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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Creating Different Rates For Each Family
Abigail 04:36 PM 12-10-2010
As some of you may know I'm almost finished with my handbook! I've got a few things here and there I will work on this week to tweek it up as I want to cover many things the first time around. I also have a general contract that I will follow with the basic rules, but that is for another post. Anyways, I was thinking that I was only going to take full time and my rates were going to be either $125 or $130 a week depending on our neighborhood. Our local child care resource and referral gave us papers that told us the average is $122-$126 in my city so that is where I came up with my rate of either $125 or $130 a week. I don't want to do different prices for difference ages because I don't want to take a pay cut down the road. I also am not offering sibling discounts.
Question 1.
Now that is out of the way, how would I go about charging for part time? Most people here have a 3 day minimum which is $25/day (equal to my $125/week) so they require $75/week for up to about 24 hours of care.
Question 2.
Can I charge $30 a day if it's part time and not require a minimum day or should I require at least two or three days a week commitment?
Question 3.
What if I get a family who works on the other end of town and requires my open-close hours? I'm trying to get at saying if someone was at my 50 hours that I'll be open that I would charge $150 a week instead of $125, but I don't want them to know they could pick up an hour early at $125 a week instead of the $150
Last Question 4.
What does your hourly rate break down to for normal contracted hours? For over time hours? Thank you so much!
Question 1.
Now that is out of the way, how would I go about charging for part time? Most people here have a 3 day minimum which is $25/day (equal to my $125/week) so they require $75/week for up to about 24 hours of care.
Question 2.
Can I charge $30 a day if it's part time and not require a minimum day or should I require at least two or three days a week commitment?
Question 3.
What if I get a family who works on the other end of town and requires my open-close hours? I'm trying to get at saying if someone was at my 50 hours that I'll be open that I would charge $150 a week instead of $125, but I don't want them to know they could pick up an hour early at $125 a week instead of the $150
Last Question 4.
What does your hourly rate break down to for normal contracted hours? For over time hours? Thank you so much!
legomom922 08:19 AM 12-11-2010
Originally Posted by Abigail:
Question 1.
Now that is out of the way, how would I go about charging for part time? Most people here have a 3 day minimum which is $25/day (equal to my $125/week) so they require $75/week for up to about 24 hours of care.
What you could do is have a 2 day min at $35/day and then say if they need more days 3, 4, 5 they get a discount and then its $25/day. I also would not say "up to 24 hrs" or you could get hit with a PT for 12/hrs per day! Just leave that out. I used to say "up to 10 hrs a day", but then a parent challanged me on it and they were late dropping off one day and late picking up, and then could not understand why I hit them with a late fee, because my contract stated "up to" 10 hrs. So that was the first thing I removed!
Question 2.
Can I charge $30 a day if it's part time and not require a minimum day or should I require at least two or three days a week commitment?
I would at least ask for a 2 day commitment! The less the amount of days, the more they pay. If they only wanted 1 day, hek, I would charge $45! You would be just fine asking for $30 or even $35 for 2 days.
Question 3.
What if I get a family who works on the other end of town and requires my open-close hours? I'm trying to get at saying if someone was at my 50 hours that I'll be open that I would charge $150 a week instead of $125, but I don't want them to know they could pick up an hour early at $125 a week instead of the $150
I see no problem there. Consider it OT. Or you can say it's $125/wk with pick up at 4, but if they pick up at 5, there is an extra $5 daily fee.
Last Question 4.
What does your hourly rate break down to for normal contracted hours? For over time hours? Thank you so much!
My OT hrs are $10/hrQuestion 1.
Now that is out of the way, how would I go about charging for part time? Most people here have a 3 day minimum which is $25/day (equal to my $125/week) so they require $75/week for up to about 24 hours of care.
What you could do is have a 2 day min at $35/day and then say if they need more days 3, 4, 5 they get a discount and then its $25/day. I also would not say "up to 24 hrs" or you could get hit with a PT for 12/hrs per day! Just leave that out. I used to say "up to 10 hrs a day", but then a parent challanged me on it and they were late dropping off one day and late picking up, and then could not understand why I hit them with a late fee, because my contract stated "up to" 10 hrs. So that was the first thing I removed!
Question 2.
Can I charge $30 a day if it's part time and not require a minimum day or should I require at least two or three days a week commitment?
I would at least ask for a 2 day commitment! The less the amount of days, the more they pay. If they only wanted 1 day, hek, I would charge $45! You would be just fine asking for $30 or even $35 for 2 days.
Question 3.
What if I get a family who works on the other end of town and requires my open-close hours? I'm trying to get at saying if someone was at my 50 hours that I'll be open that I would charge $150 a week instead of $125, but I don't want them to know they could pick up an hour early at $125 a week instead of the $150
I see no problem there. Consider it OT. Or you can say it's $125/wk with pick up at 4, but if they pick up at 5, there is an extra $5 daily fee.
Last Question 4.
What does your hourly rate break down to for normal contracted hours? For over time hours? Thank you so much!
My per rate changes depending on how long they are here since I charge by the day. Currently, I get $7/hr
My answers are under your questions, but it didnt turn out right!
Preschool/daycare teacher 05:09 PM 12-11-2010
Question 1: I would charge about $5-$7/day extra for each day of part time care. For example, if your weekly rate was $130, that makes your daily rate $26. If you added an extra $6/day to that to make it worth your time of having PT children, it would make your new daily rate $32.
Question 2: I personally would have a 2 or 3 day/week minimum. We allow some children to come only 1 day/week, and it's a hassle for them (they never get used to being at daycare), and it makes it bad for us too, because they are taking up a spot for only one day week, but it could possibly keep us from taking on another full timer because we would be over capacity for only one day a week. So they'd be paying you say $32/week, when you could have been getting $130. I guess if you never think you'd get up to capacity, this wouldn't be an issue and you'd want to get as much as you can, even from a one day a week spot. We are in this situation right now.
Question 3: I would do like Legomom922 suggested. State your weekly fee, and say anything past your closing time would be an over time fee of $5/day.
Question 4: Our hourly rate is the daily rate divided by 8 hours (anyone under 8 hrs/day pays the hourly rate, which I do NOT recommend! Someone who takes up a spot for say only 4 hours doesn't make it worth the spot a child coming all day could have for a whole lot more. I would personally charge a full day rate, no matter how few hours they attend). Our Daily rate is $6 more a day than the weekly full time rate breaks down to. What I mean is, we take the weekly full time rate and divide it by 5 days, then add an extra $6/day to that. We do not have over time hours. Even if they are late picking up the rate is the same. As of right now we don't have a late pick-up or late payment fee. I again do not recommend!!!!!!! As everyone else already knows, parents take advantage of this *understatement of the year* . Time for a new policy for us too
Question 2: I personally would have a 2 or 3 day/week minimum. We allow some children to come only 1 day/week, and it's a hassle for them (they never get used to being at daycare), and it makes it bad for us too, because they are taking up a spot for only one day week, but it could possibly keep us from taking on another full timer because we would be over capacity for only one day a week. So they'd be paying you say $32/week, when you could have been getting $130. I guess if you never think you'd get up to capacity, this wouldn't be an issue and you'd want to get as much as you can, even from a one day a week spot. We are in this situation right now.
Question 3: I would do like Legomom922 suggested. State your weekly fee, and say anything past your closing time would be an over time fee of $5/day.
Question 4: Our hourly rate is the daily rate divided by 8 hours (anyone under 8 hrs/day pays the hourly rate, which I do NOT recommend! Someone who takes up a spot for say only 4 hours doesn't make it worth the spot a child coming all day could have for a whole lot more. I would personally charge a full day rate, no matter how few hours they attend). Our Daily rate is $6 more a day than the weekly full time rate breaks down to. What I mean is, we take the weekly full time rate and divide it by 5 days, then add an extra $6/day to that. We do not have over time hours. Even if they are late picking up the rate is the same. As of right now we don't have a late pick-up or late payment fee. I again do not recommend!!!!!!! As everyone else already knows, parents take advantage of this *understatement of the year* . Time for a new policy for us too
Abigail 03:24 PM 12-12-2010
Since I don't have any enrolled yet, then how do I go about choosing a "close time" or time that will turn into an extra $5 a day? Should I be telling parents that rate is based on the number of days (instead of hours) and what the hours needed are for those days?
Preschool/daycare teacher: how did you come up with your $6 a day? Is this per child or per family? Thanks
Preschool/daycare teacher: how did you come up with your $6 a day? Is this per child or per family? Thanks
legomom922 04:17 PM 12-12-2010
Have a plan in your mind. If someone calls and wants you until 6pm, are you willing to do that? If they want you from 630am-1230pm, do you want that? Have a cheat sheet in front of you with different amounts for different hrs. If somoene wants you from 730-530pm (10 hrs) do you want to do that for same price you would take someone from 9-3pm? Or do you want to charge the 730-530 client a flat per day of $30 up to 430, and then add another $5 to keep them that extra hr? This is all stuff you have to figure out beforehand so you can be prepared when people ask questions. But only you can answer these questions.
Preschool/daycare teacher 07:43 PM 12-12-2010
Originally Posted by Abigail:
Since I don't have any enrolled yet, then how do I go about choosing a "close time" or time that will turn into an extra $5 a day? Should I be telling parents that rate is based on the number of days (instead of hours) and what the hours needed are for those days?
Preschool/daycare teacher: how did you come up with your $6 a day? Is this per child or per family? Thanks
I was assuming you already had what time you would close in mind. Do you have any idea what time you would like to close or what time most parents in your area would be able to pick up? I'd set that as your closing time. But I also like your idea of just telling them that their rate will depend on the hours they need care that day and on the number of days that they attend. Maybe you could let them know you are still undecided on some details and then just give them a rough estimate with their PT or FT rate (depending on what they want) and the $5 OT fee added to that, and say it would be no more than $x. If that makes any sense... I would NOT go into detail, explaining that their rate might be less if you decide not to charge them the OT fee lol.Since I don't have any enrolled yet, then how do I go about choosing a "close time" or time that will turn into an extra $5 a day? Should I be telling parents that rate is based on the number of days (instead of hours) and what the hours needed are for those days?
Preschool/daycare teacher: how did you come up with your $6 a day? Is this per child or per family? Thanks
You asked how I came up with the $6/day? That is for part time children. I just did the math of what the owner charges and saw it was $6 more/day for part timers than full timers. That is per child (I think she gives a small sibling discount, but that may just be for full time families). Side note: I would not advice getting into the mess of a sibling discount. Each child takes up a spot, regardless of whether or not they happen to be related.
Abigail 09:09 PM 12-12-2010
Yup, I've decided no sibling discount, especially in a small in home setting limited to less children than centers. I have a basic plan of action, but since I'm not "open" yet to see what hours my potential clients are wanting makes me uncertain of the exact hours. My basic plan goes from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. I feel that 5:30 pm is the latest I want to work because my husband only gets weekdays off and if we can't go out until 5:30 pm that is late enough where he just has to sit and wait for me to work. LOL
Most children at our group daycare leave between 3:00 and 4:30 pm which is REALLY nice. If I had families that didn't need me as late I would definitely close earlier. I saw someone on here, it's on another posting did something where they charged more the later they worked. So it was based on when they left, not how many hours they were in care which sounds interesting too. I have lots to think about. I better keep it simple to how many days and what hours they are looking at. I know I need to give the licensor my hours of operation too, so do I give her more hours than I am actually open so I can choose to open earlier and close later and vice versa?
Most children at our group daycare leave between 3:00 and 4:30 pm which is REALLY nice. If I had families that didn't need me as late I would definitely close earlier. I saw someone on here, it's on another posting did something where they charged more the later they worked. So it was based on when they left, not how many hours they were in care which sounds interesting too. I have lots to think about. I better keep it simple to how many days and what hours they are looking at. I know I need to give the licensor my hours of operation too, so do I give her more hours than I am actually open so I can choose to open earlier and close later and vice versa?