A weekly total can hide the cost driver that matters most: how many hours one employee works in one workweek. Federal wage rules generally require overtime for covered household employees after 40 hours in a workweek, while exemptions and live-in arrangements have separate rules. The public references behind this worksheet are collected on the Sources page.

Do not begin by asking for an hourly rate. Begin with the actual schedule. A provider cannot explain how overtime affects the bill until both sides are pricing the same hours.

1. Put one complete workweek on paper

Write every requested arrival and departure time, including weekend hours. Add the total without assuming that different days will be assigned to different people.

Requested weekly hours: ____________________

Longest single shift: ____________________

Hours that cannot move to another day: ____________________

The five-step hiring sheet uses the same basic discipline: define the job before comparing the people or organizations that might fill it.

2. Ask who will be the employer

Use this exact question: “For the person working in the house, who is the employer listed on the payroll record?”

Write the answer: ____________________

Then ask: “If the family hires this person directly, which payroll, tax, insurance, and wage-hour duties remain with us?”

Write the duties named: ____________________

An agency arrangement and a direct-hire arrangement divide hiring work differently. Use the distinction explained in Agency or Direct before comparing totals.

3. Ask how the workweek is defined

Say: “What fixed workweek do you use when you calculate overtime?” A workweek is not something to leave as “Monday through Sunday, probably.” Ask for the beginning day and time and request the answer in writing. Federal guidance treats the workweek as a fixed, recurring period, as documented through the public materials listed on the Sources page.

Workweek begins: ____________________

Workweek ends: ____________________

4. Make them place the hours on named workers

Ask: “If this schedule repeats, how many hours will each caregiver be assigned inside that workweek?”

Caregiver A: ____________________

Caregiver B: ____________________

Caregiver C: ____________________

Do not accept “we manage overtime” as the whole answer. Follow with: “Does that mean you charge an overtime rate, rotate caregivers to keep individual hours lower, or absorb overtime inside the quoted rate?”

Method used: ____________________

Listen for an answer that identifies both the staffing method and the billing result. A rotation may change who enters the house. An overtime charge may change the invoice. Those are different consequences, so record both.

5. Ask what can change after the schedule starts

Use three questions:

“Can a caregiver stay late without family approval?”

“If a replacement caregiver already has hours elsewhere, can those hours change what we are billed?”

“Who must approve overtime before it appears on an invoice or payroll record?”

Approval name or role: ____________________

Approval method: ____________________

Written notice the family receives: ____________________

This is a cost-control question, not a request for a promise that no schedule will ever change. You need to know who can create the extra cost and what record will show that approval.

6. Request one sample weekly calculation

Give every provider the same schedule and ask for a written calculation showing regular hours, overtime hours, and the number of caregivers used. Do not ask for a general estimate based on “full-time care.”

Regular hours shown: ____________________

Overtime hours shown: ____________________

Number of caregivers shown: ____________________

Other schedule-related charges shown: ____________________

If you are comparing an agency with direct hiring, keep two separate columns. The person who quotes the hourly amount may not be the person responsible for payroll administration or employment obligations. The site’s writing method is built around separating what a public rule says from what a provider promises.

7. Compare the answer with the agreement

Search the proposed agreement for “overtime,” “workweek,” “premium,” “holiday,” “schedule change,” and “authorization.” Mark the section that states how overtime is calculated and who may approve it.

Agreement section: ____________________

Matches the phone answer: Yes / No

If the agreement is silent, ask for the rule in a document that will govern the service. A salesperson’s explanation is not a substitute for locating the billing term you will be expected to follow.

Signs to stop the call

Stop and get clarification if the caller cannot identify the employer, cannot define the workweek, will not apply your schedule to named staffing assumptions, or says overtime “will not be a problem” without showing how the hours are divided.

Also stop if the sample calculation and agreement use different rules. Write the conflict in one sentence: ____________________

Your next move

Send the same written workweek to every option still under consideration. Keep only the responses that identify the employer, the workweek, each worker’s assigned hours, the overtime treatment, and the person authorized to change the schedule. Compare those five entries before comparing any quoted rate.