Daycare Enrolment by Age Group: Read the Revenue Mix

Two daycares can have the same overall occupancy and very different amounts left to pay rent. Even within one centre, moving a single child between age groups can change the staffing needed at the busiest time. A buyer should therefore read enrolment by licensed program, room and attendance pattern—not just divide total children by total capacity.

Start with what each room earns for the care actually provided, subtract the direct cost of covering that room, and then examine the next vacancy or transition. The result is a room contribution, not net profit. Its value is showing where a seller's “plenty of room to grow” claim requires more staff, a different age mix or time that the forecast has not allowed.

Use the actual licensed programs

An informal label such as “toddler room” is not enough to select a staffing rule. British Columbia's regulation distinguishes Group Child Care (Under 36 Months), Group Child Care (30 Months to School Age), Preschool and other programs. Confirm the licence, approved group arrangements and children's ages before modelling the staffing.

For the two group programs used here, Schedule E sets these requirements:

The maximum group sizes are 12 and 25 respectively. The older program may have no more than two children under 36 months. These are not interchangeable seats in one 37-child group. The regulation also requires sufficient qualified employees and adequate supervision for the children in care. Child Care Licensing Regulation, section 34 and Schedule E.

Apply the rules to attendance through the day, including overlapping arrivals, breaks and departures. A monthly count of unique children cannot establish safe staffing at 10 a.m. Conversely, two part-time children on different days are not necessarily two simultaneously occupied places. Maintain both the enrolment record and the attendance schedule.

Equal occupancy, different room contribution

Consider a hypothetical centre with one approved 12-place younger group and one approved 25-place older group. All older-group children in this example are at least 36 months old. Compare two full-month rosters, each with 28 full-time children assumed to attend at peak times: 75.7% of the combined 37 places.

Assume monthly earned program revenue of $1,800 per younger place and $1,400 per older place. These are invented modelling inputs, not local market fees or permitted fee increases. No additional funding is assumed. Direct staffing budgets include the assumed cost of covering the whole operating schedule, breaks, relief and employer charges, including classroom work otherwise done by an owner. They are not wage quotes derived from the minimum number of employees.

Both scenarios need five employees across the two groups at their assumed peak, with the appropriate qualifications. Their illustrative room-coverage budgets differ. The second roster leaves $1,400 more each month before rent, shared administration, insurance and other costs—even though the total occupancy percentage and direct staffing total are identical.

This is a comparison of two assumed feasible operating budgets, not a claim that a centre can instantly move employees or change their paid hours. Existing employment terms, available qualifications and the actual schedule may prevent the cheaper arrangement. Replace the inputs with the centre's records before using the result in a purchase price.

The next child may cost more than the next fee

Scenario A has four empty younger places. Adding a ninth younger child moves that group into the next staffing row. Suppose the extra assistant coverage costs $4,500 a month and supplies cost another $150. The additional $1,800 of earned revenue changes contribution by:

$1,800 − $4,500 − $150 = −$2,850 per month.

The centre's contribution falls from $8,200 to $5,350. This does not mean the place should remain empty indefinitely. It means the decision depends on whether and when further suitable enrolments arrive, whether the staffing is already paid for, and whether cash can support the interim loss. If the additional coverage is already in the real payroll, adding it again would overstate the cost.

The room contribution and transition worksheet (PDF) carries the example through the next vacancies and a cross-room transition. Use it to distinguish an empty place from a profitable immediate enrolment opportunity. A waitlist entry is not a confirmed start date, eligible age, matching schedule or signed agreement.

A birthday can change both rooms

Now begin with Scenario B: 12 younger children and 16 older children. Assume one child becomes eligible and moves to the older group for the next complete month, with the necessary room arrangement and agreement in place. Total enrolment stays at 28.

The younger group falls to 11 and still needs its three-person staffing row. The older group rises to 17 and moves into its three-person row. Using the same hypothetical budgets and supply assumptions, combined contribution becomes $4,750—$4,850 below Scenario B. The fee mix changes, but the larger effect is additional older-room staffing without a younger-room staffing reduction.

Actual transitions should follow the child's eligibility and care needs, not a spreadsheet's preferred margin. For a mid-month move, use the actual billing and cost periods rather than counting a full month's revenue in both rooms. A unique internal child reference should appear once in the centre total for the period; no names or family details are needed in a buyer's summary model.

Reconcile room revenue before relying on it

Use earned revenue for the period, not simply deposits received in that month. Separate parent payments, fee-reduction funding and any other applicable funding so the same gross fee is not counted once as revenue and again when a funding payment replaces part of the parent's payment. Keep receivables and timing differences visible.

For participating facilities, current approved fee schedules and funding terms constrain the model. The province requires participating providers to maintain ministry-approved fees and obtain approval before implementing increases; its provider page also describes monthly enrolment reporting. A buyer cannot fix a weak room contribution by assuming an unrestricted fee increase. BC Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative: provider information.

The broader daycare financial-review guide explains how to reconcile the business's records. For the age-mix question, ask for an anonymized room-by-room schedule covering upcoming starts, departures and transitions, alongside the qualified staffing plan. The useful answer is not merely how many vacancies exist, but which ones can be filled together, when their revenue begins and what coverage must be paid for first.

For a daycare acquisition, JQ Properties can help connect the room-level operating assumptions with the premises and purchase questions; use anonymized schedules rather than family records.

By Justin Qiao, Personal Real Estate Corporation, Justin Qiao Group | RE/MAX Crest Realty.

Sources checked September 9, 2026.