S E R V I C E S
New Service Start-Up
From feasibility and site assessment through to your first enrolment.
Opening a service is a long sequence of decisions, most of which you only make once. The expensive mistakes are made early, usually before anyone has signed a lease.
We have opened services from the ground up. Not advised on opening them.
Who this is for
A first-time provider who has found a site
An existing provider adding a second or third service
An investor who needs an operator, not just a builder
Anyone who has been quoted a fit-out and does not know if it is right
A build already underway that has stalled
What we do
Feasibility
Catchment, demand, competition and the numbers. Whether the site works before you commit to it, and what it will take to fill.
Approvals
Provider approval, service approval and Child Care Subsidy approval, plus the council development application and everything it drags with it.
Establishment
Fit-out, systems, policies, recruitment and the enrolment pipeline. Everything that has to exist before the first child walks in.
How it works
Feasibility
Catchment, demand, competition and the numbers. Whether the site works before you commit to it.
Site and lease
What to look for, what to avoid, and what to negotiate before you sign anything.
Provider approval
Fitness and propriety, your management capability, and the paperwork behind both.
Development application
Council, planning, traffic and acoustic reports, and the timeframes nobody warns you about.
Design and fit-out
Room layouts set against your licensed places. Getting this wrong costs you capacity for the life of the service.
Service approval
The application, the plans and the assessment that has to happen before you can operate.
Systems and policies
Everything in place on day one, rather than built in the first month while you are also opening.
Recruitment
Centre Manager first, then the team around them. Start earlier than feels necessary.
Marketing and enrolment
A waitlist before you open, so you do not open at thirty per cent and spend a year recovering.
What it costs
Quoted on scope, because no two builds are the same.
A greenfield build and a fit-out in an existing tenancy are different projects. What drives the number is how much of the process you want us to run rather than support.
You will have a scope and a number before anything starts.
If you move to management at opening
The fee starts
before you open
The approvals, recruitment and systems all happen ahead of the first child walking in, so the management fee typically commences before opening.
Compare the four models →
Most services that struggle were set up to struggle. The decisions were made before opening.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Earlier than most people think. The expensive mistakes happen before a lease is signed — the wrong site, the wrong catchment, or a room layout that permanently caps your licensed places.
If you are still deciding between sites, that is the right time. If you have already signed, we can still help, but some decisions are locked.
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Yes, and it happens often. Usually the approvals have stalled, or the fit-out is progressing without anyone having thought about rosters, systems or enrolment.
We pick up from wherever you are. What we cannot do is undo a room layout that has already been built.
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We do not act as agents, but we will assess a site before you commit. Catchment, demand, competition, access, and whether the building can deliver the licensed places you are paying for.
That assessment is usually a project engagement rather than part of a start-up package.
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Quoted on scope. A greenfield build and a fit-out in an existing tenancy are different projects, and what drives the number is how much of the process you want us to run rather than support.
You will have a scope and a number before anything starts.
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Only if you want us to. Some clients engage us for start-up and run the service themselves. Others move into a management agreement at opening. Both are normal.
Worth knowing: every multi-site owner we manage came to us with a single service, and some had never owned one before. Nobody grows a second service out of a first one that is not working.
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Longer than you expect, and the variable is almost always council. From site to opening, twelve to eighteen months is realistic for a new build. An existing tenancy with an approved use can be considerably faster.
We would rather give you a realistic timeframe than an optimistic one you plan a business around.
Start with a conversation
Thirty minutes, no cost. We will tell you honestly whether we can help.