I want to start my own home daycare center, but would like to know how much i should charge per child.?

Question

I live in the state of California.

Answer 1

Check with comparable prices of others. I assume California provides government assistance and that would be very liberal for you.

Answer 2

the amount charged is based on the age of the child.. infants usually run about 150/week.. toddlers 120/week.. school age 80/week.. check and see what the other daycares are charging and be competitive yet reasonable.

Answer 3

It depends on what daycares in your local area are charging, ages of the children that you'll accept and the type of services you want to offer.  Search on the web for daycares and call them for their rates.  You'll have to sound like a parent looking for daycare for your child so have your story together.  Another source for daycare listing is your local baby supply store.  They might have free magazines with daycare ads.

In California you’re limited to the number of children you can take in based on their age and how many people are working in the daycare.  Check out the website below and make sure you know the laws.

Remember that a daycare is a business so you'll need to do some type of budget and analysis.  What are your expenses?  Rent, furniture, supplies, insurance, and licensing are some of them.  If you have to hire someone then that could be a huge expense.  Once you have your expenses do several what if scenarios by calculating the following: “If I have this many children and charge this much per month per child and my total monthly expenses are so much, will I make money or lose money?”  Try different numbers and see what you get.  This may help you determine what to charge.

Running a daycare is also about marketing (how do you get new business), selling (how do you help your potential customers choose you), management (how do you run your business and manage employees), and accounting (keeping records and forecasting).  You can hire someone to do all of these things, but that’s more money out of your pocket.  So find a mentor with daycare experience and learn from them.  Or work in a successful daycare for a while and learn the ins and outs of the business.

We live in the San Jose area and have had our kids in daycare for the past five years.  Depending on how many days per week we’ve needed we paid $40-$55 per day.

Good luck!