Cost Of Living In Bangkok

[Expat2B]

Please accept my apologies but I am probably about to unleash several tedious threads as I try to get better hard information on likely monthly costs of life in Bangkok before relocating in the next 2 to 3 months.

I am interested in finding the typical cost of a maid (both live in and live out) in Bangkok and also the typical cost of a driver for a normal 5 day a week gig. I have run a search but didn't find anything particularly helpful so I have had to post here.

It would be enormously helpful also to get a feel for the typical cost of electricity (2 to 3 bed apartment, using AC quite a bit) and other utilities e.g. High Speed Internet, Telephone, UBC etc.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Ajarn]

Just my two centavos...

Maid- Starting minimum 4,000 baht (Quality will likely cost more. I pay mine 8,000 after 3 years, but her duties cover at least a 12-hour day, as it does for most live-ins, but she also cooks, pays the bills, guards the house, cleans the pool, washes the car...

Driver- minimum 7,000, but experienced drivers w/English skills will likely be more, in my experience.

Electricity- 2,000 + if lots of A/C use... Mine is 4-5,000 with 2 aircons and a pool pump and waterfall pump that run 12 hours per day..

[chingy_]

maid are 10k-15k baht a moth, a really good maid would be 15k-20k, most maid in Thailand are live in.

driver are about 10k-15k a month, either live-in or they come to your house early in the morning and go home really late at night, depend on your schedule, they are always on call regardless of what time it is, all they do is drive you around, wash, and clean your car, other than that they don't do anything else, dead beat as i think of them.

about housing, and living expense everybody have their own budget demand, as far as i see it living in Bangkok, middle class area you would need around 40k-50k a month to cover most of the cost.

[bkk_mike]

I'm out in the outskirts of BKK, but we pay 5,000 + food and lodging for a maid. (But thats because my wife deals with it, so we're not paying farang prices.)

On the other hand, I keep telling my wife we should pay her more since we're happy with her work, but she won't hear of it.

Edited January 30, 2005 by bkk_mike

[haha]

my thai friend has 2 maids and 1 driver. he pays the live-in maids each 3000 baht a month plus room and board. and he pays his driver 7000 baht a month.

personally, I lived at a place on sukhumvit soi 12 where there are a lot of maids running around. I asked them how much for a part time maid, many offered to come over for a couple of hours a day for 1500 baht a month.

I've met many farangs in the same area who paid their maids 5000 baht a month, but that's only because they are generous.

according to a local newspaper here in bangkok, (www.bangkokpost.com), the average daily salary in bangkok is about 180 baht. this includes construction workers, people who work in fast food places, bank tellers, teachers, etc.

from thai friends that I have spoken to, 15k baht a month is the salary one gets after working for a while on a good job.

public officials like the mayor get paid about 40k baht a month.

if you are willing to pay 15k a month for a maid, I think you will find a line around the block with people willing to work for you. hehehe. don't take my word for it, just post an ad in the newspaper, and see what happens. hehehe.

[udon]

Live out maid, 6 days X 4 hrs a day 1000bt a week.

[grahamb]

Our part time maid gets about B450 per day for an 8hr day.

Our driver just got a pay rise after 6 months with us so he's on B2200 per week for 12hrs per day, 6 days per week.

Both are pleased with this pay at the moment.

Chingy, your rates are very generous!

[HenryP]

Maid - Live-In - (6 years) speaks a little english - 12,000 baht/mo

Driver - available daily - (3 years) speaks good english - 14,000 baht/mo

Electricity - 214 m2 apartment central a/c - 3,000 baht

Must also factor in the Christmas bonus which is common practice and often relied upon by employees. We have given 2-3 months of salary annually.

[chingy_]

i pay 3k-4k for a maid once, but she was half cu-cu(nuts), until now i still kept her raise her pay to 6k, but now aday she only do outdoor cleaning, if i tell her what to do she will snap at me , she's the boss of the the outdoor area.

[qwertyuiop]

I do think it depnds a little on where ou are living and how you go about finding a maid in the first palce.

There are at least a couple of agencies in town that offer a placement service and "guarantee" English skills. i have never used them as I found them expensive.

i also think that perhaps maids are more expensive if you are living in the high rent areas of Sukhumvit/Sathorn.

Live in or live out plus duties to be performed are other factors to be considered.

I have found maids by the equivalent of placing an ad in the newsagents window or from asking other maids to recommend a friend from back home.

I do not live in downtown Bangkok.

I have a live-in and pay 4,500 plus board and lodge. I pay extra if she does not wish to use her days off and i also pay extra for certain duties/extra hours.

Her duties might involve cooking, cleaning, laundry, childminding etc.

Friends nearby say i pay too much. I do not agree.

Burmese maids are popular with some as they are cheaper - no documentation. I personally would not recommend this but who am I to say. It was good enough for an ex-US cabinet member.

I have also found that fewer wish to be live-in.

Drivers I would agree with others will cost around 7000baht/month.

Electricity I find does vary according to the time of year.

It will aslo depend upon whether you are single and out at work all day or with a family and people home most of the time.

My bill has been as low as 3,500 and almost 6,000 per month depending upon circumstances.

The house is occupied daily- lights, aircon,fans,cookers, fridges, TV's,computers water pump etc etc.

Also you might find the need to use the aircon a lot more at the beginning .It will depend on what you are used to at home. Eventually one becomes acclimatised to the heat/humidity but it is an individual thing. I need less aircon than the thais in my home but I am sure tat i use it more than some other farangs