Night watchman (sereno) costs

Aguayo

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Oct 11, 2003
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I just hired a "sereno" (night watchman from 6 to 7) for $ 5000 pesos a month to guard the construction materials in my place.
I'm not sure if I'm paying the right price.
If some of you has a better idea about watchman prices please post your mind.
 

POP Bad Boy

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Jun 27, 2004
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I think it is high...............

Aguayo said:
I just hired a "sereno" (night watchman from 6 to 7) for $ 5000 pesos a month to guard the construction materials in my place.
I'm not sure if I'm paying the right price.
If some of you has a better idea about watchman prices please post your mind.


Mine are paid (and the others in my area.......private not companies) $1000. per week and THAT IS TOO HIGH. It was adjusted up from $750. per week when the dollar jumped to 50. Now that it's done, you can't take it back. I still know of two of my friends whose are still at the $1500. per two weeks. We live in Costambar, POP

WE (meaning myself and friends in the area that "run" our households the same) also supply them with "uniforms", shoes and hats so that they look like company guards. NO GUNS, just machete's and flashlights. AND they are all Haitian, not Dominican.
 

Snuffy

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May 3, 2002
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Night watchman here is paid $5000. He is dominican and works 6 nights per week. Santiago.
 

Castellamonte

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Snuffy said:
Night watchman here is paid $5000. He is dominican and works 6 nights per week. Santiago.
Mine are about the same, a little more,...but they are guarding a very complete house with people in it. Guarding building materials, when I was building a little finca recently, was closer to RD$750/week.
 

stallion

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May 28, 2004
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The going rate for a sereno working 6 days a week, 10 hours per day is around $3,500 rd per month.
 

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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If you have a good person, $5000 doesn't sound excessive. There have been many instances in the DR where watchmen were implicated in crimes against the people/property they were supposed to guard. You are paying the watchman not just for his time, but also his loyalty and good will.
 

Escott

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Jan 14, 2002
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Ken said:
If you have a good person, $5000 doesn't sound excessive. There have been many instances in the DR where watchmen were implicated in crimes against the people/property they were supposed to guard. You are paying the watchman not just for his time, but also his loyalty and good will.
I don't think their honesty will depend on how much they get paid. That cannot be purchased nor bought. Either they are honest or not. If they aren't they will set you up even if you doubled their pay.

Scott
 

Castellamonte

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mislarimar said:
stupid question i gues but where do you find these gards and do they come with some sort of references?
I tend to ask around. If someone is referred to me I check their references through trusted Dominican friends. I'm pretty picky about it and most of them are not hired.

Other than the obvious question of honesty, which Scott is correct about, you have to worry about if this is a second job for them. In other words, do they work all day then come to your place to "guard" all night (by sleeping). If I catch one of my serenos sleeping he is out of a job the next morning, no exceptions.

I went through a bunch of serenos at the start but now have a very stable bunch who want the work, are good at it and stay awake.
 

canadian bob

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Jan 16, 2002
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Aguayo said:
I just hired a "sereno" (night watchman from 6 to 7) for $ 5000 pesos a month to guard the construction materials in my place.
I'm not sure if I'm paying the right price.
If some of you has a better idea about watchman prices please post your mind.
Dominican 'watchmen' are the largest number of 'working' people in this country. My experience with a dozen or so of them (from various companies) is that they are completely irresponsible even when armed with a gun. They all sleep most of the night. There is only one interesting exception. An acquaintense told me that he employs local men, gives them guns and uniforms and a reasonable 'base' pay. He also makes them 'punch time clocks' around his property. If the paper records show that the clocks have been properly 'punched', they are awarded a bonus. This is the only watchman system that really works. One is far better off to use several large 'perro bravo' unless you have a commercial business. By the way, if you privately hire a man as a watchman and arm him with your gun and he shoots someone, you will go straight to jail. Canadian Bob.
 

carina

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Mar 13, 2005
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I dont have a watchman, I live in the city of pop in a house. I had friends who had a "Dominican Watchman". They lived in Casa Loma in Puerto Plata, a huge house with a big property.
The first watchman they had from this company, has his friends come in on the second floor, kitchen (separated from the main buiding ) and car and they stole alot. The watchman of course had not seen anything. He got cought by tracking phonecalls he had made, and ended up in jail.
The new one they got in replacement, was an old man, he slept all the time.
And he came without uniform, without being introduced by the company supervisor who is supposed to come with the watchmen... They did not accept him until the supervisor came of course..
The third they got, and by this point they got suspicious, and stayed up for 2 nights by sharing the hours. He went away went away, and came back around 5 am. and finished up his hours by 6 as per the agreement.
They finally hired a person by recommendation, and paid 200 RDS per night of 12 hours.
I dont know if this is common or not, according the company sending those "watchmen" out "they were sorry for the trouble but could not give any discount on the monthly cost". Of course they got no money, but that was their answer..
I hope this is not a common thing, it would be awful.
 

TEHAMA

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Feb 3, 2004
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Two Bricks??

DANG JIMMY!!
Dont you think that's being a tad bit harsh? Maybe the supplier sold you two bricks short.
TEHAMA
 

gringosabroso

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Xmas Bonus ! !

1. Bear in mind that whatever you pay to the sereno monthly, you must [by national law] pay him an extra month's pay, each year, in Dec. Usually @ Dec. 15. Therfore, when you compute the annual pay,, take the monthy pay, multiply by 13, then divide by 12, arriving at the actual monthly pay.

2. If you have any very good Dominican friends, inquire @ about the reputation of local watchman & potential watchman. All DRs develop a local reputation, positive or negative.

3. Haitians? Keep them in mind for your sereno position. Always hungry. Always looking for work. More honest than DRs? Harder workers than DRs? More responsible than DRs?
I didn't say that! Please don't put words in my mouth! Good hunting.
 
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Unarmed watchmen get around RD$ 3,000 to RD$ 4,000 a month based on a rotating schedule of 3 times 8 hours.. for watching/guarding complexes with people in it...at least that is what is paid in Cabarete and Sosua.. sometimes the property provides uniforms, sometimes the company they work for.. including the travel time of an hour or more these guys are looking at 10 hour working days..

On a side note; I would always check their references.. I caught quite a few sleeping at night and took pics of them.. when they molested me or my friends, trying to extort money or being a bit too brazen in their comments.. I showed them the pics of them sleeping the night away (I had put time and date signs on the pics) and told them they could be out of a job by the morning.. never had any trouble ever again..