Half and full day price

[Jessymax]

Hi I have decided to do a simple full or half day sessions including food.
I was wondering what other people charge?

Thanks in advance x

[natlou82]

I used to do this and charged full day £35 and half day £20. I've recently switched to hourly for new customers.

[Jessymax]

natlou82

This is exactly my charges

Can I ask why you are changing with new customers ?
X

[natlou82]

Tbh it's because I work 7am-6pm 5 days a week and the majority of my parents do use their full allowance of hours. With hourly fees (£3.50) their contracts will only be for the times they actually require therefore I still get paid roughly the same but may have some children finishing earlier (lightning the load a little). Hope that makes sense.

[moggy]

Definitely hourly rate here- I open 8am but some children come 8.30am or 9am, I close 5.30pm but one might want to finish 4pm... I want the parents to contract drop/collect times that they actually need- not fit to my 'session' times. If they are paying for a whole 8-12 session they are likely to want to use every minute of it!

And what if they want 9am-1pm or 9am-2pm when your sessions are 8-12 and 12-5 or whatever? Complicated.

Hourly fees are really easy to deal with- I have one doing 9.5 hours a day x 4 days a week, one doing 9 hours a day x 3 days a week... makes invoicing easy. If they want an extra hour it is easy- I just invoice the extra hour.

[Jessymax]

Hmm I see where your both coming from and had thought about this myself because if it's a set rate most parents will probably put them in for full day regardless of whether they need it or not. However I work in a nursery at the mo so set price for a day but some children come 7.30 tip 6.30 ( opening hours and some drop off not too 10am and pick up at 4.45

Not sure what to do hmmm

[Maza]

What exactly is half a day? Different families have different needs.

Actually, there are advantages and disadvantages of both methods. I used to just charge a daily fee (8-6) and one little one doesn't turn up until 9.10am but still pays for the whole day. This is excellent for me as it make school runs easier with one less person to think about. I haven't increased their fees in the whole time they have been with me because of this though, so give and take, kind of! I have other mindees who are hourly, but the hourly rate is higher than that of a child staying all day.

If you charge hourly though, you need to make sure that the parents know they will be charged for the contracted hour and will not have their fees adjusted if they collect an hour early one day, or drop off an hour later if they are working from home one day. Also, if they drop off later than contracted hours, they need to know that this doesn't give them the right to collect an hour later!

Good luck - you can always change your fee structure if it isn't working for you. A lot of things in this business are trial and error in the early days. x

[tulip0803]

I charge hourly - A lot of my children (parents) do not fit into day/part day and I prefer them to go earlier. At the moment I have LOs with the hours
* 5 days a week 9-3 2x days & 1145-3 3x days (starting fulltime school this week)
* 10-5 3x days (+ some sats)
* 3x days with different times 7-2.30, 7.30-3 & 6-1.30 (1 sat a week)
* 2x days 8-3 with siblings (starting next week)

* 6 year old home educated child 4x days 11-6.30 (1 sat a week)
* at full-time school 4 year old on Saturdays varied hours

Easier to do a set rate for after school but I still charge hourly
* 3x days 3-5.30 (1 day termtime only, 2 days in holidays)
* 4x days 3-6 (term-time)
* 1+ days over 8 siblings 3- anything upto 1930 (+ some Sats)
* 1 day 3-4 (+ Saturday 2-6.30 with sibling)
* 1x day 3-1730


I charge more before 7.30, after 6pm and on Saturdays. I have more people wanting me on a Saturday than a Monday So I now have Mondays off and work Saturdays. Parents see me as fair for not charging for more than they want. Parents pay the full contracted rate agreed on the contract for every day whether they come or not BUT if they come for more hours I can charge an overtime rate (normally just charge the normal rate for those extra hours too though)

[Jessymax]

Wow that seems confusing!

I suppose I could have different agreement in regards to fees in different mindees contracts?! As to which will benefit both of us best

X

[hectors house]

I charge hourly but have a minimum of 7 hours a day contract and a bit like Government office workers (used to do) I insist that all children are here between 9 - 3 although I am open between 8 - 5.30 this makes it easier to go out on trips without having to come home at lunch time for someone to be dropped off or collected.

[TinyTinker]

I did once put daily rates, short day and long day fees on my website, but I found it never really fitted with what anyone wanted - I have lots who want variable hours and hours that didn't fit in with what I had set - so I scrapped it! lol

[brightstars2015]

just got registered this week still waiting for the certificate, but i plan on having all the rates available and charge according to the parents needs still making sure i make a minimum i need to make to run the business. will see how it goes looking forward to starting soon. really excited