British American Household Staffing is a leading agency in California, as well as in NY, Florida & London. We have offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Understanding the differences in these cities is key to understanding how to staff your home correctly.
Los Angeles domestic staffing and San Francisco domestic staffing vary greatly. The main differences arise from type of candidate and candidate quality, the market due to cost of living and commute.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles is a huge city and commuting is a contributing factor in hiring the best staff for your home. You must insist on receiving candidates who are no more than a one-hour drive in traffic from your location. Permanent placements only work out long-term if the domestic staffing employee has a work-life balance. Housekeeping, nannying and cooking are laborious jobs, both physically and mentally. Adding an additional 3-4 hours commute to an already long and laborious day will almost ensure the placement won’t last longer than 2 years, maximum.
Your budget will always determine what type of domestic staff employee or nanny you will be able to hire. Below are average salaries for experienced staff:
Career Nanny
$70-180,000 depending on the caliber of expertise and experience of the nanny
Executive Housekeeper
$65-85,000 the higher salary bracket is for a head housekeeper whose role is more all-encompassing
Butler
A butler in Los Angeles commonly evolves into that of a house manager $100-150,000
Estate Manager
$140 – 250,000 the higher range being for a Chief of Staff level of Estate manager, usually overseeing multiple estates, each estate with a large number of staff to manage
Chauffeur
$70-90,000
Chef
$120 – 160,0000 or $50-60 an hour for part-time
Laundress
$70-80,000
Nanny Housekeeper
$60-80,000
Nanny without education background or a degree
$60-75,000
San Francisco
San Francisco is a tiny city with bad traffic and most of the time, fairly small houses in the city. One can divide the Bay Area into three areas for hiring families:
San Francisco city
The Peninsula (Silicon Valley)
Marin and Ross
The distance between SF city and the Peninsula is far by SF standards. In traffic it can take 1.5 hours, during non-rush hour time slots the journey takes around 40 minutes, depending where in the Peninsula.
The Peninsula is:
Menlo Park
Atherton
Los Altos
Palo Alto
Woodside
The majority of families British American works with are based in these peninsula subareas.
The areas of San Francisco city we staff are:
Pacific Heights
Presidio Heights
Nob Hill
There is no glossing over the fact that cost of living in the San Francisco Bay area is the highest in the country. This can put a strain on families looking to hire quality staff. We do encourage our families to hire high-level staff by providing reasonable compensation the first time. This investment is always better for the future of your home and children and saves money by avoiding a revolving door of new staff. Some families have great success relocating staff from the East Coast or providing living accommodations to off-set some expenses.
Due to these living costs in the Bay Area, salaries are much higher, even when relocating candidates.
Career Nanny
$110-200,000 depending on the caliber of expertise and experience of the nanny
Executive Housekeeper
$85-120,000 the higher salary bracket is for a head housekeeper whose role is more all-encompassing
Butler
$140-150,000 (rarely do butlers get hired in SF)
Estate Manager
$250,0000-700,000 the higher range being for a Chief of Staff level of Estate manager, usually overseeing multiple estates, each estate with a large number of staff to manage
Chauffeur
$100,000-150,000
Chef
$150– 280,0000
Laundress
$100,000 - 120,000
Nanny Housekeeper
$90,000-130,000
Nanny without education background or a degree
$90,000-140,000