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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>NOVA Daycare Rates?
Unregistered 06:07 PM 06-03-2014
Hi!
We will be moving into the Northern VA area soon and I'm wondering what rates are there? Full time, partime?
Do home daycares do different rates per age?
We will be in prince William county!

Thanks so much

Ana
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CtheLove 06:43 PM 06-03-2014
Hi and welcome to NOVA! Prince William county I think is the cheapest place to find daycare in nova, I have seen ads on craigslist that list rates for $125 and $150, I have even seen some as low as $100 to $85. In Prince William county you can choose to be license or not and not to bash anybody on here who is legally unlicensed there are plenty of good providers who are, but in my experience with that area you need to be careful with the unlicensed one's. We have had too many problems with unlicensed home daycare's out there making the rest of us look bad.

When it comes to full time and part, I have seen many that will charge by the day. As for different rates according to child age, some do and some don't its just a flat fee no matter how old they are.

I don't know about the centers out there, but I personally don't like centers in general. I have worked at quite a few and I could write a book on the "bad stuff" that I have witnessed. Again not trying to bash any one on here that works at one or owns one but that's my experience. Around here they will hire just about anyone off the street.

A lot of home daycare's post on craigslist here so your best bet is to check the listings out there and just start calling to get a feel for what people are offering.
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Unregistered 07:03 PM 06-03-2014
Thanks so much! We will be in the Bristow/Gainsville area I that helps lol! I was plannig to call centers and see what they charge and then do the Craigslist thing like you said.

I called about licensing before as I'm licensed in Pa. Do you think it's worth it? I know I can have 16 points without a license and I was thinking of keeping it small to 2-3 kids .

Ana
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Unregistered 04:30 AM 06-04-2014
Bump!
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Blackcat31 05:21 AM 06-04-2014
Originally Posted by Unregistered:
Bump!
Please consider registering with the forum ...
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CtheLove 08:25 AM 06-04-2014
I think the cost of living is higher in those area's than the rest of Prince William more so in Gainsville, so you should be able to charge a little more there.
Check this link out it should help
http://www.pwcgov.org/government/dep...residence.aspx

I think there is a way that you can be a volunteer registered unlicensed provider and it looks better to parents.

Check out this website http://www.infanttoddler.com/ this is who prince william county works with for child care
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Unregistered 08:45 AM 06-04-2014
Originally Posted by CtheLove:
I think the cost of living is higher in those area's than the rest of Prince William more so in Gainsville, so you should be able to charge a little more there.
Check this link out it should help
http://www.pwcgov.org/government/dep...residence.aspx

I think there is a way that you can be a volunteer registered unlicensed provider and it looks better to parents.

Check out this website http://www.infanttoddler.com/ this is who prince william county works with for child care

AWESOME!!! Yes I don't know if I will go the whole licensed route bc I really don't want that big if a group. Are licensing fees high on Pw?
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MCC 11:27 AM 06-04-2014
Hi, welcome to NOVA. I am in Fairfax Co, so a little higher COL. Around me a quality in home provider charges anywhere from $250-$315. Some charge higher for infants, I don't, but it's not uncommon.

The state licensing fee is $16/year, and other than the background checks, it's a relatively easy process. You will have to pay for the background checks, CPS is $7/ person, and Police is $20/person (all adults in your home). You have to renew those every two years.

I really recommend that you get licensed. This is a high education/ high income area, and parents want their providers to be licensed. We as providers know that License doesn't always equal quality, but parents do not.

Best of luck, and feel free to message me if you have any questions about the area.
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Unregistered 06:03 PM 06-04-2014
Thank you girls So much! I am keeping your info so you will probably get questions from me! I went to GMU and lived in Burke till 2004!

Is zoning and certificate of occupancy county wise expensive? Here it's $600!

I am a certified teacher and taught till this year so I'm hoping that will help get clients as well!
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ATK 06:04 PM 06-04-2014
Oh and I just registered!
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CtheLove 09:53 PM 06-04-2014
MCC dont forget that there's also all the hoops you must jump through for zoning and their fee's of over $400, thankfully they drop it from their original fee of $1,000 +
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MCC 05:49 AM 06-05-2014
Originally Posted by CtheLove:
MCC dont forget that there's also all the hoops you must jump through for zoning and their fee's of over $400, thankfully they drop it from their original fee of $1,000 +
Originally Posted by CtheLove:
MCC dont forget that there's also all the hoops you must jump through for zoning and their fee's of over $400, thankfully they drop it from their original fee of $1,000 +
If you go through the state, not the county, and you only want 7 kids, you don't have to deal with zoning. It's only if you want the special exception permit that allows you 12 kids that you have to pay the zoning fine. Also- I believe that is only for Fairfax county. I just paid for my special permit and it was $1100, b/c I live in Reston, which is the snootiest of all.
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ATK 06:04 AM 06-05-2014
Sooooo I read through stuff and have several more questions lol!

1) We plan to rent for a year. Have either of you ever rented and done home daycare? Or known anyone? What were some special things they had to do?

2) it looks like I can get zoned for the county but I DONT need a permit for under 5 kids. I have looked in some HOA Covenants and for in home business it says must have county license and HOA approval. Is this county thing just the zoning? I didn't plan to get state licensed bc I won't be keeping near 16 points.
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Blackcat31 06:06 AM 06-05-2014
Originally Posted by ATK:
Oh and I just registered!
Welcome!

I'm glad you took the time to register!
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MCC 07:27 AM 06-05-2014
Originally Posted by ATK:
Sooooo I read through stuff and have several more questions lol!

1) We plan to rent for a year. Have either of you ever rented and done home daycare? Or known anyone? What were some special things they had to do?

2) it looks like I can get zoned for the county but I DONT need a permit for under 5 kids. I have looked in some HOA Covenants and for in home business it says must have county license and HOA approval. Is this county thing just the zoning? I didn't plan to get state licensed bc I won't be keeping near 16 points.
I am renting the home I am doing it out of. The biggest obsticle was finding someone who would rent to me. I find it worked better to go see the house/meet the owner, and then tell them I was planning on doing daycare. I presented myself very professional, and explained that I had insurance, which covered them and the house, I would be keeping the house clean and presentable, as I would be running a business out of it, I also had to agree to replace the carpeting if need be when I moved out. As for my STATE license, they didn't need anything. The County of Fairfax (For my special exception permit) needed an affidavit from my landlord saying he was granting me permission to exceed zoning standards for my area.

I will say that I thought the state licenses as easier to get through than the county permit. The county seemed more concerned about fire safety, evacuation, extension cords, etc. I wasn't able to have ANY extension cords in my house, I was going to have to pay to have an electrician come in and add sockets in the daycare room. I was not able to have kids sleeping in my basement b/c there was no egress window, although there was a door- there has to be 2 exits points for sleep rooms. I also would have had to have the fire marshal come out and do an inspection, which the state does not require. The state could care less about extension cords, as long as they are not a trip hazard, the state only requires 1 exit point from a sleeping room. The state seemed way more concerned about my actual care and upkeep of house and records.

Both the county permit and state license takes about 4-5months to get completed.
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ATK 05:20 PM 06-05-2014
Wow we dont get to choose either or in PA! We have to get both!

MCC- that makes me feel a bit better hearing you rent to! I have daycare insurance which I can switch to rental. Do you live in a place with HoA?

I'm not sure what they mean by county permit if ypu don't NeEd a permit under 5 kids lol!!
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MCC 07:28 PM 06-05-2014
In my county (fairfax) you HAVE to either have a county permit or a state license. I do not know about your county, but the virginia dss site has a listing of counties that require permit or license.

I live in a planned community, the neighborhoods themselves do not have HOA, but we do have a city association we have to go through to get permission. I only had to make a phone call and ask permission, they sent a form to me, which I sent to licensing. All decisions (removing trees, paint color on your house, what type of brick path you put down etc, all go through our towns association, not HOA, b/c the whole town is protected b/c it's a planned community.
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CtheLove 05:52 PM 06-06-2014
Originally Posted by MCC:
If you go through the state, not the county, and you only want 7 kids, you don't have to deal with zoning. It's only if you want the special exception permit that allows you 12 kids that you have to pay the zoning fine. Also- I believe that is only for Fairfax county. I just paid for my special permit and it was $1100, b/c I live in Reston, which is the snootiest of all.
WOW! Sorry you had to pay so much. I went to zoning in march and they told me it would be $400 something. I live in a townhouse so anything over 5 kids I need the special exception permit. But I don't know if I will ever get to that point because I have yet to get any kids in let alone any calls but two that both baled on me for their interview.
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CtheLove 06:19 PM 06-06-2014
I rent also, and I find it was very hard to find someone that will allow a home daycare. Before we got into this place I probably look at or called about 50+ houses that all said no mostly for too much wear and tear or the liability. But I finally lucked out with the landlord I have now. When him and his wife asked what kid of job I will be getting I starting saying daycare and before I could finish his wife said why don't you do it in the home. So after all that looking we finally lucked out and he's been a great landlord! ( never had one before )

So just understand up front it can take a while to find one but eventually you will, just keep stressing that you will have insurance.
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MCC 05:39 PM 06-08-2014
Originally Posted by CtheLove:
WOW! Sorry you had to pay so much. I went to zoning in march and they told me it would be $400 something. I live in a townhouse so anything over 5 kids I need the special exception permit. But I don't know if I will ever get to that point because I have yet to get any kids in let alone any calls but two that both baled on me for their interview.
Yeah, the $400 is for everyone except Reston, it's ridiculous. I do know of a couple of ladies who have gotten the exception for 10-12 in a town house, so hopefully it will go through for you. I am in a single family, licensed for 7, and asking for 12. I just had my annual inspection from licensing and they gave me a 2 year license (for good inspections) and they said it would help with the special permit process. Who knows, I hope!
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