what do you pay a house sitter?
 

We are going on vacation and we need a house sitter. He will feed the cats and the dog and water my garden.

He will sleep here and watch the place. We will pay for his gas ( out in the country) but what do we pay him for 7 days of house sitting? I would appreciate any help. This man is responsible and capable and just a really nice guy.
TIA

We had a lady with Two children house sit for us we stocked the frig with thing we hoped they liked . Then picket them up some things in Mexico couldn't force them to take any money .

Came home to the cleanest house you ever saw great folks . Good luck have fun :cowboy:.

That is a tough one. It really depends on how well you know the guy and the situation in general. Example...I had someone come and house sit and she was just so happy to stay at our place because it was so much better than her day to day living situation that she looked at it as going on vacation. I would make sure the fridge was stocked and plenty to munch on. Plus get out the fancy towels and extra "spa" like goodies for her to use. She would not take any money no matter what. So I would buy her some kind of souvenier from where we were going. She helps us out a lot so I drop off bags of cat food at her house once in awhile...she has a gazzilion cats.
I think you need to talk to the guy and ask him what he had in mind and if he does a great job maybe give him a little more or a gift or something. It's worth so much for me to have peace of mind...it's hard to put a price on it! :)

Our neighbors insist on paying DS $50 a week -plus a big bag of homemade cookies- for taking care of their 4 chickens and watering the hanging baskets on the porch.

P.

I pay $30.00 a day. She comes after her work, feeds multiple animals & birds, spends the night, feeds again in the AM & goes on to her work. Actually, with her working, it's easier for her to stay the night rather than going home. The house is also spotless with the sheets washed when I return.

There's a person that advertises in the paper that comes & feeds, then leaves - does this 2 X a day and charges $30.00 a day.

When I figure what it would cost me just to board my two dogs, I feel I've got a bargain. Plus the house is lived in and clean!! :sing:

well i can tell you my vet charges me 20 dollars a night to board the dog and i have a mutual chickin feeding arangment with some freinds so , 20 a night and a case of beer seems fair to me if what you wanted to have done was done.

i suppose it depends how satisfied you are with the work.

if the house was signifigantly dirtier than i left it i might think less , but if everything was same or not much worse i would thing that is reasonable

we don't have a house sitter , the house is old enought to watch it's self but feed and chores is worth the 20 and a case of beer

and yes everything around here includes a case of beer , it's just a wisconsin thing , i think eveything we ever did growing up included someone getting paid a case of beer.

We just had a local college student here for 8 nights. We just have a dog to care for, and fish to feed. We gave her $25 a night. It costs much more to board an animal around here, and no kennel cough!

I discussed it with her before hand though. Make sure you are both comfortable with what you will pay. It is worth a lot to know your animals are well tended when you are away.

Peace-Cathryn

When I used to dog sit for a woman who had 8 large breed dogs, Newfies, Leonbergers and one Irish Wolf hound she paid me $70 a day. I stayed 24/7 from the moment she left until she pulled back in the drive, once I was there for 3 and a half weeks while she went to Alaska. I did a lot of extra cleaning while she was gone (which she didn't expect but I was bored at some points) and bought all my own food and beverages. Her house was always spotless when she arrived home!

I was also expected to weed the garden, mow when needed.

I worked off and on for her for a couple of years as she traveled a lot, and I enjoyed and loved her dogs! Once I got my own dog she would not allow me to bring my dog to her home while caring for her dogs, so I quit working for her.

The only thing I will say is that while I enjoyed working for her and with her dogs she never even brought me the tiniest of gifts from all her travels...that would have been nice!

Emmy

It doesn't seem like you are asking him to do much work, but the amount of time is significant, so I would pay $25 per day, or round it up to $200.

If you had horses and goats and chickens that needed fed and watered 2X a day, I would double that amount.

if you return the favor for him, such as taken care of his stuff at times..your even. But other than that I would say for a week a crisp $100 bill would work..................

Last time we went away we had someone we knew stay, we have goats, cows, chickens, 3 dogs, and 1 cat (only feed/water, no milking or anything like that). He stayed here the entire time. I stocked food and paid him $200 for one week. He was happy to do it for this price and I thought we got a great deal.

We are going to house sit for friends the end of this month and we wouldn't take any money for it. They live right up the road from us and they are letting us have anything we want from their huge market garden just to keep it picked and producing.

When I used to do out of town dog shows that needed me to stay away overnight, I would pay my kennel help $50 a day. For that he cleaned the runs, fed and watered everyone, fed and watered the sheep and goats (half a dozen of each) fed and watered the chickens. He would also come back in the evening to check that everyone was OK and top up water if needed. He was extremely reliable and I figured I had the best of that bargain.

Mary

Thanks for the help. We are pretty much in the ball park. It never dawned on me to bring him back something from vacation.
So now the question is, what do you bring a man back from the beach? He is a computer geek and likes to hang out and play games with the family.

He rooms with a friend who has a house but has no animals of his own.

again, THANKS!

I would get him a T-shirt or Find a cool seashell :)

We charge 10.00 per feeding for the neighbors horses. This time of year it's about 20.00 to run over and toss hay and run home per week end. The cows are so onery I wouldn't feed them if I didn't have to. They hate women. But the horses are the best thing I get to do all year.We had the dogs too for 5 days and he paid 100.00 for all of them. Actually we would do it for nuthin' but he won't let us. I have great neighbors. If we have to drive over 2 miles or spend hours or nights its different and if lawn and garden work is included it's more (unless produce is involved) I will barter for pay also.

I've ended up house sitting a lot, and, well, let me put it this way:

I don't care how little "work" it is or how convenient to his work it is, if you ever want to have the option of having him watch your place again, a stocked fridge and a souvenir won't cut it! I've had a lot of friends that travel frequently that used to do that, and now I am always "too busy" to sit for them. They are really burning their friends out because they don't understand that someone else caring for their things in their home is NOT as easy as them doing it themselves and deserves more compensation than a thank you note and a t-shirt.

Housesitting, especially if they're staying at your place, is very inconvenient most of the time, even if the house is nicer than theirs or has other perks they may find attractive. It's a hassle to pack your things up and stay elsewhere, you may not sleep well, it will likely interrupt your schedule, etc. The stress of caring for someone else's animals is also something to be considered. It freaks me out, thinking that something could happen to them while the owner is away! Animals are also frequently much more poorly behaved with strangers than they are their own animals, and so they can actually be MORE work than they are even for you!

Pay expenses and at least $25 a day. More if it is far from work and he will have to get up extra early to care for things and then get to work. A lot more if he has to do anything other than put some food and water down for the house cat! Walking dogs, caring for other livestock, etc.

A blonde in a bikini?

I'll house sit for you anytime. :dance:

The stocked fridge and souvenir were used in instances where the person refused to take money or as an added bonus to show appreciation along with payment.

Our Jersey and MD beaches offer things like salt water taffy, fudge, buckets of caramel corn....even fishermans wharf (Lobster house) in Cape May will pack up an ice chest of fresh seafood to bring home.

We are in Wasington State across the water from Seattle. We pay an accquaintance $20 a day which covers her watering all garden areas, feeding the house animals, and getting the mail. She also 'socializes' our son's hamster. :) I always stock the house with goodies and she is free to use our washer/dryer/detergent as she lives in an apartment with a coin-operated laundry. She does spend the night.

hermitjohn sounds like a good plan to me, not sure how we'd pull that off but thanks for the thought.

lol

I pay $100 for a week to take care of 3 dogs and and a well stocked fridge.

I wuld offer to trade some beef, pork and/or maple syrup

My neighbors across the road (2 min walk) went away for 28 days in July and I watched the house, fed and watered 35 chickens and gathered the eggs, fed and watered three cats, cut the grass twice (2.5 acres) with the lawn tractor, repaired the lawn tractor when it blew a drive belt and cleaned the chicken barn out as necessary. For that I was paid $30/day, I got to keep all the eggs (nearly 500) and they brought me back a t-shirt.

I wasn't expecting any money but they told me they enjoyed their vacation so much more knowing someone close by was watching the house and caring for the animals that they insisted on paying me.

Pulpfaction is right, though, it is stressful knowing something could happen to the animals on my watch. I didn't mind doing it and I will do it again if I"m asked to but it was a relief when they finally came home.

Also, I sent them regular e-mail updates letting them know all was well at home and they LOVED that.

I normally pay $40 for a weekend and $125 for a week. I have 4 dogs and a couple cats that the boy has to feed and care for. I try to have food and snacks in the house that I think he would like.

I actually just got back from my house-sitting gig. The folks I sit for pay $50/night to watch one dog, spray for raccoons, and call the sheriff. They had a break-in last summer, and a few more on their road this year, so the money is well worth it to them. The dog is a rescue with a terrifying habit of sleeping with her tongue a little bit out and breathing quite shallowly, so they call it hazard pay!

We pay $20 a day plus a stocked fridge for taking care of 3 horses, 1 cat, 1 dog and 10 chickens.

My DD has done house/farm sitting. For someone to stay at the house and do the farm chores and care for pets $50.00 is the standard here. For 2X a day the standard is $30.00 a day. When she cared for a recovering foundered horse, they tipped more. When she had trouble with the dogs threatening her, they gave her a lot more.