Stop! Don't look for a nursery building until you do these FOUR things

STOP! Don’t look for a nursery building until you’ve done these four things

Welcome my future successful nursery owners.

Finding a building for your nursery is one of the most challenging and time consuming things.

It’s one of the main areas I get asked to support people.

Whether that be where to look or what to look for.  I get asked 100s of different question.

But there are a few common mistakes that people make when looking for their building or things that people don’t do.

And I want to make sure that you do not do the same.

So, today I want to go over four things you need to do when looking for your building.

But, first if you’re new here, this channel was set-up to help you to grow, run and open your own nursery.

If you need support in opening your own nursery, then make sure you enrol on the course ‘open a nursery in 6 months without a massive budget’.  It is the most comprehensive complete package available supporting you to open your nursery.  It’s currently discounted too, and due to the sheer number of people enrolling on the course the price will unfortunately be going up shortly so that I can better support you when you enrol.

So, if you want the best step-by-step guide to opening your own nursery, which includes a whole section on finding your building, and you want it at the discounted price.  Make sure to click the link in the description to enrol.

But back to why we are here.

Four key things you should be doing when looking for your building.

Let’s start at the beginning, when you first start looking.

Which is to

Set up notifications for nursery buildings.

Nursery buildings are super competitive.

Especially, when you are starting out you are competiting with numerous different types of entities. 

From first timers, to those looking to expand to chains nurseries.

Many in a better position to secure a building than you are.

Which puts you at a disadvantage.

All this leads to nursery buildings going very quickly.

Some buildings, if they are good, are literally on the website for less than a day before they are gone.  And that’s if they even go live in the first place.

I like some of the bug chains have connections with many different estate agents who then give me access to properties before they even go live.

But, how can you, as a prospective nursery owner level-up this advantage that the big chains have.

Well, the first thing is to set notifications on property websites. 

Start on places like Rightmove or zoopla.  Set notifications for whenever a nursery building comes available.

But don’t stop there.

Look at what estate agents have sold buildings on those websites and contact them, even if the property has already sold.

Use this to start building relationships with agents in your area, let them know your dreams and your passion for childcare.

Be constantly on at them, relatively, you don’t want to annoy them.

But this process is so important, as when they do get a property available that matches your requirements, you will be one of the first people they call.

If you’ve really built that relationship with them and they see your vision, they may even call you before they contact some of the chains.

This will enable you to get access to properties before they even go live online, cutting out the majority of competition, allowing you to get access to the best properties and giving you a strong negotiating power.

The second key thing you should do is

Measure your building!

Now this isn’t just for you, it’s a reminder to myself too.

So many times I’ve gone to a building and forgot my measuring tape.

And I’m just standing in the middle of the room having to guess how many children this room could potentially hold.

Which means when I go to work out my figures I then have to guess how much I could potentially earn.

Don’t do this!

Make sure you bring your measuring tape so you can work out how many children any room in your building can hold.

This is so important, as it’s not always reliable to just rely on measurements that the agent or landlord has given.

When measuring, remember the building floor ratios too.

Which is you can have:

• One under 2 for every 3.5m2
• One 2-3 y/o for every 2.5m2
• And one 3 – 5 for every 2.3m2

So, for example if you measure your room and it’s 10 m long  and 5m wide.  This would be 50 square metres. With this you could have roughly 14 or 15 babies, 20 2 years olds or roughly 21 or 22 3 years.

These measurements are all available in the EYFS registration handbook.

Though, it’s important to remember, you only include areas children where children will actually access and be playing, your hall ways, kitchens and offices do not count.  And unfortunately, your outdoor area doesn’t either.

Unless, obviously you are an outdoor setting.

The third thing you should be doing is to

Negotiate

If you’ve got yourself in a position to be one of the first people to view the property, you are in a very strong position.

Use it!

The price advertised on the listing is not the price you have to pay.

Landlords want their property occupied as soon as possible, so they start earning money.

It makes sense to accept an offer of £900 for a £1000 rental building with a secure tenant ready to move forward.  Than wait potentially another month holding out for that £1000 with less secure tenants where it could potentially fall through.

The time alone, would cost the landlord at least £900 per month.

That’s why if you can showcase yourself as a reliable potential tenant it puts you in a strong position to negotiate.

Even if you can’t show you’re a strong tenant, just asking the agent how much the landlord is willing to go down by can help you to get a considerable amount of the asking price.

Just don’t be afraid to ask.

Though, one tip to help you negotiate is by building a good relationship with the agent, and by going one step further and finding out who the landlord is and trying to build a relationship with them too.

They will want to know they can trust you which most landlords will care more about than the exact rent they can get.

The final thing you need to be thinking about when looking for your building is:

Ask for a rent abatement period

I’ve spoke about this before and I go into this more on the course.  So, if you want to know how you can do this and more about this then make sure you enrol.

But, to put simply a rent abatement is a rent-free period that you negotiate at the beginning of your rental period so that you can undertake building works, or more specifically for nurseries whilst you are waiting for Ofsted to register you.

This can be a challenging thing to ask, but if you want tips on how to increase the chances of your landlord saying yes, then enrol on the course linked in the description. 

This tip alone has literally saved some of the people enrolled thousands of pounds, and it can help you save too.

But those are the four must do things you should be doing when looking for your building.

Make sure you do them, and I’m confident you will find your building sooner than you expect.

For those of you who would like support opening your nursery and are thinking of enrolling on the course but want a little bit more information.

The course is the most complete guide available supporting you to open your own nursery.

The course has taken people from nursery worker, with very little knowledge of how to open a nursery. And taught them the key steps involved from how to register with Ofsted, how secure funding, how to find a building and even just how to find and pay staff and how to market to get children.

And now they own their own nursery.

For me it’s a beautiful feeling.

And for them it’s a dream come true.

So, if you want to achieve that dream too, click the link in the description below and enrol.

I look forward to supporting you.

God Bless.