Toolkit Series: How to Hire a House Manager with Expert Kelly Hubbell of Sage Haus
New Modern Mom Podcast
Navigating the Hiring Process for a House Manager
This chapter explores effective strategies for hiring a house manager, including the importance of a clear job description and the interview process. It also highlights common pitfalls to avoid, ensuring a successful and lasting relationship between the manager and the family.
What if hiring a house manager is the secret to finally feeling off duty at home?
Feeling like you’re drowning in chores, constantly playing catch up, and carrying the invisible load of running your household? You’re not alone, and you’re not doing anything wrong. The truth is, most modern moms are doing the job of multiple people without the actual support.
This episode is for the moms who feel like everything runs through them. Host Barbara Mighdoll sits down with Kelly Hubbell, founder of Sage Haus and hiring manager expert, to break down the real role of a house manager (sometimes called a family assistant), and how this kind of support can completely shift the way your home operates.
Spoiler: it’s not about doing more, it’s about finally doing less.
Whether you’re looking to create breathing room, delegate the chaos, or transition your nanny into a broader support role, this episode is your crash course. Kelly shares what a house manager actually does, where to find the right person, how much they typically cost, and how to onboard them successfully.
This episode is part crash course, part pep talk, and part action plan. By the end, you’ll see how applying the same principles you use in your professional life, like hiring, onboarding, and managing, can completely transform how your household runs, no additional coffee required.
What You’ll Learn:
🍴 What a House Manager Actually Does – From laundry and errands to grocery shopping, meal prep, and after-school supervision, learn how a house manager becomes your second set of hands.
💵 Costs, Budgets, and Hours – Understand typical hourly rates across the U.S., how families start small with part-time support, and strategies for aligning your budget with your household’s biggest needs.
📝 How to Find and Hire the Right Fit – Where to search for candidates (from Care.com to local Facebook groups), the best job titles to use, and interview questions that reveal whether someone will thrive in your home.
📋 Onboarding and Systems That Work – Why your new hire needs a solid playbook, clear expectations, and a 30-day check-in process, just like any great team member.
⚠️ Common Mistakes Families Make – From rushing into a subpar hire to not setting clear expectations, Kelly shares how to avoid the most common pitfalls.
Especially helpful for moms searching for:
→ What does a house manager do?
→ How to hire a house manager or family assistant
→ How much does a house manager cost per hour?
→ House manager job description and interview questions
→ How to set up systems and onboarding for a house manager
→ House manager vs family assistant vs housekeeper
Resources to help you get started on your House Manager journey:
- [Free] Barbara's House Manager Checklist: daily & weekly task checklist Barbara uses in her own home
- [Free] Quiz: How Many Hours Are You Managing Your Home? Kelly's quick quiz helps you uncover the hidden mental load
- Home Systems Course: A two hour deep dive to help you create repeatable routines and train your house manager so you can finally start taking things off of your plate for good.
- Sage Haus House Manager Hiring Service: Skip the job postings and lengthy interviews, and get matched with a pre-vetted house manager.
Follow Kelly Hubbell:
Follow Barbara Mighdoll:
About New Modern Mom: You know the dream of having it all – a thriving career, an active social life, present time with your kids, and adventures in travel. But how the F can we actually do it all? Host Barbara Mighdoll chats with other working mom executives on the raw truth behind their support systems, self-identity shifts, productivity, infertility and pregnancy loss, mom guilt, partner dynamics, childcare and even imposter syndrome. We’re exploring how these incredible women are translating their professional superpowers into their personal lives. Because we believe you can have it all, you just cannot do it all. Together, we’re building the playbook for the new modern mom.
The New Modern Mom Podcast is produced by Barbara Mighdoll, Ali Alquiza, and Em Roberts.
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