Hello,
I am new to this site and my sister and I are looking to open a home daycare. We are both qualified in early childhood education but, need to know where do we start? Do we need to have an inspector come to our home from the city of Montreal before we start or what procedures must we take? We would love to have our home daycare up and running if possible by next month.
Is there a small business development center you can go to for details? Requirements to open a business vary from province to province and even from city to city, so a business adviser in your city would be the best place to get the most accurate information. Of course, anyone here from Montreal would probably know to.
How long ago did you decide to start the business? Any business does take time to properly plan and prepare for. I first thought about going into daycare 5 years ago, seriously thought about it almost 2 years ago, and started doing my actual planning and preparation 8 months ago. I'm launching in late May or early June, so 1 year from start of plans. It wouldn't normally take that long though. I'm currently working full time home renovations, so only part time on business setup, but if you rush into starting a business without proper planning and preparation, you run into trouble.
Thanks Mike! I appreciate the advice. I will look into small business centers within the city. I also don't want to rush into it. I am wondering what time frame it would take to have this home daycare up and running properly?
That depends on how prepared you want to be. You could just be doing babysitting and advertise today, or plan a serious business and that could be done in a week or couple months.
Here is a quick list of things to do to open a business. I've been in business most of my life so know about running a business, but daycare is new to me so I may miss something specific for this kind of business. If I do, I'm sure others here can fill in blanks.
- decide on type of business (Daycare of course, but registered, unregistered, private or daycare center?)
- location of business (If your place, is there a need in your area?)
- business name (Your own name, or a business name? Business name needs to be registered.)
- business plan (Business center will help with that.)
- laws and regulations (Depends on exact type of business. Taxes, licenses, other requirements.)
- advertising plans (How much and what kind of advertising?)
- insurance (Good idea for daycare whether legally required or not.)
For daycare specifically (This is where others here might see something I missed.)
- space (Do you have things like play area, sleeping area, outdoor area, and eating area planned?)
- equipment and materials (cribs, playpens, strollers, safety gates, outlet covers, smoke/fire alarms, fire extinguisher, spare clothing and diapers just in case, toys, games, food ...)
- contracts and legal documents (A big difference between babysitting and daycare. Lots of samples on the net.)
- plans and schedules (hours, days, holidays, daily plans, what if a child is sick, or you're sick)
- training and documents (CPIC, CPR, ECE - most serious daycare providers need at least the first 2)
There are probably a couple more things, but I need to quit now to get to work. :)
Thanks Mike!!!!
That was very helpful!!!! I am looking at a private daycare in the beginning and then expanding into a bigger space. I would like it registered as I find that will be a lot better. Also, I am looking around for equipment. Safety issues and children's safety are very important. I am also going through contracts I see online.