Finding a location to start a daycare centre

Hi, I am new to this forum as we (my husband and I) are planning to start a daycare center in the GTA (or surrounding area), I have a few questions and hope some of you might have an answer to:

1) The first and truly the most important question of all, how/where do you find a site to open up the center? We are truly lost because we don't even know what to look for, or even where to look...

2) How do you determine if there's a demand in a specific area?

3) What do you look for when you find a potential site for your day care center?

We are in the beginning stages of planning this business, any suggestions would help! Thanks and nice to meet all of you. :)

Hi ! :) I'm not sure if this forum will be terribly helpful for you and your husband as it's geared more towards home daycare providers. Good luck with your new venture though - hope it's a smashing success ! :thumbsup:

I think I would enlist the help of a commercial real estate agent who specializes in these types of facilities. You can google daycares in your area and see how many come up in your search. Go visit some commercial daycares in your area and see what their set up is like. I know you must meet certain criteria regarding washroom and kitchen facilities.
This is not an easy business especially commercial wise. You will have to come up with something that will make you stand out from the rest. Good luck. I wish you much success

It might be a very good idea to familiarize yourself with the DNA. I had to do a course on it in college. It's very dry and I don't envy you....blahhhhhhh. I would think a good thing to consider right off when looking at places is the size (to start). You have to have a certain square footage per child in the facility, so you want to be sure it's big enough to handle the number of kids you need to make it worth your while. Things need to be done such as child sized toilets and sinks, appropriate escape routes, etc....lots to consider. Get hold of the DNA and have a wander through it. I did do a placement in a daycare that was quite popular. It was set up in a victorian house. The owner lived on the main floor and the daycare was on the 2 upper floors. It seemed to work well for her and they were always full. This was a long time ago (about 19 yrs) and was in a small town. If you look in towns that are continuing to grow, you've got a good supply of new families. I'm in Newmarket, which is growing at a rapid rate. There is now NO affordable housing here. I got in last year, just under the wire before everything skyrocketed. This place is absolutely teeming with daycares and home daycares, but I'm still turning people away almost on a weekly basis (with 2 formal daycares within a 1 minute walk of my house). There's definitely a high demand here. I will say this too.....keep it homey and less of a 'facility' atmosphere. Every single person I've interviewed has stated explicitly that they want home daycares for the less clinical feel....the homey atmosphere. If you can encapsulate that in a larger facility, you're off to a very good start!

Good luck!!!

Thanks all for the reply!

Yeh... I've been working with children and day care centers for a while, I think that kinda helps us. Getting a commercial agent might be the key (been working with a friend who's more in the residential sector).

Newmarket might be a possibility, I'm curious, as I'm not very familiar with Newmarket, how's the pricing of day care service compare to the Toronto areas?

Most home care providers are around $40/day. I'm $45 but have more specialized menu, dietary accommodations and theme focus. I'm full with a waiting list, so I feel that's a reasonable number. I do know, however, that some providers in my neighbourhood are having trouble filling. There is one provider set at $50 and she's not moving any spaces. I think daycare centres are around $50-$55. There's one that a current client looked at that was $55, but she felt it was over priced.

Newmarket's a nice town. There's quite a bit of daycare here already, but the area is continuing to grow. An area to be aware of is what we call 'The Dog Patch'. It's a large, south east corner area of Yonge and Davis. Any real estate agent familiar with Newmarket knows of The Patch. Highest population of rentals in York Region....mainly low income. Up around Upper Canada Mall is high density housing (loads of it) and seems like a gold mine for prospective clients. There's only one daycare I'm familiar with in that area and I've not heard good things. Seems like a good place to set up shop. My area has oodles of daycare (one in my back yard at the public school), one at the highschool a 30 second walk from my house, plus countless home daycares....I'm in the South East region of Newmarket, almost on the outskirts of town. Let me know if you want to know anything else about the area.