Quote Originally Posted by playfelt View Post
The fact that you are just considering raising your fees might be reason to reconsider the timing. IF the mom needs care starting now what you could say is that you were initially thinking of a family starting this summer and the new rate. The fact she wants to start now you will consider meeting half way - between your old rate and your new rate. I would have figured out what you plan to do about increasing fees before you talk to her though. I have a policy of not raising rates for families currently in care but raise them for new families starting care. So the rate you start at is the rate you stay at provided you stay with me full time. Any changes or leave and come back and you are subject to rates in effect at that time.

I understand how you arrived at your rate but is it in keeping with other daycare homes in your area. That would be my concern in that if the rate is too high then you may have trouble attracting clients. Then if down the road you realized and reduced the rate a bit it would be a shame to have lost out on a family now willing to pay the slightly lower rate now.
Thanks playfelt, you raise some good points. I'm not sure what the other rates are in our neighbourhood but they are probably lower for sure. They're probably more in the $800 range.
Up to this point I have always charged families the rate that we had agreed upon from the start and only raise for when I take on/start new clients. The increase to $1200 came about after I had talked to a couple of friends who let me know what they were paying for their nannies, and who suggested that my prices were too low for what I had going (they actually said $1260) So it started out as a test to see what kind of response I was going to get, cause I wasn't desperate to fill any more spots but did have one available, and based on that response I saw that there were quite a bit of people still interested. I have already signed up one client for May, and the 2nd ones are both wanting to start in June. I think it does depend on your city and location within it for sure. As well as your house, how much space you have, what the play and sleep areas look like, how organized and professional you appear, how much experience you've had, your references, the toys/activities you make available, and whether or not you have extra people working with you. We are definitely catering to the more upscale group of families now. Most of my clients seem to be engineers or managers or successful sales individuals just wanting the best. And we really try to have and do the best for the kids. A portion of the money each month always goes back into the daycare for new toys, supplies, improvements to their spaces, etc. And people really see that.