You cannot compare two quotes if each agency quoted a different week. One may have priced a steady routine, another a patchy one, and a third may have quietly left out the outings. The fix is simple. Write one scenario sheet, send the identical sheet to every agency, and grade the replies against it.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Build the sheet
Keep it to one page. Include:
- The days of the week and the start and end time of each visit.
- Total hours you expect across the week, and whether any visit is shorter than a standard block.
- Each household task, named one at a time: meals, laundry, errands, outings, animals in the home, light cleaning, and anything else you expect.
- Who is in the home during visits and how a caregiver gets in and out. Say it plainly.
- Languages needed and any match requests from your request list.
- What should happen when a visit is cancelled on short notice, and who you call.
Send it the same way
Send the same sheet to each agency in the same window, in writing, and ask for a written reply. Do not give one agency extra detail on the phone that the others did not get. If a phone call adds a fact, add it to the sheet and send the update to everyone.
Grade each reply against the sheet
Go through the returned quote one task at a time. Mark every line on your sheet as answered, silent, or unclear. A task that appears nowhere on the quote is silent. A line that says included but does not state the hours is unclear. Silence is a finding, so count it.
Then compare the totals only after you have marked every line. A low total built on silence is not a bargain. It is a gap you have not priced yet.
To read the quote itself, go to How to read a home care quote. To see how this desk scores plain answers and silence, read How We Rate.