Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Getting a lad to clear over grown garden what is the going rate for a days work? there is about a weeks worth of work.

Normally pay about 60tl a day and give them some lunch

Hi Dutchnick,

I am a gardener and I will be happy to come over and quote you for the work.

Best Regards
Hatib Xhafolli
0533 843 80 23
0548 872 16 85
hatib@best-dreams.com

Wow, who works for 60 lira a day here?

Stellastar1.

The government minimum wage for working in the TRNC is 1,400 TL a month.

60 TL a day over a 28 day period is 1,680 TL a month well over the legal limit, plus lunch is a bonus.

If you take Turkeys minimum wage at 995 TL a month we are paying them over the odds.

karmels wrote:Stellastar1.

The government minimum wage for working in the TRNC is 1,400 TL a month.

60 TL a day over a 28 day period is 1,680 TL a month well over the legal limit, plus lunch is a bonus.

If you take Turkeys minimum wage at 995 TL a month we are paying them over the odds.

I find this post highly offensive, do you think 1,400tl a month a decent wage? As for ''paying them over the odds'' I have seen the way that these people are worked, in all extremes of weather, for what I consider to be a pittance, while you stretch out on your sunloungers and plan on where to spend at least 100tl on your evenings dining out.

As for ''lunch is a bonus'', may God forgive you.

Blue butterfly.

Having lived on this land for over 20 years, and not living in the Uk with their wage structior I am not offencive.
We live in a place were the government states the minimum wage to be payed.
I have had a company on this Island for 20 + years paying the the taxes due, I am now retired.
Do not come to the TRNC and dictate how much we should pay a person for a days work, when it is laid down in the Constitution.

Yes it would be lovely if everyone could be paid lots of money but its not realistic. If Karmels when running their business worked out their daily rate i expect they were on less than their workers. I often hear in bars about the boss this and that but if his workers are legal its costing him lots and he probably can't afford to pay more. And here one of the biggest problems there is no industry, second homes bring in jobs but again lots of people don't want to pay a lot as again the word second home is not considered by the government. Lots of neighbours / friends taking on work. The strange thing i find from people from my own home country is ah poor filopino , Turkish and Pakstani but as I was fluent in their mother tongue (pigeon now in both) i don't think it crosses their minds to be competetive I am on the same salary but have more work as my boss would expect me to communicate with the customer. And my culture is not one where i live in family units, send my money back home etc . Blue Butterfly be fair would you want to spend more than sixty pounds to clean your house. The answer is no therefore if as a boss you pay 120tl not a lot left for them. Person generally gets picked up given the tools to work with BUT what about welcome pack getting the bedding from laundrette running costs. Its only since i have worked for someone i appreciate just doing the job i have been asked to do.

surely TRNC is 70TL per day plus cos if it's 1,400 TL a month minimum wage then surely there are only 20 working days in a month never mind all the holidays, pensions, taxes that a proper employer would pay.

BTW that would be same as on the south side .. I am told the going rate for a Bulgarian/Romanian is €25per day and €450 per month to have a Philippina live in to look after an old person.

- I do find it strange how people say that it's OK to pay foreigners half what a local asks, cos they have to live with the same costs.
Like if a government manager on €1500/month thinks it's OK to hire the Philppina for €450, then why can't the government just replace him in his job with another Philppena/o for €750/month ?

- As a buyer don't like to disrupt the local market by throwing cash around, but I can understand a worker wouldn't be very loyal unless you look after them.
In Panama we could get workers for $10/day, but that was useless cos you didn't get a thinker for that price ..you had to stand there all day to watch them and explain everything as well as put up with bad timekeeping and not showing up until they had drunk all last weeks money away.

I just made a post about job auctions in the employment section ..that would help the market find the price.

I can recommend Hatib from best dreams. But I think he will charge more than 70TL a day!!!!

I agree with blue butterfly. When you get a good Gardner they really do work very hard. I have been here 30 yrs and of course things go up and up, especially in last 7 years. We pay our lovely Gardner 100 lire a day and give him a cooked lunch. Pick him up and drop him off, they normally cannot afford cars. Why pay someone the minimum wage if they are good. Let those get the minimum wage that sit in the tel., water, elec offices and do hardly sod all. These chaps work really hard in the hot sun in summer and very very cold weather in winter. Pay them.

What do you class as a working day?-8hrs?
I pay my 'gardener' 12tl an hour, which would be TL 96 for an 8hr day, but I pay him for his lunchtime(usually about 40mins)and supply him with several brews or cold drinks, depending on the weather-is this fair?
Given that I understand the average wage here is around 50% of the UK this would equate to around £8 per hour-well above the UK minimum for unskilled labour.
I had a gardener in the UK (18mths ago so not wildly out of date) and he charged £8 per hour, but I would add that he had all his own power tools and a van and trailer(In other words he had business overheads)- he was also quite knowledgeable re gardening matters.
The lad I employ here,is more of a general 'tidyerupper' rather than what I would class as a gardener,he like many of his kind here works in the evenings as a waiter in a local restaurant - he does not have any business overheads as he uses all my equipment.
My point being is that in 'nett' terms he is probably better off than my UK gardener.

I can also recommend Hatib. He has completed quite a few jobs, in and around our villa, to a very high standard. ANY jobs you need to have done, he's the man. His contact details are

Hatib Xhafolli
0533 843 80 23
0548 872 16 85
hatib@best-dreams.com

I would think that for a general "tidyerupper", 60tl is a fair wage (I'm not referring to Hatib etc - who I understand are garden specialist and a different thing altogether) Hopefully I have someone starting next week to be a "tidyerupper" and I will pick him up from the main road and bring him to our house. He will have free access to the water cooler all day, I'll supply a decent lunch (probably 40 mins) he will be asked if he wants coffee, tea or cold drinks when we have them, we supply the equipment and then I'll drive him back to the main road. Hopefully these arrangement will suit us both and if it doesn't then I'm sure he won't stay. The choice will be his.