domestic services

[Lokahi]

What sort of fees are paid in Puna district for domestic services such as houskeeper, gardener and pool service? Is there an abundant, honest and reliable resource base? Any referral system or use the coconut (or is it pineapple) network (assuming word of mouth)? Thanks for an amazing, interesting, knowledgeable and most helpful forum. Aloha.

[Lokahi]

Sorry if I have offended anyone...interested in the going rate since these are services we provide here in CA and may want to continue to do so in HI next year if move goes as planned.
Hey U NO KEA....I NO KEA.
Aloha.

[Hotzcatz]

According to the coconut wireless, it depends on what you want them to do and what tools they show up with that determine how much they get paid. The yard guy in our neighborhood with the riding lawn mower charges $20 an hour (at least to a few select clients not everyone pays him that) but he can mow a lot faster than the $10 - $15 guys with weed whackers and push mowers. We get the occasional $5 to $8 an hour worker, but they generally don't have their own tools and are high school students. The push mower guy seems to have taken over a job from the riding mower fellow, but I think that had more to do with the yard being owned by a new owner than anything else. The push mower guy seems to end up with a nicer product although that's from hand weeding around the bases of the trees and some pruning work instead of what he uses to mow with.

We aren't Puna, though, we are up the coast on the other side of Hilo. No pool services necessary since there's no pools and I don't know of anyone who gets their houses cleaned by outside folks, although one of my neighbors has one of those vacuuming robots and she adores it. There is currrently a demand for folks to install fencing, but the folks don't want to pay more than $10 an hour so they may not get a fence anytime soon.

If you were going to have a business of taking care of houses and yards, I would think a monthly fee to keep the yard nice or the house clean would be more effective. Then when you work harder you get done quicker and can go do something else, otherwise you have to put in the hours no matter how hard you work. Schedule a once a week trim or cleaning and if you get done quick, then you get more time for yourself at the same fee. The initial cleaning and yard clean up would probably be a lot more work than the weekly maintenance, but you could either charge more for the initial work or set up a minimum six month service contract to make the initial work worthwhile.

Just my two cents....

A hui hou,
Cathy

[Andrew]

Hi Lokahi:

I don't think anyone is offended. I would have responded myself except my wife and I do all that stuff ourselves and have no idea what others might charge.

I do expect however that word of mouth is the best way that people find help of that nature here in Puna.

Good luck with the move.

Aloha,
Andrew

[Andrew]

Hotz:

you beat me by a full 2 seconds. LOL.

Andrew

[Carey]

Lokahi, other venues to pursue, If you have many solid references. Contact property management firms & vacation rentals. I know of both that do hire these services, but they are looking for strong references & price...sometimes not in that order, but many times in that order.
Aloha, Carey

[Kapohocat]

My mom does use a pool service for her pool out in Honomu. Will check in with her and get the name. She has a real in ground concrete pool and they clean, check everything, every two weeks.

As for house cleaners, we have used a couple of people for construction clean-up (windows, mopping, vacuum, clean bathrooms, etc before turning over keys to owner. Rate was $15.

Catherine Dumond
Blue Water Project Management
808 217-7578
http://bluewaterpm.125mb.com/index.html
"We help make building your dream home a reality"

[David M]

[quote]
although one of my neighbors has one of those vacuuming robots and she adores it.
/quote]

I can't answer the question either but was wondering if your robot loving neighbor also breeds dogs and has a coffee farm?

Someday we're gonna meet - LOL

David

Ninole Resident

[leilaniguy]

Lokahi, there aren't many swimming pools to clean here, but there are LOTS of catchment tanks that need cleaning regularly, (usually annually) and the job is similar. Last time I had Reeds Catchment Cleaning Service do mine it cost me about $125, took him about 4 hours.