looking for a maid. November 09

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Dawebo
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looking for a maid. November 09

Post by Dawebo »

Hi folks,

I know this topic gets raised every 5 or 6 months but I wanted to see if anyone can help me with fresh info or numbers.

I'm looking for a cleaner to come to my house 2 or 3 half days per week. I've tried different ones in the past who did not work out for different reasons. Some have come and they like to spend all day basically hanging around and taking 8-10 hours to do 4 hours work. I like a cleaner to come, get the work done, and leave. 4 hours is more than enough to do what is needed and I'm not a fan of cleaners hanging around all day.

Two others I tried have been fine cleaners but on each occasion they raised the price from 400bt to 600bt within one visit. My feeling is that when they see a nice house they want to charge more regardless of the work. Their charges don't seem to equate to the amount of work involved or the time needed to do it. Is 400 baht enough for 4 hours work or am I being too tight? I just get pissed off when they agree to 400, and then try to increase to 600 almost straight away.

Comments, suggestions and any phone number are much appreciated. I live on the south side of town.

D
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hhfarang
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Post by hhfarang »

Dawebo,

400b sounds reasonable to me for four hours work, but my experience with housekeepers is that they want a full time job and charge very high prices for part time work.

Unless they can find and coordinate part time work with several home owners that are near to each other, it isn't worth it for them. They need more money than that and a part time job keeps them from accepting a full time job.

If you live in a development, maybe you have neighbors who would also like a part time housekeeper and you could pool the payment and hire one to work in different houses on different days.
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
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hhfarang
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Post by hhfarang »

a part time job keeps them from accepting a full time job.
What I meant to say is that they will usually only take a part time job until they can find a full time one... so you won't keep them for long.
My brain is like an Internet browser; 12 tabs are open and 5 of them are not responding, there's a GIF playing in an endless loop,... and where is that annoying music coming from?
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Dawebo
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Post by Dawebo »

I know what you mean.

cheers :)
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stgrhe
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Re: looking for a maid. November 09

Post by stgrhe »

Dawebo wrote:Is 400 baht enough for 4 hours work or am I being too tight?
I say that 400 baht for a full day is more than generous. If you put it into a context you'll see why. My wife, being a nurse with a masters degree, earns about 600 baht per day working for the Thai Government!

In my book I think about 300 baht for a full days is still very well paid. Don't spoil them.
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barrys
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Post by barrys »

:agree:

Normal rates around here for unskilled labour are about 4 - 5 k per month.
An experienced class 1 skipper on a boat is well-paid at 10 k per month (i.e. 333 baht per day)

We pay casual deckhands 250 baht per day for 9 hours and they're happy to do it.

Our maid started at 5 k per month and we put that up to 5.5 k after 3 months. After another 3 months, that will increase to 6 k.

She works 8 hours a day, 6 days a week - for that she cleans the house, looks after the animals, does the washing/ironing, helps in the garden and does the cooking for our tours (helped by my gf).

She also gets a share of the tips with the crew.

She reckons she has a good job.

She's only our second maid in over 4 years and most of our crew have been with us that long too.

Let's not contribute to our own inflation. :wink:
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