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Cost dossier 8 min read Updated September 26, 2026

$1,000 to $3,000 a month: the real proposal we sent a two-location child care center

In short

A licensed child care center with two locations in a large US metro, established for decades and serving ages six weeks to five years, received a proposal on 2026-09-24 starting at $1,000 USD a month with a 13-page website included, stepping to $2,000 and $3,000 at new-enrollment targets agreed in writing. Nothing upfront, a 30-day guarantee, month to month. It was sent the same day.

Key facts

  • Proposal date 2026-09-24, currency USD, sent by email the same day at the owner's instruction; the center's name, people and street addresses are withheld, and the prices are what was quoted on that date, not an offer.
  • Starting fee $1,000 a month with a 13-page website included, $0 setup, $0 upfront, a 30-day guarantee on the first month and no contract term; the ladder steps to $2,000 and $3,000 at new-enrollment targets agreed together in writing.
  • The existing site was fast enough, with a mobile performance score of 88, so speed was not part of the pitch; the scope was driven by the absence of a tour or enrollment form, six program pages on one template with small photos, a password-locked gallery and no reviews anywhere.
  • Included rows: Google Ads, a schedule-a-tour form on every page, lead capture and follow-up, the new website, SEO, AI search visibility, Google Business Profile and reviews for both locations, and analytics; ad spend was separate with the budget left for the call.
  • The demo added two lead magnets specific to child care: a tour request form asking for center, child's age, start window and parent contact, and an enrollment packet delivered by email, built from the center's own list of ten enrollment forms.

The business behind this proposal

The client runs two licensed child care centers in the same large US metro, both regulated and inspected by the state's early learning agency, offering infant through pre-kindergarten programs on a published curriculum with enrichment such as music, dance and catered lunch at both locations. The business has operated for decades and the site reflected that: a template from years earlier, six program pages sharing one layout with small photos, greyscale banners, a gallery locked behind passwords, and a generic contact form as the only way to get in touch.

Child care is bought on a tour. A parent searches, compares a few centers, and books a visit; the center that makes the tour easy to request and follows up wins the enrollment. The site had no tour path at all.

What we measured before pricing it

The home page scored 88 for mobile performance and 92 for SEO in Lighthouse, with a largest contentful paint of 3.2 seconds, which is fine, and the proposal said so rather than inventing a speed problem. The findings that mattered were structural: no tour or enrollment form anywhere, the only form being a generic contact form behind a captcha; six program pages on one template with 300-pixel photos; banners in greyscale dated years back; a gallery locked behind passwords holding two old concert albums; and no reviews on the site.

No prices, reviews or ratings were found for the business, and the proposal claimed none. The center's real list of enrollment documents, ten forms from enrollment to a sample menu, became the basis for one of the lead magnets.

The offer, exactly as quoted

The house pattern for a daycare: $1,000 a month to start with the new site included, $0 upfront, a 30-day guarantee, month to month, stepping to $2,000 and $3,000 at new-enrollment targets agreed together in writing. Ad spend was separate and the budget was left for the call.

Included rows: Google Ads, a tour form on every page, lead capture and follow-up, the new 13-page website, SEO, AI search visibility, Google Business Profile and reviews for both listings, and analytics. The demo was a 13-page site in a warm design with the center's own logo colours, program pages for each age group, both locations with their own contact details and hours, an events page built from the center's real enrichment schedule, a FAQ, and the two lead magnets: schedule a tour, and the enrollment packet by email.

What moved the price, and what was excluded

The ladder was tied to new enrollments because that is the number a center owner actually counts, and because enrollment targets can be agreed in writing after a first month of data rather than guessed on a cover. The starting fee stayed at $1,000 with the site included because the largest gap, the missing tour path, is solved by the site itself.

Excluded: ad spend, paid by the client; photography, with the proposal stating that photos of the center's own rooms would replace the licensed stock the day they were shot; and any registration fee or tuition figure, since the center publishes none. Two things were left open for the call: the ladder targets and the ad budget, and the proposal said so.

What happened, and what a center can take from it

The proposal was sent on 2026-09-24 after a booked call the same afternoon, at the owner's instruction, with a follow-up scheduled five days later. This dossier records that it was sent and does not describe an outcome.

For a child care center comparing quotes, the transferable parts are the tour form on every page, the enrollment packet as a reason for a parent to hand over an email address, a ladder tied to enrollments rather than clicks, and both locations treated as separate listings with their own reviews. SearchPod's public prices are on the pricing page, and a proposal for your center takes one business day.

Related questions

a real proposal, anonymized; prices as quoted on that date, not an offer; no client name, person or address is given; SearchPod wrote and sent the proposal described.

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