Inside the Hamptons Rush, the race to staff the ultrawealthy's summer homes with housekeepers, nannies, and chefs

• Estate managers and agencies race each spring to staff the Hamptons summer homes of the ultra-rich.
• That means hiring chefs, nannies, drivers, trainers, and often providing them with housing as well.
• Estate managers said the ultrawealthy are trying to recreate Manhattan-level convenience and luxury.

If Kristen Reyes does her job well, her clients should barely notice it.

When they arrive at their summer home, the fridge will be stocked with their favorite foods, the pool will be heated to the perfect temperature, and the house will be prepped to host the exact number of expected guests.

"When people ask, 'What do you do for a living?' I say problem solve, because that's 90% of what I do," Reyes told Business Insider.

Reyes is an estate manager for ultra-high-net-worth clients, generally worth at least $30 million, but she said she's more like a concierge, handling a wide range of tasks for the families she works with, especially during the "Hamptons rush."

Every spring, estate managers and luxury staffing agencies kick into high gear in order to staff the homes of the ultrawealthy in the Hamptons, the favorite getaway destination for New York's elite. A stretch of pricy towns located around 100 miles from the city, the Hamptons pose a unique challenge for the ultrawealthy, whose many-million-dollar estates can't run themselves.

For the wealthiest clients, summering in the Hamptons is less like opening up a vacation home and more like a major logistical operation that starts months before they arrive. For many, the goal is to recreate the same level of convenience and luxury that they expect in Manhattan, said Erica Jackowitz of the lifestyle management service Roman & Erica.

"You create a paradise for yourself and a playground for yourself so you never have to go anywhere," she told Business Insider. "That's true luxury for these clients."

Competition for staff is steep

Anita Rogers, founder of British American Household Staffing, said demand for staffing in the Hamptons increases every year. Her agency helps place every position an estate might need: house managers, housekeepers, private chefs, nannies, laundresses, governesses, chauffeurs.

Part of the trick is knowing how to staff a home just right.

"We can't have one housekeeper for a 15,000-square-foot estate," she said. "We know how to structure estates properly so you can have a lot of staff and you won't even know they're there."

Rogers said that because help is in such high demand, the staffing process for the summer begins as early as January, with housekeepers and chefs among the most sought-after roles. Top staff are scooped up quickly, and the scramble intensifies as summer gets closer.

The vetting process is elaborate. Rogers said candidates go through a screening process that includes background checks, calls to references, practical tests — like watching someone make a bed —and even personality tests if a client so chooses.

"They are discreet. They are top quality," she said, adding, "If you could see a laundress work, they'll take 30 minutes per shirt."

The ultrawealthy want the best and will pay for the best, she said. A director of residence can make up to $700,000 a year, a housekeeper $100,000 a year, and a governess $180,000 a year. Staffing agencies are typically paid a percentage of the staff's pay, ranging from 20% to 30%, depending on the role.

The population in the Hamptons explodes in the summer, with some heading to second homes while others rent multimillion-dollar estates. For those who own, they may keep a ghost crew on salary year-round to take care of the home in the offseason. Come summer, they'll often need temporary staff as well.

Reyes said that since the pandemic, more and more clients are using their second homes more often year-round. When staffing up for the summer, she said she's gotten more proactive because it's increasingly a scramble every year. She tries to lock in staff by the end of summer for the next year and reaches out to her clients in January to ask what help they might need, rather than waiting for them to come to her.

"We have so many candidates, but we also have so many clients who want them, that the candidates now have their pick," Reyes said.

Recreating luxury services away from the city

Because the work is so seasonal, the Hamptons are so expensive, and demand for help is ever-increasing, it's not always possible to find local staff. The lack of affordable housing poses a real challenge, and clients are often responsible for arranging housing for their staff.

Reyes said some clients will buy or rent a smaller home nearby, where they will house several staff members, shuttling them to and from the estate each day. Others will rent out a block of rooms at a hotel. If the house is large enough, some staff might live on-site or in a cottage on the property.

Increasingly, clients are coming to expect a wider variety and standard of services while they're away from the city, Jackowitz said. That includes things like trainers, tennis pros, music teachers, hair and makeup stylists, and facialists. "They have it at home, so they also want it when they're out east," she said.

As a result, some New York-based businesses have also opened up in the Hamptons, and some individual service providers have rearranged their lives to follow their clients, living in New York during the year and the Hamptons in the summer.

"There are people that have really gotten into the rhythm and the patterns of Manhattanites," Jackowitz said, adding it's "a very lucrative and smart move because their clients can rely on them and that loyalty both at home and when they're in their summer home."

When staffing homes for the ultrawealthy, Reyes said, if you do your job well, the client doesn't see the amount of work that went into it: they make a request and see the results. They don't see you working around the clock to make it happen.

She said there's always a "crazy, behind-the-scenes hecticness" when staffing up for summer in the Hamptons.

"Most clients have no idea."