? Is 100/hour suitable for part-time maid in CM?

[Old Curmudgeon]

Need to hire part-time maid for 3-bedroom house, 2 days/week.

Is 100 per hour suitable to get a good maid?

 

I just moved from one-bedroom condo into 3-bedroom house.

In the condo maid came in 2 days every week.

Paid 100/hour.

She was happy with that and did very good work.

 

Recently moved into 3-bedroom house (out Chaing Mai - Doi Saket Road).

Too far away for previous maid to travel (no car, no motocy).

Will 100/hour attract a good maid?

Or must pay more?

 

Not required to understand English.

My Thai is not great, but enough to give instructions.

 

Examples of work:

- laundry in wash machine, then hang to dry.

- fold dry clothes, put away, some ironing.

- clean bathrooms

- clean kitchen, refrigerator, sink, cupboards

- vacuum and mop floors

- empty wastebaskets & take out trash

- sweep outside patio

- water plants outside

- help me assemble new shelves and similar moving tasks.

 

 

(And, I am looking to hire now, so if anyone reading this has wife, sister-in-law, neighbour, etc, who is interested, please send private message. I can communicate by LINE in Thai.)

 

Edited October 21 by Old Curmudgeon

[itsari]

2 hours ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

Need to hire part-time maid for 3-bedroom house, 2 days/week.

Is 100 per hour suitable to get a good maid?

 

I just moved from one-bedroom condo into 3-bedroom house.

In the condo maid came in 2 days every week.

Paid 100/hour.

She was happy with that and did very good work.

 

Recently moved into 3-bedroom house (out Chaing Mai - Doi Saket Road).

Too far away for previous maid to travel (no car, no motocy).

Will 100/hour attract a good maid?

Or must pay more?

 

Not required to understand English.

My Thai is not great, but enough to give instructions.

 

Examples of work:

- laundry in wash machine, then hang to dry.

- fold dry clothes, put away, some ironing.

- clean bathrooms

- clean kitchen, refrigerator, sink, cupboards

- vacuum and mop floors

- empty wastebaskets & take out trash

- sweep outside patio

- water plants outside

- help me assemble new shelves and similar moving tasks.

 

 

(And, I am looking to hire now, so if anyone reading this has wife, sister-in-law, neighbour, etc, who is interested, please send private message. I can communicate by LINE in Thai.)

 

100 baht an hour would be bare minimum for two times a week in my experience.

Five hours to clean gives them 500 baht . Not so jaw dropping for them.

[bradiston]

3 minutes ago, itsari said:

100 baht an hour would be bare minimum for two times a week in my experience.

Five hours to clean gives them 500 baht . Not so jaw dropping for them.

Agree. I used to pay 300 for a one bed condo, maybe 2 hours work, with less to do than your schedule. I think 300 would be nearer the mark. 3 bedrooms could be a lot of work if all occupied.

[NativeBob]

Just fine. pls don't count it by $/hr. 500/time is fair enough even for BKK

[itsari]

1 minute ago, bradiston said:

Agree. I used to pay 300 for a one bed condo, maybe 2 hours work, with less to do than your schedule. I think 300 would be nearer the mark. 3 bedrooms could be a lot of work if all occupied.

I agree , 100 is not going to attract an experienced cleaner 

Many I have used have little idea how to clean , forget the price

[AustinRacing]

It depends on how good looking she is and what else she can do. 😉

[bkk6060]

Most basic maids will not wash clothes, water plants, clean inside frig.

I think for a 3 bedroom and the additional work you want done, 500 b total is reasonable.

Edited October 21 by bkk6060

[Will B Good]

 

 

Not bad 100B/hour.

 

My MIL (58 yo) gets a free lunch and 250/day for farm work...... an 8 hour day in the sun!!!!

[Old Curmudgeon]

Thank you for helpful comments above.

 

#1 - With Thai helpers, I have learned over many years to only pay by the hour.

And I tell them, "Slow-slow, careful-careful, clean in all the corners."

 

If pay "by the job" or "by the day", they rush-rush to finish and get the money.

But I realize that is not the Thai way -- they are used to paid by the job or paid by the day, so it takes some adjustment for them to getting paid by the hour.

 

#2 - Also learned from hiring all kinds of people in my business over many years, to pay about 25-30% over prevailing average in the area.

Attracts better workers.

And they tend to stay longer.

Plus, in Thailand, they can "make big face" by bragging how much they get paid from farang.

That adds extra value to the job for them.

So posting here to determine prevailing wage in CM area.

 

... Comments and critique welcome.

 

 

 

59 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Not bad 100B/hour ... My MIL (58 yo) gets a free lunch and 250/day for farm work...... an 8 hour day in the sun!!!!

 

@Will B Good, can you send your MIL over here: Chiang Mai - Doi Saket road?

My previous two maids were both age late 50's, from up-country background, and excellent at taking care of details.

(I don't want any "cute young things" ... not as maids.)

 

I'll offer free lunch, too,  (catered by LineMan delivery).

Work indoors with 2 fans!

And all the iced coffee she might want is already getting cold in my fridge.

 

[Will B Good]

5 minutes ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

Thank you for helpful comments above.

 

#1 - With Thai helpers, I have learned over many years to only pay by the hour.

And I tell them, "Slow-slow, careful-careful, clean in all the corners."

 

If pay "by the job" or "by the day", they rush-rush to finish and get the money.

But I realize that is not the Thai way -- they are used to paid by the job or paid by the day, so it takes some adjustment for them to getting paid by the hour.

 

#2 - Also learned from hiring all kinds of people in my business over many years, to pay about 25-30% over prevailing average in the area.

Attracts better workers.

And they tend to stay longer.

Plus, in Thailand, they can "make big face" by bragging how much they get paid from farang.

That adds extra value to the job for them.

So posting here to determine prevailing wage in CM area.

 

... Comments and critique welcome.

 

 

 

 

@Will B Good, can you send your MIL over here: Chiang Mai - Doi Saket road?

My previous two maids were both age late 50's, from up-country background, and excellent at taking care of details.

(I don't want any "cute young things" ... not as maids.)

 

I'll offer free lunch, too,  (catered by LineMan delivery).

Work indoors with 2 fans!

And all the iced coffee she might want is already getting cold in my fridge.

 

 

 

Ha...she'd be there like a shot if it were doable.....could send the wife....but she's only 42.

[ujayujay]

100 Baht for one hour......well, go on Cheap Charlie

[rwill]

Here in  Ratchaburi can get a housekeeper for 300/day.

[1FinickyOne]

I never heard of anyone paying by the hour - we pay 500 baht for a day and our very experienced maid helps with everything. 

You may not find a Thai person but I think most of this type of worker in your area is Thai Yai from Burma and they mostly do good work. 

 

When I was in town, I paid 500 for the day and the maid would do a great job and finish in 4 hours. That was 8 years ago but I bet she would love the same job back... 

[john donson]

we had a part time maid before, she slept more than work... caught her red handed one day doing not my laundry, but for another house, with my water, electricity, powder...  replaced her with elbow grease and will not be missed at all...

[placnx]

Maybe 500 is OK, but how far does she have to travel?

[Old Curmudgeon]

Maid came in today.

Here's a brief report -- perhaps useful to others wanting to hire a maid.

 

Asking friends and neighbors for referral did not get results.

So decided to pay higher price and use a maid service.

 

Paid 220/hour to the service for 4 hours.

(I just moved into a 3-bedroom house: 4 hours was just right amount of time.)

Plus I tipped the maid 150 extra that she does not share with the service.

 

She seemed happy to have the work.

And extra happy to have extra tip.

 

She arrived with collapsible broom & mop, lots of cleaning supplies, plastic trash bags, cleaning rags, etc. in a large backpack.

Very well organized.

Even a small vacuum cleaner on the back of her motorcycle.

I didn't have to prepare anything.

 

Last time I used a cleaning service (different service), maid was Burmese.

Difficult to communicate.

And she was not as careful with details as I would have liked.

This maid was Thai, 100%, so no problems with language.

Her work and attitude were excellent.

 

Paid higher price for convenience of the service.

Would do that again.

Already scheduled same maid, same service, next week.

 

I won't mention name of service here, because your mileage will vary.

Simply used Internet search.

Called a few and selected one.

Got lucky.

[Upnotover]

So it seems the answer to your question "? Is 100/hour suitable for part-time maid in CM?" is NO.  But nevertheless it's good to know that paying a reasonable rate you got a good job done, let's hope it continues.

[Old Curmudgeon]

Just now, Upnotover said:

So it seems the answer to your question "? Is 100/hour suitable for part-time maid in CM?" is NO.

 

No, that's not an accurate answer.

Must keep in mind the difference between private hire and using a service.

 

Maid herself likely received only about 100-110/hour for her work ... about 50% split is usual on such services.

 

Plus another factor:

Maid from a service serves two bosses, the customer and the service.

That can be awkward.

I'd prefer to be the only boss, so I get exactly what I want.

Don't want the maid telling me, "Well, sir, this is the way we are told to do it!"

 

So, if I could find a maid and hire directly, 100/hour or so, is likely a reasonable rate.

[Old Curmudgeon]

Follow up report:

 

I'm paying 200/hour.

Plus an extra 50 baht/day for petrol for the motocycle -- she comes 20+ KM.

 

Maid is from a service, a cleaning service.

There are many such services in Chiang Mai.

 

She is superb.

Cleans in every nook and cranny.

Makes suggestions about what needs cleaning that I overlooked.

Sees something that could do with a bit of organizing, goes ahead and does it.

 

Paying more than I expected when I started this topic, but certainly worth it.

[TheAppletons]

So I guess the answer to the OP is "no".

[Old Curmudgeon]

 

"Price discovery"

 

I'm updating this topic to help others looking for a maid.

 

Above I posted about paying 200/hour for an excellent maid from a service/agency.

Just now got new information.

 

A neighbor in my moo-baan, her sister just died recently.

The sister had daily maid until her death.

Neighbor asked if I was interested in a maid:

- cleans

- does laundry

- does simple cooking (including Western food for farang husband of the deceased).

- has motorcycle for nearby errands.

- working for that family for quite a few years already, so is "known".

 

7 days/week (every day).

Paid 400/ day  (and happy to have work).

 

When funeral ceremonies finished, she'll start here.

I will pay more than 400, (but not yet decided how much more).

 

And if @Old Curmudgeon disappears, you'll know hiring her was a bad choice!

(Maid almost certainly was vaxxed: could "shed" to me.)

 

But I don't have enough to keep a maid busy 7/days a week.

If anyone else interested, well, you know what to do.

San Sai area.

 

Edited Tuesday at 09:09 AM by Old Curmudgeon