The benefits of an agency over hiring your own are great.

1) Employee taxes and benefits. With an agency you don't pay
2) Liability or workers comp. With a good agency it isn't your problem
3) Insurance (bond) against possible theft

Personally, I wouldn't risk being sued, I'd let someone else take on the liability.

OP, I don't think you need a live-in. We have someone who comes in for 10 hrs a day every day, for a much smaller space. But she also cooks, and runs errands, as well as does other organizational things around the house. We pay her $39,000, 2 weeks vacation, 10 federal holidays, and 5 sick days. We found her through sittercity. Interviewed lots of people.

Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:7500 square feet 2 people 4 hours per week $150
It is cheaper to go every week than every other week. However, we are very clean people, so there isn't a lot of heavy cleaning to do--just maintenance every week.

I pay $140 every other week and my house is half that. In the DC area that is the going rate. I can't speak to the outer burbs or other areas of the country but if they're doing 7500 sf for $150, and paying taxes, I can guarantee they are doing a half-ass job.

7500 square feet 2 people 4 hours per week $150
It is cheaper to go every week than every other week. However, we are very clean people, so there isn't a lot of heavy cleaning to do--just maintenance every week.

Get a damn butler or someone to manage your household staff (nanny, maid, etc.)

BTW if you were so rich you'd already know this. Nice try though!

The OP wants Alice.

Okay, I'll bite. Two babies, live-in nanny and a couple with a lot of square footage means that you must contract weekly cleaning. Unless everyone eats out daily and the children do not mess (Ha!) you will be digging yourself a hole with every other week. As the children grow, so will their messes. If you get good staff now and treat them well on the front end they are much more likely to grow with the family.
Good luck. Finding good help is well worth the leg work.

You do not sound nice, you sound snippy op. Would anyone want to work for you op?

I grew up with families having ft maids. Pay would not correspond today. My best suggestion would be to ask like families op. You are asking for trouble otherwise.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you all. This is very helpful. I am definitely persuaded to do it once a week instead of 2 people ever other. However, I would love to hear from some people that have a full time live in maid.

Would you have other things for someone to do? I can't imagine a full time job just cleaning, but if someone cleaned and cooked, or did things like grocery shopping, dog walking, laundry, then I can see how that would be nice.

Ordinarily I wouldn't want 2 other people living in my house, but with 7500 square feet maybe you have enough space to get some separation and privacy?

Anonymous wrote:PP here. I'm also interested in a nosy way to know what happened in your life that allowed you to go from 2000 sq ft to 7500 sq ft. Seems like a big change!

NP here, but same situation. Moved from a TH to SFH. Wanted new construction. Many of the new homes closer in have tons of sq feet. House is very similar to the Bethesda center hall I grew up in, but the rooms and hallways are just bigger.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you all. This is very helpful. I am definitely persuaded to do it once a week instead of 2 people ever other. However, I would love to hear from some people that have a full time live in maid.

Would you have 40 hours of cleaning a week for a live-in to do? It seems like others are telling you there's really not that much cleaning to do, unless you have some very messy habits you've not mentioned.

I have 6000 sq feet and pay about $150 every two weeks. They are done in about 2 hours. We are very clean, and only use three of the bathrooms and two bedrooms. So, it's mostly dusting, vacuuming and washing floors. They don't do a deep clean or windows though. I'm sure you could get someone easily for $200/week.

OP here. Thank you all. This is very helpful. I am definitely persuaded to do it once a week instead of 2 people ever other. However, I would love to hear from some people that have a full time live in maid.

I do not have your problem, but if I was going to pay for the equivalent of 16 hours a week, I think I'd rather have one person for 2 days, or maybe even 3 5 or 6 hour days. I think dealing with one employee would be easier, and some things like cleaning the kitchen could happen more often.

Are you actually using all that space? I would think that in a house that size certain spaces wouldn't get that dirty. I assume, for example, you have several guest rooms that probably don't get used every week?