About Sunhouse

Meet the founders

Sunhouse was founded in 2021 by sisters Nicole and April Hughes, whose Babysitting and Nanny work runs from Toronto to Vancouver. They built the agency together. They hold it together. The standards, the screening, and every match that comes out of Sunhouse passes through them both.

When you reach out, you're talking to one of them. Not a contact-form queue.

April and Nicole Hughes, sister co-founders of Sunhouse Babysitting Agency, in Vancouver, BC. — April and Nicole Hughes. Co-founders, Sunhouse Babysitting Agency.

April Hughes

Co-founder · Operations & Team Culture

April spent years inside the childcare industry before she co-founded Sunhouse. She worked as a Babysitter and Nanny across Vancouver while building a separate career as a makeup artist. The childcare work was never a side gig. It was the thread that kept pulling her back, and the one that showed her what was broken.

What she saw in those years became the basis of her belief and drive for change. Caregivers without protection. No professional structure. No one in their corner when things went wrong. Families trying to build trust on top of a system that didn't support either side.

At Sunhouse she leads operations, caregiver culture, and the day-to-day execution that holds the agency together. Caregivers are treated as the professionals they are, and families can feel the real difference that makes.

Nicole Hughes

Co-founder · Brand Strategy & Growth

Nicole's path to Sunhouse has been layered. She taught high school first, then primary, building years of perspective on how children think, learn, and form trust long before she became a mother herself. When her own child arrived, the lens turned inward. The questions that had defined her teaching career began playing out from infancy, in her own home.

What she kept noticing was the gap. Families were searching for a kind of trust the industry wasn't built to deliver. Caregivers deserved to be treated as the professionals they were. Both sides were reaching for something the existing system had no name for.

At Sunhouse, Nicole leads brand, growth, and the voice the agency carries into the world. Her thinking on standards is simple: they only matter when someone is willing to hold them.

The Sunhouse Approach

A personal touch: Every family is matched by Nicole or April directly, with attention to age, neighbourhood, and what your booking actually requires. There is no algorithm. There is no queue.
Caregivers screened in person: Every Babysitter and Nanny on the Sunhouse roster has been screened in person, by a founder, before they ever take a booking. Every caregiver earns their place.
Peace of mind, by name: Steady communication, updates without prompting, and the sense that someone is paying attention before, during, and after every booking. Every time.

Get in touch