Justifying your rates

Hi everyone. I have a question. When you are asked what you charge, and why, what do you reply? I know some answers will be:
-Your rate is competitive with other providers in the area
-You charge based on your program/qualifications

What other justifications do you have for your rate? Up until now, i have never been questioned on my rate, but i have an odd feeling i might. one of my DCG's has a cousin who will start in my daycare next month. She will be paying higher than her cousin for a few reasons.
1) New DCG is an early morning start (6.30 versus 7.30 when i open and i charge extra for that),
2) She will be a part time DCK versus her cousin, who is a full time DCK and my Part time daily rates are higher than my full time daily rates. Also, her parents need a flex schedule, meaning 2 days one week and 2 different days the next week. I don't mind because i was looking for a part time child anyhow and this one 'fell into my lap' lol
3) I have raised my rates since her cousin joined last year.

I have a good feeling i will not have to get into to too much detail about my rates (I hope!:unsure: ) because i told them the rates in our telephone interview and in our personal interview, and it's in the contract and handbook. I just wanted to know what you tell people when they question your rates.

Do you ask your dentist to justify his or her rates? It never occurred to me. I've never had anyone question my rates, but if they asked me to justify them, I would simply say that is the fee. I suspect that anyone who questioned my rates wouldn't be a good fit. I want families who care more about the standard of care for their child than the cost. I learned that from listening to the wisdom from the more experienced caregivers here and in my social circle. I would tell someone that there are probably less expensive daycares out there, but I'm not trying to be the least expensive, I'm aiming for excellence.

Uhhh, if someone asked me to "justify" my rate? We would probably not be working together!!
IF this family questions you, give them the reasons you listed above. None of them are suspect.
And if someone really wanted to know what their rate paid for, I would break it down for them. List off all the costs that I incur running a home daycare, and show just "how much" money I keep at the end of the day.

I welcome any and all questions from parents. I tell them no question is silly and as this is a question of their childs care, anything with regards to this is ok. I think there are definitly questions that are brought to me which raise flags and may make me think a bit furthur if they are a good fit for me, but I think it is perfectly reasonable for them to talk money with me. I think to word the question as "Please justify your rate to me", has a very arrogant tone to it and isn't the currect way to ask me about this subject. I can't imagine anyone actually wording that way, but you never know, but if a parent were to ask me why a perfectly good daycare down the road from me charges $5 less a day I think that's a perfectly okay question. I don't think it necessairily means they aren't willing to pay it or that cheap daycare takes presidence over quality daycare. I think people can take this protective/defensive stance on it but I think it's a complete over reaction and sometimes can just be a misinterpretation of a parent's feelings and on their part a poorly communicated question. I'd respond with my own comments and questions surrounding this before being quick to strike them off. It might simply be because they have comparisons to make between differenet daycares and maybe they have taken the advice of someone to include this into their list of questions. It doesn't automatically make them shallow or all about the money above the quality of care their child would recieve.

I DID actually have one long term client ask me to justify my rates....actually, it was the husband. He bugged me all the time about things. Thank goodness this was many years ago and he's the only one I've had like that. I simply explained to him that my rates were very competitive with other daycares, in fact a bit lower. I indicated that it costs money to provide good meals, crafts and activities and outings for the children and in fact that it costs money for me to maintain the home in which I run my business. I too need to make a living. I then said "Of course, if you are not satisfied with this, I invite you to visit other childcare providers and centres to see if one of them might be a better fit for your needs." He dropped it right there. I was sooooo offended! I think it was the way he worded it and his arrogant tone really put the nail in the coffin for me. Was very happy to see that one go after a few more months when they hired a local teenager. I'm still close friends with his wife, but to this day, cannot stand him.

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Originally Posted by bright sparks

I welcome any and all questions from parents. I tell them no question is silly and as this is a question of their childs care, anything with regards to this is ok. I think there are definitly questions that are brought to me which raise flags and may make me think a bit furthur if they are a good fit for me, but I think it is perfectly reasonable for them to talk money with me. I think to word the question as "Please justify your rate to me", has a very arrogant tone to it and isn't the currect way to ask me about this subject. I can't imagine anyone actually wording that way, but you never know, but if a parent were to ask me why a perfectly good daycare down the road from me charges $5 less a day I think that's a perfectly okay question. I don't think it necessairily means they aren't willing to pay it or that cheap daycare takes presidence over quality daycare. I think people can take this protective/defensive stance on it but I think it's a complete over reaction and sometimes can just be a misinterpretation of a parent's feelings and on their part a poorly communicated question. I'd respond with my own comments and questions surrounding this before being quick to strike them off. It might simply be because they have comparisons to make between differenet daycares and maybe they have taken the advice of someone to include this into their list of questions. It doesn't automatically make them shallow or all about the money above the quality of care their child would recieve.

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I just want to clarify. No one has actually asked me to "justify" my rates. I think i may have chosen the wrong word to describe what i wanted to ask. but i totally agree that if anyone were to actually word their question like that, i would totally be taken aback. Asking someone to justify their rates is very rude, i agree. And no, i don't ask my dentist to justify his rates. LOL. I go to him because i have gone to him for 15 years and he does good work and i like him!

I have never been asked this questions myself ... likely because I always beat clients to it by explaining right in my advertizing and on my website clearly what they GET for the fees I charge so that when they are comparing me to others they are comparing apples to apples so to speak.

It is like when you are looking for a car and you have X amount to spend you want to make sure that you are getting the most bang for your buck ... nothing wrong with clients asking what 'features' your program has to offer or what is included in your 'fees' so to speak that is totally prudent 'consumerism'!

There are so many things we do so vastly differently in our businesses ... some of us include regular field trips and outings in our fees and others charge 'extra' to the client when they go on a field trips which can add up if the provider is going to some of the places that have $5-10 a head entrance fees, some of us provide wipes, sunscreen and other 'additions' children require because we have control issues and do not want to be exposed to 'cheap' products and others require parents to supply that, some of us have 'low ratio' childcare programs verses running at full max and so forth and so on that can result in vastly different 'business plans and budgets' ... IMO these are things parent's researching childcare options SHOULD be asking when comparing providers services and fees cause it the lady down the street is charging $30 a day but requires clients to provide all meals and snacks and than also charges extra for every little thing from field trips to art supply costs and takes 6 weeks of 'paid vacation' or what not than than perhaps the provider up the street charging $40 for an 'all inclusive program' and not charging for vacation closures is actually the CHEAPER option ;)

It is disheartening about the 'value' we place on our children's early learning experience when parents seeking childcare just look at Provider A charges $35 a day and Provider B charges $25 a day and do not stop to consider/research WHY before choosing which one to interview and consider and might actually end up with a service that costs them way more than they had intended as a result!