Would you pay for this?

We have a neighbour who does house-painting (outside) for some of the folk living here - we all live in 'Park Homes' which are basically for the over 55, so many of us are beyond the age of doing such work, and he does quite well, on a seasonal basis, charging £10. an hour which seems to me to be a reasonable charge. We would be happy to pay someone £10. an hour to keep the garden tidy (if we could not longer do this). These days, however, we are very conscious of the insurance and liability claims which seem to come at the drop of a hat, and would wonder if the person doing the work was suitably covered, or if we might find ourselves 'responsible'. Personally, I think it is a great idea.

Thank you for your reply. I am just putting this out there at the moment, in various places, to see if it's viable. I know that a lot of people who used to be able to get carers to do housework and shopping etc (funded by Social Services) are now having to pay for some of these things themselves, or have access to individual budgets to pay for the services they want and I wanted to be able to provide a really good quality service, which includes befriending, if people wanted it, as many of the client group are quite isolated, for a variety of reasons.

All staff would be CRB checked but I hadn't thought about insurance as yet, so I will look into that aspect. Thank you.

There is out there an organised group for 'buddies' for people like my son who need someone to take them to football matches or anything like that. They do I believe get paid, but finding people to take on the work is very difficult, I know, the people who care for our son have been trying to find someone different for him - other than staff - to take him places, just to make his life a little different, and introduce other interests. I wish you luck, would like to know how you get on.

Someone I know gave up her job to go out and offer her services in the community and she is now having to turn work away, she will go into someones home and do whatever jobs they require, decorate, gardening, hang curtains she turns her hand to all sorts and on a Sunday she takes orders for Sunday lunches which she delivers.

I think that there is a definite need but a lot depends which part of the country you are thinking of setting up this service.

I need small jobs doing which are now beyond me, eg going into the loft to retrieve items, changing the battery in the smoke alarm, changing light bulbs as and when. There is a definite need for an odd job service and provided that the rates were reasonable, it would be very well used. In this area the rate is £25-£30 an hour for odd jobs which is expensive.

Maybe it is me but I think that £10 an hour is a lot to pay for a cleaner. That would be £30 for an average 3 hours which is a sizeable chunk.

Avge rate around here is £12 p.h. for a cleaner .My team of 3 do half an hour for £18 but they are very quick and efficient and bring all their own tools tools and cleaning materials and as they work in different rooms don't waste time in chat.
I dont want to share cuppa and chat although I do offer cuppa for workmen who are on a task which may take an hour or two.
The Care/Connect system run by local counci now charges £10 an hour.

I would pay for it. I think there is a need amongst people who do not yet qualify for local authority home help, but are finding it difficult to carry out all the jobs themselves.

I would pay for it if I had a need.

PRINT have you thought about approaching the football club so see if they could find someone to take your son to matches? Perhaps they could put something in the programme?

The going rate for a cleaner where I live is £10 and as I live in a town where there are a lot of retired folk there are not enough cleaners to go around. I expect they'll be raising their rates any time now.

My cleaner charges £12.50 an hour as does Gary the gardener her husband.

I don't have a cleaner. Except for Roomba.

I have a friend who retired from teaching a couple of years ago. She now runs the sort of service that you suggest - odd jobs, gardening, shopping, cleaning, etc. She charges, I think, £12 an hour (London) and there seems to be plenty of demand.

My mum, who lives in Suffolk, pays £7 for one hour's cleaning. Personally, I think that's not enough because the young woman has to get to and from her house for just one hour's work.

Good to know there is a big demand.

It would be in London. Mainly East London/Essex areas

I live in London but north west. I cannot see you losing, especially on the cleaning, gardening and odd jobs. I am not too sure about befriending. I hope that all of our comments have helped you.

I would pay it. The odd bit of cleaning I hate, the compost bins needing a stronger back than mine - yes. Sometimes I think I need someone to keep would-be chatters away, though. I might feel differently in 40 years' time.

yes I would pay for the services offered, I,m very independent and don't like to ask my family, a local, friendly decorator, cleaner for those harder jobs would be a godsend.x

£10 an hour would be a very reasonable sum .It would be lovely to have someone to do odd jobs.

Movedalot not thinking about my son, so much as another avenue down which to go, for someone looking for part time work. Thanks for the idea, Robert is now very fortunate, where he lives all the staff are women, some younger than he, and he enjoys a lot of banter with them. When one or the other is able, they take him to football (where he has learned if he waits till the final whistle, there are free chips from the kiosk!) and more lately cricket. We are very fortunate for him to be in such a loving environment.

I feel sure there is a market out there for this type of service but I guess the key is to target the right area or you could be doing a considerable amount of traveling.
It might be any idea to do some market research in different areas in a 3 mile radius of your home.
Best of luck.

Interesting reading about hourly rates.
DH is retired and does a few hours gardening for 2 different ladies each week. I was amazed that he was offered £10 per hour. I thought that was a lot, but apparently not !
He was put in touch by a friend who runs his own business. These jobs were to small for him. DH could do more hours as his friend has people asking for this service all the time.

Cheskaleska you will always find your services are required from people who just cannot manage those everyday tasks and very good luck on your venture,years ago when the children where small and I had to think about additional income as I could not go out to work (not passed my driving test then) I advertised an ironing service and was inundated with requests for my service's mainly from single professionals who did not have the time to do their own I arranged for them to drop off and collect and made a very good income from it and it suited my then lifestyle.Best of luck.glamma x ps I am still friends with some of my x customers to this day nearly 30 yrs on.

A local housing association has joined forces with the Council to offer such services to retired people for a similar fee. I am thinking of taking them up on the external decorating. Some years ago I had the shed roof replaced for just the cost of the material and a £10 donation to the then Council run service. The demand is there, Cheskaleska, good luck with your plans.