afford to do this if I didn't have a husband who works. Some providers are able to make it work being single parents, but it is not easy!
me my husband would have a much harder time financially. I live in a state where I can charge a good amount ($650 a month), and always am full. But there are other providers in my area who I am sure are as good of providers but aren't as good at self promotion so I have a wait list and they are always advertising.
Like nannyd said - make sure you have the skills. Group care is very different than being a SAHMBut I love it.
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how much do you guy charge them so i can have an idea of the fee ?? its the payment biweekly or monthly ?? do the parent pay you every two week or monthly ?? and i know this out of subject but does anyone recommend any good starter kit out there that will help me ?? thank you all so much !- Flag
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how much do you guy charge them so i can have an idea of the fee ?? its the payment biweekly or monthly ?? do the parent pay you every two week or monthly ?? and i know this out of subject but does anyone recommend any good starter kit out there that will help me ?? thank you all so much !
Even within a town - the lowest here charges $20 per day. I charge between 27-32. Some centers here charge 40-50 per day.
Once you know what the other daycares are charging, you need to figure out what you are offering. Are you play based? Are you curriculum driven? Do you transport kids? Do you take school age? Before school? After school? Organic food? Non-gmo? No packaged preservative crap? Will you be on the food plan? Will you have a strong arts and crafts program? Will you do music? Will the kids have access to tv or will you be a no tv program?
You asked in the other thread if anyone had a problem with you as a male. I do not. But when I'm interviewing someone to watch my child, they better know what they are doing and have their stuff together. You would get eaten alive in an interview right now. And spit out for good measure. No offense.
I would take 6 months and really study and plan. Read this forum religiously. See what problems come up. Understand what your state laws and guidelines are. Design your program.
The simple answer is: you will not get rich doing this. You can certainly make a good living, moreso in other states than MI, where we are restricted to 6 kids.- Flag
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Yes, you can't base what we charge to help you. It varies so much by area. I can't even really give you my rate, because I have two families of single mom nurses. So they have a base rate, but sometimes they need all day when school is out or even weekends, and they pay more on those days. But what I can get here is lower than in some areas 100 miles from me. Also, my expenses are a little less, because I don't have to be licensed to have up to six kids. That saves me money, and I pass that on to my clients. If I were to get licensed, I would have to spend a lot of money on some things, and I would have to raise my rates to cover that. In my area that would be hard, because it is already a depressed area, and people either can't, or in some cases just won't pay a higher price.- Flag
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