Hiring household staff is personal. The people you bring into your home manage your meals, your children's routines, your property, your schedule. Getting this wrong costs time, money and privacy. Getting it right transforms how your household operates.
A domestic staff recruitment agency exists to reduce that risk. It identifies, vets and presents candidates matched to your household's specific requirements, then supports the placement once someone starts. This article explains how the process works, what it costs, and how to distinguish a good agency from a generic one.
An agency sits between you and the candidate market. Its job is threefold: access candidates you cannot reach yourself, verify they are who they claim to be, and assess whether they will work in your household specifically, not just any household.
The roles typically placed through domestic agencies include housekeepers, nannies, butlers, private chefs, chauffeurs, estate managers, house managers, domestic couples, and personal assistants. Some agencies cover all of these. Others specialise in a narrower range.
The practical steps look like this:
You brief the agency on the role: responsibilities, hours, live-in or live-out, salary range, household dynamics, any non-negotiables.
The agency searches its network and database. For senior or specialist roles, this includes direct headhunting, approaching candidates who are not actively looking.
Candidates are screened: interviews, reference checks, right-to-work verification, DBS or equivalent background checks.
A shortlist is presented with written profiles covering experience, working style, salary expectations and availability.
You interview, trial if appropriate, and make an offer.
The agency supports onboarding and, in better firms, checks in after placement to catch issues early.
Hiring directly, through word of mouth, Gumtree, or social media, works for some roles. It is cheaper upfront and gives you full control. The trade-off is that you carry all the risk: no structured referencing, no vetting infrastructure, no fallback if the hire does not work out.
For households where discretion matters, where the role is senior, or where the stakes of a bad hire are high, an agency provides a layer of protection that justifies the fee. You are paying for access to a vetted network, for someone else to manage the process, and for a replacement guarantee if the placement fails within a defined period.
The real value, though, is in reducing the time you spend interviewing. A common frustration with agencies is the CV dump: twenty profiles land in your inbox, most of them irrelevant, and you end up running a dozen interviews before finding one viable candidate. A good agency does the opposite. It listens to the brief, understands the household, and presents a small number of candidates who actually fit. The shortlist should save you time, not create more work.
Where direct hiring tends to fall short is in specialist or senior roles, such as estate managers, private chefs, and butlers, where the best candidates are already employed and need to be approached discreetly. These people do not respond to job adverts. They respond to trusted recruiters who understand their world.
Most agencies charge a placement fee calculated as a percentage of the candidate's gross annual salary. Entry-level agencies start at 15-18%. Specialist agencies working with private households and UHNW clients typically charge 20-25% or higher. The fee reflects the depth of the search, the quality of vetting, and the seniority of the candidates being presented. Agencies that compete on price tend to compensate by sending volume, which defeats the purpose. Fixed-term contract placements often carry a higher percentage, typically 25-30%, reflecting the urgency and shorter engagement.
The majority of domestic staff placements are contingent: you pay only on successful placement. The agency carries the risk. This is standard for housekeepers, nannies, chauffeurs, and most household roles where the candidate market is active.
Retained search is a different model, used for senior or specialist roles where the candidate pool is small and the search requires discretion. Estate managers, chiefs of staff, directors of residences, and management couples fall into this category. These are not commodity hires. The best candidates are employed, not looking, and need to be approached carefully. A retained structure, typically a third at engagement, a third at shortlist, and a third at placement, funds the depth of search these roles demand.
Some agencies also offer temporary or contract placements, such as maternity cover, seasonal staff, and event support, with different fee structures, usually a weekly or daily rate with a margin built in.
These ranges reflect London and the Home Counties for roles placed through specialist agencies serving private and UHNW households. Generic job board data typically skews lower because it aggregates entry-level and part-time roles. Outside the South East, expect 10-20% lower. International placements, particularly in the Middle East, US East Coast, and Switzerland, command significantly higher packages.
Housekeeper: £45,000-£90,000
Nanny: £50,000-£120,000
Butler: £55,000-£120,000
Private Chef: £55,000-£140,000+
Chauffeur: £40,000-£70,000
Estate Manager: £70,000-£175,000+
House Manager: £60,000-£125,000
Domestic Couple (combined): £60,000-£120,000
Management Couple (combined): £120,000-£250,000+
Live-in roles typically include accommodation, utilities, and meals in addition to salary. This is worth factoring into total cost when comparing against live-out alternatives.
Not all agencies operate the same way. The questions worth asking before you commit:
What is their vetting process? A good agency references every candidate with recent employers, verifies right-to-work documentation, and runs background checks. Ask specifically what checks are included in their standard fee.
Do they specialise? An agency that places office temps and household staff through the same process is unlikely to understand the nuances of private service. Look for firms that focus specifically on private households, family offices, or estates.
What is their replacement policy? Most agencies offer a free replacement within a defined period (typically 8-12 weeks) if a placement does not work out. Check the terms. Some require the candidate to have been dismissed, not resigned.
How do they source candidates? Agencies that rely solely on inbound applications have a narrower pool than those that headhunt proactively. For senior roles, you want an agency that approaches employed candidates directly.
Do they listen or send volume? The easiest test of an agency's quality is the shortlist. If you receive fifteen CVs within forty-eight hours of briefing the role, nobody has listened. A good agency takes the time to understand the household, the principal's preferences, and the dynamics of the existing team before presenting candidates. Fewer, better-matched candidates is always the right answer.
Do they provide post-placement support? The best agencies check in after placement, at one week, one month, and three months. This catches small issues before they become resignations.
London accounts for a disproportionate share of domestic recruitment in the UK. The concentration of UHNW households, international families, and multi-property principals creates consistent demand for high-calibre staff. It also means competition for the best candidates is intense.
Salaries in London reflect this. A housekeeper in Central London typically earns 20-30% more than the same role in the Home Counties. Live-in accommodation in London also has a higher implicit value, which affects the overall package.
For international families based in London, agencies with global reach are important. Staff may need to travel with the family, manage properties abroad, or be comfortable working across cultures and time zones. Not every local agency can support this.
For straightforward, part-time, or junior roles, such as a cleaner two mornings a week, a dog walker, or a part-time gardener, an agency is often unnecessary. The cost does not justify the fee, and personal referrals or local platforms work well enough.
An agency earns its fee when the role is full-time, live-in, senior, or involves a high degree of trust. The higher the stakes of a bad hire, the more an agency's vetting and matching process is worth.
Oplu places household staff for private estates, family offices, and UHNW principals. We work on contingent mandates for most domestic roles and retained search for senior or specialist positions where the candidate pool is small and discretion is essential.
Our process is built around listening to the brief properly before we search, not after. We do not send a stack of CVs and hope one sticks. We scope the household, understand how the principal lives and works, and present a small shortlist of candidates who are genuinely matched, not just available. Every profile we send has been interviewed, referenced where possible, and assessed for fit with that specific household. The result is fewer interviews, less wasted time, and a higher conversion rate from shortlist to placement.
For current vacancies see our job board. To discuss a search get in touch.
For standard roles like housekeepers or nannies, expect 2-4 weeks from brief to offer. Senior roles such as estate managers, butlers, and private chefs typically take 4-8 weeks due to a smaller candidate pool and the need for discreet headhunting.
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