Ready when you are.
Book a free call →Hiring on your own?
You can find someone yourself. Here is what it costs you.
A house manager search run for you costs a flat fee; a search run by you costs about forty hours. Posting on Care.com, scrolling the local parents' group, asking everyone you know, screening thirty strangers, interviewing six, checking references on two. A thorough search easily takes forty hours over two to three months, and the background check is still yours to figure out. We run the search for a flat fee, and you spend your hours on the interviews that matter.
If a DIY search is the right route for you, we'll tell you how to do it well.
The late-night search
Screening replies and chasing references after bedtime. There is another way.
A thorough search on your own takes about 40 hours.
- 10,000+ families supported
- 90-day guarantee
- Flat fee, never a % of salary
What people are saying
Families who tried it themselves first.
“After nearly a year of exhausting searching, scrolling Facebook groups, Care.com, asking everyone we knew, and working with another placement agency, I had started to wonder if something was wrong with us. … Then I found Sage Haus, and everything changed.”
About 40 hours
Our estimate for a thorough do-it-yourself search: the post, the screening, the interviews, the references, the follow-ups. The calculator below prices those hours at your rate.
Flat fee
Not a percentage of salary. One fee for the whole search, in two payments. The hours you'd have spent go back to your week.
90 days
If the fit isn't right in the first 90 days, a one-time re-match at no extra fee. A DIY hire that doesn't work out starts the clock from zero.
The comparison
Doing it yourself, next to a search run for you.
The job boards are full of good people and a lot of noise. The work is in telling them apart, and in the parts you can't do from a kitchen table: a real background check, references checked by someone who knows what to ask, an employment agreement that protects both sides.
Your own search
- Write the post, choose the board, pay the listing
- Screen every reply yourself; most won't be a fit
- Interview on your evenings and weekends
- References you check, if you have time
- Background check, payroll setup and the agreement are yours to figure out
- If it doesn't work, start again
The search we run
- Job description written with you on the kickoff call
- Regional specialist sources, screens and interviews; you meet the finalists
- References, background check and an employment agreement before any offer
- Onboarding call, Home Systems Playbook, six-week check-in
- A 90-day guarantee: one re-match if it isn't right
- Flat fee, never a share of salary
Already have someone in mind? Mention it on the call and we'll tell you honestly whether a search still makes sense.
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
Everything you'd do yourself, done by someone who does it every week.
1
Kickoff call with your specialist
We turn your list into a role: hours, scope, pay range, what sits outside the job.
2
The post, the sourcing, the screening
Local boards, our certified talent pool and referrals. Every candidate screened and interviewed by a person.
3
You meet the finalists
Two to three candidates worth your evening. 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.
Want to do it yourself anyway?
Start with the Playbook.
The Home Systems Playbook is the system our house managers run on. Families who hire on their own use it to set up the role properly, and come to us later only if they need the search.
Found someone already?
Talk to us before the offer.
Bring them up on the free call. We'll walk through what to check, the employment agreement and onboarding, and tell you honestly if a search still makes sense.
Case studies
Searches that had already failed once.
The Ashfield family · Nanny to House Manager
They'd had a great house manager. Then they'd had the wrong one.
A family business, three children at home full-time, and a household that already knew exactly what this role was — because they'd had someone excellent in it.
The Ivorston family · Dual-Physicians
Food as medicine, in a town with no candidate pool.
A dual-physician family in a small Southern city.
The Jessop family · Dual-Executives
She manages a large team at work. This hire had to manage itself.
Two working parents on the West Coast with two children in elementary school — one parent commuting into the city several days a week, the other back to frequent travel.
The Selby family · Already Have Help
A rural coastal town. Four weeks. Done.
Two partners with long-hour, high-stress jobs in a rural coastal town in the Pacific Northwest — the kind of place where the nearest city is a real drive and the local hiring pool is thin.
The Kestrel family · Entrepreneurs
Small town, small role — still the right person.
An entrepreneur mom in a Mountain West town with two young children, the youngest still in half-day school.
The Danforth family · Dual-Physicians
Two physicians. Opposite shifts. One list nobody was home to own.
Two physicians working opposite ends of the clock — one nights, one days.
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
Your own search, priced in hours.
The calculator's 'On my own' route counts the hours a do-it-yourself search takes at your own hourly value, next to a flat-fee search.
- The cost today, including your own time
- Your search hours vs a flat fee
- 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 the process felt like.
“The fact that they handle all of the job listings, all of the screening, all of the interviews, and only bring us final selections who pass all checks saves us so many hours on finding the right candidate.”
“Alissa made it so easy to describe my needs and pain points and she wrote a great job description. Then the candidates that she found were all outstanding.”
“Their professionalism, discretion, and attention to detail in the hiring process are unmatched.”
Questions families ask
Before you book.
What does a do-it-yourself search actually involve?
A post on one or more boards, screening every reply, phone screens, interviews, trial shifts, reference calls, a background check through a service you choose, payroll setup and an employment agreement. Done properly it is about forty hours over two to three months by our estimate; done quickly it skips the steps that protect you.
Free resource: the calculator
Can I use your tools without the search?
Yes. The Home Systems Playbook is the operating system our house managers run on and is sold on its own. Families use it to set up a role they've filled themselves.
We found someone on our own. Should we still talk to you?
Yes, before the offer if you can. On the free call we'll walk through what to check, the employment agreement and onboarding, and tell you honestly whether a search still makes sense.
How do you vet candidates?
This is the part a do-it-yourself search usually skips. 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 will I pay the house manager?
The wage is the same whichever way you find them; what changes is who runs the search. 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.
How long does it take?
A DIY search often takes two to three months; ours is faster because it runs every week. About four to six weeks from an approved job description to your first candidates. If you have a date in mind, we work back from it.
What if it doesn't work out?
A DIY hire that doesn't work out starts the clock from zero; ours comes with a guarantee. 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 wants to keep doing it ourselves.
Run the calculator together: it prices your own hours against a flat-fee search. Then bring them to the call.
Free resource: Pitch in the Kitchen and the calculator
Do you cover my area?
If you've been searching the local groups, your specialist already knows the same market. 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.