"Watchy" average pay

raquelbelle

New member
Aug 8, 2013
33
0
0
We have recently moved onto a 7-acre property that already has a watchman. He and his family of 4 have a house just built, with plumbing, tenacity, inverter, etc. They use our land to graze their cow, donkeys, and chickens, plus get fruit and veggies from the well planted lot. We also pay their electric and cable. And we pay them a monthly wage. In exchange they keep us safe, walk the property daily, deliver us fruit and veggies, and occasionally a few eggs from their chickens. So aside from the home, electric, and land use, what would an appropriate monthly wage be? I ask because we do not like them, but have been told we are getting a great deal.
 

H.concience

New member
Jul 17, 2013
240
0
0
Watch out for watchmen lots of tricks. you dont like them ? Then dont pay them for nothing. sounds like a weird situation for you guys.
 

Rep Dom

Bronze
Dec 27, 2011
1,237
0
0
Dont understand...
. What do you mean by we dont like them?
. Why do you move to a place when there is a family that you dislike?
. As there is a watchman from before, I suppose he was paid already. That should give you an idea
. How comes these details were not fixed from scratch, I mean before moving to the property
. If you get them to move, as they are locals, it might create a difficult situation in terms of safety namely
 

raquelbelle

New member
Aug 8, 2013
33
0
0
It is a bit of a weird situation. We don't like that they have people over to visit and on the property all the time (which he has been told is not ok), and we don't like that they use the land for their own little hobby farm (which we are also working on). These details already existed before we moved, we just weren't fully aware of them, and didn't know how much they would bug us. He does have an established pay right now, but we have been told by one person that to hire a different watchman would be a lot more. Just trying to get some other opinions or point of reference for typical pay as we sort through this reality. And he has many relatives in town, definitely another huge consideration with us.
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
5,545
1,327
113
Difficult situation. Unless u live in a castle, renting land, paying bills, using ure land to graze and grow...... maybe the watchman should be paying u a salary.......

When I get someone to keep an eye on my house when I m abroad, he works nights only, has a room in the outhouse, feeds the dogs, waters garden ( but not the plantations), and a couple of odd jobs( gas bottle filling, car wash from time to time....). He than goes home in the morning when the house keeper ( someone u trust, my sobrina in this case) who cares after the inside of house and animals and bills and stuff.
The watchy does NOT have keys tovactual house only premises.
Anyway they both get a salary of 8000 pesos, which doesnt seem a lot to me but seems to satisfy them ( there again quality of dr campo workforce is dodgy).
They are fed once a day each ( salami, rice, platano, chicken.......) so like 200 pesos a day more.
 

malko

Campesino !! :)
Jan 12, 2013
5,545
1,327
113
Saw ure new post. Be subtle about it, increase work load. Propose a decent salary to him but than explain that u deduct rent and bills from it.
Pretend to be bankrupt and overwhelmed with credits and loans, explain ure not able to afford a watchy anymore, and offer to sell them the piece of land where their house is( but just to expansive for them to afford). U will see where that leads.....

Or do like the last owners, sell the house to another unexpecting acquirer, who will inhereit ure problem... dominican way.
 

raquelbelle

New member
Aug 8, 2013
33
0
0
Thanks for the advice and numbers! We currently rent the property (7 acres, Watchy and guest house, and pool), which is actually a licensed business that is no longer functioning. We have a rent to own purchase agreement of sorts. We took on the staff contracts (gardeners, housekeeper, Watchy) when we moved here, mostly to make our transition easier. We will be reevaluating contracts after the first of the year (staff know this), once we are fully settled and have had a bit to evaluate what's really needed and what's not.

With a full room and board ride, plus all his other perks, AND a salary of $4000/month our Watchy seems to be getting a good deal, which is what we thought. Again, thanks for throwing me out a few numbers, and Malko good advice on phasing him out! For now we are sitting back and watching, time will tell.

Oh, and in response to someones post, he doesn't have keys to our house at all, but the only things that lock are the bedrooms. The rest of the house is open air. Which has been interesting the last few weeks with the heat and us coming from northern US :)
 

mido

Bronze
May 18, 2002
1,522
14
38
You made a major mistake by keeping the staff without having them "liquidated" by the previous owner/ employer.
Now you are responsible for all eventually still owed benifits...
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
You made a major mistake by keeping the staff without having them "liquidated" by the previous owner/ employer.
Now you are responsible for all eventually still owed benifits...

oh, yeah. if that guy has been around for like 10 years, and you decide to waive him, he just about owns you for liquidation.
 

bronzeallspice

Live everyday like it's your last
Mar 26, 2012
11,009
2
38
Yup, the time to have gotten rid of the watchyman was prior to buying the house.
Of course, you can still get rid of him but you will have to pay all the benefits
that he's entitled to.
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
5,607
7
38
the legal minimum wage for a watchman is about RD$7,500 perfect month

I called the state secretary of labour for our serenos ad they told me the minimum is 11,300!

I'm sticking with 9,500 though, the legal minimum salary for a watchman that works for a private security company.

What I would do in the OP's case: fire the guy and find someone else. I wouldn't live with someone I don't like, on my property, just to get a 'good' deal out if it.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
6,247
113
South Coast
I called the state secretary of labour for our serenos ad they told me the minimum is 11,300!

I'm sticking with 9,500 though, the legal minimum salary for a watchman that works for a private security company.

What I would do in the OP's case: fire the guy and find someone else. I wouldn't live with someone I don't like, on my property, just to get a 'good' deal out if it.

Mauricio, it's more complicated than that - this watchman has been there a long time, lives on the property, has a lot of relatives nearby. To get rid of him might mean a fortune in liquidation [who knows how many years worth!], plus the possible retribution of his family. Could be very expensive and even dangerous to get rid of him. He's got a great deal - even an inverter/cable/electric paid. The OP has a decent deal too, but it may be hard to re-establish control of the situation, which I agree has to be done. I'd hate to be in the OP's shoes.
 

bronzeallspice

Live everyday like it's your last
Mar 26, 2012
11,009
2
38
If he wants to get rid of him, the OP needs to offer him a good package deal, in order to avoid retribution.
 

raquelbelle

New member
Aug 8, 2013
33
0
0
Their contracts specifically do not include severance (which I assume is the liquidation you speak of?) they only include Christmas pay. Even with that it is definitely a sticky and problematic situation. Safety and connections being the main concern if we were to let him go. I think we will probably end up slowly placing more and more restrictions, and if he doesn't like it he can leave. He and his family as people are kind, hopefully as it plays out we can work out our differences in regards to each parties needs. This watchman situation is definitely a snag. We always have the option of leaving, we have an easy out written into our rental with eventual purchase contract. Hopefully it doesn't come to that! And hopefully our na?vet? doesn't burn us! It is great to have this forum as a sounding board to help point out other aspects of concern.
 

caribmike

Gold
Jul 9, 2009
6,808
202
63
"Their contracts specifically do not include severance"

I doubt that matters... They will get you to pay severance doesn't matter what a contract says I am afraid.
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
Their contracts specifically do not include severance (which I assume is the liquidation you speak of?) they only include Christmas pay. Even with that it is definitely a sticky and problematic situation. Safety and connections being the main concern if we were to let him go. I think we will probably end up slowly placing more and more restrictions, and if he doesn't like it he can leave. He and his family as people are kind, hopefully as it plays out we can work out our differences in regards to each parties needs. This watchman situation is definitely a snag. We always have the option of leaving, we have an easy out written into our rental with eventual purchase contract. Hopefully it doesn't come to that! And hopefully our na?vet? doesn't burn us! It is great to have this forum as a sounding board to help point out other aspects of concern.

he and his family as people are kind? yes, now that they have not yet been put into a position to show how unkind they can be

liquidation applies to all employees, i am almost sure. if you are a gringo, or gringa, then i am 100% positive.