Nannies & Babysitters in Richmond, BC
Puffin Services provides hourly nannies, babysitters and in-home family care throughout Richmond, British Columbia, from Steveston and Brighouse to Richmond City Centre and Hamilton. Richmond is one of the most multilingual cities in the province, and language preference is something you can note when you book.
Where we work in Richmond
Coverage is city-wide across Richmond, including Steveston, Brighouse, Richmond City Centre, and Hamilton, at the same rates everywhere on the island and no surcharge for any neighbourhood.
Hourly care is booked online — no phone call needed.
Services available in Richmond
Richmond families can ask for something bookings elsewhere rarely mention: a caregiver who speaks the family's language, noted when you book. Around that, the services are the usual six. Babysitting and hourly nanny care fit shift work and irregular hours as easily as a standing weekly slot, from Steveston to Brighouse, City Centre and Hamilton. Postpartum support covers the first weeks at home, night shifts included. For an older relative there is hands-on HCA care, companionship, or respite for the family member who normally looks after them, and event nannies staff weddings and family celebrations. Placement, coming soon, will search the whole province and treat language as an ordinary search criterion. Pediatric therapy support is in development. A language request does not change the price; the rates are set out below.
Nanny Placement
Coming soon — a full candidate search across British Columbia, vetting, and 2–3 matched candidates for your family.
Coming Soon — Tell Us About Your Family →Hourly & Ongoing Care
Childcare, postpartum support, and senior care — booked by the hour.
View All Services →Event Nannies
Weddings, parties, and corporate events — $40/hr per nanny, with a 4-hour minimum.
Event Childcare Rates →Babysitting and nanny care in Richmond
Babysitting in Richmond is the same service as hourly nanny care, booked the same way, at the same $32/hr from three hours — in Steveston, Brighouse, City Centre or Hamilton, with no surcharge for any part of the island. A sitter booked around shift work and irregular hours, rather than a standing weekly slot, is what this is built for: no membership, no minimum number of bookings, and no ongoing commitment.
Nanny placement in Richmond
Nanny Placement is coming soon. We are not taking placements or deposits yet, so this section describes how the service will work once it opens.
Nanny placement will be province-wide: the search will draw on a candidate registry across British Columbia, at the same flat fee wherever you live. Richmond is also one of the 16 municipalities where our own caregivers come to the home for hourly care.
Richmond is one of the most multilingual cities in the province, and in a placement search language is worth naming rather than leaving to chance. If you want a caregiver who speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi or Tagalog at home, that is an ordinary search criterion — put it on the family profile and it becomes part of the shortlist rather than a hopeful coincidence. Geography is otherwise straightforward: Steveston, Brighouse, City Centre and Hamilton are all inside the same coverage, at the same rates.
- Step 1
Tell us about your household
Ages, schedule, languages spoken at home, driving, and anything non-negotiable. Your family profile is reviewed within one business day.
- Step 2
We search and vet
Candidate search, police vulnerable sector checks, and reference verification — done before anyone reaches you, not after you have interviewed them.
- Step 3
You meet 2–3 matched candidates
Matched candidates typically arrive within 7–10 business days. You interview; we do not place anyone your family has not chosen.
- Step 4
One fee, once
$500 for a placement under three months, $1,000 for three months or longer, once placement opens. There will be no ongoing commission and no hourly markup after placement.
One difference worth being clear about: a placed nanny becomes your family’s employee, not Puffin’s. Puffin runs the search, the vulnerable sector checks and the reference verification, and then steps out of the relationship. That is the opposite of our hourly childcare, where the caregiver stays a Puffin employee and Puffin carries the insurance and payroll — two different products, two different answers to "who is the employer".
Tell us about your family — we will be in touch when it opens →What care costs in Richmond
Rates in Richmond are the rates everywhere else. Hourly childcare starts at $32/hr for children 12 months and over, $38/hr where a child under 12 months is present, $36/hr for after-school pickup and care, and $36/hr overnight between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM, all with a three-hour minimum. Nanny Placement, coming soon, will be a one-time fee of $500 under three months or $1,000 for three months or longer. Steveston, Brighouse, City Centre and Hamilton are billed the same, and requesting a caregiver who speaks a particular language does not change the price either. The full rate card is in the 2026 cost guide.
- An evening out, 3 hours
- $96
- After school, every weekday
- $540 a week
- Full-time, 8 hours a day
- about $5,547 a month
Every caregiver is employed, insured, and vulnerable-sector-checked
Asking for a caregiver who speaks Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi or Tagalog narrows the shortlist; it never narrows the checks. Every caregiver is employed and insured by Puffin and has a clear police vulnerable sector check and verified references before being matched, whatever language they speak with your children.
A clear police vulnerable sector check before their first shift
Employed & insured by Puffin — not a gig marketplace
Serving every neighbourhood in Richmond at the same rates
Richmond questions, answered
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Puffin Services provides hourly nanny care and childcare, postpartum support, event nannies, and senior care across the municipality. Nanny Placement, for families who want to employ a nanny directly, is coming soon. Richmond is one of the 16 Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley municipalities we serve.
Hourly childcare in Richmond starts at $32/hr for children 12 months and older, with infant care at $38/hr and after-school care at $36/hr, subject to a three-hour minimum. Nanny Placement, coming soon, will be a separate one-time fee of $500 or $1,000 depending on length. Rates are identical in every municipality Puffin Services covers.
Hourly bookings in Richmond need a minimum of 24 hours notice so a caregiver can be matched to your family and the schedule confirmed. Once it opens, a Nanny Placement search will take longer, because candidates are sourced, vetted, and interviewed before you meet them. Same-day booking is not available yet.
You can state a language preference when you book and Puffin Services will try to match it. It is recorded as a preference rather than a guarantee, since matching also depends on caregiver availability and the type of care your family needs.
No — with Puffin Services they are the same booking. A caregiver comes to your home from three hours, at $32/hr for children 12 months and over, $38/hr if a child under 12 months is present, and $36/hr for after-school pickup or overnight care. Families tend to say "babysitter" for a one-off evening and "nanny" for something regular, but the caregiver, the vulnerable sector check, the insurance and the rate are identical either way. There is no membership and no minimum number of bookings, so it works for a single night as well as a standing weekly slot.
Yes. Every Puffin caregiver working in Richmond has a clear police vulnerable sector check and reference verification before their first shift. Hourly caregivers are Puffin employees, so Puffin carries the insurance and is the employer of record. Nanny Placement, which is coming soon, will be the deliberate exception — a nanny placed through Puffin will become your family’s employee.
Worth reading before you hire
What a nanny costs in BC
By the hour, week and month — and nanny wages if you employ one directly.
How every caregiver is vetted
Police vulnerable sector checks, references actually contacted, and what we deliberately do not do.
Employed vs. contractor — who is liable?
Why employment status decides who carries the risk, and where placement differs.
Marketplaces vs. a full-service agency
An honest comparison, including what marketplaces genuinely do better.
Returning to work after mat leave
When each childcare option needs deciding, and the transition weeks families underestimate.
Pediatric support — SLPA, OTA, behaviour intervention
In-home therapy support, in development across the same municipalities. Register interest.
Ready to start? Book hourly care for your Richmond family, or browse every service we offer across the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.
Hourly care is booked online — no phone call needed.