Here's my situation...

I'm a new daycare provider and have just recently opened up my daycare. I have never had a daycare before but I have been caring for children for years. All of my jobs from junior high through University have been with children including nanny positions. I am a few credits short for my Psychology University degree, however aside from the regular CPR/First Aid, Police check, I do not have any other qualifications.

For this reason when I started out I set my rates very low, and didn't realize how low until I joined the local child care provider resource network. I am charging about $10/day below the lowest average for my area. Some Daycares are charging anywhere from $10-25/day more than I am.

I have two families with me now and realize how little I am actually making once I buy food, supplies etc...

My other families (4 children total) are not starting until November (1) , February(2) and March (1).

I am thinking of keeping my current families on the same rate at least for a bit, and raising the rate for the other families and letting them know now so that if anyone decides they want to leave, I can find another family willing to pay the new rate and maybe even start sooner. I did not charge the families anything to hold the spot either which I am now regretting.

Is this a bad idea to raise the rate even though they haven't started yet?

I am thinking of a $5/day increase, is this too much? What would be a reasonable rate increase?

I would hate to loose these families because of an increase, but I would probably be able to get new families to pay the new rate and sooner so I'm not sure what to do.

Reply