Daycare business simulator
See what your daycare or nursery would turn over, how many families you'd win and who you'd lose them to — month by month for two years — before you spend real money.
Places, ratios and the waiting list that tells you you're good. This one opens as Little Acorns Nursery: A day nursery caring for babies and pre-school children for working families in town. Rename it, reprice it, or describe your own daycare or nursery and let Nova rewrite it to fit.
What a steady daycare ends up with
Played steadily for all two years — quality first, then growth, a fair share of the bank spent each year — a steady daycare here ends its last year on $308k of revenue and $2.2k of profit, with 38 families and 1.2% of the market (#5 of 5).
It starts from nothing: $45k in the bank and you, 50 hours a week, with no families yet.
People who play it well do better, and a bad plan runs out of money.
Revenue in the last year: $308k
Profit in the last year: $2.2k
Families at the end: 38
Share of the market: From nothing to 1.2%
Where it finishes: #5 of 5
Years and decisions: 2 years, monthly
What you'll decide each month
Each month you set your rates, how many people are on the books and how many families each can look after, what you spend on being found, and which areas you cover.
Each decision shows on a forecast before you file it, and every period resolves against the rivals and the economy.
Who your families are
A local service is booked on trust and lost on a missed place. Every family needs somebody's time, so the people you can put on the work are the limit, and word of mouth is the cheapest marketing there is.
4,300 families in all, across your town, the next town over, the villages around, the county town and out by the ring road.
Full-time families: People who want it done and will not chase you twice. About 2,150 of them, worth $9.9k a year each.
Part-time places: More work, higher standards, and recommendations to their friends. About 860 of them, worth $21k a year each.
Employer-funded places: Several properties, regular work, and hard bargaining on price. About 430 of them, worth $30k a year each.
Holiday and wraparound care: An emergency or a move — found on a search, gone afterwards. About 860 of them, worth $5.2k a year each.
Who you're up against
Three rivals are already in it, and they play to win: they cut prices, spend on marketing and answer what you do. Most of the market is theirs on day one.
The nursery chain: The biggest, and slow to change — it has stopped listening to its smaller customers. Holds about 25% of the market.
The childminders: Wins on price and little else; its customers leave the moment somebody is better. Holds about 20% of the market.
Grandparents: Clever and quick, but stretched thin and hard to get hold of. Holds about 10% of the market.
How it works
Free until you start: building and previewing cost nothing, and starting is $10, once.
Build it — free: Press build and you get your own copy of this market: four kinds of family, three rivals and five areas.
Make it yours: Change any number, describe your daycare or nursery in a sentence or two and let Nova fill it in, or upload a profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history to fit it to your real figures.
Preview — free: See what a steady daycare ends up with, and every warning worth reading, before you pay anything.
Start — $10: Pay once to start, your seat included. Then run it month by month for two years.
Also for
nursery · childcare · preschool · creche · kindergarten
How much does the daycare business simulator cost?
Building and previewing are free: make your own copy of this daycare or nursery market, change anything in it and see what a steady daycare ends up with without paying. Starting the simulation is $10, once, and your own seat is included.
Can I make it match my own daycare or nursery?
Yes. Every number can be changed — the families and what they pay, the rivals, the areas, the costs and the starting cash. Or describe your daycare or nursery in a sentence or two and Nova, SparkTower's AI, fills every section in for one Nova action. If you already trade, upload a profit and loss or a month-by-month sales history and the simulation is fitted to your real numbers, starting from where your business stands today.
Are the numbers realistic for a daycare or nursery?
The template is checked against what real ones do: played steadily, a believable one finishes year two turning over between $200k and $800k, with between 15 and 80 families. This one's preview comes to about $308k and 38. Your own prices, costs and figures change that, which is the point of trying it here first.
Can I use it to test a daycare or nursery business plan?
That is what it is for. Put your plan's prices, costs and starting cash in, play it forward month by month, and see whether the money lasts, how many families you would need and what a rival's price cut does to you — before you put real money in.
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