how much to pay plant waterer

[Anonymous]

hi, we went on vacation for three weeks and had someone water our plants for us and bring in the mail. She did so 11 times. How much is a fair rate to pay her for that work? Unfortunately, we didn't discuss a rate before she did the work and I think she is expecting us to come up with it.

thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

Who is she and how old is she? A friend? A church member? A neighborhood kid?

[Anonymous]

Sorry for the lack of detail. She is a nanny, probably in her early to mid 30s, who works in the neighborhood so the commute wasn't very long. We met her through our former nanny.

[Anonymous]

$100

[Anonymous]

$100 seems right depending on amount of watering and whether she watered stuff outside. If it was just mail and a couple of houseplants, I’d want to pay more like $75-80.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:$100

too low. that's like $9/trip. no way i am doing anything to make $9.

[Anonymous]

OP here - if $9/trip is too low, what do you consider fair?

[Anonymous]

It depends on how many plants she watered and how long it took her. Think in terms of an hourly rate for an outdoor activity (I'm assuming you are talking about outdoor plants).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$100

too low. that's like $9/trip. no way i am doing anything to make $9.

Yeah but she was in the neighborhood and was in the home for what, 3 minutes per trip? If she spent 20 minutes watering all the garden beds in this heat, that’s different. Pro mowers get $30-35 to mow and it takes them much longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - if $9/trip is too low, what do you consider fair?

$10 seems fine unless she did a lot of outside watering. A dog walker gets like $18 to come to your house, feed the dog, and take the dog on a 15-30min walk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - if $9/trip is too low, what do you consider fair?

$10 seems fine unless she did a lot of outside watering. A dog walker gets like $18 to come to your house, feed the dog, and take the dog on a 15-30min walk.

Oops I mean $9 seems fine. I was thinking $10/trip and just rounding down to $100 would be ok.

[Anonymous]

we paid 5$/trip but it was a preteen neighbor.

[Anonymous]

OP - how big is your yard, how long does it take to water, and how far did she have to drive??

[Anonymous]

OP here - we asked her to water 10 or so potted plants (not a yard). All outside but 1.

[Anonymous]

$100 is generous. She is want going out of her way and it doesn’t take long to water 10 plants.