Ready when you are.
Book a free call →Baby on the way?
The baby needs you. The house needs someone else.
A house manager, timed to the due date, is how families keep the house running through the newborn year. Most families with a newborn go looking for a nanny or an au pair. Both are built around the baby. The laundry, the meals, the older kids' calendar, the supplies and the fifty small things that pile up while you're feeding at 3am usually stay with you. A house manager owns that layer, and the childcare hours can sit inside the role if you need them.
Before the due date if you can; we work back from it.
The newborn weeks
Someone else has the laundry, the meals and the supplies. You have the baby.
Tell us the due date and we work back from it.
- 10,000+ families supported
- 90-day guarantee
- Flat fee, never a % of salary
What people are saying
Families who hired before, or just after, the baby came.
“As a mom of three expecting my fourth, I was drowning in what felt like endless amounts of housework. … Most people I knew hired nannies, but that never appealed to me because childcare wasn't my primary need as a stay at home mom. I needed help with everything else!”
Work back from the due date
Tell us the date. About four to six weeks from an approved job description to your first candidates, so a search that starts in the second trimester lands before the baby does.
Childcare inside the role
An au pair is limited to childcare by program rules. A nanny's job is the baby. A house manager's job description is yours to write: infant hours where you need them, the household around them.
Flat fee
Not a percentage of what you pay your hire. Grow the role as the baby grows and our fee doesn't move.
The comparison
Nanny, au pair or house manager for the newborn year.
All three are real options and the call is where we work out which fits. The honest version: if what you need is 40 hours of hands-on infant care, a nanny is the right hire, and we place nannies too. If what breaks in the newborn year is the running of the house, that is the house manager's job.
Nanny or au pair
- Hands-on care for the baby while you work or sleep
- Au pair: live-in, capped at 45 hours a week and childcare duties only by program rules
- Nanny: the baby's day, the baby's laundry, maybe the older kids after school
- The house, the meals, the vendors and the calendar are still yours
House Manager
- Meals planned and prepped, groceries stocked, the freezer full before the due date
- Everyone's laundry, the daily reset, supplies that never run out
- Older kids' pickups, activities and school logistics
- Infant hours scoped in where you want a second pair of hands
- A role that shifts as the baby becomes a toddler
Expecting and not sure which you need? Bring the due date to 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 the baby.
1
Kickoff call with your specialist
We map the newborn weeks: who's home when, what the older kids need, what falls apart first.
2
A job description for this season
Household first, infant support where you want it, written so it can grow with the baby.
3
Vetted finalists, interviews arranged
Sourced, screened and interviewed by a person. References and a background check before any offer. Interviews can happen before the birth.
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.
Already have a nanny lined up?
Then this is the layer above them.
Families with a nanny on the infant still come to us for the household: meals, laundry, supplies, the older kids' logistics. The two roles sit side by side.
Second or third baby?
The list was already too long.
Three of the families below were adding a child to a house that already had no owner for the list. The baby made it urgent, not new.
Case studies
Babies on the way, and the house ran anyway.
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 Greenhalgh family · Family in Transition
A second baby on the way, and nobody owning the list.
Two full-time working parents in a big city, a few months settled into a new house, with a second baby on the way.
The Calder family · Dual-Executives
Very capable at work. Losing every weekend at home.
Two partners in demanding legal careers, in the office most weekdays, with two young boys, a historic home that asks for constant attention, and a third child on the way.
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 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 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.
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 newborn year costs with and without help.
The calculator takes what you'd spend on a sitter, delivery and piecemeal help, adds your own hours, and shows the return on a house-manager search.
- The cost today, including your own time
- A house manager 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. We're eating better. Every week, our house manager does something thoughtful that delights us.”
“Instead of coming home and immediately thinking about dinner, dishes, laundry, groceries, and everything else that needs to get done, we can breathe.”
“She found us not one but two incredible providers: a house manager and a nanny. I can feel the mental and physical weight I've been carrying this past year starting to lift.”
Questions families ask
Before you book.
Should we hire a nanny, an au pair or a house manager?
If you need 40 hours of hands-on infant care, a nanny, and we place nannies too. If you want live-in childcare on a budget and can live with the program's limits, an au pair. If what breaks in the newborn year is the running of the house, a house manager, with infant hours scoped in where you want them. Many families end up with a nanny and a house manager side by side.
Free resource: The mental load, explained and time and cost calculator
When should we start the search?
Second trimester is ideal. About four to six weeks from an approved job description to your first candidates, then interviews, references and a start date you choose. Starting a few weeks before the due date lets the house manager learn the house while you can still show them.
Can the house manager help with the baby?
Yes, as part of the role rather than the whole of it: a second pair of hands during feeds, bottles and bedtime for the older kids, a nap window so you can sleep. If you want most of the hours on the baby, a nanny may fit better, and we place nannies too.
How many hours do families start with?
Most start at 15 to 25 hours a week and grow. Newborn-year roles often run 20 to 30. 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?
Newborn-year roles often run 20 to 30 hours, so the weekly cost 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 someone who'll be around a newborn?
Vetting someone who'll be in the house with a newborn is the same process, done before the due date. 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 fit isn't right once the baby arrives, the guarantee covers the change. 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 thinks we just need a nanny.
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?
A search timed to a due date works anywhere in the US and Canada; rural areas need a little more lead time. 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.