Ready when you are.
Book a free call →Considering an au pair?
An au pair covers the children. The house is still yours.
A house manager, unlike an au pair, has no program limits on hours or duties. The au pair program is live-in childcare on a budget, and it works for a lot of families. It also comes with limits: 45 hours a week, childcare duties only, a year or two and then a new match. A house manager has none of those limits, lives out, and takes the household as well as the hours you need with the kids.
If childcare is most of what you need, we place nannies too.
Lives out, works set hours
A professional who runs the whole house and goes home at night.
You set the hours and the scope. No program rules.
- 10,000+ families supported
- 90-day guarantee
- Flat fee, never a % of salary
What people are saying
Families who chose the household role.
“Most people I knew hired nannies, but that never appealed to me because childcare wasn't my primary need. I needed help with everything else.”
No program limits
A house manager's hours, duties and tenure are set by you and the job description, not by a cultural exchange program's rules.
Lives out
No spare room, no host-family obligations. A professional who comes to work and goes home.
Both, if you like
One family below runs an au pair on the driving and a house manager on the household. The two roles can coexist.
The comparison
Au pair or house manager.
Different programs, different jobs. An au pair is a great fit for families who need many childcare hours and have room to host. A house manager is the fit when the house needs running too. Here is the honest version of each.
| Au pair | House Manager  | |
|---|---|---|
| The children | The whole job, up to 45 hours a week and 10 a day. | Part of the role where you want it: pickups, after-school, bedtimes, a childcare block. |
| The house | Limited by program rules to tasks for the children, like their meals, laundry and rooms. | The core: kitchen, laundry, supplies, vendors, resets, the calendar. |
| Living arrangement | Lives with you; room and board are part of the program. | Lives out and works set hours. |
| How long | One year, extendable once; then a new match. | As long as it works. The role grows with the household. |
| Cost structure | A stipend, program fees, and room and board; often the lowest-cost childcare. | An hourly W-2 wage you set, plus our flat search fee. |
| Who finds them | A State Department-designated au pair agency. | Sage Haus: a flat-fee search, certified candidates, a 90-day guarantee. |
Need a lot of childcare hours? A house manager can carry some of them, and we place nannies for the rest. Not sure? 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 for the household role.
1
Kickoff call with your specialist
We map the children's hours and the household hours and work out which role, or both.
2
A job description for the whole week
Household first, childcare where you want it, hours you set.
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.
Case studies
Households that chose the household role.
The Winslow family · Nanny to House Manager
Their long-time nanny couldn't come with them. The list did.
A move out of the city to the suburbs, and the nanny who had been with the family for years couldn't make it with them.
The Pinfold family · Nanny to House Manager
Consultants know how to staff a project. This was the project.
Two management consultants with demanding hours and travel, three children with the youngest still a baby, school and daycare running to 5:30, a nanny covering the infant — and a family dog in the mix.
The Marsh family · Dual-Physicians
Two doctors, a toddler, and a newborn.
Two doctors in different specialties, one of them on a rota that cycles through days, nights, weekends and holidays.
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 Casterline family · Nanny to House Manager
Not someone to raise our kids. Someone to run everything else.
A Hill Country couple with two little girls and a third on the way, one parent away a night or two most weeks.
The Larkin family · Activity-Heavy Family
Three boys, three activity calendars, and nobody home at 3pm.
A family a year into a relocation, with three boys spanning primary and early secondary — each in a different mix of sport, music and clubs whose schedules never once overlap.
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
Childcare hours against household hours.
The calculator shows what you'd pay for childcare and the services around it, your own hours on top, and the return on a house manager with childcare scoped in.
- The cost today, including your own time
- A childcare-led role at the hours and rate you choose
- 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.
“Our home feels calm when we walk in at the end of a long day.”
“I feel like for the first time in years I can finish work and PLAY, just play with my kids (no laundry, no dishes, no cooking dinner).”
“We have more time to do the things we love and spend time with our kids!”
Questions families ask
Before you book.
When is an au pair the better choice?
When you need many hours of hands-on childcare, have a spare room, and are comfortable hosting. It is often the lowest-cost childcare available. It won't run your house, and the match resets every year or two. If you'd rather have a professional on the childcare, we place nannies too.
Can we have an au pair and a house manager?
Yes. One of the families above does exactly that: the au pair drives and covers the children; the house manager owns the calendar, the kitchen and the house.
Can a house manager do the childcare hours an au pair would?
Some of them: pickups, the after-school window, bedtimes, a childcare block. If you need 40 hours of hands-on care, an au pair or a nanny is the better first hire.
What does a house manager actually do all day?
The household: the daily reset, laundry, kitchen and meal prep, groceries and supplies, the calendar, vendors, errands and returns.
Free resource: The mental load, explained and time and cost calculator
What will I pay the house manager?
An hourly wage replaces the stipend, program fees and room and board. 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 done by a person in your region, not a match program. 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.
How long does it take?
If your au pair's year is ending on a date, we work back from it. 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?
The guarantee replaces the re-match a program offers. 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 the au pair.
Both can be right, and one family above has both. Bring them to the call, or start with our guide for the conversation at home.
Free resource: Pitch in the Kitchen and the calculator
Do you cover my area?
Au pair programs need a spare room; a house manager needs only a local search. 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.