I Want to Open a Daycare Center - Help!

[Jujube835]

Has anyone ever started as a home daycare and then opened a center after a couple years? I'm in MI and I have had my home daycare for a while and i want to open a center in about 18 months.

What does the bank loan process look like? What kind of business plan will they want? How do I find a place to buy and then turn into a daycare? Is there a realtor that would specialize in finding that kind of thing?

Surely a couple of you have opened a center?!!

[spedmommy4]

I'm in California and I'm going through the process now. Hopefully someone else will chime in on this because I have found that it is all a little overwhelming.

Personally, I have been working with the local small business development center. I found them through a search on Sba.gov. The guy I'm working with now is helpful. After I wrote my business plan using the Sba.gov online tools he critiqued it and gave me very good suggestions on how to improve it.

Lenders vary by region and the guy at the small business development center was able to suggest lenders that worked with newer businesses like mine. If there is a small business development center in your area, this is a good place to start.

As for location, this is proving to be a huge hurdle for me. I can't get commercial real estate agents to give me the time of day. Finding commercial properties on my own is not as easy as finding a new house to rent/buy. You need to know more about zoning laws for commercial properties. And if a property was not previously used as a childcare, there will usually be a lot of renovation involved.

Anyway, that's where I am. I hope it helps a little. Good luck with your venture!

[Jujube835]

That's very helpful! Thank you!! They moved my thread so now nobody will see it

So I appreciate you taking the time to write that out! I'll look into a small business development center

[Michael]

Here is a helpful thread: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31166

[dsl3781]

Thanks

This information is very useful, thank you!