A low hourly rate can still produce a high weekly bill when the provider charges a minimum for every visit, so find that floor in writing before you compare anyone.

The hourly rate on a quote is only half the number. The other half is the shortest visit the provider will bill. A quote can look low and still charge for four hours when your father needs thirty minutes at the door in the morning. This guide covers that floor: where it hides, how to ask about it, and how to turn it into a weekly number you can compare.

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Step 1: Find the floor in the quote

Read the quote and the contract for any line that sets a minimum visit length. Some quotes state it plainly. Others use words like “minimum engagement,” “minimum block,” or “minimum billable time,” or they move it to a policy page. Write down what you find, and where you found it.

Minimum billable visit: ____________ hours

Where it appears (quote, contract, policy page, other): ____________________

Step 2: Ask the four floor questions

Ask each provider these questions, in this order, and write the answer next to each one.

“What is the shortest visit you will bill, and is that a per-visit minimum or a daily minimum?”
“If I book two short visits in one day, is each visit billed at the minimum?”
“If a visit ends early because the care is finished, do you still bill the full minimum?”
“Can the minimum change after we sign? If it can, what notice do we get?”

Answer 1: ______________________________

Answer 2: ______________________________

Answer 3: ______________________________

Answer 4: ______________________________

Listen for a single plain number, the same number in writing, and a clear rule for split visits and early endings. Those answers mean the floor is fixed and you can calculate with it.

Walk away from a provider who answers “it depends” without naming the rule, who gives a different minimum the second time you ask, or who will not put the floor in writing before the first shift.

Step 3: Match the floor to the visits the house needs

Make a short list of the visits your parent actually needs during a week. Keep it to the real visits: a morning check, a meal, a bedtime check, a pickup for an errand. For each one, write how long it really takes. Then write what the provider would bill, which is the longer of the real time or the floor.

Visit: ____________________ Real length: _______ Billed length at floor: _______

Then add the billed lengths for one week. Multiply by the hourly rate. That is the weekly figure to compare, not the rate itself.

Weekly billed hours for Provider A: ____________ Weekly cost at Provider A’s rate: ____________

Weekly billed hours for Provider B: ____________ Weekly cost at Provider B’s rate: ____________

Step 4: Compare floors, not rates

Two providers can quote the same hourly rate and produce very different weekly bills, because one has a short floor and the other has a long one. Put both weekly figures side by side. If one provider is cheaper per hour but more expensive per week, the floor is the reason. Note that difference on the same sheet you use for the other answers.

Floor difference that changed the ranking: ______________________________

Step 5: Write down what the floor covers

Before you sign, confirm three things in writing: whether the floor applies per visit or per day, whether an early finish still bills the full floor, and whether the floor can change. If the provider says the floor is fixed for the agreement, ask where that sentence appears in the contract. If it appears nowhere, the answer is not yet on paper.

Floor per visit or per day: ____________ Early finish billed in full: yes / no Floor can change: yes / no Where written: ____________________

Signs the floor is working against you

Stop comparing and ask again if the floor is absent from the quote and the contract. Also stop if the floor is longer than any visit you plan to book, and the provider will not shorten it for your schedule. A floor that cannot be explained in one sentence is not ready to be compared.

For the public pages behind the terms used here, see the Sources page. For how the sheets are built and checked, see How We Write the Sheets.

The Minimum Visit Line: Find the Shortest Billable Shift Before You Compare Rates