Granada housekeeper pay rates?

Submitted by Amanda on 10 July, 2008 - 12:05.

Just wondering if anyone living in Granada can give me a frame of reference for a day rate for a housekeeper here. I will probably have her come 3 days a week. I used her when I used to live here 4 years ago, but I don't remember what I paid her, I'm sure times have changed, and she will only tell me "whatever i think is fair" for pay. Thanks, Amanda

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I ended up paying her 120 C a day

Submitted by Amanda on 11 July, 2008 - 16:44.

plus another 20 C for passage to and from Masaya. (Also, I was given the guideline by some wealthy Managua families that a livein should get about $100-150 a month, which seems totally out of tune with what people on this board are saying) Anyway, I guess I am paying on the high end...but she worked for me for two years before, and was a hard worker, trustworthy, and showed up...and we all know how important those qualities are. She lives in Masaya, but it's worth it to me to have here come here, and she can always stay over if we want to go out and leave Maya with her. I was at the Masaya (dirty) market today and was told by an (i assume knowledgable) local who was with me to give the car watcher 30 C...that seems WAYYYY excessive, considering what housekeepers earn...it used to be 5 C. Is that really the case, or was he totlaly out of touch on that one?

ah, it is you

Submitted by will305 on 11 July, 2008 - 22:18.

who is out of touch ... 30 cords to a "car watcher" is way too much, 5 cords is more than enough. They each got 15 (car watcher and the local when he passed by later)

nope, nothing to the local

Submitted by Amanda on 12 July, 2008 - 09:20.

in this case....he lives in Granada next to me. He has been caring for this house and some others for the last 11 years, and I don't think he has time to go to Masaya to pick up 15 cords...and his guidance is generally dead on...but this one seemed wacky. I guess it was. Well, I'll trust my instinct and memory better next time! I'm glad the forum is here to help me guage these things.

C$100 is the high end of the

Submitted by enperadore on 11 July, 2008 - 16:21.

C$100 is the high end of the pay scale but the problem I had here in granada is that the 4 or so maid I hired were irresponsible. They would miss work constantly using the old excuse of being sick. At first I though it was the pay so i increased it and the same thing continued. They only worked 3 or 4 hours a day and I was flexible as far as what time they came but in the end i just gave up and i haven't had a maid in like 2 months. So if you find a good maid hold on to her but don't overpaid more than the market rate and i mean the Nica rate, what other nica families pay their maids, not what foreigners think is fair.

It really depends on how

Submitted by enperadore on 10 July, 2008 - 17:20.

It really depends on how many hours she is going to be working per day. A maid that works 3 to 4 hours a day/ three days a week should earn about 200 cordobas a week, 800 a month and thats on the high end really. if she works more hours then adjust it up to 100 cordobas per day but no more because remember that its part time work. remeber that like most nicas she is going to want paid holidays, vacations and the "13th" month which is a government imposed christmas bonus.

GIve her 100 cords for the day

Submitted by will305 on 10 July, 2008 - 17:07.

maybe 150 if she does laundry, but that's for Managua. Should be lower in Granada, I imagine.

That’s

Submitted by nicaus on 10 July, 2008 - 22:28.

$5.00 to $7.50 a day, I guess its better to be a maid than a school teacher.

Exactly

Submitted by fyl on 11 July, 2008 - 06:06.

This is what people miss when they say "she's great and I can afford it". While this same issue can exist anywhere, the numbers are very different here.

We had this issue with workers for the CoolTop project. With the average wage in the area at C$50/day, rushing in and offering C$100/day would severely distort the economy. We ended up paying more and giving increases to long-term workers as we all benefit from that but you do need to be careful.

I didn't comment earlier because I don't know what wages look like in Granada. In Estelí, C$40/day to C$70/day is probably the range but I do know one person that gets C$10/day plus room (sorta--part of one) and board for working full-time.