Lima - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the availability and cost of household help, and what types of help are typically employed by expatriates?
Many people with families have different types of maids and nannies. Some have regular driver services arranged. Wages are affordable. - Jul 2022
Cleaners and Nannies range from 900 - 1800 soles/month depending on hours, experience, and expectations. Usually payment includes health insurance and retirement (separate bureaucratic processes that the embassy commissary can help with), bonuses in July and December, and includes a transportation subsidy. Our gardener receives 100 soles/day and helps us one day per week. Some folks in La Molina have a chauffeur to escort their kids to after school activities as well. It's hard to find live-in help, but the prices are about the same, plus the costs of food. It took us a little while to find the right, reliable staff, but we've had the right folks in place for nearly three years and they are terrific. - Oct 2018
Household help was easy to find. We had two great empleadas and a super yard guy while we were there. The empleada came three times a week and we paid her $40 per week including meals. The yard/pool guy came once a week was paid $30 for a full days work which included a cooked meal. - Mar 2018
It is usually fairly easy to inherit household help from the expat community. Prices range anywhere from about 40 - 70 soles per day. There are two bonus salaries that have to be paid - one in July and one in December.
Quality varies and you will likely go through a few. Hygiene is a major factor and no matter how many expats they have worked for it is likely they will need a thorough training on what gets cleaned with what. Don't be surprised to see that rag used for cleaning the bathrooms on your kitchen counter. It's not the ceviche that is making you ill...
Many of the helpers will originally try to say that they don't iron or that they charge more to iron. - Jul 2016
Cheap and reliable, plenty of empleadas experienced with Embassy families. US$200-300 a month. You have to give semiannual bonuses and vacation times and pay health insurance. - Sep 2015
Lots of help available, though of varying quality. Cost is very reasonable, about US$20 for an eight hour day. Full time (5 or 6 days a week) could probably negotiate a slightly lower rate. - May 2015
Availability is large and cost is good. Most people I know have a maid who comes on weekdays; ours comes twice a week. - Apr 2015
Cheap. Between US$400-600/month. - Sep 2014
Available and cheap. Not always good, not always honest. Don't be afraid to try someone out before committing to hiring them. The daily rate is about US$25. - Apr 2014
Housekeepers and nannys are easily available. I have a housekeeper/cook who comes three days per week and we pay approximately US$220 per month. - Mar 2014
US$20-25 a day. Widely available, quality varies. The embassy pool is used to a pampered existence, so it can be better to find one outside via an agency. Expect to go through a few. Swiping of household items is also common (toilet paper, detergent, etc). Domestic help is great to have, but it will most likely be more problematic here than at other posts you've had. - Aug 2013
Reasonably priced and readily available - part time from $25/day. - Jul 2013
Widely available. Cost is approximately $20 per day. - Jul 2013
Cheap and easy to find. The hard part is finding someone honest. - Jun 2013
I pay S/.50 a day for a young lady to clean the home, do the laundry and iron my shirts, occasionally cook, and run easy errands. She comes two times per week. I hear that full-time live-in maids can run around S/. 1000, although Peruvians pay considerably less (and presumably treat their household staff considerably worse). - Jan 2012
Very available - get references and interview. We paid $/800 a month (soles, 2.70 to the USD) for someone who comes in three days a week(8-9 hours) and they do it all. Cook, clean, wash, shop, take care of the plants, order items needed. - Jan 2012
Help is plentiful and cheap. Most people have a maid, gardener, and sometimes a driver. - Aug 2011
Cheap domestic help is available. We had good luck with our maid, but I do hear from others that they have problems with theirs. - Jul 2010
Domestic help is good and reasonably priced. You'll need basic Spanish to communicate. Figure a maid living outside the house (Cama afuera) is from $350 - 500 per month if you do your duty and pay for their social security benefits and bonus program. - Jun 2010
Generally good, but some friends had issues with domestics not taking direction well, and stealing. Most fall in the range -- US$220 to $275 a month for a maid/cook and nanny. - Jul 2008
Domestic help is widely available and very inexpensive. You might have to go through several to find what you want because most are untrained, but if you are patient and communicative you can find help you are very happy with. - Apr 2008
