Housesitting price -what do you think?

My older daughter, a university student, works on campus and her boss asked her to house-sit and take care of the pets (an elderly dog, cat and hamster) for a month while his family is on vacation, and water the plants. It involves living there, which is about an hour's drive from here, and while she works on campus (which is convenient to his house), she'll also need to commute back here for summer classes she's taking at a different school, so it's more driving time and gas for her than she'd otherwise do, and more inconvenient, since her classes are at 8 am and 6 pm on the same days (so she needs to go back and forth twice two days a week, and once the other three).

Anyhoo, he never said what he'd pay her until she went down there -they even asked her to stay the night before they left so they could go over everything with her. When they finally told her what they'd pay her, it was $300. She countered with $400, which I personally think is still really low. Am I off? Is this a reasonable price?

YK, if they had to kennel their pets, they'd be paying over $1,200, and that's without any extra time outside the cages. Just sayin'.

Just wondering what folks here think!

On one of our visits to Victoria, Canada, one of the faculty staff rented a property close to the university. He sub-letted the house to us to cover his costs (and from what he charged, added on a bit!). We had to feed the cat and water the plants.

We were not in a position to haggle, but your daughter is.

Well, she already did haggle -countered his $300 with $400! We had told her that $500 or $600 was more reasonable (and still cheap for him), but I guess when he gave her that low sum to begin with, she was uncomfortable asking for much more. What a cheapskate!

6/20/2010

I'm sure the $300- to $400- range is pretty
good. Besides she's getting free lodgeing and
I'm sure she's getting free food , feeding the
pets and taking care of them is easy.

Cheers..Joe

Joe -no, she has to buy her own groceries. She doesn't need free lodging, she lives at home. This is simply creating large commuting expenses for her, both gas and time-wise.

I googled house sitting and pet sitting, and it seems like most people get at least $35/day for it, and some even get free food and use of a car! She'd be earning almost $1,000 if she charged that.

Her boss said that he'd "let her work [at the office] up until the day she leaves," like he's doing her some big favor, and I think that's what kind of pressured her to do this for $400. I think she should call him (they're on the road) and tell her she needs more, but she's reluctant to.

6/20/2010

Next time she should prsent a list
House sitting and pet sitting $50-
per day for the month $1,500- It
would include staying at house,
pet sitting, and food. I think this
is a much better deal. And she
shouldn't back down, these are her
fees...

Cheers..Joe

Unfortunately, negotiations need to be done before the fact otherwise there's hard feelings. I've just had two such experiences, one with a friend and one with a contractor. The friendship is slipping into jeopardy because I wasn't clear at the outset about how much house watching and mail gathering she could expect from me and she's pushed the limit to me feeling resentful. The contractor keeps "losing his phone" to set a date to finish an unspecified amount of repairs for $200. I needed to set parameters up front. Now, I'm stuck with the consequences.

A boss/employee issue is tough. My dear husband wished to impress his boss when we were in our 20's. So, he offered our services FREE to housesit and watch FIVE teenage children and two dogs, a cat and a hamster while the wealthy boss and his wife traveled outside the U.S. Of course, my spouse went to work. I was teenage sitting with one boy hitchhiking from San Jose to Santa Cruz, a girl smoking on the other side of the garage, animals making a mess and seven people to feed (from two). They left lots of groceries, but the kids ate at their whim. It was a nightmare! We had no pay at all (leaving our own quiet, cute little bungalow empty) while "wallowing in luxury" at his boss's house. Pool? I never even looked at it; I was one exhausted young woman when the parents returned. Fortunately, all five children were still alive or we likely wouldn't be.

My opinion? My husband was a dolt and I was taken advantage of. End result? My spouse did get a promotion and we ended up overseas (my husband's ulterior goal).

dkchristi wrote:

Unfortunately, negotiations need to be done before the fact otherwise there's hard feelings.

Ordinarily I'd agree, but I think this is "extenuating circumstances." The boss and his wife are a well-to-do dual working couple. He never said what he'd pay her -she had to finally ask, right before he left. His answer was, "Well, I paid Susan (another student) $300, so that's what I'll pay you." My guess was he wouldn't have even told her what he planned to pay until he returned, and then he'd give her $300.

I told her that she should call him (they're now on the road) and tell him $400 doesn't work, and why, and say she needs $600. And if he argues, offer to call Susan for him, or offer to put the pets in a kennel. She's worried that he'll "fire her" when he gets back. I said there are recourses for that, too. Anyhow, she leaves for China for a year in Sept, so I said she shouldn't even care, really.

Hopefully she'll follow through with this, and we'll see how it goes. If nothing else, it's an exercise in standing up for oneself.

Update -the kid called him and said she needed $600. He grumped and said, "Well, we talked about this yesterday." She said yes, but ...blah,blah,blah. He countered with $500 and she counter-countered with $550. lol. So that's what she'll get, (assuming he actually pays up when they return).