Little Ones is an internationally established agency with over 15 years of experience in the industry. Our dedication, experience and integrity of placing domestic staff has resulted in the development of a constantly expanding number of satisfied clients. Our years of experience within the childcare and domestic service industry has meant that our vetting procedure has been honed down to a fine art. When you use a premium service provider such as Little Ones, you can rest assured that the domestic options that you are being presented with have all undergone a very thorough background check. We see to it that their verbal references have also been personally verified by our consultants and we make sure their experience complements your requirements.
Hiring a Butler
Butlers often get dubbed as the jack of all trades in the domestic service industry. They are doing a lot of tasks, from organising events to managing several household staff. A butler is often the one who meets or greets guests and welcomes them to the family’s home in a polite manner. They organise events, parties, as well as provide formal table services and service of drinks. They also manage and supervise the household staff and take charge of the general management of the home or the whole property. They help with a lot of duties around the house such as chauffeur duties, care of the wine cellar and other tasks that require hands-on attention.
Their tasks had evolved over the years and along with it, so does the cost of finding and hiring a butler. Hiring a butler may seem like a daunting task, especially if you are new to the process. A lot of questions might come to your mind when you decide to hire a butler for your family, including — How much does hiring a butler cost? How much do I pay the agency for finding me a butler? And even before finding a butler for your household, it is important to be clear on what you are looking for. Do you want the butler to work full-time? What are the tasks that you want your butler to be responsible for?
These may all seem tricky and confusing, especially if you are someone with full-time work and has no extra time to sift through hundreds of applications to find the best butler for you and your family.
There are many things to consider and it will be tiring and time-consuming if you were to do this on your own, which is why the families decide to find butlers through an agency.
Little Ones, as a leading childcare and domestic service provider, will ensure that the butlers we send to our clients have:
more than 2 years of experience
DBS check
At least 2 references of previous employment
We also make sure that the candidates we put forward have undergone our rigorous background checks. We aim to place only the most suitable candidates and match their principles, values and personalities to what your family needs.
Costs of Hiring a Butler
One of the first things to consider when finding a butler is to decide whether you are searching for a temporary butler or a permanent butler. If you are looking for a temporary butler, we will charge £30 per day as commission, after this, the family will need to directly pay the butler with their hourly salary, which is around £10 to 12 per hour.
Meanwhile, if you are looking for a butler who will work on a permanent position, the registration fee for this is £69. Once you are registered, our consultants will be sending you a list of candidates that are best suitable for your needs and qualifications. They will also arrange the interviews for you and guide you all throughout the whole process. The consultants will also help you with other paperworks including the contract offer to the candidate once you find someone you would like to hire. To calculate the commission fee that the family needs to pay to the agency, the consultant will take 16% to 18% of the candidate’s annual net salary.
For example, if you decided to pay your butler a salary of £500 net per week, you will need to multiply this by 52 (total number of weeks per year), and get the 16% of this to obtain the cost of the agency fee:
£500 x 52 = £26,000 x 16% = £4,160 (+ VAT)
Variables that contribute to the salary range of butlers
There are certain things that contribute to the salary range and overall job package for a butler. The salary range for a butler is dependent, as with any industry, on a number of things. In the UK, the demand for a skilled and experienced candidate outranks availability. And for this reason, an experienced and talented butler may demand a salary as high as £125,000 to £150,000 per year.
There are different variables which affect the range of the salary of a butler, and these include skills and experience, location, working hours and degree of flexibility, education and qualifications, and in some cases, accommodation or living arrangements.
Skills and Experience - candidates who speak two or more languages may command a higher salary, for being bilingual would be a great asset in the profession. Regarding the candidate’s experience as a butler, and is true with any industry, the higher the level of experience they have, the higher their salary expectations would be.
Location - London has a higher demand for experienced butlers, although rural and overseas areas such as the Middle East, South America and Russia provide higher salaries for butlers.
Working hours and degree of flexibility - If the butler position entails a part-time role only and requires a great deal of flexibility, the butler may ask for a higher salary to accommodate their living costs. The hours will also depend on the duties that are being given to them and the time allocations for each task.
Education and qualifications - Education and qualifications demonstrate the butler’s professionalism. Some attend a handful of schools or institutes that offer classes and training, and a butler with a formal training may request a higher salary.
Accommodation - If you are able to offer accommodation to the butler, may it be a live-in accommodation or a separate accommodation from the family home, this may lessen the salary range that you will be paying them. If the position does not include an accommodation, you would also have to consider the cost if the butler has to relocate to another area to be able to come work for you.
Butler Salaries
Below is a guideline of the butler market rates based on the expected salaries of butlers with between 1 to 20 years of experience.
A butler typically works for 5 to 6 days on a live-in basis, approximately 50 to 60 hours in total per week. If the family requires it, the butler may also work for over 6 days, but they will charge a higher pay as they will be providing a longer service. Here at Little Ones, we have different butler job types. This way, the families can have more options when looking for the perfect domestic option for their household.
Please note that these salaries and hourly rates depend on the families’ specific requirements and qualifications, the number of hours they need to work, location, benefits, duties, as well as the skills and level of experience of the candidates.
Junior Butler: Junior Butlers can expect to earn around £25,000 gross per annum plus benefits such as accommodation, food, etc.
Senior/Experienced Butler: These butlers are the ones who manage a number of household staff and oversee multiple properties, organise and coordinate events, as well as receive guests into your home and provide formal service. The market rate for senior butlers range from £30,000 to £70,000 per year, depending on their experience. They also usually speak more than one language.
International or Overseas Butler: They typically work for 6 days a week, around 12 hours per day and their duties include managing several properties and staff members and their salary can go up to as high as £150,000 per annum.
Since there are a number of things to be considered when it comes to employing a butler, our Little Ones consultants who are experienced in the industry are able to advise the salary expectations for your individual cases as well.
Finding a Butler
Our consultants believe that you should feel supported from the very first point of contact and we will not stop once you have found your domestic staff who perfectly complements your needs. Our consultants are always on hand to assist at any point during your search and even after you have found the domestic staff for you.
With Little Ones’ excellence and commitment to domestic staff placements, the team pride themselves on being able to delicately align a premium, luxury service to those who put their trust in them. For a no obligation consultation regarding our butlers and the most suitable option for your family, or to view a comprehensive list of butlers we have, please contact Little Ones Agency on 0207 183 0309.
