Guides
How to write a home care agency quote, with pricing examples
A home care agency quote prices care hours, travel time and on-costs, so the family sees the real hourly rate and the agency sees its margin.
What to take away
- A home care agency quote is a rate build-up, not a price list: care hour, on-costs, travel, minimum visit and after-hours load.
- Your floor is the fully loaded cost of one care hour. Below it, every filled shift loses money.
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics gives the local wage you build on; your payroll on-costs are added on top.
- Quote the caregiver leaving mid-care-plan as a named line, so the family knows what cover costs before it happens.
- Keep the quote, the care plan and the signed authorization together; that file is what defends the invoice.
This article covers agency operations and pricing, not client care. Questions about a person's needs, medication or whether they can stay at home belong with their physician, nurse practitioner or provincial health line. Employment classification, immigration eligibility and contract terms belong with a provincial labor ministry, IRCC or a lawyer.
Build the rate before you quote it
Start with the wage you would pay a caregiver in your market. The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics tables publish wage estimates by occupation, industry, state and metro area, the cleanest public benchmark for that number. Home health and personal care aides typically land in the mid-teens to low $20s an hour, by metro.
Loaded hourly labor cost
- $22caregiver hourly wage
- 18%on-cost percentage
- $25.96loaded hourly cost
Then add what the wage really costs you. In the United States that is the employer share of FICA at 7.65 percent, federal unemployment insurance at 6 percent on the first $7,000 of wages (0.6 percent after the state credit), state unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation.
In Canada the same build-up covers CPP and EI contributions, WSIB or WCB premiums, vacation pay and statutory holiday pay. Employer EI premiums run about 1.4 times the employee rate.
Call the wage W and the on-cost percentage O. Your loaded hourly labor cost is W x (1 + O). A caregiver paid $22 an hour with on-costs at 18 percent costs $25.96 before they leave the office. At $17 an hour with 20 percent on-costs, the loaded cost is $20.40.
The rows that belong in a home care quote
Every row below is a decision, not a formality. Delete one and the family asks about it later, usually by phone, usually after a shift.
Rows every home care quote needs
- Care hour rate
- Minimum visit
- Travel and mileage
- After-hours and weekend load
- Overnight and live-in rate
- Family bundle
- Winter illness and holiday retainer
| Row | What it states | Why it is there |
|---|---|---|
| Care hour rate | The hourly charge for a scheduled visit | The core number the family compares against every other agency |
| Minimum visit | Shortest billable visit, often two or three hours | A one-hour visit two suburbs away does not cover travel or setup |
| Travel and mileage | Whether travel between clients is billed, and at what rate. The IRS business mileage rate was 70 cents a mile for 2025 | Unpaid travel is the quietest margin leak in the business |
| After-hours and weekend load | The uplift for evenings, nights, weekends and statutory holidays | Care does not stop at 5pm, and neither does the wage premium |
| Overnight and live-in rate | The flat fee for a sleeping night, and the higher rate for an awake night | Awake nights carry a wage premium and need a second caregiver on call |
| Family bundle | A set number of hours a week at a held rate | Gives the family a predictable invoice and you a predictable roster |
| Winter illness and holiday retainer | A monthly amount that reserves cover through flu season and December | Demand spikes when your casual pool takes leave |
| Caregiver change cover | The rate for replacing a caregiver who leaves mid-care-plan | Re-recruiting, re-orienting and re-introducing a client costs real hours |
| Assessment fee | A one-time charge, often $150 to $250, for the in-home assessment and care plan | Filters out price shoppers and pays for the supervisor's time |
| Cancellation window | How much notice avoids a charge, and what a late cancellation costs. A common term is 24 hours, billed at the minimum visit | A cancelled shift you cannot refill is a paid caregiver with no billable hour |
Pricing examples, with the arithmetic shown
These are illustrative, not market rates. For a benchmark, CareScout's Cost of Care Survey has put the national median for a home health aide in the high $20s to low $30s an hour in recent editions.
Private duty agencies typically charge $28 to $40 an hour in most US markets, and CAD $30 to $45 in major Canadian cities. Substitute your own figures in the examples below.
Standard weekday care hour. Loaded labor cost is $25.96. Add non-billable supervision and scheduling at 12 percent, which is $3.12. A 30 percent gross margin on the charge means cost / (1 - margin), so $29.08 / 0.70, or about $41.50 an hour. Round to $42.
Weekend care hour. The same build-up with a 15 percent weekend premium on the wage: $29.86 loaded, $33.44 with supervision, about $47.75 at a 30 percent margin. Round to $48.
Overnight care hour. An awake night at a $24 base wage plus 18 percent on-costs loads to $28.32. Supervision at 12 percent makes it $31.72, and a 30 percent margin puts the charge near $45 an hour. Sleeping nights are usually quoted as a flat fee.
Family bundle. Twenty hours a week at $40 an hour, billed monthly in advance, is $800 a week, or roughly $3,470 a month. The two-dollar discount buys you a stable roster and a predictable invoice.
Winter illness and holiday retainer. A monthly fee that guarantees cover when a caregiver calls in sick or takes holiday leave. If two last-minute covers a month cost 8 paid hours at $48, that is $384, so quote $400. Price it against your actual cost of last-minute cover, not a competitor's number.
Caregiver leaving mid-care-plan. Quote the replacement cost openly: re-recruitment, orientation hours and the supervisor's introduction visit. Budget 10 to 16 paid hours, which is $260 to $415 at a $25.96 loaded rate, and quote it as a flat fee. Families accept this line when they see it before they need it.
Assessment fee. A one-time $150 to $250 charge covers the in-home assessment and the written care plan, and it pays for the supervisor's time.
Cancellation window. Most agencies ask for 24 hours' notice and bill a late cancellation at the minimum visit.
Break-even before you discount
Your break-even client hours are fixed monthly costs divided by contribution per care hour. If rent, software, insurance and the coordinator's salary come to $18,000 a month, and each care hour contributes $12 after the caregiver is paid, you need 1,500 billable hours to break even.
Break-even and discount math
- $18,000monthly fixed costs
- $12contribution per care hour
- 1,500break-even billable hours
- 1,875hours needed after $3 discount
That number is the reason a discount is never free. Cutting the rate by $3 an hour on 1,500 hours removes $4,500 of contribution, and you now need 1,875 hours to stand still.
What the quote must say about records and claims
Keep the signed quote, the care plan, the visit notes and the payroll record in one file. The IRS guidance on what records to keep sets out the principle: records must clearly show income and expenses, with documents supporting purchases, sales, payroll and assets.
Most agencies build that file in scheduling and billing software. AxisCare handles scheduling, electronic visit verification and billing for private duty agencies; AlayaCare adds clinical documentation and runs in the US, Canada and Australia; WellSky Personal Care, formerly ClearCare, includes a family portal.
Electronic visit verification is required for Medicaid personal care services under the 21st Century Cures Act, so the visit record and the invoice should come from the same system.
Marketing the service is governed too. The FTC advertising guide for small business requires claims to be truthful and supported, and testimonials to reflect honest experience with any material connection disclosed. A quote that promises "the same caregiver every visit" is a claim you have to keep.
Common questions
What is the difference between a quote and an estimate in home care?
A quote states a rate and the conditions that rate depends on. An estimate gives a range for work whose hours are not yet known. Most home care quotes are rate sheets with conditions, because the number of care hours changes as a client's needs change.
Should travel time between clients be billed?
Bill it, or price it into the care hour. Unpaid travel between clients is a real labor cost and the most common reason a profitable-looking agency runs short of cash. Whichever you choose, state it in the quote so the family is not surprised.
How often should rates be reviewed?
Review at least annually, and whenever your provincial minimum wage, WSIB or WCB premium, or payroll contribution rates change. A rate built on last year's on-costs is a rate that quietly lost its margin.
How do I turn an hourly rate into a monthly figure?
Multiply the weekly hours by the hourly rate, then by 4.33. Twenty hours a week at $42 is $840 a week, or about $3,640 a month. State whether the month is billed in advance and what a cancelled visit costs.
Can I charge a retainer for winter cover?
Yes, if the quote says what the retainer buys: guaranteed cover for a set number of shifts, priority when a caregiver calls in sick, and a defined notice period. State what happens if the retainer is not used, so the term is clear to both sides.
