Has anyone allowed parents to do this?

[kelleyg19]

I have a family that is interested in a spot for September. I have the position open now. It sounds like her son could be a good fit into the group I have now. She likes everything other then two points and wants to set up an interview. The points she didn't like was weekly pay- they have always paid monthly at the beginning of the month for the while month. Second point was she doesn't want to pay the $50 a month holding fee but rather wants to pay $200 deposit that would be credited toward the first month fees. I never have asked for a deposit.
What are your guys thoughts on this? Does anyone have parents that pay monthly? And what do you do for deposits? Thanks

[jodaycare]

I have had parents pay monthly, I loved it. As far as the deposit goes, in this case I would charge one week's fees per month to hold the spot. This would be non refundable. I have offered parents the ability to use a certain number of days before starting at no extra charge in situations like this.

[Crayola kiddies]

Well if she wants to pay at the beginning of each month for the whole month then I would agree to that although I would try to compromise and suggest bi weekly but if she would rather give me a whee months feed at once then ok!!
I take a deposit equal to two weeks fees that is applied to the last two weeks if already commenced care. As well as I charge a $250/month Holding fee for start dates more then 4 weeks in advance non refundable and does not go to anything other then holding the spot (since its available now). If she was going to a centre daycare and the spot was available now she would have to pay full fees or lose the spot. Now if you are having trouble filling your spots then only you can decide what is going to work for you but if you have people lined up for the spot then that us more to your advantage.

Remember though if you negotiate with her now she will believe everything is up for negotiation ..... Been there .... done that .... And termed because of it !!!

[sunnydays]

I love it when parents pay monthly! Just think, yuo have a whole month paid in advance...if they decide to leave without proper notice, you are covered unless they leave at the end of the month. It is less accounting and just all around easy (just make sure you calculate the number of days in each month and let them know what they should pay for each month...otherwise they might try to just pay you for 4 weeks or something). But, for the holding fee....it would be non-refundable and I would also ask for a two week deposit to be held for their LAST two weeks of care. If you have a space open now, you are passing up potential clients that could start right away in order to hold the space for them. They are paying the holding fee to offset this....it is not refundable and it cannot be applied to their first two weeks fees!

[monkeymama]

I would have no problem with her paying monthly. I wouldn't budge on the holding fee though. If you have a spot now, they should be paying be hold the space until September. $50/ month is nothing. I charge 3x that!

[cfred]

As nice as it might be to be paid in advance for the whole month, my thought is this:

You have established weekly payments. This is how you've always done it and this is part of the contractual agreement with your other clients. If you want to be paid weekly, then so be it. It's your business. Her desire to pay monthly is not your issue. Of course, if you want to compromise, there are benefits, but if you don't want to, then don't. As mentioned in a previous post, these compromises may lead to more compromises in the future.

Soooo, she wants you to hold a spot for several months for free? Am I understanding that correctly? I get the whole notion of not wanting to pay for a spot that's not in use, but jeez, you could turn away other clients while waiting for her start date, with only a deposit that is used as her final 2 weeks. I'm not sure that's fair to you. I charge $150/month holding fee for any hold longer than 2 months. I instilled this after being left high and dry by a client who left the 2 week deposit (non-refundable) but ended up not needing the spot after a 4 month hold. I had turned away several families who had already found alternate care. Nope, never again! That was a lot of lost income for a piddly 2 weeks of pay.

You could, in the spirit of compromise, tell her that you will continue to advertise the spot, but let her know when there's serious interest. At that point, she can either pay the deposit and holding fees or move on to someone else. That's fair I think? But you do run the risk of her moving on without consideration of this compromise. I don't know. I hate this part of the business!

[Trace of Angels]

I do this exactly, first of the month for the entire month. Then you never get stiffed for time worked. I would ask a holding fee if the spot is open now though and you could fill it now. I always ask for a deposit which I apply to the first month of childcare.

[Spixie33]

I think I am in the minority but I will hold a spot without a holding fee if the family seems like a great match.

It sounds like you two have not officially met or interviewed yet so I wouldn't get into too many details until that happened and I woudl know for sure that I want to go forward with the family and if they are a good fit.

I have held spots for 6 months before and I would get a 1 or 2 week non refundable deposit and signed contract back before I would hold the spot.

I was pretty confident that I could replace the family if they did bail on me and it was only because the spots were not my bread and butter spots that I held it/them. I can afford to be down 1 or 2 children and not be too burdened in my wallet.

If you need the income sooner and can't afford to lose income for 4 months then you would have to weigh that into your decision too.

I have never been paid monthly but it seems strange that she would want to do a lump sum payment rather than break it down weekly. I guess it wouldn't make much difference to you since she is paying at the start of every month.

At the end of the day - it is your business and you have to listen to your gut and decide what works for you and what you are comfortable with. good luck

[playfelt]

On the payment - I have a mom that pays monthly because she is charged a bank fee for every transaction so my fee is once at the beginning of the month instead of 4 weekly cheques. As long as it is in advance it is fine with me. My pay day is Monday and she counts up the mondays in the month - either 4 or 5 and pays accordingly.

Not sure mom really gets the deposit to hold the space issue. In her mind it makes sense but she is forgetting that she is holding you back from filling the space with someone else. If she isn't willing to hold the space with some sort of payment then she does risk losing it in theory.

Only you can decide if you can afford to go without the income for the four months or not or what the supply and demand in your area is. Back before it was common to get a holding fee I charged a family one weeks worth of care for each month I held the space which they had to come and pay me the first week of each month - allowed me to have contact with the family and often they came for a playdate the day she paid. Then once they started care the money was applied to the first week of each month till it was used up so if you hold for 4 months she would get the first week of the first 4 months as fees paid. So they got it back but not all at once and it was forfeited if they didn't stay in care for the full time.

I can understand why parents feel that it isn't their problem that you are losing money by giving them a space several months away and in reality it isn't. If we agree to hold then it is our responsibility to leave the space unpaid, fill it with a temporary child or ideally be filling a space for as soon as a child is leaving. What is normal in your area will determine which way you need to go unfortunately if you don't want to lose clients.

[apples and bananas]

I probably wouldn't allow this. I know it sounds like a better set up, but it simply isn't my set up. I don't think I like a parent coming into my home and telling me how they want to pay. I think it gets you off to a bad start. It also seems like shes the kind of person that thinks they employ us... and you know that could land you in trouble.

I see it as a red flag that she wants to dictate when she wants to pay.

Just my 2 cents.

[Crayola kiddies]

Totally agree a and b

[KellyP]

Personally I'd be super concerned about a parent who feels they can simply negotiate your policies and fees.

What gives her the impression that you would be willing switch or change things up just to make it work better for her? Why wouldn't she assume that the fees you charge and the way you have your payments set up wouldn't be in YOUR best interest and that is why you do things the way you do.

I set my rules and policies and they are NOT negotiable.

I'm sorry but I see this as a MAJOR red flag and would not entertain the idea of getting together to discuss any of it with her.

[gramma]

Why would you have an issue with being paid monthly? I dont think its a red flag for dcm to ask to pay on a different schedule. Maybe she has a reason why it works better for her. Maybe she is paid that way and it keeps her on budget to get it paid right away for the month. Everyone is different in how they like to pay their bills. All you need to do is divide the monthly payment when you get it and give it to yourself on the schedule that you prefer. I had a mom who paid monthly because she was really busy, dad worked long hours so the burden of the house and kids and money fell mostly on her and she just liked to get it out of the way. I used to take that cheque and I did my shopping for the month for all my non perishables. that way my weekly grocery trips were just for fresh stuff. sometimes clients are like husbands, they need a little training to be just what we want.

[Robyn]

I have one mom that pays me at the beginning of each month and I LOVE it!
I don't charge a holding fee but I also prefer that families start within a month of meeting our group if it is longer than that I insist on weekly visits to secure their spot if they don't want to do that then I tell them if a family comes along looking for an immediate position I will give "their" spot away as I am losing money waiting for them.

[BlueRose]

My pay schedule is every two weeks for private clients. I will not change that. My pay through the agencies is monthly, on the 15th. I hate being paid monthly. (they pay the month after).
my pay schedule is set on on my website for all to see. Parents have to learn who to budget for every two weeks, I will not change my pay schedule. I used to have a different bank account for daycare (when my son was going) my husband and I would put money in every pay and we never missed a payment. this also insured that we didn't spend the daycare money by mistake.

[Momof4]

I have one family who pay at the beginning of the month for 4-5 weeks at a time, two families who pay 2X/month and the rest pay weekly. I prefer the ones who pay in large lump sums because it makes less receipt writing and adding at the end of the year for me. I make notation of the amount paid on my calendar too so that I can see clearly when people have a payment due. Find a good system for yourself and it works.

Are you able to go without the income for the space all the way until Sept? That's quite a long time to hold a space unless it is filled until that time, then it would make sense. I charge a deposit when a contract is signed but it's applied to the LAST week of care, not at the beginning. The end of care is where we can get screwed out of our money!

If I have a space full until the time the new clients are going to start I don't charge any holding fee but if I hold a space, it's for 1 or 2 months maximum and I charge $200/month holding fee. I only had this happen twice and I made an addendum to the contract and had the clients sign it because I made the deposit and holding fees non-refundable since it was a special circumstance because of holding the space.

I agree with the poster who said that you should make sure that you show the clients that you are not bending your rules unless you decide it works for you and you are willing to be flexible with payment but your contract is law!

[sunnydays]

I am like Momof4 in that I allow parents to pay monthly or biweekly. I prefer monthly as it is less accounting, but that is hard for a lot of parents, so many of them are biweekly. The key I have found to this is that I get them all paying on the same day (so if someone starts their child with me on a non-pay week, I just get them to pay the first week and then it gets them onto the same schedule as everyone else). That way I always know when payday is and then with the monthly it is on the 1st, so pretty easy as well.
However, I would be concerned for sure with a parent trying to negotiate the holding fee/deposit. My contract and fees are not open to negotiation.

[Judy Trickett]

I probably wouldn't allow this. I know it sounds like a better set up, but it simply isn't my set up. I don't think I like a parent coming into my home and telling me how they want to pay. I think it gets you off to a bad start. It also seems like shes the kind of person that thinks they employ us... and you know that could land you in trouble.

I see it as a red flag that she wants to dictate when she wants to pay.

Just my 2 cents.


Yep, I agree. YOUR business, YOUR rules. YOU make the contract and business decisions NOT the parents. You don't go into Walmart and negotiate payment so you don't do it in daycare.

If YOU want weekly payments or monthly payments then YOU choose and go with that. As for the holding fee......if YOU want a holding fee (and rightly so) then she pays it or she finds daycare elsewhere.

[Wonderwiper]

I agree with Judy and the others who said YOU must decide the rules.

For my business, I couldn't care less when I am paid. It MUST be in advance and at the same predetermined time each pay cycle. Weekly, bi weekly, monthly.

How you choose to run your business it up to you. Set out your rules and expectations clearly from the start and choose clients that suit your requirements.