Full time cleaner salary range

@planner fair and balanced is ok for me. Don’t take me wrong I am a very generous person.  But one thing is being generous and a different one is advising another person the wrong wage. The guy is asking how much he should pay. $800 monthly isn’t the normal amount.

I’m in puerto plata and my neighbor pays $200 a month for 5 days a week , she does all the cooking  , cleaning  , laundry and food shopping if he needs her for Saturday or Sunday he’ll pay her$ 1500 pesos for the day  , the woman is more than happy and travels by bus from Sousa every day if she works the weekends he pays for a taxi … and she’s a Great cook

That is barely minimum wage.  And she spends a good chunk of that on transportation every day.

@ramjdmcmm agreed!

@DRVisitor I lived in the Sosua area (Puerto Plata) and the lady that cleans in the complex I lived charges $1500pesos for her service which is for one cleaning service.

I normally clean my own place but when we moved in she cleaned up the place.

@Zauna Ann Hewling

That seems on higher end for daily rate but was looking more for monthly. Though I believe they are underpaid.

1500 is reasonable for one day of work. 

Factor in how many days, do they get benefits and their cost of transportation.

Start someone out reasonable and as time passes gives raises as warranted.

I’ve had people stop to ask me if I wanted a cleaning service … mostly  from Haiti and they were asking $1500 pesos  , someone said if the person is on salary they get a little less but you pay more for just weekly service …. Just how it was explained to me

Warning: the gov't is cracking down on illegal workers. Hiring them for any work can get you in trouble.

If they don't have a cedula or a work visa then they are not allowed to work. This applies to all foreign people.  Hiring them or using their services can get you in trouble! Recent case of a man arrested for transporting 13 people to a job site

Our friends pay their housekeeper 15,000 DOP per month,  but they also provide insurance, pay her taxes, and provide lunch each day (which they normally cook)

@ddmcghee that’s the real salary of a house keeper in DR.

I was  just wondering if the pay difference is related to regions, like I’m sure you wouldn’t pay the same in Sousa as you would in a bigger city as SD  , like the cost of living is definitely different or if you had a 2 bedroom condo compared to a 4 bedroom house …just thinking 🤔 

It can change based on the neighborhood within cities.    In some areas of SD its much less and in others much higher!

Tourist areas tend to be more expensive as well.

Size of house and duties also matter!

It can vary depending of all those things. But definitely it’s not $800 monthly in any region of DR. Come on Guys they are a lot of people working for $10 hours in USA.  not much more than $800 after the taxes.

there’s no one making that kind of money

in the service industry here unless maybe your offing

more then cleaning services ….🫢

Just some thoughts:

Wages are determined by a lot of factors, the most important being the cost of living in the area you live. The DR has an exceptionally low COL compared to most places in the world, although it is being hit by inflation like everyone.

Here is a website that posts average wages in SD. https://teleport.org/cities/santo-domingo/salaries/ It shows that the median wage of ALL workers in SD is $8,450/ year. Using the US standard of 200 work days per year (not necessarily true here), thats $42.25/day or about $2,300 RDS. As stated above, they will likely be less in other areas.

You’ll see a variety of professions listed, from waitress to C-level Suite, and I think you’ll be surprised. For example, the median Physician’s wage is less than $19K USD.  In comparison, one living in Santiago, Chile earns $75K.

Now comes the part where some will have a problem with this line of thought: 

It’s pretty common for people from high income companies visiting low income countries to shake their heads in wonder at how “cheap” everything is and at how “poor” the citizens are. Of course this is one of the reasons that they are visiting in the first place!

We all need to keep in mind that standards of living vary worldwide, and people generally judge theirs against their neighbors, not other countries.

Overpaying workers is not necessarily a good thing, particularly if it’s by a lot. You might think your doing a good deed, but it can cause both you and your employees issues.  Wide diversities in pay don’t drive overall wages up, but they can cause a lot of strife among all involved. Just like at home, every employee figures out what every other employee is making. Even a stand alone worker will let slip to their neighbors and friends. While you may happily pay twice the wage, it’s unlikely others will.

This foments jealousy and conflict. If your a Gringo, you’ll likely get a bit of a pass and only considered a fool and an easy mark.

Overpaying has longer term issues as well. People routinely adjust their lifestyle to their income. When they lose their jobs and are unable to find similar pay more turmoil occurs.

It’s proper to pay well, to provide benefits and promote a friendly relationship. Just don’t overdo it. 

That website is completely  out of  touch with reality.

Your logic is flawed honey. We work   5.5 days per week. Most work  50 weeks per year!   So we work 275 days a year more or less!

MOST do not make 2,300 RD per day. 

The Average income here is  below  15,000 RD per MONTH.  That translates to 645 RD per day of work. We work  5.5 days per week  4.3 weeks per month on average!  This site WAY overstates!!! 

My Guess is that website  tracks the "official" workforce and not the actual workforce.  Most do not report earnings!    The government is starting to change that but it has a ways to go.

@Tripp789

I find it hard to believe the paying of this rate for cleaners is standard of living even for domincan republic. Even in lower income areas you still have rent, utiltiies and food to put on the table. I do not

think anyone wants to overpay or be ripped off but do not believe they are getting a fair wage compared to others.

The problem is the greed and lack of respect many times - thought I was an easy mark and a gravy train. It happened with me with one of the staffers at one of the hotels I had visited and the gravy train ended with shock and anger.

One of the biggest errors we make as expats is thinking  standard of living  is something we understand. We have our expat filters on.  What is a standard for us is not the same for everyone.

@Tripp789 this can’t be more accurate.

Just some thoughts:
Wages are determined by a lot of factors, the most important being the cost of living in the area you live. The DR has an exceptionally low COL compared to most places in the world, although it is being hit by inflation like everyone.

Here is a website that posts average wages in SD. [link under review] shows that the median wage of ALL workers in SD is $8,450/ year. Using the US standard of 200 work days per year (not necessarily true here), thats $42.25/day or about $2,300 RDS. As stated above, they will likely be less in other areas.

You’ll see a variety of professions listed, from waitress to C-level Suite, and I think you’ll be surprised. For example, the median Physician’s wage is less than $19K USD. In comparison, one living in Santiago, Chile earns $75K.

Now comes the part where some will have a problem with this line of thought:

It’s pretty common for people from high income companies visiting low income countries to shake their heads in wonder at how “cheap” everything is and at how “poor” the citizens are. Of course this is one of the reasons that they are visiting in the first place!

We all need to keep in mind that standards of living vary worldwide, and people generally judge theirs against their neighbors, not other countries.

Overpaying workers is not necessarily a good thing, particularly if it’s by a lot. You might think your doing a good deed, but it can cause both you and your employees issues. Wide diversities in pay don’t drive overall wages up, but they can cause a lot of strife among all involved. Just like at home, every employee figures out what every other employee is making. Even a stand alone worker will let slip to their neighbors and friends. While you may happily pay twice the wage, it’s unlikely others will.

This foments jealousy and conflict. If your a Gringo, you’ll likely get a bit of a pass and only considered a fool and an easy mark.

Overpaying has longer term issues as well. People routinely adjust their lifestyle to their income. When they lose their jobs and are unable to find similar pay more turmoil occurs.

It’s proper to pay well, to provide benefits and promote a friendly relationship. Just don’t overdo it.
-@Tripp789

This  can’t be more accurate

When I first came here I went to the money exchange w/a friend and he asked for a hand full of 50 & 100 peso bills and instructed me not to give more the one to anyone helping you at the hotels or restaurants , airports because if I did the. People would expect more every time from every visitor and the quality of service would change with their disappointment  , and their disappointment would carry over to other tourists which would maybe lead to them being released from their employment because of the quality or lack thereof

@Tippj

And I have noticed that is a big issue with the work ethic. Many complain about opportunities but if you work hard, opportunities are available here but always seems 1 step forward and five steps back

for many and many times cause of themselves.

probably kim kardashian doesn’t pays $900 to the house keeper.

@DRVisitor

      Yes I agree , I believe what you put into it is what you take out of it and if your unhappy w/your situation more on for greener pasture

And I think we have beaten this to death. 

And I think we have beaten this to death.
-@planner

you are entitled to your opinion.and we should too. Why you always do this? Why do you feel you can stop the thread whenever you want? Just because you have the power?

I just cannot understand why a person come out of the blue and say that? The thread is very educational and it’s not beated to death by any means.

The reality is that people from all around the world are coming to retire in DR not only from high income countries. the first reason for this is because it’s relatively CHEAP.

in Spain most people make $1200 monthly in italy even less. The only reason DR is doing better than other island in the Caribbean is because we are spending our money here.

if we stop coming because it’s no cheap anymore and we can’t afford it then lot of people are going to loose their job.

I am originally from a Caribbean island and I know how we think. If your $900 monthly employee tell my $300 employee he is making that money my employee will feel I am a POS and will look for the opportunity to steal from me or at least will retaliate by doing a shity job. This isn’t good for me or the employee because $300 is the norm.

we can help giving them clothes, food, any kind of gift but the salary should not be triple than the norm. It’s just no bueno.

The original question here has been asked and answered, multiple times. If you want to discuss the impacts of overpaying/overtipping in the DR, that should be a new thread

The original question here has been asked and answered, multiple times. If you want to discuss the impacts of overpaying/overtipping in the DR, that should be a new thread
-@ddmcghee

Because you said so or because it’s a rule? I believe people should be educated of why overpaying isn’t good and this thread is the perfect opportunity.

thanks for at least using a respectful manner to explain why do you consider this matter has been beaten to death.

The reason to start a thread on why overpaying is a problem is that this thread is only going to appeal to people who are interested in discussing the salary range for a full-time cleaner.

We try to keep all threads on the subject and suggest new threads when they start off on a tangent. It makes finding discussions much easier for all users.

So…please go start a new thread on why overpaying is a problem. I’m sure you’ll have quite a few folks contributing.

The reason to start a thread on why overpaying is a problem is that this thread is only going to appeal to people who are interested in discussing the salary range for a full-time cleaner.
We try to keep all threads on the subject and suggest new threads when they start off on a tangent. It makes finding discussions much easier for all users.

So…please go start a new thread on why overpaying is a problem. I’m sure you’ll have quite a few folks contributing.
-@ddmcghee

You didn’t answer my question. It’s against the rules?  I have a very different opinion about the content of this thread and how appealing it will be to others.

you are basically nicely ordering me to make a new thread and if it’s not against the rules I will like to refuse following orders.

Are you just trying to be argumentative? I’m suggesting the best way for you to discuss what you want to discuss. Why do you have a problem starting a new thread with that subject? I never said it was a topic that wouldn’t be interesting, I just said that people looking for that type of discussion aren’t going to be looking for that in a thread titled “Full Time Cleaner Salary Range”. Most users only open threads that are of interest to them (based on the title) and users looking for particular content will use the search function to find threads with those keywords.

But if you want to bury that content in a loosely related thread, knock yourself out!  I'm done trying to be helpful and will leave it to the admins to sort out!

As the moderator it IS my job to keep threads ON TOPIC and yes that is a rule! 

If you have an issue with this you can go complain to the owner.  You agreed to the rules when you signed up.

And now this thread will be closed!