Quote Originally Posted by v.giang View Post
We will be opening one in Ontario (Toronto or Mississauga) and we still need to do A LOT more research into all the laws, expenses, etc... to see if it is something we still want to do. Quality care is hard to find and we would want to offer quality care obviously but if it is not profitable, that's an issue.

Thank you for all of your comments and recommendations. Greatly appreciated!
Yes ... the challenge with opening a 'for profit' childcare program is that the government does not FUND you the same way they do non profits childcare settings ... this is something you would need to consider in your business plan - how to be competitive against the non profit model as there are many MORE of them and they tend to set the what the market will bare in way of fees and so forth!

For example non profit organizations get start up grants, healthy and safety maintenance grants for repairs, wage enhancement grants for staffing and so forth from the government .... these all things that for profit organizations do not have access to anymore since they have cut back on funding 'profit based' companies cause well tax payers tend to frown on that

In addition other business give 'deals' to not for profit organizations on advertizing, utilities, rental space and so forth cause it is a 'tax advantage' to them in way of charitable donations and so forth .... these are all disadvantages to the 'for profit' margin because FEE wise a private for profit childcare centre cannot charge much more than a non profit does because clients would just choose the non profit unless the private offers some sort of 'service' in addition to them!

All things that make it HARD to compete despite the demand for quality childcare cause you basically have the same 'revenue' to draw from however are saddles with way more EXPENSES to offering the service as you are governed by the same 'day nursery act' which regulates everything you have to provide .... plus in addition to those higher expenses incurred as a 'for profit' at the end of the day you are trying to earn a PROFIT for any stakeholders in the business who might not be working IN the business in a role similar to a non profit.

If you have been following the news in Ontario it is full of stories that childcare centres are closing left right and centre across the province - this is partly due to the current economy combined with the impact of Full Day Early Learning ... most of these are small independent centres, for profit and even non profit, which cannot afford expensive renovations to change their now empty older preschool classrooms to infant and toddler programs in an effort to stay afloat or just do not have enough draw on infants and toddlers clients who can pay FULL FEES for these programs to make renovating worth while - because part of the challenge is that very few people can afford the $275 a week infant / toddler fees and need some sort of government subsidy - which is currently frozen with a big ole waiting list of people.

The challenge with childcare industry is that every dollar spent has to go INTO the program to be able to compete with Non profit programs in both fees, wages and service being offered - so unless you can RUN the business yourself - aka you hold an ECE diploma and have the experience and training required by the Ministry to not have to HIRE a Director and be approved yourself so you can pay yourself the WAGE that would be your profit so to speak - there is just not enough left over at the end of the day to pay someone else to WORK in the centre while you draw a profit off it a position that is not 'needed' so to speak.

The other area where you can eventually turn a profit is if you can find the start up capital to BUY a building so that the 'mortgage' being paid buy the business becomes your profit at the end of the day because you would own the real estate that the program sits on .... this is how some of those bigger 'private chains' are able to eventually make money because they own the property verses 'renting' a retail space from someone else!

If this is something you are seriously considering this website might be able to help
http://www.cbo-eco.ca/en/?linkServID...882B3B385DC87C

Also the Association of Daycare Operators Ontario might have 'start up' feedback for you.
http://www.adco-o.on.ca/