Buying a child care center in Southwest Florida
Southwest Florida has 20 established child care centers by our count: companies in business at least 15 years that still file with the state every year and aren't part of a larger group. Of those, 70% have been in business 20 years or more. Most will never be listed for sale, and many of their owners have never been asked.
What it takes to own one
Child care centers in Southwest Florida come in every size. Here's what owning one could look like at three levels, from a solid company to one of the leaders, with a small business loan covering most of the price.
- Earns about
- $114,000 a year
- Price about
- $353,000
- Your cash
- $49,000
- Could pay you
- up to $50,000 a year
- Earns about
- $142,000 a year
- Price about
- $442,000
- Your cash
- $62,000
- Could pay you
- up to $63,000 a year
- Earns about
- $312,000 a year
- Price about
- $967,000
- Your cash
- $135,000
- Could pay you
- up to $138,000 a year
Earnings are owner earnings: profit plus what the owner pays themselves, before loan payments and taxes. They and the prices are our estimates from public records, not the owners' figures, and we value companies like these at about 3.1 times a year's owner earnings. Your cash covers the down payment and closing costs, and what the business could pay you is what's left after the loan payments and the cushion lenders require. The more cash you bring, the further up you can go.
Age, size and location
Revenue is our estimate from public records, grouped into wide ranges.
| In business | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under 20 years | 6 |
| 20 to 29 years | 11 |
| 30 to 39 years | 2 |
| 40 years or more | 1 |
| Estimated yearly revenue | Companies |
|---|---|
| Under $1M | 13 |
| $2M to $4M | 1 |
| $4M to $8M | 1 |
| County | Companies |
|---|---|
| Lee | 9 |
| Manatee | 5 |
| Other counties | 6 |
What the best child care centers have in common
- Rooms full or nearly full, with a waitlist, especially preschool rooms, where each teacher can look after more children.
- A credentialed director who isn't the owner and plans to stay.
- Several years of clean inspections.
- A healthy mix of private tuition and VPK, so the center doesn't depend on state rates.
- Teachers who have been there for years, and pay that keeps them.
- Accreditation and the state's Gold Seal Quality Care designation, which brings higher School Readiness payment rates.
- A building, playground and kitchen in good shape, with a long lease or owned property.
- Tuition collected on time by autopay, with little owed by families who have left.
What to check before you buy
- Inspection reports. Read several years of them, and ask how each finding was fixed. Serious violations can also cost a center its Gold Seal.
- Enrollment. Compare each room's enrollment with its licensed capacity and actual attendance, and check unpaid tuition.
- Public funding. The state and the coalition set VPK and School Readiness rates, not you. Know how much revenue depends on them.
- Credentials. Find out who holds the director and staff credentials. If those people leave at the sale, you may be out of compliance on day one.
- Insurance and incidents. Review liability coverage (including abuse coverage, and vehicle coverage if the center transports children) and any claims or complaints.
- The building. The license is tied to the location. Check fire inspections, zoning, the playground and the lease term.
- Storms. Ask whether families kept paying through past hurricane closures, and what happened to VPK and School Readiness payments.
Questions to ask the owner
- How full is each room today, and how long is the waitlist?
- Who holds the director credential, and are your credentialed teachers planning to stay?
- What has come up in inspections over the last few years, and how did you fix it?
- How much of your revenue comes from VPK and School Readiness, and how much from private tuition?
- When did you last raise tuition, and how do your rates compare with centers nearby?
- How often do teachers leave, and how do you find new ones?
- Have there been any incidents, parent complaints or insurance claims involving children?
To learn what these companies do, which licenses they need and how ownership works, read our full guide to buying a child care center in Florida.
Owning a company in Southwest Florida
The local economy
This region covers Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Sarasota and Manatee counties on the Gulf coast and Hendry, Glades and DeSoto inland: Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Naples, Bonita Springs, Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Sarasota, Venice, Bradenton, LaBelle, Clewiston, Moore Haven and Arcadia. The coastal economy runs on people who choose to live or spend the winter here: retirees, seasonal residents, and the construction, real estate, health care, financial and home services that follow them. Tourism, golf and boating add to it.
Inland, the economy is agricultural: sugarcane around Clewiston, citrus, cattle and vegetables, with Immokalee in Collier County a center for farm work. The building trades, pool, landscaping and pest control companies, property managers, medical and dental practices, and marine businesses tend to do well along the coast.
What's different about owning a company here
This is one of Florida's most seasonal markets. From roughly January through April, restaurants, shops and service companies run at full speed. Summers are slower, so look at monthly revenue, not only the yearly total. The coast has taken two major hurricanes in recent years: Ian came ashore at Cayo Costa in Lee County in September 2022, and Milton at Siesta Key in Sarasota County in October 2024. Rebuilding brought a wave of work for contractors that won't last forever, so ask how much recent revenue came from storm repairs. Insurance costs and flood zones weigh on every property.
Housing costs near the coast make hiring hard, especially around Naples. New communities east of Interstate 75 in Lee, Collier, Charlotte and Manatee keep service companies busy.