Possibly 6-7 nights a week. The nursing home has nurses & aides that sleep during duty. I have witnessed this myself. Patients were yelling for help to go to the bathroom, when the aides finally got there, it was too late, so the Aides yelled back & it also sounded like they hit the old man! This also happened to my husband, who was in this facility for rehab. He was unable to get up himself & needed help. They never came. But my husband, being a big man, they did not harass him or they probably would have needed help themselves. Night time aides are just pay checkers from the city looking for an easy ride! This is why I was asked to sit with this lady. What should I charge to sit in a chair for 12 or so hours & make sure the woman is taken care of?
You should talk to the potential employer about overtime, taxes and social security, if you do this as an independent contractor you will be paying 15.6% self employment social security and Medicare, you will not have workmans compensation insurance, which means if you get injured helping your client you not only lose your paycheck you will have out of pocket medical expenses. Plus, no group insurance plan available.
Just food for thought.
Wages should always reflect the average pay for your area, I think the labor board website has the average pay scale on their website. Remember you are looking at a 60 to 84 hour week.
Reasonable hourly pay is whatever is the going rate in your area. Some places minimum wage. Doing night shift, some places charge more as awake night shift personnel are hard to find. Licensed Agencies could charge $20-$30/hour.
Pay is all negotiable if you are using a relative, friend, or an independent contractor [one who doesn't work for an Agency]. Will payroll taxes be taken out of the pay?
Make sure there is an employment agreement drawn up saying how many hours per day, how many day during the week, the hourly rate, and what is required of that person.