Two estimates can list the same tasks and still reach different totals because their calendar rows differ. The total depends on when the hours fall as well as how many there are. Before comparing offers, read every row that touches the night, a holiday, a weekend, or an hour outside the usual daytime block.
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 overnight hours
Overnight help is not one arrangement. Some plans keep an aide awake and available through the night. Others have an aide on site, asleep, and available to respond to a call. Some include a scheduled check partway through the night. Ask the agency which of these the estimate describes and what changes when a night needs more help than planned. Non-medical tasks such as help with a bathroom trip or a reassurance check should appear in the agreement, not be assumed from the estimate.
Name the holiday and weekend rows
A holiday row can apply to the day itself, to the day before or after, or to the whole holiday week. Ask which days the estimate lists, whether the rule follows the agency's office closure or the household's own need, and what happens when a holiday falls on a day the family already plans to cover. Weekend rows deserve the same questions, because they are often written in a different line from weekday hours.
Ask what else moves the total
Beyond the calendar rows, several features commonly shift an estimate up or down, and each should be named in writing: how the shortest visit is handled, the travel time from the agency's office to the home, the number of different tasks in a single visit, and whether a second person is needed for a transfer or a heavy job.
Where fewer agencies serve a county, a family has fewer offers to compare, so the written estimate becomes the main tool for comparison. The How to read a caregiver-supply map for your county guide explains the local data behind how thin the choice can be.
Build a comparison grid
Make one row for each calendar line and one column for each agency. Fill each cell with the answer in the agency's own words. A blank cell means the question is still open. Hold the task list constant across all the estimates, so that any difference in totals reflects the calendar and not a different list of help. When a row changes, ask for a revised estimate and keep the earlier version.
This page explains how to read the rows. It does not give prices, and any figure on an estimate should be checked against the written agreement.