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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Need Opinions On What I Should Charge
Tdhmom 08:23 AM 06-01-2014
Here's my dilemma...I am pretty spoiled with the one family I have. Drop off is 7:55 and pick up is 4. I have a new family starting in August that has been spoiled by their previous caregiver. They drop off super early and pick up super late. I am not willing to accommodate unless the pay is what it should be for waking up earlier and staying open later (a lot later in my opinion).

They want to drop off between 7-7:30 (I want a better estimate of time) and they want to pick up between 4:30-5 (again I want better estimate of times). Right now I charge $20 a day/child. I don't really have a set pay for school aged. It's for a 3 year old and a 2nd grader.

I am legally unlicensed. So I can have up to 4 unrelated children in my care, so the school aged boy counts towards my total but I feel like I can't charge full day for him because he would only be in my care for roughly 2-2 1/2 hours. But I think we all know how school agers are. I swear they have no control over their bodies after school

They are also the type of family that if they're paying for the service then they are going to get the full days worth....we all love those!

Sooooooo where would you all go from there? I need a way to make it look like it would benefit them for picking up earlier and dropping off later, but how should I charge if they choose not to do those?

Any help is appreciated TIA
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Blackcat31 08:37 AM 06-01-2014
If your regular rate is $20 day per child, I would allow 9 hours per day for that $20 and charge MORE based on each hour (I'd add $5 for each hour after 9) and have that be their rate.

I wouldn't charge anything different for the SA since he still uses a full space.
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Tdhmom 09:23 AM 06-01-2014
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
If your regular rate is $20 day per child, I would allow 9 hours per day for that $20 and charge MORE based on each hour (I'd add $5 for each hour after 9) and have that be their rate.

I wouldn't charge anything different for the SA since he still uses a full space.
That's what I was thinking too but thought it was too far of a reach. I know she won't look at it like I do (my last spot) and worried she'll keep him here as long as she can to make up for that $20. I don't charge for days they aren't here hoping that my parents look at it like they have a day off their kids should too and that rarely is the way they look at it which is sad.

I thought about doing $10 for him and then extra for the before I'm open and after I close days. But didn't know how much to charge for that and it would probably end up being close to $20 if I do it that way.

My town is too small BUT she doesn't have any other options because of that either. I'm scared whatever I do I'll regret it. Or she'll take advantage of it.
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Leigh 09:37 AM 06-01-2014
You are considering $10 a day for a SA? That is not nearly enough, IMO. They are definitely MORE work. I would charge at least $25/day PER child, with an overage of $5 for early open & $5 for early close. That's me, though...you know your area's rates better than I.
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Tdhmom 07:01 AM 06-02-2014
Originally Posted by Leigh:
You are considering $10 a day for a SA? That is not nearly enough, IMO. They are definitely MORE work. I would charge at least $25/day PER child, with an overage of $5 for early open & $5 for early close. That's me, though...you know your area's rates better than I.
I live in a little town in northwest missouri. We have like 250 people (if it's even that much ) I charge the most in our area. Everyone else is $17 a day!! Even the licensed daycare we have is $18 a day, but she's always full. I'm the second choice but I'm VERY picky with who I accept. I don't do babies, only do 2-3 yr olds IF they're potty trained. And pretty picky about my hours, if you can't tell from above
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katzan 07:30 PM 06-02-2014
I would tell them that your regular hours are 8am to 4pm and because of that, you would have to charge them $5 to drop off prior to 7:45am and $5 for not picking up until 5pm, so an extra $10 a day per child.
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Tags:hours, new family, rates, school age
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