Request for guidance to hire a Caretaker

    I need guidance on how to hire a Caretaker for my house in Paranaque while I am working abroad.
   

    -@dodi1000

I will follow this topic for ideas as the only way i have been able to do this is having the maids who are staying here anyway watch the place, and maybe my brother in being there sone of the time. Once we hired an armed security guard to be here with thd helpers all night every night at a cost of about 20K php every 2 weeks.  No problems so far but it is not reliable and the helpers could quit at anytime when we are gone. In the provinces I have never come across the term "caretaker" and I would be interested to know if it is a thing here. I guess relatives may housesit but they usually cannot do so for several weeks at a time 

To the OP if you don't know anyone you can trust implicitly then it's going to be difficult to secure, I hope you can find someone, how long are you going away for? Can't you just lock up your house or bad area?

Here in the province we went back to Oz for 5 weeks and the better half got his aunty and uncle to live here and care take, we paid them. Turns out they only visited every couple of days to check on things and the house sat empty,,,, bad blood now.

Dan we call our helper the caretaker, live in 6/7 days a week, prefers to stay here on his day off rather than the shack in the Fishermans village. The term maid is not for me and sure he does all the house cleaning but also gardens, digs a trench, paints, picks up the dogs droppings so an all rounder and a quick learner.

He worked for us as a labourer to the masons for over a year and we saw his capabilities and trustworthiness, part of the family now. We look after him and it's reciprocal but like you say Dan as an employee can walk whenever he wants.

Cheers, Steve.

I want to add to this topic further, trust and confidence in the person and abilities are at the forefront for us.

I said to Ben many times over the years why not employ one of your many relatives that are unemployed and was promptly told no, why I asked? Because I don't want my family knowing all our business, tsimis etc.

After some time with me pushing he came clean,,,,,, they are not capable and that's why they are unemployed. Nice enough people but Ben knows them. As well as our experience with the aunt and uncle and he was a career security guard that told us when we purchased here we will need high fences.

Our caretaker is not a relative and though the same area is from the Fishermans village down the road from the family and a somewhat poor family, my our experience with his work ethics and abilities came over time and he was the only one that never had a day off, never asked for a pay advance, never drank much and seemed the only one to clean up after the other workers here. The major works finished and we slowly laid off the workers but held on to him until the end and had to let him go.

After the extensions were finished some months later Ben asked him if he was interested in being our caretaker, he was working for his Aunty for P400 per day and was sporadic work and went home every day. He jumped at the chance, Ben had a meeting with him and his father to spell out the rules, pay and conditions and was thanked deeply by the father to give him the opportunity. Not looked back any of us but there is a very old saying that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys and we pay him well, his PhilHealth, food and toiletries supplied. Has his own A/C bedroom with ensuite, internet, smart tv, Cignal etc. he is a self starter and doesn't stop,,,,,, oh to be 20 again and keen.

We have left him run the home so far a few times for 2/3 days if we go to Manila, every thing is perfect when we return, time will tell when we go on a months holiday.

My experience only but we seem to have chosen correctly.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearlthank you sir for your advice.  Due to work commitments I come to philippines and I stay one week every three months!

So why have a home here? A hotel would be affordable and no need for a caretaker, will be cheaper in the end.

Cheers, Steve.

I agree, I split up with my girlfriend and i have 25 years of lease!! 

    To the OP if you don't know anyone you can trust implicitly then it's going to be difficult to secure, I hope you can find someone, how long are you going away for? Can't you just lock up your house or bad area?
Here in the province we went back to Oz for 5 weeks and the better half got his aunty and uncle to live here and care take, we paid them. Turns out they only visited every couple of days to check on things and the house sat empty,,,, bad blood now.

Dan we call our helper the caretaker, live in 6/7 days a week, prefers to stay here on his day off rather than the shack in the Fishermans village. The term maid is not for me and sure he does all the house cleaning but also gardens, digs a trench, paints, picks up the dogs droppings so an all rounder and a quick learner.
He worked for us as a labourer to the masons for over a year and we saw his capabilities and trustworthiness, part of the family now. We look after him and it's reciprocal but like you say Dan as an employee can walk whenever he wants.

Cheers, Steve.
   

    -@bigpearl

It sounds like your helper is more reliable. Our helpers are usually female but we have had one male and one ladyboy that most people could not tell was male at first sight. She had some advantages in that she had the strength of a male. She lasted nearly a year with us. We have had one female that lasted 4 years. The other male was a relative. I wouldn't consider any of them caretakers and only the females "maids". 38 years ago when I first met my wife, she was a maid and that is really her term; it may seem derogatory to some but my wife considers the term and the occupation to be honorable. These helper jobs never seem to be permanent and I guess the standard of living here has gotten much better over the years and they are less desperate to work as helpers, especially with the 4P system for poor people. We avoid married women living with their husbands because these are the least reliable of all, woth husbands not respecting emoyers and making their wives arbitrarily quit at a moments notice after enough money was brought in. There are other problems with husbands that I will not mention here. But I still have no good solution to the reliable caretaker for trips problem.

!!!!!! Sell the lease and move on, no point the headaches if you are rarely there, alternatively rent it out and make a few bob.

Our caretaker here costs us P10K per month with PhilHealth and then I suppose if you have a caretaker you need to feed him or her and that may be a further P5K per month. Internet, electricity, water, Cignal, maintenance etc. is your cost. If you are only here 1 week in 3 months is it worth the heartache and costs?

I am similar as I have a 25 + 25 year lease and if I and the better half split up the property would eventually be sold, I will move onto better things.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

Dan our caretaker excels at all levels and seems to appreciate which side of the bread is buttered, early days yet and sad to hear your experiences and yes Dan, most never a thought of the long term from many here.

Our caretaker does eat a lot of rice but his choice while pushing vegetables aside,,,,, he will learn in time.

With employees you never know what tomorrow or next week will reveal with continuity as well as reliability, for us so far so good.

Cheers, Steve.

We are for holiday in Europe right now and we have a caretaker (she is also the catsitter for our cat). She worked in the housekeeping of the condo corp before and became our friend. I still pay her 10k PHP for the five weeks out of Boracay.

There are many girls who have no work and would be happy to stay in your house for 10k per month.

Sounds like you have a winner Andy, well done as they are not easy to find, will you retain her services when you return? Yes never pay the going rate but what you think they are worth and really it's still cheap for what you get with the right person. Many have told me that the rate should be P5 to 8K per month and we overpay, I wonder how long they last on low rates. What many people forget is how the family cultural ties work here with finances and incomes and the selfless giving from all quarters. (mostly)

Andy, Ben and I were in Manila for a few days and never heard boo from the caretaker, we give him some credit on his phone, he has access to messenger and WhatsApp/ when we got home he told Ben the 2 Labs got out through the ocean fence and he chased them up and down the beach to get them back home, repaired the fence, dealt with the situation and never bothered us, as said a thinker and doer.

Dan a maid is a maid, no different to caretaker, helper or employee but to me the word has several meanings. A servant, a virgin lass or an unmarried older woman hence "old maid". Simply hired help to me.

So far our caretaker is working fine.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearlDan a maid is a maid, no different to caretaker, helper or employee but to me the word has several meanings. A servant, a virgin lass or an unmarried older woman hence "old maid". Simply hired help to me.

So far our caretaker is working fine.

I agree. Question on a different topic: How do you handle Phil Health and Social Security? In our case. the helpers usually but not always want to be compensated separately and do not want us to contribute directly to Phil Health or the bank. No problem but is this legal? We cannot force them to sign up at Phil Health nor can we force them to open an SSS bank account. Then we have had cases where a husband is insistent on Phil Health (probably after talking to his buddies) but the maid could not qualify, after going through hoops (and much driving around and waiting at agencies on our part) only to find out that the maid went to the wrong PSA office and had to go to PSA in her hometown and the family there simply never made rhe effort to help, nor did she bother getting records during trips home. That meant no birth certificate so no Phil Health and no SSS account. Then another maid who lived in this area went to PSA and found out that she never even had a birth certificate...such is the reality in the rural provinces. I am familiar with  the kasambahay law and most of the employees seem to be aware as well but most are not interested in doing the parts they are required to do and virtually none want an employment contract, they just want their salary and to be able to leave freely if they wish. I am not sure if kasambahay applies to "self contractor" workers and the law is not clear about that. Indeed, If there were an actual  employee-employer contract, we could require that they give us their Phil Health and SSS account information and we could contribute online every month. We would also insist on the usual NBI report and ask for references. But this is not Manila. Certainly  husbands and relatives all seem to be familiar with these laws, including 13th month (no problem) but without a contract, they are not really permanent. They can just quit anytime without notice. You may have the great situation where they are almost "part of the family" and that's the way it used to be for my wife years ago, but here, they definitely have their own families to be concerned about and they do not consider themselves permanent. Anyway, my wife handles all of our employee relations and seems completely familiar with what DOLE expects so I don't let my curiosty take it too far.

A can of worms Dan, then some and like you I let Ben deal with frivolities of a truly unregulated convoluted system. When we started to build Ben spoke to an attorney re employing workers and the attorney gave him several options, the simplest was a one page agreement that all workers signed before employment waiving PH and SSS and as you say the later contracts involve getting government bodies involved with PhilHealth and SSS and BIR.

The 12 to 14 construction workers we employed over an 18 month period were offered the options but all just wanted the cash and no thought for retirement nor health issues and signed a simple agreement, we paid them above what they would get on another construction site and come Monday had their hand out to Ben for a pay advance for the nights Emperador, some twice a week, our care taker here never asked as he managed his finances correctly. Ben keeps meticulous books.

We never had any issues with employees at that level aside from 2 large first aid kits being raped and pillaged constantly as well as living like grubs, nice enough guys on the work site but one wonders how they live at home. Our caretaker here when a labourer generally wiped their asses. I saw what he did though few knew I was looking not even him.

As for our caretaker Ben offered his wage of P400 per day 6 days a week, 8 to 10 hours a day, food and comfortable living conditions, we pay his PhilHealth every 3 months but he didn't want SSS deducted from his wages, he will wake up eventually as he is only 20.

Gosh we live more than comfortably on my superannuation and keep growing the principal,,,,,,, because I contributed excess cash into that system for 40 years, paid off big time, here it is about today with no thought about next week let alone next year.

I don't Know the true legalities Dan and like you I let the better half deal with the trivialities, Ben pays the wages and I simply point my finger now and again, seems to work and so far harmonious. 

Cheers, Steve.

As others have said, difficult to find someone who will stay longterm. Our maid was perfect for 8 months. A real gem. We treated her as a member of the family and looked after her really well. Could not even persuade her to have time off.....

then she met a guy online and within weeks was a changed person. Out all hours and untruthful about where she had been. Then asked for a holiday "to visit her relations in the province". Promising to return after one week. No surprise that she cleared her room, left and never replied to our emails.

Very disappointing but my point is you never can rely on anyone fully.

Yes C D87, can and probably happens all the time here,,,,, young love, better pay, walking out of a prison and into a dungeon or perhaps a better life. Who know as I have made rash decisions in my earlier life, regrets no, experience yes and learnt quickly. Love and lust won't put food on the table.

OMO.

Cheers, Steve.

@dodi1000 that is such a hard question to answer,  over the 40 year period, i have gone through so many house keepers it is unbelievable.  you start of with the view everything is going to be ok, but slowly, and i mean slowly you find out you have to be very very very lucky to find someone who will be honest, reliable, and above all trust worthy.

many have this attitude of a 1 day millionaire, you pay them, and off they go, no word, nothing, or someone in the family is sick and they want to borrow money, you lend them and poof of they go never to be seen,  little items go missing,  it really is a roulette wheel.  eventually you may find someone.   so my advice, from years of pain is this.

if you are with a Philippine partner, let them deal with the situation, they will employ family, and they have contact always with others in the family.  if you are single, i would put anything i did not want to disappear, locked into a room which you are the only one who can open it.  and employ someone, who is in a family of a real friend,  which they trust.  also now we have cctv cameras, put a few of these up and signs.

eventually for me, as i am slightly different, i have a business out there a resort, and land which i sell, it is part of the selling of the land agreement owners pay a small fee so we can supply security walking around 24/7 keeping an eye out and reporting back. also cctv camera in positions which i can access through the internet.

but when i started, i left it to my wife, and even she had headaches from it,  10,000 miles away and nothing you can do.  so in the early stages we would have all items moved into a lockable room, a/c cookers anything which could walk locked away, we would spend 1 day setting them out, and 1 day locking them away.

there are no companies which give you a service except a security company, but you need to stress the the security company there staff have to log in at certain times at certain places.  It really all depends on what you want the caretaker/house sitter/ live-in/ security to do.

sorry i can not help much, but food for thought, what do you have which you do not want to go missing, if very little, a local person will do as a house sitter, but they will have friends around.

good luck and good hunting

MIKE C

Mike, I appreciate your advice, Dodi