Quick summary
- Fit-out and renovation is typically the largest single upfront cost, followed by equipment.
- Wages are usually the biggest ongoing cost line once the service is operating.
- Registration, insurance, and professional fees add smaller but real upfront costs.
- Core Funding, ECCE and NCS are the main ongoing funding streams; capital grant schemes exist periodically.
- All figures below are indicative ranges from third-party sector guidance, get quotes specific to your situation before committing.
Upfront costs
The biggest upfront cost for most new services is fitting out the premises. This can range enormously depending on whether you're renovating an existing building or converting a space from scratch, and whether significant structural work is needed. Equipment and furnishings for the rooms themselves is the next major category, followed by smaller but still meaningful costs: registration and legal fees, planning and professional fees, and setting up initial insurance cover.
| Cost category | Indicative range |
|---|---|
| Fit-out / renovation | €50,000–€300,000+ |
| Equipment and furnishings | €15,000–€50,000 |
| Planning / professional fees | €5,000–€20,000 |
| Registration / legal fees | €1,000–€3,000 |
A contingency of around 15% on top of your fit-out budget is a sensible cushion for the unexpected, older premises in particular tend to reveal issues once work is underway.
Ongoing costs
Once open, wages are by far the largest ongoing cost line for any staffed service. Ratios mean staffing costs scale directly with the number and age mix of children you're caring for. Insurance, utilities, food, consumables and ongoing training all add up on top of that. As a rough indicative range, annual wages for a small team of around five staff at compliant rates might fall somewhere in the €160,000-€220,000 region, with annual insurance costs more typically in the €2,000-€5,000 range, though both vary significantly by service size and structure.
Registration timeline
Registration itself is not instant. Providers should budget a minimum of several weeks once an application is submitted, and this should be built into the opening timeline rather than treated as a formality that happens quickly in parallel with other prep.
Funding routes worth knowing about
Several funding streams exist to support Irish childcare services, though eligibility and rates change over time and should always be confirmed directly with Pobal or Tusla:
- Core Funding, an annual funding stream tied to registered places, in exchange for fee-cap conditions.
- ECCE capitation, per-child funding for the free preschool scheme hours.
- NCS, subsidises parent fees directly, which indirectly supports service viability.
- Capital grant schemes, schemes supporting building or equipment costs have existed periodically; check current availability, as these open and close on their own cycles.
All funding administration for services runs through Pobal's Programme Implementation Platform (PIP), worth becoming familiar with early, since most funding applications and reporting happen through it.
How Tot Tracker helps
Tot Tracker tracks NCS and ECCE hours with compliance alerts, fee and payment records, and policy documentation in one place, useful groundwork for the ongoing funding reporting and compliance admin that comes with running a registered service.