Pricing for an extra 30min

Need some advice. I have a family interested in signing onto my daycare. My hours are 6:30 to 5:45. They are asking for a 6am start and claim they understand my price "may" go up. Before I respond to them, i want to make sure i am being fair. I am just re-opening and already have signed on 3 families, but 2 families are just part time, so i would really like to sign this new family on as they are requesting a full time spot. Im thinking to charge an additional $5.00 per day for the extra 30 min but also dont want to scare this family away! Do you all think $5.00 is fair? I have had quite a few families try to nickle and dime me already and have turned them down explaining they are not a good fit for my daycare. Im not interested in trying be taken advantage of and have no time for it. I dont mind the 6am start, but not for free. Just want to make sure im being fair! TIA!

Yes 5$ is fair. Make sure you want to do those hrs though. 12hr days are long :(

I have two families come 30 mins before regular opening and charge $5 extra.

Like Babydom mentioned, make sure you okay with it as super early. I used to have family come 6am and found hard in Winter when trying to clear snow for car to get on driveway. 6am opening likely mean 5am wake up for you and maybe earlier if clear own driveway. Not so bad if you can roll out bed at 5.45am and just quick shower and ready.

I don't think $5 is enough personally. I had kids come at 6:30 instead of my 7:30 regular opening. I charged then $10 each extra. It's a premium service and $5 hardly seems worth it. It's going to make for an extremely long day and I remember that after I'd taken these siblings on and did this for a while alongside getting many enquiries from others looking for regular hours, I was full of regret. You might not think you will, but I bet you will. I know you want to fill your spots, but as a provider reopening, you must be aware that all of us no doubt as new providers make too many sacrifices to fill those spots out of fear of opening without filling them quickly, and we nearly always live to regret them. I know you want to be fair to them, but it doesn't seem very fair to yourself. Any way you can hold off and wait for someone looking for regular hours? It just doesn't seem worth it to me given that I have made this move before working a ridiculously long day for peanuts. If my husband works over 8.5 hours a day he gets overtime rate so long days for him are worth it because he is paid a premium for working extra. $5-$10 extra is peanuts and in my mind doesn't qualify as enough money and only a good deal to the parents, but unfair to you. Just my opinion...

Your working hours are already too long! Stick to a max. of 10 hrs a day. You can't cater to everyone, so either pick an earlier start, or a later closing which suits the demand in your area, but don't do both! It's a very quick route to burnout. Don't give special priviledges to new customers. I only do that for my long term clients who might have an extenuating circumstance once or twice a year. In that case it is $20 per 1/2 hr for early or late. Don't give your time away for nothing-charge accordingly. I easily put another 10-15 hrs a week into the business after working hours, so keep that in mind.

I personally would not do it. You are already working long enough.

I think $5 isn't enough. I would charge an extra $10. If they want your daycare bad enough they won't care. Just be careful. When you start catering to everyone's wants then they think you are flexible in everything.

I once had a family begging me for a 7am start (I open at 730). I stood my ground and said no. I then found out they were only wanting my daycare until their child was old enough for the spot in a centre so they would end up leaving in 6 months. I was ticked and happy I stood my ground and said no! They went elsewhere.

I believe a child should not be in care for longer than 9.5 hours. That gives a 9 hour work day (hour lunch) plus 15 minutes travel time x 2. That's a long enough day for the kids and a long enough day for me!!

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Originally Posted by mickyc

I personally would not do it. You are already working long enough.

I think $5 isn't enough. I would charge an extra $10. If they want your daycare bad enough they won't care. Just be careful. When you start catering to everyone's wants then they think you are flexible in everything.

I once had a family begging me for a 7am start (I open at 730). I stood my ground and said no. I then found out they were only wanting my daycare until their child was old enough for the spot in a centre so they would end up leaving in 6 months. I was ticked and happy I stood my ground and said no! They went elsewhere.

I believe a child should not be in care for longer than 9.5 hours. That gives a 9 hour work day (hour lunch) plus 15 minutes travel time x 2. That's a long enough day for the kids and a long enough day for me!!

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Sounds like you dodged a bullet with that family. I think depending on where you live, 15 minute commute is rare and regardless of how long a day away from family it may seem, a parent has got to work and sometimes that is closer to a 30min to 1 hr commute each way. It's unfortunate and honestly, for those parents I actually recommend looking for daycare near their workplace.

I would rather open early than stay open later that is for sure. Talk to them about the 6 am start and make sure why and how they need it. I have a 6:30 start but have a family that wanted 6:20 just because it takes the dad half an hour to get to work so he needed the extra 10 minutes to allow for traffic, getting parked and punched into work on time. But I also made it clear to them I would do anything after 6:15 as in don't try pushing it earlier so if you agree to the 6 am it can be 6:05 they arrive but not 5:55 kind of thing as in you will be refusing to open your door till your alarm has rung the hour or they may start pushing it unnecessarily.

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Originally Posted by bright sparks

Sounds like you dodged a bullet with that family. I think depending on where you live, 15 minute commute is rare and regardless of how long a day away from family it may seem, a parent has got to work and sometimes that is closer to a 30min to 1 hr commute each way. It's unfortunate and honestly, for those parents I actually recommend looking for daycare near their workplace.

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Where I live it is fairly easy to get most places with in 15 min travel. Also most families I have had only get half hour so work from 8-430 so lots of time for pickup drop off.

You might want to also consider the child who will be dropped off at 6am. Will s/he go back to sleep at your house? Will they scream and cry for the first two hours because they are so tired. You can't know this, as you haven't opened yet, but I would suggest if you say yes, make it on a trial basis.

Yes, the early start could throw off your schedule depending on what time the child got up. They might want afternoon nap at 11am, then what impact does that have on the rest of the group's schedule?

i would make it clear to them that said child must go back to sleep till 730 am and that they must provide a quick finger breakfast, and milk, plus 5 dollars extra a day, or 10 which would include breakfast

Thanks everyone for your advice! I live in a small town so most parents have to travel over an hour each morning and afternoon to get to work. Majority of providers in my area offer 6am to 6pm. I am offering 6;30am to 5:30 at 30.00 per day. This providers are charging 35.00 per day. I think I will offer this family 5.00 extra for the half hour early start and see what happens!! Thanks again!