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Northern California Babies
is this a reasonable price to pay a nanny?
17 an hour for two kids?
i live in los gatos if that makes a difference. it will be 7 hours, 2 days a week. i would like to get by with 17 an hour, but is that too cheap?
also, when did you really start the nanny search (how many months before you went back to work) and do you have a contract with the nanny?
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Re: is this a reasonable price to pay a nanny?
I think $17 an hour for 2 kids is on the low end. We have a different situation because our nanny is a friend of the family and the other child's grandmother, so we are getting beyond a fabulous deal, and she is getting $20 total after taxes ($10 per kid) when she has them both.
We don't have a contract, but if we didn't know her like we do, we absolutely would have done one.
We pay $14/hr for a nanny for our one baby. That is on the low end of what I researched for a full-time 40 hour + week nanny. Our nanny is cutting us a deal b/c she lives on the same block and does not have to commute, can take the baby to her house, etc. Most of the nannys I found wanted at least $17 an hour for a full time position, but that was for people with a lot of experience. I imagine a college student would charge less and $17 might be appropriate.
to your second question, yes, I drafted up a very specific contract that specified all of our expectation, and laid out sick, vacation expectations, etc.
I don't know about Los Gatos, but I believe that the going rate for one family with two kids is $20 and up here in SF.
We do have a "contract"...it's more of a written agreement; I wouldn't consider it a legal document - it just states what holidays she gets, how much vacay and personal days she gets, how much notice we need to give each other if we want to terminate employment, and the mininum number of hours she'll be paid per week. For example, we contracted her for 32 hours per week but we normally use her for 39 hours. If one week we happened to only use her for 30 hours, we'd still have to pay her 32 hours.
No personal experience yet, but I did once get an earful from a friend of a friend who was a professional nanny about the costs and this would've been considered on the low end if you're expecting someone who will be more than just a babysitter (ie. has actual childcare training, certified, etc.. and can provide "enrichment" to your kids like take them out to museums, parks, etc.). So I think it really depends on what you expect them to do, what certifications they have to have, etc.. ?
leverby - good point, i havent really thought much about it yet. at this point, the girl that i am using on fridays doesnt clean, cook, or anything like that. she basically gets paid to take my son to run her errands - i kid you not! she takes him to starbucks to get her morning coffee, then to target to do some of her shopping - anyways, she has a great gig!
In this case, I don't think it's too low. In my area, the range is really wide depending on the qualifications and what is expected. More of a babysitter (as opposed to what I consider nanny, where the nanny works with the kiddos, has structured playtimes, educational stuff, etc) in my area runs about $10-$12 an hour for one kid, some more, some less. Professional nannies run minimum $15 an hour for one kid.
no problem. it's on my home computer, so i'll do it tonight.