Setting up a private day nursery

Setting up a private day nursery

by: kay bentley - 03-03-06 12:12

I am thinking about setting up a private day nursery. Having looked through the various posts on this forum i can see this is something a number of other people have also done or considered doing.

I wondered if anyone would care to share their expereinces, any do's and don'ts or generally give me any advice.

I have booked an appointment with a business link advisor and am attending an information session being run by the local early years department.

Can anyone give any advice on financing such a venture. Did you buy or rent premises etc?

Any help greatly appreciated. Please feel free to pm me on kay.bentley@virgin.net

thanks

kay

by: *shazzy*

hi there kay, i too am considering opening up my own nursery over the next year, do you have any tips for me, or could you point me pou in the right/best direction??
what help is there out there?
anything really..any difficulties that may arise maybe you could warn me about??
thanks
shazzy

Setting up a private day nursery - 24-03-06 10:28

by: kay bentley

Hi Shazzy

If you email me kay.bentley@virgin.net I'lllet you know where I'm at so far and hopefully we can bounce ideas off each other.

Kay

Setting up a private day nursery - 27-03-06 19:38

by: nmorris

I have started the process recently too and would be happy to share experiences and bounce ideas etc. my email is nickyjmorris@aol.com

Setting up a private day nursery - 05-04-06 21:48

by: jaelef

Start with location,location,location
traffic passing your door that will see your sign, number of young families moving into the area (so you won't have to battle with other nurseries for business)
planning permission, traffic and parking considerations.
Where will staff park - where will parents drop (and park) noise, neighbours.
And what worked very well for us - get a support team of people around you to fill your knowledge gaps

Setting up a private day nursery - 13-04-06 22:11

by: Mr_Paint_Pots

I have done it!!!Happy to pass on tips

RE: Setting up a private day nursery - 05-06-09 21:11

by: sammy

Hi Mr Paint Pots,

Please pass on all the tips you have. Would be forever greatfull.

Sammy....

by: 'Old' Louise

It might be an idea to look at your Local Authority Childcare Sufficiency Audit to see if there are any gaps as a starting point.  Your early years' dept of the Local Authority should be able to help you with this.  Following that it is a question of solid market research to see whether there is actually any demand in the areas where there are gaps and Business Link is a good starting point for support on how to do this.  They offer training and advice for anyone thinking of setting up a business of any kind.

If you find a gap where people are crying out for places, you will need to find premises.  Increasingly I believe people are setting up on school sites so this is one avenue to explore.

Money tends to be a real sticking point as setting up is an expensive business, not just in terms of equipping and paying advance rent on premises, but also in being able to pay your staff and running costs whilst you are waiting for the bookings to come in.  Again, Business Link will advise.

Have done this twice; cost was in 6 figures each time for 50 place settings.  You might get away with less if a school has spare accommodation they are willing to make available.

 Also, Pre School Learning Alliance used to have a publication about setting up which it might be worth looking at.

by: joanne

hi i have been reading through all the post, as me and my friend have been planning to go into setting up our own nursery in a couple of years time. 

so any other information that would help i would be extremely grateful to hear about, as we are at the very start of our planning stage. 

by: Maestro

Try this

by: Sally

I agree with Jaelef - location is a priority - if there is no need in the area u won`t get any customers. This also comes down to finance - you have to have enough coming in to ensure you can cover your outgoings and have a viable buisness.

Staff are also a big thing to consider. They are the backbone of the organisation - u must get them right - so much hangs on them. They can also be your biggest headache so it`s well worth getting it right. Not an easy task I know from expereince.

by: Sally

Just wanted to add that you will need lots of sticking power. I set up my own pre-school seven years ago with my buisness partner and it has been one of the biggest challenges of my life. It is also one of the most reawarding.

It`s a lot like a roller coaster ride, you have to take the up`a with the downs. But when you get it right and you see the children flourashing it makes it all worthwhile.

by: joanne

could any one give any advice as to a rough idea of how much money it will take to set up. also how they went about getting the finance for it??

RE: RE: Setting up a private day nursery - 13-07-09 21:21

by: Madferrit

The actual setup of the nursery is minimal.. you could fully equip a nursery within £20k. What you will spend money on is actually turning an existing building into a nursery. For example, you will need to make everything child safe, secure the premises, have an outdoor play area etc... this will all add up and can easily cost £40k as a starting figure. Then you need to consider staff costs, marketing, rent, rates etc. All in all.. anything less that £130k is asking for trouble.

As for finance.., banks are willing to lend money (despite what the papers might say) and with the current Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme its a very quick and easy way to get funding providing you meet the banks minimum requirements.

 Hope that helps.

by: Maestro

Roughly 5 million and I asked the neighbour

by: joanne

this is all great advice.

 me and my friend are just planning out the basics at the moment looking at legislation polices proceducres so forth.

but is there anything else that we need to be looking at as a starting point to get us going?

by: Berty

I agree location location location is the first priority. However, I start with doing my home work into what other nusery in a given area are charging and finding out how full they are, its sneaky but a simple phone call saying moving in to area are you full how much do you charge gives me an idea of an area. When i opened my first one i took no salary for 6 months and then less than the cleaner! It is only with opening the third one that i can say I am earning enough for all my hard work. The propery crash has hit the first two but , fingers crossed it picks up and then i am safe again. As they say money makes money.  Oh yes i am ambling. Once i find out there is an area i like its a matter of working out all the costs. Rent or own,( I own but in the begininning i was thinking of renting). how much to make the propery "safe" and to equip it , registration, insurance, staffing, marketing, rates, even sky and tv lice.  Then look at what the income would be. Dont expect the place to be full from the off! Are you going to ask for money up front or at end of month. Me i go for up front but I know some parents would like to pay as they go / at the end of the month  This gives me a break even number and i can see if its possiable.  The 6 figure sum is not to far off as needing to comfortably start a good one, its stressful enough without having to find more money to keep the inital cash flow going until occupancy numbers build. Been there done that!

  As i have said in other posts the early years management course i went on with one to one really did open my eyes to what is needed to run a top notch nursery to its full potential.  That said i have a friend who runs a village preschool and has little stress.  Plays with the children. But no money :-)

by: purepurple

maestro, you are sooo wicked :)

by: joshuajones

I am sooooooo bored by these threads !!

Annette can't you start a "if you want to know how to start up a nursery - go back through all our Nursery World threads BEFORE you post another how do I open up a day nursery"

Perlease do these people not understand the concept of a search engine ???????? 

RE: RE: Setting up a private day nursery - 04-08-09 15:45

by: Annette

I would if I thought it'd help!! They get me banging my head against my desk too!!

RE: RE: RE: Setting up a private day nursery - 04-08-09 15:52

by: Maestro

Thats not pirate talk Annette!!

Try....

"Aye, me would if me thought 't'd help!, argh!! Tey get me bangin' me hade agai'st me desk too!! Arrrr"

RE: RE: RE: RE: Setting up a private day nursery - 04-08-09 15:58

by: Annette

"Ahoy, me hearty, umblest apologies. This wench'll walk the plank in shame... Yo-ho-ho!"

RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Setting up a private day nursery - 04-08-09 16:05

by: Maestro

We need photos! haha

RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Setting up a private day nursery - 04-08-09 21:33

by: joshuajones

Aaaaayyyyyy Photo's woul;d be good me heartie !!!!!!!!!

RE: RE: RE: Setting up a private day nursery - 08-03-10 13:45

by: calypso

hi i set up a nursery. You need to speak to your LA and see if they have a development officer who can assist you. You are right to check with current legislations but your hard work is in the identification of your site and the planning process - all else can be doen while you wait for that. A good accountant and a good architecdt are my top two tips! Good Luck

by: Maestro

I vote that any threads of such a nature we only reply in pirate talk!

by: purepurple

aye aye cap'n!!

by: curly

The best laf I've had all day!

by: newsetting

Aye, this thread is gi'in' me a headache. One word - Google. Aye, me parrot concurs

by: paul garnish

Hi, i amcurrently changing my fee policy and have been looking at a number of companies who provide nursery management software to set up fee collecting,emailing parents,invoices etc. can anyone recommend anything?? thank you

by: sparkie

As a nursery nurse who has set up a nursery, I would ask the following questions.

1/ why? do you think it is going to be quick money?

2/ What experience do you have I had 20 before i did it.

3/ We had £70k to set up and it wasn't enough

4/ european funding is almost impossible to get, even with 5 year accounts we couldn't secure funding with it even when have 90% occupancy and an outstanding OFsted! I was recently told that the major banks only get 5 accepted a year!

5/ The majority of the market is at saturation point so why try and add another

I love doing this job but the hours are terrible have regularly done 18 hour days, my wages terrible, i may go on holiday but my phone is always on. If you are doing it because you think it's nice or to make big money you won't and it isn't. The buck stops with you, and I would earn more working for someone else. If you want to do it make a difference for children, have seen terrible practice and want to right it and invest in your staff then good luck.....if not then can I suggest you rethink it! 

by: topcat

Hi Paul try kindersoft nursery management. I wouldnt do without it now. Fantastic support when needed at the end of a phone. £200 for annual subscription and free upgrades. Takes a while to input all your details but a great piece of software!

by: Jacqueline Howse

It will cost you at least £100K.  I had an existing nursery and then moved premises, just moving and preparing new premises cost me £45K, because as I found, your building costs will always double what you think they will be or are quoted for.  You will need £25K to basically equip a nursery, then insurance etc as described by others.

Your biggest cost is going to be having even basic staff at first.  Imagine if you get a couple of babies, couple of tweenies, one todder and two pre-school children start. Parents won't want them all to be consolidated together they will want the seperate rooms running.  You will need to work on costs of at least £6K per month for even a few basic staff, and obviously this will increase as your child numbers do. 

The other thing is - forget a social life for 2 years.  The amount of paperwork is staggering, plus you must remember that now it isn't your nursery but an extension of a government owned but privately funded nursery.  Your local authority will have a large say in how you run and will make sure you don't cut corners etc.

Hopefully you have lots of experience in the business in order to deal with all the staff/parents/child issues.  If you have no experience then don't even think about setting up.

Having said that - good luck.

RE: RE: Setting up a private day nursery - 25-02-10 21:33

by: Joshua Jones

Oooo Kindersoft is the WORST nursery management system I have ever used !!!

Support is at best sporadic, and I ended up doing everything I needed, future occupancy, vacancies etc, by hand !!

Fees etc, it used to think of a number and double it divide it by 2 and times it by three !!!!! ABSOLUTELY USELESS !!!!

If you have the money, Coldharbour or Parenta

 

by: Alfie huxtable

Hello, i too am thinking about setting up my own setting in about the next year with my sister. We both work in the childcare field but have no idea where to start with opening our own setting if anyone has any helpful information that would be great! please e-mail me:alfiehuxtable@aol.com

many thanks 

alfie

by: totty

Hey everyone. I  have experience in opening a day nursery as I successfully opened one in 2008 and managing it with a business colleague in North London.I am currently looking for space to open another. Would be happy to share my experiences with anyone who would like to open one too. Thanks

by: Alfie

Hi, i am thinking about opening my own nursery and Montessori school, i would be very grateful to anyone the would be abel to give me advice and any tips they may have to help my e-mail is: alfiehuxtable@aol.com 

many thanks 

Alfie