A repair visit does not come with a time. It comes with a window, and the window is loose. The plumber will arrive sometime in the day. The cable tech will arrive sometime before the day ends. Somebody has to be home for that, and in most houses that somebody is the parent, or the family member who already covers the house.

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.

Name the person before the call

Write down who sits home for each kind of visit. Plumbing, heating and cooling, appliance repair, internet, the gas company, the roofer, the tree crew. Each one is its own block of waiting. Some take an hour. Some take the whole day. Some need an adult of record to sign at the door. Put a name next to each one. If the answer is 'whoever is free,' the answer is nobody.

Count the waiting, not the work

The repair itself is often a short job. The waiting takes the day. Count the hours of waiting. Count the calls it takes to reschedule when the window slips. Count the drive if the repair means a trip out of the house. That total is what you are actually deciding about, not the fix.

What a hired visit can and cannot do

A hired in-home caregiver can let a repair person in, keep pets out of the way, watch the work, and write down what the technician said. A hired caregiver cannot sign for a repair that needs an adult of record, cannot approve a parts order, and cannot decide whether to pay. Those decisions stay with you. Ask the agency whether a waiting visit is billed at all, and how it is recorded on the invoice. Some agencies bill it as time. Some do not allow it. Get the answer in writing, not on the phone.

The checklist

  • List every recurring visit type for the house, with the company name and the phone line you call.
  • Mark which visits need an adult of record to sign or approve.
  • Decide who waits home for each one, and who backs them up when the window slips.
  • Ask the agency whether a waiting visit is billed, how it appears on the invoice, and whether it is written into the contract.
  • Give each repair company the family contact to call when the window changes.
  • Keep one written page with the house keys, the alarm code holder, and the contact names. Do not leave it in one person's head.

Plan the week

Look at the known appointments for the next few weeks and the repair visits you expect. Block the days the house needs an adult home. Put the hired visits on the days you cannot be there. If the agency will not commit to a visit window it can actually staff, write that refusal down. Silence on the window is a finding, and it tells you what the first missed morning will look like.

Read the paper

Check the quote for a waiting or standby line. If it is missing, ask for the line in writing before you agree to anything. An agency that talks plainly about money will answer in a sentence. For a full walk through the page, read how to read a home care quote. To see how this desk scores plain talk about money, read How We Rate. For the yearly view of what home care does to a household budget, read Budgeting a Year of Home Care.