Night is usually when the fall happens and when the phone goes unanswered. So when you price overnight help, the number on the quote is where most families get surprised. It moves for reasons that have little to do with how much work actually gets done. Some of those reasons you can change. Most of them you only find by asking.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Awake or asleep on site
Ask whether the overnight person stays awake for the whole shift or sleeps in the house and wakes for a call. Those are different jobs, and agencies usually price them differently. Then ask what happens when Dad gets up at 2 a.m. and needs a hand to the bathroom. If that counts as a waking task, the awake rate applies. If the quote assumes he will not need anything, you are buying a bet, not coverage.
The minimum shift
Many agencies bill overnight in a block with a minimum length. Ask how long the minimum is and whether a short night still bills the full block. If Dad's real risk window is three or four hours, a long minimum can make a shorter-looking quote cost more than a longer one. Write the window you actually need, then compare each agency's billing against that window.
Live-in versus hourly
A live-in arrangement changes the math. You may be paying for a room, meals, and how days off get covered, and those costs do not show up in the hourly figure. Ask what the quote includes beyond wages. Ask who covers the caregiver's days off and sick days, and what happens to the night when the caregiver is out. A live-in who is also expected to cover days is a different job from one who covers nights only, and the price should say which one you bought.
What it costs: The Missouri median for non-medical in-home care is $33 an hour, per the CareScout (Genworth) Cost of Care Survey 2025 state data tables, released March 2026. New Plan Care's standard rate is $34 an hour with a four-hour minimum, so a visit starts at $136 (newplancare.com/services).
Premiums and add-ons
Weekend, holiday, and same-night starts often carry a premium. Ask which days and times trigger it and whether premiums stack on top of each other. Mileage or travel charges, fees for last-minute schedule changes, and equipment charges are common add-ons. Ask for each one in writing and ask which ones are already included in the base rate.
What the overnight aide can and cannot take on
An overnight non-medical caregiver can watch over Dad, respond when he calls, help him up and to the bathroom, and give medication reminders or pick up a prescription as an errand. Handing out, administering, sorting, or managing his medicine stays with the family, his doctor, and his pharmacist. Ask the agency to write that scope into the agreement. The scope sets the work, and the work sets the rate and the liability if something goes wrong at 3 a.m.
What to compare across quotes
Put every quote on the same page before you judge it. Check the hourly or per-shift rate, the minimum block, the premium days, the add-ons, the cancellation terms, whether the rate changes if Dad's needs rise, and who replaces the aide when they are out. Two quotes with the same headline rate can differ by a wide margin once these lines are filled in.
Your next move tonight
Write down the three hours when Dad is most likely to fall or to need you, and the hours when he is usually settled. That is the window you are pricing. Then call two agencies and ask for a quote for that exact window, using the terms above. If you need a starting list of local providers to call, Local Help in St. Louis is the place to begin.