Gardiner

turksman

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Mar 14, 2005
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Hey Guys. Just wanted to get some quick advise on a certain situation. I currently have a guy that comes to my house 3 times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays to do yard cleaning (landscaping). He usually gets here around 8:00 to 8:30 ish and would be done within an hour to an hour and a half. One of the main reasons we got him was because our two dogs poop and pee all over the place and our 2 year old plays outside a lot plus the smell from the urine can also be atrocious. So he tidy's up the yard, hoses and washes down (clorox and soap) the garage area and wherever there is tiled area on the outside where the dogs pee, and picks up the poop.

Ok so I am sure most of you other "Extranjeros" out there have or feel the same way I do and always feel like you are paying more than everyone else is. We settled on a price of 4500RD a month which is dirt cheap compared to what you would pay a gardener/landscaper in North America, but does this price sound right for the DR? Also I am planning on scaling him back to only 2 days a week. Can you guys give me some advise on how much this should be costing me? Eventhough the prices would be fair in comparison to Canada this is not Canada and this is one of the reasons I moved here to save money on things like this but at the same time not take advantage of anyone. So I look forward to your help with this guys.
 

LTSteve

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Jul 9, 2010
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Well, you already established a price with this guy. Around $8.50usd a day sounds a little high but you may also be buying some loyalty. Unless you plan on finding someone else I wouldn't go crazy changing pay. Obviously if you are cutting him back to 2 days a week this will save you some money. If he is working for others also and you are paying him a little more than just maybe he will give you priority if you need him to do something extra. If he is a good worker than spoiling him a little won't hurt at all.

LTSteve
 

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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Sometimes they can't afford to be cut back....... have him wash the car or something to keep 3 days/week.
Build a wall...... minehave done walls, a carport, plant dividing and seedling work.
 

turksman

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Mar 14, 2005
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Well, you already established a price with this guy. Around $8.50usd a day sounds a little high but you may also be buying some loyalty. Unless you plan on finding someone else I wouldn't go crazy changing pay. Obviously if you are cutting him back to 2 days a week this will save you some money. If he is working for others also and you are paying him a little more than just maybe he will give you priority if you need him to do something extra. If he is a good worker than spoiling him a little won't hurt at all.

LTSteve


See this is just it Steve you say that $8.50 a day is a little high. Can you tell me what is considered average daily pay here? Thanks
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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Sounds way too high to me for 3-5 hours a week. At the high end of 5 hours a week, 20 hours a month, 4500 is too much IMO. At the low end of 12 hours a month, whoa.

Where we live, construction day laborers make 250 pesos a day for a long day of hard work. Not 1-1.5 hours of what you describe. So even if you offered him that it would be very generous and is half of what you're paying.

A lot also depend if he lives locally to you [cheaper] or if he arrives in a truck full of gardening equipment. You didn't mention any actual landscaping going on, pruning, fertilizing, etc., so I presume he's not a bonafide professional landscaper.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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The gardener is working at most 1.5 Hours/Day X 3 Days/Week X 4 Weeks/Month = 18 hours per month for which you are paying 4,500 $RD monthly or $250 RD per hour.

Many full time workers working 8 or 9 hours per day 5 days a week earn about $10,000 RD per month for working 160 to 180 hours a month. For 160 hours that comes to $RD 62.5 hourly.
 
Dec 26, 2011
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Sounds way too high to me for 3-5 hours a week. At the high end of 5 hours a week, 20 hours a month, 4500 is too much IMO. At the low end of 12 hours a month, whoa.

Where we live, construction day laborers make 250 pesos a day for a long day of hard work. Not 1-1.5 hours of what you describe. So even if you offered him that it would be very generous and is half of what you're paying.

A lot also depend if he lives locally to you [cheaper] or if he arrives in a truck full of gardening equipment. You didn't mention any actual landscaping going on, pruning, fertilizing, etc., so I presume he's not a bonafide professional landscaper.

The OP is paying for his commitment and reliability. A retainer, if you will. He's picking up feces and hosing down urine. He can ALWAYS find someone cheaper than the guy he has. And then cheaper yet. And cheaper. Ad infinitum. But someone that is dependable and trouble-free is worth more than the money you hand them.
 

bluemoonnyc

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Oct 4, 2007
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you could always pick up the dog crap yourself every time you let it go on your tile floor and save 4500 pesos..I hope this is a joke for your child's sake
 

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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The OP is paying for his commitment and reliability. A retainer, if you will. He's picking up feces and hosing down urine. He can ALWAYS find someone cheaper than the guy he has. And then cheaper yet. And cheaper. Ad infinitum. But someone that is dependable and trouble-free is worth more than the money you hand them.


Precisely, changing staff is not always good - less people on the prperty, the better.

We're very careful of that... reliability and trustworthiness are key
 

turksman

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Mar 14, 2005
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Sounds way too high to me for 3-5 hours a week. At the high end of 5 hours a week, 20 hours a month, 4500 is too much IMO. At the low end of 12 hours a month, whoa.

Where we live, construction day laborers make 250 pesos a day for a long day of hard work. Not 1-1.5 hours of what you describe. So even if you offered him that it would be very generous and is half of what you're paying.

A lot also depend if he lives locally to you [cheaper] or if he arrives in a truck full of gardening equipment. You didn't mention any actual landscaping going on, pruning, fertilizing, etc., so I presume he's not a bonafide professional landscaper.


WOW is all I can say. And no he doesn't fertilize or anything like that. The only thing other than clean the poop and wash down the tiled areas and porch is trim the hedges every two weeks. And he lives within walking distance literally about 3 minutes away by foot.

There are two boys who live in my neighborhood that have been coming by and cleaning the poop and car on my gardiner's off days and I give them 100 pesos each. They are 10 and 12 years old and seem to be very poor so I try to give them things to do to help. I am afraid to give them more work to do than that because it might look like underaged child labor and I don't know about here but that's illegal in North America. Any Suggestions?
 
Dec 26, 2011
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WOW is all I can say. And no he doesn't fertilize or anything like that. The only thing other than clean the poop and wash down the tiled areas and porch is trim the hedges every two weeks. And he lives within walking distance literally about 3 minutes away by foot.

There are two boys who live in my neighborhood that have been coming by and cleaning the poop and car on my gardiner's off days and I give them 100 pesos each. They are 10 and 12 years old and seem to be very poor so I try to give them things to do to help. I am afraid to give them more work to do than that because it might look like underaged child labor and I don't know about here but that's illegal in North America. Any Suggestions?

There are a couple of kids- a little younger and a little poorer- that will probably do it for 50 pesos each. See where this is heading?
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Depends where you are...... 600/dayin the RJ-Cabrera area...... full day , 5 days/wk

So that would be $RD 12,000 monthly for 5 full days per week ( or maybe 6 days a week) . For how many hours per day?

Remember the OP said the gardener is working 1 to 1.5 hours three times a week.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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WOW is all I can say. And no he doesn't fertilize or anything like that. The only thing other than clean the poop and wash down the tiled areas and porch is trim the hedges every two weeks. And he lives within walking distance literally about 3 minutes away by foot.

There are two boys who live in my neighborhood that have been coming by and cleaning the poop and car on my gardiner's off days and I give them 100 pesos each. They are 10 and 12 years old and seem to be very poor so I try to give them things to do to help. I am afraid to give them more work to do than that because it might look like underaged child labor and I don't know about here but that's illegal in North America. Any Suggestions?

I used to mow the lawns of my neighbours when I was 12. That was in the US. If you want to pay children to do such work, I think they will appreciate it.
 

AlterEgo

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I disagree with you pollogringo. That 100 pesos for those kids is a lot of money, and I'm sure it helps the family quite a bit. And yes, 100 pesos for an hour or so of work is a lot of money in DR - remember, gringos are paid that in call centers in DR!

We foreigners are not here to change the world and help every Dominican we meet. Dominicans hate when we come here and overpay for services like cleaning, gardening, building, etc. If we pay more than the 'going rate', that person then thinks they should always be paid that, and when we move/leave/hire someone else/etc that worker expects to be paid the same for less work than before.

I know Dominicans who will not, under any circumstances, employ a maid who has worked for a foreigner. We pay them too much and ask for too little. They say we 'ruin' them.
 

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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Lets just say 600/day X 5days = 3000/weekly...... 8am to 5pm when we're here...... 6 - 6 when we aren't.

Night man is the other 6 - 6...

Yes, he's overpaying for the short hours but is it enough to worry about?
Depends on the person - alot of things.

As I suggested earlier just ask him to do more.

Yes, my man scoops too at the end of the day...
 
Dec 26, 2011
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That 100 pesos for those kids is a lot of money, and I'm sure it helps the family quite a bit. And yes, 100 pesos for an hour or so of work is a lot of money in DR -remember, gringos are paid that in call centers in DR!

I didn't say he's underpaying them. To the contrary. I said he'll find someone to do it for even less. He always will.