Home Daycare vs. Daycare Center Start Up
©2005 Miranda Nelson
There are many pros and cons when determining whether to own and operate a home daycare or a daycare facility outside of your home.
Set up Process/Opening for Business
The set up and preparation for opening a home daycare can be accomplished within a few weeks or months depending on the state you live in. The initial set up costs are also substantially lower than that of setting up a Daycare Center.
Set up and opening of a center can take months, depending on the following factors:
1) You purchase an existing center and step in as the owner
2) You start a center from scratch-this process could take as much as a year 3) The guidelines (again depending on your states rules and regulations) can vary greatly and may require an administrator or Director to be present at all times. As the owner, you may not qualify as the Director, as most states require a degree in Early Childhood Development or similar qualifications.
The costs involved can range from $50,000-$100,000 or more, depending on your options of purchasing an established center, renting/leasing a building or buying a building for the center.
Hours of Operation/Closures
As a Home Daycare Provider you have a great deal of flexibility in determining your hours and days of operation. If you choose to close for 2 weeks vacation, you have the opportunity to do so. It also allows you the option of operating full or part-time.
As the Operator of a Center, you have to maintain set hours of operation and closing for vacation, would not be an option unless you have staffed your center to provide for such closure.
Tax Advantages and Overhead
Operation of a Home Daycare allows you to take advantage of many tax breaks. For example, a portion of many of the items you already pay for, rent, mortgage interest, taxes, utilities, etc. can be deducted as a business expense. The amount determined is calculated by the amount of time your home is used for daycare purposes. The cost of overhead is minimal, based on the number of supplies you already have on hand and the ages of children you intend to care for.
The monthly expense of running a Center would include Rent, Utilities, Payroll, Building Maintenance, Additional Equipment Supply, Kitchen Supplies, Liability Insurance etc. Although operating a Center may be more lucrative with full enrollment, it will also cost more to operate and maintain.
Employees
If you want to work "hands on" along with the children, Home Daycare may be a great place to start. You can build your group size as you feel comfortable and then move your group into a Center based facility away from your home.
If you prefer an administrative position, then a center may be the most reasonable option, so your main responsibility would be that of hiring, training and overseeing your staff.
A converted garage or building on your property may be another option as your daycare grows you can hire an assistant to assist you with your daycare, which could be considered a happy medium.
I would recommend that anyone new to the profession, start with Home Daycare, so they can evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and then decide from that evaluation how to proceed with either the continuation of a Home Daycare Setting or the Set up/Purchase of an existing Childcare Center. |
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