New Cost of Cleaner in Punta Cana

• Do you live in area where or if any neighbors or XPAT locals live that may offer any recommendations? That also could be an option...

Wow so that pricing is ridiculous.  My sense is you are paying gringa pricing.  Do you know other expats in the area?

Hoping one of our members here will add their thoughts.

@CHRISTOPHER DAVID56  Yes I do, but most have live-in maids.  I don't want that.  Reaching out here for your opinions.  Thanks!  Do tell all!

@Conifer

Yes, but beleave me they (live in maids)  may /will know people that they can recommend and you interview etc. that do not want live in job also. In the DR Dominicans will look out for Dominicans , they have friends, family, cousins guarantee will be looking for work.

Doesn't hurt to explore that option and see if works out.

Just set the expectations and price before hire. Goodluck

1500/2000 is the price I have been paying and went up over last year or so. It was like they joined a union!

Prices on any repairs or related have increased greatly and people do not even want your work because they have enough or only want big projects.

Quality is like anything else varies regardless of price.

@Conifer I leave in PC village too.  And that is the price people pay here (though without breakfast and/or lunch)  I use a male house keeper and pay 1,500 for cleaning.  But one has to explain him exsctly what is needed.  And he lives in the village

@DRVisitor It's crazy!  And yes it's like they suddenly unionized!  That's OK if the work was quality, but it's the same half-ass job for double the price.

My previous housekeeper (2020-2023) was amazing.  She would clean well, cook lunch, leave enough food made for dinner, watch over my pets.  I paid her 2000 per day (1-2 days/week) and she was super happy.  Then, she left her hotel job and asked to work "full time" ("fija").  For 30,000 a month.  Around the end of 2023, someone got in her ear, on the bus maybe, and told her she was underpaid.  And she started leaving early oe completely missing work.  Eventually I had to let her go.

Now I can't find anyone to work well.  I'm open to paying, but I can't bring myself to pay 2000 pesos for mediocre work.

It's like the quality went down (workers make less effort) but the price went up.  Punta Cana is an alien twilight zone right now, hah!!!

What happened? 

Why did this happen?

Happy to hear your stories and advice.

@rgwsf  Gotcha.  Agencies like MP Service.... with (perhaps) more professional staff... has anyone used them?

Part of whats happening is the growth of tourism industry and part is the government removing illegal Haitians who often do this type of work!   And then laws of supply and demand kick in.

In the campo in a dominican family cleaning, washing and cooking 6 days a week fulltime is 10.000 per month.

Punta Cana is by its nature a high inflated place and they know to pull the strings when demand is high.. Try searching via locals who haven’t worked for expats. But I guess that will be hard..

Over the last few years with all the construction and increase of people in general in the area (living and vacation) demand has definitely outpaced supply.

I found some one for $1,500 a day , she was walking by my house with a hotel uniform on and i ask what does she does there and she explain  , she cleans rooms  , low and behold i hired her … now i had to teach her what pledge was for the  furniture  , and what a vacuum is to clean the window sills and on top of the fan blades ,  but she was excellent at throwing 20 gallons of water in the bathroom and on the floors  , ( you wouldn’t  know water was precious here … 🤣 … for the most part  , theirs pepole out there , you just have to search  , most hotel workers are looking for a little side money

I still can't find anyone good. 

It's a process, sometimes it takes time and patience. I hope you find the rights person soon.

Hello 

There is such a large disparity in how the "workers" live vs how we live.  Multiple TVs, air conditioning, etc. and to them it means you have alot of money and can afford their prices, especially there in Punta Cana Village.  While I dont blame them to ask for more, they should give you quality service.  What you did (transporting to/from bus stop, giving them breakfast, coffee and lunch) only made them laugh at how they can manipulate you.   If someone shows you disrespect like that, you should fire them immediately.  Sorry this does not help you much.   

I am in Canada now but I am familiar with the area where you live.  There are alot of banks there and some of them have very long lines on certain days (I guess, pay day).  Wonder if you could go there and talk to some people in the lineup.  Make yourself a one page flyer where you define what you are looking for.  Print out some copies and hand them out to the people (only if they are interested) and you should find someone.

Karin

@rgwsfi

i was thinking of investing in property in vista cana or PC but im not too familliar with the are witch one is better ?

LGS this is definately the wrong thread. There are several talking about investments, this is house cleaners!

Makes me glad I live on the north coast.  I encourage any and all interested in relocating to the DR to go to Punta Cana and turn that into Fort Lauderdale South.  We already have too many people in the Sosua Cabarete area. Two new traffic lights were recently installed.  It is getting to be too much to take! (That last sentence is a joke).

Anyway, the Floridazation of Punta Cana seems to have already happened and will only get worse with more and more condos being built by the thousands over there.  But I will still recommend that area to all over the north coast.

Good luck finding reasonable labor from now on in Punta Cana, seems unlikely.

Windeguy, I need to adopt your attitude and advice. I will recommend Punta Cana to everyone.

In Puerto Plata we are seeing growth and our first traffic jams - 15 vehicles now is a tapon!!!!! I could not help but laugh having spent a total of 11 years in Santo Domingo.

All kidding aside, you are right, Punta Cana is becoming Americanized! It will be harder and harder to get help. The big hotels suck up local staff and pull from all over the country!

@Conifer

I can get you property cleaner from Poland

Here people do not have culture of work

    Windeguy, I need to adopt your attitude and advice. I will recommend Punta Cana to everyone. In Puerto Plata we are seeing growth and our first traffic jams - 15 vehicles now is a tapon!!!!! I could not help but laugh having spent a total of 11 years in Santo Domingo.All kidding aside, you are right, Punta Cana is becoming Americanized! It will be harder and harder to get help. The big hotels suck up local staff and pull from all over the country!         -@planner

I hope you take up the torch for Punta Cana.   We have more than 50 condos being built out my front door and the soon to be started Cabarete Country Club will almost cover the other edges of where I live with more than 200 more villas and condos.

Go Punta Cana!!!

I can see all the realtors recommending Punta Cana in videos where they show what it is like.

All I can say is if I wanted that sitaution, I would move to Florida.

I personally do not like the "Americanization" but it is what it is.

Tomy no you can't just go get an worker from Poland. They can't work here.

There are people who want to work and with some  good instructions you can get your needs met. A person coming to cook and clean will not likely be well educated. They will need guidance and constantly checking that it's done your way.  They will used to their ways and will struggle with yours. Keep this in mind!

Correct about just importing someone.  They would need legal residency or a practcially impossible to get work visa to work in the DR legally.

There is a book about the DR that discusses many issues.  One story I recall the author telling me personally was that she hired a woman to clean and she decided to remove the "brown stuff" from the inside of her cookware.  That brown stuff was the Teflon coating.

She was murdered a few years back, all of her friends feel it was done by her husband,  but he was not convicted.  She never got a chance to writ the book "What About Your Dominican Spouse"...  Very sad.

***

@windeguy

Good idea, I wont tell anyone my new plans

@windeguy

With adventure comes risks.   In this case it was her life but she would never have known that when she started her journey. Thanks for sharing this book, I would like to read it too.

Very good book. I had read that a number of years ago. Very sad what happened to her and to know they were not convicted.

Let's not get too far off topic please.

    I personally do not like the "Americanization" but it is what it is.
Tomy no you can't just go get an worker from Poland. They can't work here.

There are people who want to work and with some  good instructions you can get your needs met. A person coming to cook and clean will not likely be well educated. They will need guidance and constantly checking that it's done your way.  They will used to their ways and will struggle with yours. Keep this in mind!
   

    -@planner

I could call it the Floridization of Punta Cana.  Or the zero lot line Californication of that region to maximize the real estate value for the builders.

People being stacked up by the thousands in condos.  Areas that flood out in Punta Cana because of improper drainage,

and of course the rising prices for everything including house cleaners. 

I still recommend that everyone going to the DR move there and not the North Coast.