holding a place

[actonchildminder]

It's me again, i've posted quite a few threads just lately I hope I don't start getting on everyone's nerves.

Well parents just came round, need a place for August, letting me know on Monday. I am confused as what to charge for holding the place for her.

What is the difference between a deposit and a retainer?

Thnak you

A deposit is usually no refundable, sometimes set against the first months fees.

It is charged when the space is not available till needed.

A retainer is charged for the time that you have a space, but the client does not want to start until a later date. It is to hold the space till they start. It is non returnable.

I charge half teh usual fee, the client can use the space within the retained time if wished, topping up fee to full fee when used.

Does that help?

yes it does thank you.

The place isn't needed until August so am I better with a retainer?

While the place may not be needed until August you may have the place available now and could sell that place to someone else, such that it would not be available in August.

What is the situation regarding the number of childcare places you have available at this present time? Do you only have ONE space available currently in the child's age range, or more than one?

I only have one space left available, I have 3 other mindees

I think it's only fair to charge the retainer if you actually have someone else wanting the space. If there is no one else wanting the space until August, then they aren't really making you lose business. If someone does indeed come along and want the space you can then say to the parent that they need to pay 1/2 fee to hold that place for their child.

I bet loads of people will disagree with me, but I really wouldn't want to pay a retainer if no one else was knocking on the door wanting that space. If so, I'd just wait until 2-4 weeks before I needed a cm and sign up then.

I'm really lucky that my cm was very flexible and reasonable. I only had to pay a deposit of 1 month's fees and it counted against my first month. As a result, I always pay a month in advance, which I really like.