Must I be RICH!??!

I've been in the childcare industry, as staff for about 10 years now and I've always wanted to start my own. I was originally going to start in my home but My step mother has expressed a desire to want to go into business with me. I don't see an in home center being very profitable for multiple people so we want to start a group center.

Now, I have done all of my research on state requirements and I know exactly what I need as far as licensing- I'm already half way there..
All I need now is a building..
That is what i am having trouble figuring out.
I do see that some people buy houses and use them as their facility, but i'm not sure if that's the route that I want to go. I've looked at some childcare real estate and the costs are in the Millions.
I don't want to start HUGE with 12-13 classrooms, 3-5 would suit me just fine.

I don't know. Maybe i'm in over my head. I wasn't aware that you had to be rich to start a child care center, but it seems like that's the only hope we have of getting a building!
suggestions please?

renting or buying is fine by me

[Cradle2crayons]

I would look into buying a separate house instead of a commercial facility. It's a long cheaper at least in the beginning.

You need to be sure it's zoned and ok to use that house for daycare so check with your city and county officials.

If it were me, and I could find one reasonable, I would try to get. 4 bed 2 bath house. 1 bathroom for kids and one for adults or one for boys and one for girls etc.

Then he bedrooms you can split up however yu want.

At least that's what I would do.

And I'd look for a house that had a split plan. A bathroom on each side. Then I'd have one room as x room, one room as y room, etc etc. and the dining room is functional also.

[Sugar Magnolia]

You should be consulting a real estate agent, a professional planner or zoning consultant.
If you want advice on turning a residential building into a center, I can help.
To answer your question......yes, commercially zoned real estate is very expensive and opening a center will be very expensive, well into the hundreds of thousands.

[hope]

I don't know much on this subject but I have looked at many centers in my area that have found creative ways to convert spaces for daycare. I have seen office space used in an office building or office park. That space had a reception area used as an office and two or three offices converted to daycare playrooms. Walk in closet was converted into a library.
I have seen space rented in Strip malls and simple dividers are used to create rooms.
I would try to rent and maybe speak with a realtor

[Heidi]

Originally Posted by hope

I don't know much on this subject but I have looked at many centers in my area that have found creative ways to convert spaces for daycare. I have seen office space used in an office building or office park. That space had a reception area used as an office and two or three offices converted to daycare playrooms. Walk in closet was converted into a library.
I have seen space rented in Strip malls and simple dividers are used to create rooms.
I would try to rent and maybe speak with a realtor

No offense intended at all to your suggestions, but those places sound gross to me. No windows, no natural light except perhaps a big picture window in front, and no walls. We have one in a nearby town, and it's not nice at all. The noise level is terrible.

OP, if you crunch the numbers, you may find out you are better off using your home, and keeping it family daycare. In most states, the regs for centers are so much more complicated, plus dealing with employees, plus additional building requirements, can make it very difficult to actually net a good living. So, you get stuck keeping horrible parents or unruly children just to make the bottom line. I know a number of people who own centers (started out as FCC), and have told me "don't do it, it's not worth it!"

[Annalee]

Originally Posted by Heidi

No offense intended at all to your suggestions, but those places sound gross to me. No windows, no natural light except perhaps a big picture window in front, and no walls. We have one in a nearby town, and it's not nice at all. The noise level is terrible.

OP, if you crunch the numbers, you may find out you are better off using your home, and keeping it family daycare. In most states, the regs for centers are so much more complicated, plus dealing with employees, plus additional building requirements, can make it very difficult to actually net a good living. So, you get stuck keeping horrible parents or unruly children just to make the bottom line. I know a number of people who own centers (started out as FCC), and have told me "don't do it, it's not worth it!"

I agree! FCC is much easier.

The overhead in a center is astronomical here. some here have went from 15 (FCC) to 24 kids (Center) in my state. For nine extra kids, they had to hire three workers plus a floater to make sure each worker gets a break.....plus certain ages cannot EVER be combined (infants have own teacher even if there is only one child) and the owner becomes the director (can't work in a dc room).....too much payroll!!!!

I started in center child care working for someone else but started my own FCC over twenty years ago. It is much better....I am my own boss, the business owner which I love while having the job of a lifetime....I have always worked with my mom....It works great...however, if she ever quits I will go back to 7 children and do it by myself. I can't imagine working with anyone else!

Just a thought!

[Blackcat31]

Working with licensing rules fro family child care IS much easier than dealing with licensing as a center.

I am licensed as family care but I bought a separate home in which to run that family child care so in my opinion, the BEST of both worlds.