Anatomy of Home Care Visits

Anatomy of a typical 2 hour AM home care visit below:

• 15m for normal travel time to/from the home
• 2m Review previous caregiver notes and visit tasks
• 30m Shower assistance
• 15m Simple breakfast from scratch
• 10m Make and leave premade lunch
• 20m Tidy and Light housekeeping
• 23m Companionship
• 5m Documenting the visit activities

The time needed to complete a task is personalized to the abilities of that individual and may vary from day to day based on their fluctuating abilities.

• Example: If someone with Parksinsons has a bad day then their shower may take an hour instead of 30 minutes
• When an essential task runs over the expected time it may be that some non-essential tasks are pushed off to the next visit

• The cost per hour for a two hour skilled private home care service on Vancouver Island ranges between $40 to $65 per hour with an average cost of $52 per hour for Nurse Supervised caregiving.
• CommunityPlus offers competitive rates at $49 per hour with the best service flexibility and value proposition. We’re here whether you need 1-hour-a-week or 24-hour-a-day care.
• Also see Home Care Basics: How much does Private Home Care cost on Vancouver Island (2026)

Travel time

to your home is typically 15 minutes for urban locations, taken from the total visit time. Ex. A 2 hour visit in town is 1 hour and 45 minutes onsite

• Travel to the home is a cost of the service that home care employers are required to pay employees for
• People who need care in remote locations require more travel from the visit time which leads to longer visits for the same care needs
• Red Flag: If the home care provider says that 'Clients get the full hours they pay for' then it means they are downloading the travel cost onto the caregivers, often with large gaps in scheduling. Good caregivers don't stick around for those practices and they are not compliant with BC labour law

Expenses are usually items like groceries paid for by the caregiver, paid parking on escorts, transportation fares or meals out. Expense examples:

• $5 for parking while escorting the client to an appointment
• $78.23 to purchase groceries for a client when the grocery card isn't set up yet
• $400 for the caregiver to accompany the client on a flight
• $30 per diem each day when not providing food for a Live-in (Homestay) caregiver

Premiums vary among home care providers and could be charged for short visits, weekend visits or higher care levels.

• Quite a few providers state that they need to evaluate and assess the Client before they are able to provide a bill rate and that the bill rate may go up based on the service needs.
• CommunityPlus charges $11 for visits less than 2 hours long. Most providers have a 2-3 hour minimum and do not provide shorter visits.
• CommunityPlus charges $6 for hours occurring on the weekend. This is an uncommon premium among providers but it provides a supply and demand control that helps us maintain stable service through weekends. The cost increase from this premium for a consistent daily service is $1.71 per hour. Using the bank debit discount effectively offsets this premium.