Anyone Increasing Their Rates For 2018???

[Farmerswife]

Charging according to pick up time eliminates that resentful feeling when you have one kid there later than everyone else feeling. Now if that one kid is here later than the others, I am being compensated well for it so it's something I can rectify in my head much easier.

I also don't have parents complain about their rates either.
If they want to save money, pick up earlier.
Win-win for everyone! happyface

Like my previous post said, I work less hours now but make more money.

I like this structure! How do you handle drop offs? I have one family who will bring her child occasionally on her day off so Mom will drop off an hour later than normal to let her sleep in, etc. Do you allow this? It makes the morning unpredictable and throws off the little ones nap schedule. My biggest hesitation is I don't know of any other in home daycares in this area who have contracts that the parents sign and who don't charge strictly by the hour. I am the only one that I know of who charges by the day whether they are here the entire time or not. I'm also the only one who charges for sick days. I don't want to make my set up too different from everyone else as I feel I'm already pushing the standards for our area. We live in a small community, people talk A LOT and I'd hate to be who they are talking about. My anxiety couldn't handle that! LOL!

[CityGarden]

I am not sure that contracted hours would ever work in my case. Most jobs around here are 8-5 or 8-4:30 (depending on alloted lunch break) salary type jobs. There is a fairly large clinic/hospital with hospital hour like shifts that differ from the norm (6AM-3PM) but I am unwilling to open earlier than 7AM. The clinic has its own daycare where at least one parent must be employed there and their rates are based on what the parents salary is. I used to sit for a family of two doctors. They were/are paying $285 a week for their daughters spot while her medical assistants child is in the same class paying over $100 less a week. My hours are not bad now. I advertise 7:00-5:30 but I rarely work “open to close”.

I think that is the beauty of contracted hours. In most cases on this forum those with contracted hours still offer the option for a full day program just parents are in control of their cost by selecting the pick up time that works best for them based on either their schedule or their resources. From a provider stand point you earn more and tend to have less children toward the end of the day.

I did away with contracted hours but that is only because I switched to a part-day program only. For those full day I don't see what you lose by offering a contracted payment structure based on pick up times from a provider standpoint - well maybe billing, different families would have different tuition amounts vs. everyone having the same rate.

I don't spend a single second worrying about job hours, availability of family, friends or neighbors when I set my rates.

Ditto. I do not care when they get off work, if they run errands while their child is here, etc. I care that they respect my policies, pay on time and pick up on time.

When a client truly wants your services, they will do what it takes to make it work!

I switched from contracted hours to a part-day program only. All of the families made the transition one of which has two parents working full time outside the home. Offer a quality program and parents will move mountains to try and make it work.

[Blackcat31]

I like this structure! How do you handle drop offs? I have one family who will bring her child occasionally on her day off so Mom will drop off an hour later than normal to let her sleep in, etc. Do you allow this? It makes the morning unpredictable and throws off the little ones nap schedule. My biggest hesitation is I don't know of any other in home daycares in this area who have contracts that the parents sign and who don't charge strictly by the hour. I am the only one that I know of who charges by the day whether they are here the entire time or not. I'm also the only one who charges for sick days. I don't want to make my set up too different from everyone else as I feel I'm already pushing the standards for our area. We live in a small community, people talk A LOT and I'd hate to be who they are talking about. My anxiety couldn't handle that! LOL!

I don't care what time they drop off as I don't count hours in care...only the time picked up. HOWEVER, each family is required to provide a written schedule on Friday prior to the upcoming week so in your case, that mom would have to schedule her child being in attendance on her day off.

I don't allow schedule changes after they are submitted unless it's an unusual circumstance or something that simply couldn't be helped but I never allow parents to decide day by day if they are or aren't attending.

I don't have one now but I would have a drop off cut off time so that it isn't disruptive when accommodating an unscheduled drop off or one that isn't routine. That eliminates the disruption for others.

I charge 52 weeks a year regardless of absences, closures or time used/not used.

[cpajarillio]

i'm in California and the weekly rates in here is $250 and up for 2-5 yrs old and i increase rate every July depending on child care rates from the gov't that i get every year too

[hwichlaz]

I'm in California too. We're the size of a small European country, so prices vary widely as does the cost of living.

I chare $180 per week for infants, and $165 for everyone else. I raised my rates at the new school year in September.

When I raise my rates I usually just make my infant rate my new preschooler rate, and then raise the infant rate. I don't raise on current families....but they don't get to step down when their child ages up either...so it all works out.

[proudmommyofthree]

i'm in California and the weekly rates in here is $250 and up for 2-5 yrs old and i increase rate every July depending on child care rates from the gov't that i get every year too

I’m also in California and just starts taking infants again and started my rates at $185. Moms who came to interview said my rates were very reasnible. Now I see why . I’m under charging. What part of California are you in? I’m in southern Cali, riverside county.

[hwichlaz]

I do increases in September, every two years. I increase to the daily rate in the new Market Rate Survey. So I keep my rates very average.

[hwichlaz]

Results of Californias 2017 Market Rate Survey by facility type and county.

http://www3.cde.ca.gov/rcscc/index.aspx

[BrynleeJean]

i like the idea about the 5% increase written into their policies, i may do that. I was also low and only increased for new parents coming in, if i still got the "wow your low" then id increase it again, i may have had one family around 120 another around 135 and another around 150 but it evened out for me and when the older tuition kids aged out i still had my bigger rate for new incoming families

[TooManyKitties]

Thank you for posting that hwichlaz! I haven’t opened yet, won’t be for awhile, and seeing the reimbursement rates is very useful in helping me set mine.

[hwichlaz]

Thank you for posting that hwichlaz! I haven’t opened yet, won’t be for awhile, and seeing the reimbursement rates is very useful in helping me set mine.

They are based on a survey sent out to random providers in each county. In my county it goes out to every provider because there are so few of us. They use it to come up with an average rate. I always round up so I’m a bit higher than average.

[Meeko]

I raise prices yearly, but only for incoming clients. I offer "same price for life" as people sign up. As long as they pay on time and follow rules etc...their payment will never go up[ (I charge a flat rate) Miss one payment...be a pain....payment goes up to current rate on the next pay day.

Works for me. Keeps them on their toes about paying on time and following policies. They also know that shopping around for cheaper may work for now, but they'll end up paying more before long as fees go up in most places.