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View Full Version : What would you do about this?



crazyhazy
10-09-2010, 09:16 PM
I currently have two dds myself who take up two of my under 5 places, then I have a 6m old mon and wed all day. My first mindee left when her mum finished college in June but has just come back now she has a job, cos she was my first mindee and gets on well with my girls I'm being far more laid back hours wise than I should be and need to try and decide what to do going forward.

Mum is doing agency work where she gets odd hours, finds out on a fri her shifts for the following week. Last week I had mindee,

tue & thur 830-1230 (drop at preschool, charged 4 hours each day),
fri 830-630 (preschool 1230-3 but charged for full day)
and sat 830-230

this week it has been

tue & thur 830-1230
fri 830-630
sat 830-1130

and next week is all day thur and fri, then 830-1030 on sat, so falling into a pattern days wise but not really hours apart from the friday being all day every week so far.

Currently I am just charging for hours she is using but am starting to find I am getting enquiries so feel in order to turn them down I need to have some sort of basic hours in place for this mindee.

So, do I charge a retainer for the 3 days during the week that I'm available for her, if so how much? Or do I charge a minimum number of hours for the week and then if she uses more charge that accordingly, how many minimum would you charge? I don't want to scare the mum off cos she can be a bit funny but we do seem to get on well mostly, but equally I'm starting to realise it's a business. I've already decided I'm going to tell her it's a minimum charge of 4 hours on a saturday cos otherwise it's not worth losing my lie in!

Thanks xx

Tina O
10-09-2010, 09:56 PM
I would be charging a full rate retainer, for the days she needs you to be free to have her child, where she uses you or not... That is the price she pays for flexiblity !! I would also charge more for Saturdays! If she is not willing to pay to keep the place you have people contacting you who will.... It's your business afterall.xx

snufflepuff
11-09-2010, 08:18 AM
You should probably charge her for 8.30-6.30, 3 days a week (as you are avaliable for her all day on a Tues, Thurs and Fri) then personally i'd charge double fees on a Saturday with a minimum of 4 hours (so 8 hours pay)otherwise like you say it's not worth doing.
But you say you don't want to scare her off and i'd probably feel the same. So perhaps charge her for a minimum of maybe 20 hours per week at normal fees, plus 4 hours at weekends at double fees, then invoice her for any extra hours she uses on top (including double fees for extra weekend hours)
So at £3.50 per hour, for example, that would be £98 per week plus any extras she uses.

crazyhazy
12-09-2010, 07:56 PM
Thanks, have been thinking about it over the weekend and am meeting her tmrw, think I'm going to go with charging for a minimum of 20 hours per week and agree to be available the 3 days I am at the moment. Will speak to her about saturdays cos tbh I am really not enjoying working them, am happy to do maybe every other one but every week is too much, I do charge a bit more but it's still not worth it when I've been working 7am-6.30pm all week I'm exhausted!