12.10 till 1.10 - charge 1 hour or 2?

[Tonip]

I have a potential new client who has requested hours including 12.10pm till 1.10pm. Now I havent had this type of timings before and am wondering do I just charge a flat rate of 1 hrs charge or charge 2hrs because of the 10 start time and 10 past pick up? I am thinking it would be cheeky to charge 2hrs but what do you think. All my other parents have usual 8am 2.30. 5.30 etc times so its never been an issue before. Thanks for your help.

[chris goodyear]

I would personally just charge for the hour as I have an assistant and it wouldn't bother me to lose that place. But if it means you will be losing a whole afternoon place then you would be justified in charging for the whole afternoon as you cannot fill it with someone unless you were lucky and had an enquiry for a 1.30 start. Ultimately do what you are comfortable with.

[hectors house]

I would just charge for the hour - I have some parents who come at 8.45 to 3.45 so she pays for 7 hours, another comes 7.50 to 4.10 so I charge her 8 1/2 hours (as often she is a few mins early dropping off and a few mins late collecting).

[BallyH]

I've done this before, one hour and regretted it. Approximately one month later a whole day enquiry came and went as that one hour took the space. So think ahead. If you don't want to wait for a full day child then charge one hour. It's very hard to cancel a child if more work comes your way. Situations like this will happen time and again in our profession. I've lost count of the number of times I've had a 3 day vacancy for me then to accept a child on 2 of those days then an enquiry for 3 days will come along that would have been perfect. So I'm left with a one day vacancy for ages.

[Mouse]

I would charge from 12-1.30pm. It would give bit of leeway for them to drop off a few minutes early and collect a few minutes late. 12.10 and 1.10 are very precise times and you could easily find the child arrives before then and doesn't leave dead on time.

But, as others have said, I would only do it if it fitted in with other children as it could block someone wanting longer hours. I do have some children for very short hours, but I charge a higher rate for them. As it's over the lunch hour you also need to think about whether or not you'd charge for food or ask parents to provide it. It really wouldn't be worth charging for just 1 hour and having to provide lunch out of that.

[JCrakers]

I would have a 2hr minimum hour in place as I do with the after school children. But I would think about this first before saying yes. If I had spaces to fill, I couldn't fill it with someone who wanted such little hours but if I was fullish I would consider.

i.e: On Mon and Tues I have 3 little ones but Weds and Thurs I only have 2. I quite enjoy having two as it can be more relaxing but a parent whose child comes Mon, Tues 8am-5pm asked if I could have her little one on Weds 9.15-12.15pm. Even though a fulltime slot is being taken it worked for me as I didn't want to fill the space with a full time child and it also works well with the school run.

[Tonip]

Thanks everybody. Your advice has been very helpful xxx