Nannies & Babysitters in Vancouver, BC
Puffin Services provides hourly nannies, babysitters and in-home family care across Vancouver, British Columbia, from Kitsilano and Mount Pleasant to Kerrisdale, Dunbar, the West End, and East Vancouver. City schedules are tight, and after-school pickup and evening care are booked the same way on either side of the city.
Where we work in Vancouver
Coverage spans the whole city. An evening babysitter in the apartment towers of Yaletown or the West End is the same booking as a full-time weekday nanny in a Point Grey or Dunbar house — a caregiver comes to you, and the parking is ours to sort out. Kitsilano, Kerrisdale and Mount Pleasant sit between the two, with school runs that fit comfortably inside the three-hour minimum. After-school pickup around Commercial Drive on the East Side is booked exactly as it is in Kitsilano on the west, and a nanny booked in East Vancouver costs what a nanny booked downtown costs. Parking and building access are worth mentioning when you book in a tower, because they change how a caregiver arrives rather than what the visit costs. Rates are the same on both sides of Main Street, with no downtown premium.
Hourly care is booked online — no phone call needed.
Services available in Vancouver
Vancouver bookings are shaped more by buildings and distance than by what families need. In a West End or Yaletown tower, an evening sitter or an after-school pickup is the same booking as anywhere else, with building access worth mentioning when you book; in a Point Grey or Dunbar house, it can be a full day or a regular weekday arrangement; around Commercial Drive on the East Side, after-school care is booked exactly as it is in Kitsilano. Postpartum support covers the first weeks home, overnights included, and Health Care Assistant, companion and respite care support older relatives. Event nannies cover weddings and events across the city. Nanny placement, coming soon, will search province-wide, which matters here, where commute decides whether a placement lasts. Pediatric therapy support is in development. There is no city premium on any of it — the cost section below has the rates.
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 in Vancouver — $40/hr per nanny, with a 4-hour minimum.
Event Nannies in Vancouver →Babysitting and nanny care in Vancouver
In Vancouver the word changes with the neighbourhood more than the need does — families in Kitsilano and Dunbar tend to search for a babysitter, families in the West End and East Vancouver for a nanny — and it is the same booking at the same rate either way, from three hours at $32/hr for children 12 months and over. There is no downtown premium. Vancouver families comparing this with daycare are usually weighing a long waitlist against care that starts this week in their own home; the two are not really substitutes.
Nanny placement in Vancouver
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. Vancouver is also one of the 16 municipalities where our own caregivers come to the home for hourly care.
Vancouver placements turn on commute more than any other city Puffin covers, because the caregiver you want may not live where you do. A candidate in East Vancouver and a household in Dunbar is a real daily journey, and one that quietly ends placements around month four. Naming your neighbourhood and your start time on the family profile lets the search weigh that from the beginning. Parking and building access are the other Vancouver-specific detail worth settling early, particularly in the West End and downtown.
- 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 Vancouver
Vancouver families reasonably expect to pay a city premium. There isn't one. 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. There is no downtown surcharge and no zone pricing — a household in the West End pays exactly what a household in Hope pays. The full rate card, and what genuinely does change the price, 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
Every caregiver is a Puffin employee — with a clear police vulnerable sector check and references checked before meeting a family, insured and paid by us, so you are never the employer of record. In a building with a front desk or a buzzer, that is practical as well as reassuring: we tell you who is coming, so access can be arranged by name rather than for a stranger at the door.
A clear police vulnerable sector check before their first shift
Employed & insured by Puffin — not a gig marketplace
Serving every neighbourhood in Vancouver at the same rates
Vancouver 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. Vancouver is one of the 16 Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley municipalities we serve.
Hourly childcare in Vancouver 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.
Give at least 24 hours notice for an hourly booking in Vancouver — that is the window Puffin Services uses to match and schedule a caregiver. Once it opens, Nanny Placement will run over a longer period, since it involves a candidate search, background checks, and interviews. Same-day booking is not offered yet.
No. Rates are identical everywhere in Vancouver and across all 16 municipalities Puffin Services covers. There is no downtown premium, no parking surcharge, and no difference in price between the West End and East Vancouver.
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 — a caregiver travels to the address you give us, and a hotel room, serviced apartment or short-term rental is booked the same way a house is. The rate does not change for it: $32/hr for children 12 months and over, $38/hr if a child under 12 months is present, three-hour minimum, and no travel surcharge anywhere in the city. Two things are worth sorting before you arrive rather than on the night. Online booking needs 24 hours’ notice, and a first-time booking includes photo ID verification for the household, reviewed by an administrator before a caregiver is dispatched — quick, but not something to leave until the evening you are going out. Give us the building and the room or unit number when you book, and mention the front-desk or concierge arrangement if there is one, so the caregiver is not held up in a lobby.
Yes. Every Puffin caregiver working in Vancouver 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 Vancouver family, or browse every service we offer across the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.
Hourly care is booked online — no phone call needed.