Ready when you are.
Book a free call →Heading back to work?
You're going back to work. The house doesn't know that yet.
A house manager who starts before your first day back is the hire that makes the return feel manageable. Returning from leave, or stepping back into a career after years at home, usually starts with a nanny or au pair search. That covers the children. It leaves the meals, the laundry, the calendar and the errands exactly where they were: with you, now on top of a job. A house manager takes that layer, and childcare hours can sit inside the role.
Tell us your start date and we'll work back from it.
First day back
Laptop open, coffee hot, and dinner is already someone else's job.
Give us your start date. The house manager starts before you do.
- 10,000+ families supported
- 90-day guarantee
- Flat fee, never a % of salary
What people are saying
Parents who went back to work with the house handled.
“I am a working mom and I was spending every spare second I had doing chores, and I could never get ahead. … I never have to worry about dinner or running out of snacks … I am more present for my kids when I am home.”
Both hands covered
A nanny or au pair covers the children's hours. A house manager covers the hours around them: before school, after pickup, the evening reset. You choose the mix.
Start date first
Give us the day you go back. About four to six weeks from an approved job description to your first candidates, so the house manager starts before you do.
Flat fee
Not a percentage of what you pay your hire. The fee is the same whether the role is 12 hours or 40.
The comparison
Nanny, au pair or house manager for the return.
If the children are small and you need full-day care, a nanny or daycare comes first, and we place nannies too. The house manager is the second, and for many returning parents the one that changes how the return feels. If the children are in school, the house manager is often the only hire you need.
Nanny or au pair
- Hands-on care during your working hours
- Au pair: live-in, capped at 45 hours a week, childcare duties only
- The children's meals, laundry and rooms
- Your evenings and weekends are still the household's
House Manager
- The morning launch and the after-school window, pickups included
- Family dinner planned and prepped, groceries stocked
- Everyone's laundry, the daily reset, supplies
- The calendar, appointments, forms, returns, the dog
- A role that can include childcare hours, or sit beside a nanny
Not sure what the first hire should be? That's the call.
Seen enough? Pick a time now.
A free 30-minute group call with a Sage Haus hiring specialist. No obligation, and the fee is covered live.
What you'll get
A search timed to your first day back.
1
Kickoff call with your specialist
We map the working week before it starts: who's home when, what the children need, what falls apart first.
2
A job description for the return
The hours around the school day, the household, and any childcare you want inside the role.
3
Vetted finalists, interviews arranged
Sourced, screened and interviewed by a person. References and a background check before any offer.
4
Onboarding and a 90-day guarantee
An onboarding call, a six-week check-in, and a one-time re-match within 90 days if the fit isn't right.
Going back part-time?
Start small, and scale with the job.
One of the families below hired at eight to ten hours a week while one parent stepped back into part-time work. The role grew as the hours did.
Been home for years?
The household you ran is now a job to hand over.
Write down everything you did to keep it running. That list is the job description. We help you turn it into a role someone else can own.
Case studies
Back to work, with the house handled.
The Boyle family · Family in Transition
Back from leave, three under six, and the mental load arrived at once.
Two full-time business-hours careers, three children five and under, and a fourth on the way.
The Ravenscroft family · Family in Transition
Twelve days.
A West Coast family at a turning point: one parent working full-time with regular travel, the other stepping back into part-time work — and wanting the family's food, fresh and healthy, handled properly through the change..
The Quill family · Activity-Heavy Family
The problem was logistics, full stop.
A parent returning to her own working life, with three children — one of them in a high-commitment competitive sport, training six days a week with travel on top.
The Wextonbury family · Dual-Income
Two cities, one household, and the airport in between.
Two full-time working parents in the Southeast with a newborn and a toddler at home — and an older child whose shared-custody schedule lives in another state, which puts the airport on the family calendar every month..
The Thackeray family · Dual-Physicians
Her day off was for everyone else's errands.
Two medical professionals, one of whom doesn't see patients on Fridays.
The Gable family · Dual-Executives
Someone who anticipates. That was the whole brief.
An executive who travels often, a partner holding down two elementary-school children with a heavy after-school calendar, and a household where something always needed managing — which meant nobody ever felt off duty..
Read all the stories at sagehaus.com/case-studies.
Not ready to book? Take the three-minute quiz.
It builds a scope for your family: the hours, the tasks and the kind of role that fits. You get the result straight away.
The numbers
What the return costs, with and without help.
The calculator takes what you'd spend on after-school care, delivery and piecemeal help, adds your own hours, and shows the return on a house-manager search against the salary you're going back to.
- The cost today, including your own time
- Hours you get back each week
- Return on the search at one and two years
How the calculator works
- 1What you pay today for sitters, delivery, cleaners and errands, plus the hours you put in yourself
- 2A house manager at the hours and rate you choose, with W-2 costs if you want them
- 3How you find them: a flat fee, an agency percentage, or your own time
- 4The return on the search at one and two years, and the hours you get back
Nothing is filled in for you. Add the Sage Haus fee from your call when you have it.
Book a call
Ready for support?
A free 30-minute call with a Sage Haus hiring specialist. We'll look at your week, tell you honestly what kind of role fits, and if a search makes sense, what it would look like for your family.
More from our families
What changes after the hire.
“We no longer have to choose between a big work deliverable and making sure the family is ready for tomorrow.”
“I can double down on the things I'm good at, we're less stressed … and I'm able to give more of myself because it's costing me less.”
“I can now regularly volunteer in my daughter's classroom and even start taking ballet classes, things that felt completely out of reach before.”
Questions families ask
Before you book.
Should the first hire be a nanny or a house manager?
If the children are under school age and you need full-day care, a nanny or daycare comes first and a house manager second. If the children are in school, a house manager covering the mornings, the after-school window and the household is often the only hire. The call is where we work out your version.
Free resource: The mental load, explained and time and cost calculator
Can the role include childcare?
Yes. Pickups, the after-school hours, bedtime a few nights a week or a full childcare block can sit inside the job description, alongside the household. If you want most of the hours on the children, a nanny may fit better, and we place nannies too.
How quickly can someone start?
About four to six weeks from an approved job description to your first candidates. Give us your first day back and we work backwards; starting the search six to eight weeks before it is comfortable.
How many hours do families start with?
Most start at 15 to 25 hours a week and grow. Part-time returns often start at 8 to 12. Under 30 hours is part-time, 30 or more is full-time, and you can start part-time and settle the tier later.
What will I pay the house manager?
A return-to-work role at 15 to 25 hours sits in the middle of the range. Typically $25 to $50 an hour depending on scope and location, higher in New York and the Bay Area. They're a W-2 household employee; we point you to a payroll partner that handles taxes and pay stubs. Our own fee is covered on the call.
Free resource: time and cost calculator
How do you vet candidates?
Vetting is the same whether the role includes childcare hours or not. Regional hiring specialists source from local boards and our certified talent pool. Every candidate is screened and interviewed by a human before you meet them. References, a background check and an employment agreement come before any offer, and a one-time re-match is available within 90 days.
What if it doesn't work out?
If the role needs to change once you're back at work, the guarantee covers it. A one-time re-match with up to two new candidates inside the first 90 days, no extra fee, provided you did the onboarding call and the six-week check-in with us.
My partner isn't convinced it's worth it on a new salary.
Run the calculator together: it puts your time, the piecemeal help you'd pay for anyway and the search cost side by side. Then bring them to the call.
Free resource: Pitch in the Kitchen and the calculator
Do you cover my area?
Returning parents come to us from every region; the search runs the same everywhere. Families across the United States and Canada, with regional specialists who know the local market. Rural and small-town searches take a little longer; tell us where you are on the call.