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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Evening Childcare??????
dEHmom 10:31 AM 09-10-2011
I need some advice....

I haven't had any luck filling my spots, and we are struggling a bit right now.

I have someone contacting me from another city about 40 mins north west from here, who works in another city about 20 mins south of here. She works at a hospital and within a 6 week period, she will require 9 evening shifts approx. daycare hours would be 3pm- 12:15am. Normally I would flat out say no that i do not provide evenings, but it would be extra money, and I don't mind too much if it's only a night here or there and not like 9 night in a row.


Anyways, my question is this.....

Assuming this woman decides she wants to place here, and I am fine with the evening shift thing...

What is a fair rate to charge?

I figured out my math, and based on average $/hr it's 2.89 for the 3pm-6pm timeframe.

I will factor in an extra $5.00 for supper time care (as my rates increase at suppertime).

Then i am thinking $5/hr for each hour after 6pm.

so...

2.89*3 hrs = 8.67
$5 supper hour= 5.00
5*6 hrs= 30
Total = 43.67


does this sound fair? Should I just round up and say 45/evening shift?
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daycare 12:09 PM 09-10-2011
I would call around and see if anyone else in your area where you live, the client lives and the client works to check rates. Or to see if anyone else offers evening care.

If you are the only one offereing it then you can charge what you want...Well to a point...lol


If there are other Daycares offering the same night time schedule find out there rates, what they will offer and go from there...

I feel you should never be the lowest in town to get business, but I know that right now everyone is having hard time filling spots.
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AnneCordelia 12:17 PM 09-10-2011
Around here daytime care is $35/day. I would likely charge $45-50/day for those hours, if I needed to.
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daycare 12:44 PM 09-10-2011
See its hard for me to really help you on this, because i think that a lot of it has to do where you live that will determine your rates..

I live in CA and here a night rate would be about $50-$60, depending on the age of the child...

I think doing your research and homework will help you get the best rate....

Sorry to hear that you are also having a hard time getting your spots filled.

Just know that you are not the only one..
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mom2many 01:04 PM 09-10-2011
Originally Posted by dEHmom:
I need some advice....

I haven't had any luck filling my spots, and we are struggling a bit right now.

I have someone contacting me from another city about 40 mins north west from here, who works in another city about 20 mins south of here. She works at a hospital and within a 6 week period, she will require 9 evening shifts approx. daycare hours would be 3pm- 12:15am. Normally I would flat out say no that i do not provide evenings, but it would be extra money, and I don't mind too much if it's only a night here or there and not like 9 night in a row.


Anyways, my question is this.....

Assuming this woman decides she wants to place here, and I am fine with the evening shift thing...

What is a fair rate to charge?

I figured out my math, and based on average $/hr it's 2.89 for the 3pm-6pm timeframe.

I will factor in an extra $5.00 for supper time care (as my rates increase at suppertime).

Then i am thinking $5/hr for each hour after 6pm.

so...

2.89*3 hrs = 8.67
$5 supper hour= 5.00
5*6 hrs= 30
Total = 43.67


does this sound fair? Should I just round up and say 45/evening shift?
I agree with pps and would check around to see what others are charging in your area for evening care.

I think $45 sounds totally fair based on what you normally charge. I would definitely expect to get anywhere from $10-$15 more per day for having a child in care after my normal hours.

Good luck to you!
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Abigail 01:35 PM 09-10-2011
You should call around even an hour away since the person is traveling. Maybe some places have a rate for 3-6 pm (standard hourly) then a rate for the evening awake hours and finally a rate for evening sleeping hours? It doesn't make much sense to me to charge how you are doing your breakdown. Keep it simple instead of saying you charge more for the dinner hour, so your rates increase to evening awake hour rates then evening asleep rates.

I say evening sleeping rate because if someone did overnights here they would not be making more than daytime rates because they are sleeping and so is the child. Evening and weekend rates would be the highest because they're most in demand and the child would be awake.
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dEHmom 01:43 PM 09-10-2011
thanks for the advice. there is no saying this woman will sign up here or even contact me back.

but i honestly don't know of anyone who does evening shift anywhere around here. so i feel by me offering i could probably almost guarantee that she might have no choice?

i don't want to rip her off, but i also don't want to do this for no real benefit. this takes away my own personal time, and sleep.

so i am thinking i might say something closer to the 40 mark for those nights. i am not sure.

on average for daytime car, everyone in the 3 cities and area, charge between 20-35/day based on a 5pm close time. so i'm thinking the extra 10-15 for the evening care isn't asking too much
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Tags:24 hour care, after hours care, evening
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