How to you handle someone who wants flex care?

I am just starting out and looking for clients. I have a lady who is possibly interested but I'm not sure how to go about setting my rates with her.

This is her situation:
I work shift work but my husband does not so I do need full time care but I am looking at some flexibility as some weeks I only need the afternoon and some weeks my two days off may be during the week so that is the only time I get to spend with my kids.

She has a 4 year old daughter who will be starting Kindergarten in September...so I wouldn't have her all the time either. And she has a son who will be 1 at the end of June. I kind of think the kindergarten here is every other day at the moment...

What would you do?
The rates I was going to charge was $36/day.

More than the rate you need to look at is how much of your week you want to waste so to speak on the family and in this case it is wasting two spaces. It means some weeks you would barely be getting paid anything. If you are ok with that then you can let her set the schedule. Otherwise you will need to talk to her about a weekly minimum payment regardless of how many days she comes. In many cases the rate is a minimum of 3 days pay. She needs to remember that she is paying for spaces in your daycare and you only have 5 of them so deserve to be compensated accordingly. At minimum she should pay for one space and then more flex for the second space. The problem is that once you give the lady these two spaces you won't be able to double book so you will have open days each week not being used or paid for because her schedule changes weekly but she needs all days saved for her just in case.

Truthfully it isn't something a lot of caregivers will get involved in because of the loss in income.

I would tell her that her child needs to be in care at least 3 days a week,unless sick. That my rate for flex care is $XXX/week for 3 to 5 days. I need to know by the Friday before what days the child will becoming the following week. You what to have daycare available 5 days, you pay for 5 days. For me they pay for enrollment not my the day.

I charge for the space, whether they attend or not. So they would be paying for the full time space regardless of whether she is off and he doesnt attend. IF you dont do this, like payfelt said, you are losing out on alot of $$. I would probably compensate and only charge when b/a child is there if you are wanting to give them a little break. Make sure you are clear on your rate and policies so they know what to expect from day 1.

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Originally Posted by venusrockstar

....What would you do?..

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What I would do is irrelevant because my business plan might not be the same as yours hon and my pros and cons list for choosing if I want to be having children arrive for just the afternoon might be different as well ... these are things only you can know for your program ... lots of people offer flex care and love it and lots of us would not touch it with a 10 foot pole because it is not for us.

What is your business plan .... basically how much income do you NEED from your business annually? Will you be able to accommodate serving this client for anything less than them paying for the space they are occupying?

Do you NEED/WANT to have a full income from your five spaces in order to make the most income you can based on the government cap we have or are you happy with having a 'part time' income from some of your spaces ~ if so how many of those spaces 1, 2 and so forth .... I personally have a business plan that accommodates 4 full time and 1 part time 'shared space' where the client comes consistently either 2/3 days a week and shares with someone else who comes the other 3/2 days a week ... I do not offer flex care at this time because I am not willing to 'loose' income by having someone sitting in a full time space but only paying me for when they use it!

My advice is sit down and do the MATH and decide if you are willing to 'loose' income on this client over the length of your relationship or if it is better to loose a little income now in order to have someone in that space full time paying full fees?

I would also find out if the kindergarten child is on the wonky 10 day rotating schedule so still taking up a full time spot as well cause that schedule if the client is only wanting to pay for days attended will cost you a lot of lost income over the year!

I had one family once enquire about flex care. I ended up not choosing them just because I found better fit families but the idea suggested for fees was interesting to me. Basicaly we calculated that the child was attending daycare 50% of the time depending on the mom's schedule. ( So the child could attend 2 to 4 days a week ) So we worked out a monthly flat rate for 50% of full time fees regardless of paid vacation time or if the child attended or not half the week. So if I was closed for vacation the fees were the same, if they did not attend daycare for X reason the fees were ALWAYS the same no matter what. The parents were still providing the schedule one month or 2 weeks in advance so I could prepare meals and activities. I think this part could have worked out well for me. I just prefered going with a family that had a child in the age group I was looking for. So I can not tell you if it worked out well but I think this could be a feasible arrangemens if you ALL agree on a flat rate and everyone understands what you expect form them and vice-versa.

I wouldn't do it.

This would not be for me. It is one thing to have a part time dck with set days which you may get another part time dck to fill rest of the available days, but this schedule which is different most weeks is just too expensive for me to do unless they pay for 5 day availability.

I had a flex care last year that attended 1-4 days a week on a rotation schedule so different days each week and therefore took up a full time spot. They were also long days from 630-6. My deal with them was they paid my part time rate as well as my holidays in full and all stat days regardless if it was a regularly scheduled day. They are no longer here as mom was in an accident and off work..... She contacted me recently to see if I had a space and I don't ... She was sad .... I was not!!! Would never do that schedule again for only part time pay.

Thank you. I was leaning towards saying no just because I was only hoping to fill up 2 spots at full-time to start with. She was one of my only inquiries though and I don't want to run out of my mat leave and have no income at all. I guess I'm just a little worried is all.

I think one of the things I do not like about 'flex care' is that sense of entitlement expecting the business to hold open a full time space for them but only wanting to pay for what they use!

Can you imagine a customer going to their mortgage company or landlord and saying 'hey I am going down to Florida for a few months so I am not going to pay my mortgage/rent while i am gone cause I am not using the house' and expect your house to still be there when you come back or going into the the insurance company, phone, cable, and so forth and saying the same thing .... you are paying for those 'services' regardless of USE and no one questions that but somehow WE are seen as greedy or unreasonable for having similar business practices ... and the government does not CAP the insurance, phone or cable companies income by telling them 'hey you can only provide service to 5 customers on any given day' so if anyone needs their income protected it is CHILDCARE PROVIDERS ;)

If you aren't planning to fill all your spaces right away then you could offer the family care until Sept and the older one starts school. That gives you a bit of income and time to see just how the schedule works and if you want to keep the child not in school. Are there school based daycare for kindergarten in your area?

Some people like an easier workload some days and don't mind forgoing income to have a child that only comes sometimes. Only you can decide if it is worth it.

Ultimately, it comes down to what you want out of your business.
I always have one space that is "flex". It seems to be easy to fill with kids of nurses, so far. For example, I have a family starting next month that mom expects to be working 6 weekdays in the month. She will pay, at a minimum, for 6 days. This is regardless of usage. If she only uses 4, she pays for 6. This guarantees her a spot. I have a guaranteed income, and most of the week is a little bit "lighter" without that one child. However, I do have to count that child when I take in any other children, because I have to assume she could be there any day of the week.
What I don't want you to do, is take this family in, and regret it later. So think about it as if the other spaces in your daycare were filled. Are you still ok with the arrangements? If not, don't say yes! You will end up either resenting it, or telling mom you can no longer do it. And that isn't altogether fair, either.

Venus, I had a flex care family for 3 years and they were here 3-4 days a week, different days each week, but they provided their schedule over a month ahead. I marked my calendar and they had to pay for every day booked no matter what happened. They were able to book around stat days so make sure you charge a higher fee.

It was iimpossible to fill the empty days but I enjoyed a few lighter days every week with only 4 children. It worked out fine for me so if you think you would be able to deal with it go for it, but think about it seriously. I wouldn't allow less than 3 days/week.

Thats why I have minimum due each week, especially if the parents sched varies (dif days each week) if they are using 3 or more days each week, they must pay for a fulltime spot, due to the fact that I will not be able to find anyone to take the days they are not in attendance. IF they are using the same days each week but 3 or less days, they are required to pay a part time minimum. :) that way, I get paid a solid income each month