How Much to pay a Haitian handyman?

Danny W

Bronze
Mar 1, 2003
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There's no way that this doesn't sound racist, but...
We've moved into a new house, and a local Haitian worker has attached himself to us. He keeps himself busy cleaning outside and helping out in general. We like him, and I'm sure as time goes on he will have more to do and his job will be better defined. We don't even have our pool in yet, so things are just coming into focus.

I would appreciate you thoughts as to what the correct pay would be.

thanks - D
 

johnny

Bronze
Feb 8, 2003
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hausenland.com
normally salary for a dominican handyman goes from 6,000 to 10,000
labor day in construction for a haitian goes from 350 to 400
how much do you need to pay to "YOUR" haitian? it depend on you.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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normal daily rate for construcion work, as johnny mention is 350 pesos. if the dude comes to your house every day and spends all day you can give him a plate of food for lunch.
if you decide to have him on monthly basis do not pay any more than 7000 a month.
 

Don Pedro

Member
Apr 2, 2005
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It doesnot sound racist, it is racist.
You pay someone for a job not according its color skin, religious, or nationality.

You have to offer descend wages to be able to leave in DR.

In another part , as mentionned in this forum, it is very unsafe to have not well educated people from haitie inside your house.

P.
 

jrhartley

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Sep 10, 2008
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does he have references, does anyone in the area know him.......... or is he just biding his time to rob you when everything is installed .
 

Celt202

Gold
May 22, 2004
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It doesnot sound racist, it is racist.
You pay someone for a job not according its color skin, religious, or nationality.

You have to offer descend wages to be able to leave in DR.

In another part , as mentionned in this forum, it is very unsafe to have not well educated people from haitie inside your house.
P.

make that ANYBODY who attaches to you like a lamprey....

The OP is on very shaky ground and has become obligated to this self appointed handyman.

That can be very dangerous here.
 

Danny W

Bronze
Mar 1, 2003
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egregious typo

This person has worked for our builder who speaks well of him, in fact he worked on our house. There are several houses in our neighborhood that were under construction which has now been halted. He and several other workers are still living in those houses.

When he saw us moving in, he volunteered his help without asking for money. My wife, who is a streetwise Dominican, liked him as did I, and, as I said, our builder spoke well of him.

So, is 7K a month fair - too much - too little?
 

AnnaC

Gold
Jan 2, 2002
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So that it is clear to this mod and since I don't live there, is a Haitian worker doing the same job paid less than a Dominican worker?

Is that the reason for this title? It does sound like someone saying, how much do you pay your slave and we don't want to sound like that ;)
 
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Danny W

Bronze
Mar 1, 2003
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I asked because it is open to misinterpretation (see AnnaC's post above). Thank you for answering.

If you feel it appropriate, change it to "How Much Do You Pay Your Handyman", or something. I did write that it sounded racist, and in fact probably is racist, but the reality is that a Haitian laborer expects and is customarily paid a certain salary for a certain type of work, and I wanted to know what it was.

One thing that I learned in my almost 6 years of Dominican experience, is that it is important to pay correctly - not too little OR too much. My tendency is to over pay and over tip - but very often I learn that "no good deed goes unpunished". I just want to do it the right way. - D
 

AnnaC

Gold
Jan 2, 2002
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I changed the title to How Much to pay a Haitian handyman?

Hope that's more PC.
 
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dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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geez, it all gets too PC sometimes. it is quite obvious that "haitian" in this case means "from haiti" and is not a derogatory term.
to OP: most of construction workers are haitians. those few dominicans who work in construction would get the same pay unless they are specialist (tiles, electrician, maestro).
7k pesos a month is about the minimum monthly salary. check on www.sat.gov.do for the exact ammount.
 

Luperon

Who empowered China's crime against humanity?
Jun 28, 2004
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Find a way to test his honesty before he has access to valuable assets.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
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Find a way to test his honesty before he has access to valuable assets.

Good idea. We have a Haitian caretaker for our house and property, one of my brother-in-laws brought him to us from Bavaro about 5 years ago. I was leery for a long time, and the 'neighbors' in the campo didn't take to him, they were actually afraid of him because he's Haitian and they thought he was going to do voodoo on them (I swear!!). Long story short, my very shrewd 80+ year old mother-in-law spends a lot of time at that house to get away from the city. For a long time - over a year - she would leave cash (sometimes bills, sometimes change) and other small items around the house, including jewelry, when he was there. Gave him every opportunity to take it. She'd leave and go visit a neighbor for an hour. Every time she returned he would come to her and give her whatever it was and admonish her to be more careful because 'people around here steal'. Today he has keys to our house, and we don't worry a bit. And I kind of like the fact that the neighbors are afraid of him :squareeye And my mother-in-law still 'tests' him from time to time. :ermm:
You have to be SO careful. When I go to DR I leave most all of my jewelry home and only wear a plain wedding band and earrings - maybe one bracelet but usually none, and I leave my gold watch home and wear a cheapie one. I don't like to ask for trouble wearing nice jewelry, because we're not tourists in hotels, we're out there with the regular folks. One year we got out to our house and opened it up, and it needed cleaning. A woman we know for years from across the road came over like she always did and asked if we wanted it cleaned and we said yes. I had washed my hands in the bathroom and removed the watch, and forgot it on the sink while we went to the store. In an instant that watch was gone, never to be seen again. Naturally she denied seeing or touching it. We've never had her in the house again. Taking that $20 watch cost her a long-time job - and we're lucky that's all it was that she took. The Haitian fellow would have put it someplace safe and given it to me when I got back.
I don't know what we pay him, my (Dominican) husband takes care of that, but I'm sure it's in the same range as what we paid the Dominican before him.