Office or all home visits?

[DallasCPM]

Which do you do? And how many clients do you have?

If you have an office, do you find the expense worth it?

I currently do all in-home care, but am considering getting an office sometime in the next year. My business is growing, and I feel like all I do is drive, drive, drive. And then I'm up late into the evenings doing paperwork, etc. that I could have been doing during the hours that I was driving. I also live in a very large metroplex, and my clients are spread out in every direction, so that can make scheduling visits difficult.

But then again, I know some of my clients specifically like the home visits.

Which did you choose and why?

[rnchrista]

We do our visits in both of our homes. We live about 35 minutes apart and it works well to have an office in both locations....makes it easier for clients!
I love it because we can get a lot of our appointments done in one day. It's also nice that the clients get to meet each other. And, if one of us needs to have our kids with us, it's not a big deal.

[Carolinamidwife]

Oh Cori, you must get an office. I spent 5 years driving all around Texas dreaming of the day I would have an office. That state is way too big. Office visits except for one at 36-38 weeks to acclimate yourself with the way there and the layout of their house. Think of all the time you will save!

You could also offer clients the option of you coming to them but charge a trip fee.

[courtenay_e]

The midwife I work with does visits once or twice a month in the home of one of the clients. That client opens her home for the morning (or afternoon, depending), and we do all the visits then. It makes it nice, as, like Christa said, the women get to know each other and have the feeling of community, and we only have to drive to ONE place on ONE day. Saves gas, time, and energy. We try to asses where the most "central" home is for all the Mamas who are in our care at the point that the woman who last hosted has her baby. So, it moves it around, and allows us to try to keep it as "central" as we can for the mothers doing the driving.

Then, at 36 weeks we do a home visit, which includes a potluck meal. The mother makes the main dish and the midwife and I bring sides/dessert. This allows us to get to see them in their home environment, with their family/friends who will attend the birth. It allows us to get to know their space (including their kitchen!)

This allows her the convenience of having visits at one central place, without the overhead of an office space, and without always having to be the one who cleans their house for the visits!

[pamamidwife]

The intimacy of home visits are great, but my client load consists of a good 80 mile radius - and it's virtually impossible to fit those clients in without severely compromising my sanity and my family time.

I have an office in my home and I really like it. It's nice to have people come to the office to ensure that we're not late for appts because of driving time.

I have a large clientele in a city north of us about an hour and I usually do a full prenatal day for those clients up there. I ask other mws to let me use their office for those days.

[DallasCPM]

but my client load consists of a good 80 mile radius - and it's virtually impossible to fit those clients in without severely compromising my sanity and my family time.

That's exactly my issue right now.

An office in my house is not an option. So, it's off to research office space costs in my area....