A household's hours should be sized from the house and the people in it, not from an agency's open calendar. The sizing sheet described below works for a home at the edge of a county, where a short list of agencies may serve the street and each agency has fewer caregivers to offer.

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Start with the household

List who lives in the home, who lives nearby, and which family member already covers which hours. Mark the gaps that are truly open, meaning the hours with no family member and no help. Those gaps set the size of the plan, and the agency should be asked to cover those gaps only.

Measure the house

Note the entry steps, the route from the entry to the bathroom and the kitchen, the location of the stairs, the counter space where a caregiver would work, and where the laundry is done. A house with stairs between the main rooms needs longer visits than a single-floor home with the same task list, because movement inside the house takes time.

Check where the house sits in the supply

Use the county pages on this site to see how many home care businesses serve the area compared with the older population. The method is explained in the guide to reading a caregiver-supply map, and the page on finding help where supply is thinnest describes what to do when the list is short. Where few agencies serve a street, the first question is whether any agency will serve it at the window the household needs, before any task list is written.

Size the visit blocks to the task list

Start from the task list, then choose the visit length that covers it with room for movement inside the house. Some households need a longer visit once a day. Others need shorter visits at set times that match meals or a bedtime routine. Write down what each block does not include, so the gap is visible before the first shift rather than discovered on the day.

Plan the family's share

Name the tasks the family keeps and the days the family is present. In a thin-supply area, a caregiver may be the only help a household can reach on a given day, so the family should hold the backup role for every block. Write the names beside the blocks on the sizing sheet.

Test the fit with the agency

Ask the agency how it staffs a home outside its densest area, how it schedules travel between visits, and what it does when the assigned caregiver is unavailable. Ask whether the same caregiver can be assigned to the same block each week and what the agency does when that caregiver is away. Compare the answers against the sizing sheet, and do not sign until every block has an answer.

The sizing sheet

Use a plain table with columns for the task, the hour window, the caregiver assigned, the family member who keeps the task, and the backup for that block. A block with no backup is a risk to name before signing. Revisit the sheet when the household changes, such as a new family member moving in or a family member taking on a new job.