Do you need a live in gardener? If you are looking to hire a new gardener, this might be something you want to consider. Gardeners can have extremely flexible working schedules. From only working once a week for you, up to full time hours. Depending on your setup, let us show you if you indeed need a live in gardener for your outside space!
What Does Live In Mean
Do you know what it means to have a live in gardener? To find out if you indeed need a live in gardener, let’s first have a look at what it means to have any live in employee.
For gardeners, it can be quite common to have a role to include accommodation. This only, normally, counts for gardeners who work quite substantial hours.
Accommodation will be including in the salary package, when it comes to a live in role. So if this something you have to offer, and would like to consider. Then keep in mind that this is part of the payment package. It therefore would not make too much sense if you would have a gardener who only works a couple of hours a week for you, to get accommodation with it.
In most cases a live in gardening role will be offered to full time gardeners. It brings lot of practicalities. Your gardener will always be on site so travel time is cut out. They might be able to deal with things more last minute, too.
But beware: having a live in member of staff does not mean they are available to work 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. Make sure you understand the rules and regulations regarding work and rest in your country. But even if someone lives in, they are entitled to days and time off, as well as breaks. Just as any other employee!
Is Your Accommodation Suited?
One main reason to find out if you indeed need a live in gardener, is to make sure you have the right accommodations. From the previous paragraph, we already learned that your new gardener would like be doing full time hours, for a live in option to make sense. But the second thing to look at is accommodation.
You need to keep in mind that if this gardener will be working for you full time, this is likely going to be their only, or main living space. So they will be spending time there on their days off too, for example.
So with that in mind, it needs to be suitable for someone to live, work and relax in too. For a gardener, the accommodation ideally really should be separate from the house. With its own private entrance. As well as a kitchen, or decent cooking facilities, and their own bathroom too.
Just a spare room will likely not be suitable for your live in gardener. As their role dictates, they will be spending most of their working time on your land and in your outdoor space – so the accommodation should be suited for that. Not being in a spare bedroom in your house, for example.
What Else To Consider
Having someone live in, even if they do not live in the same house as you and your family do, can be a big decision to make. Even if they will not come into your private house, they will still be in and out of your grounds.
Make sure you are firstly comfortable with that, and that the layout of your house and your gardeners accommodation, is suited for that too. To get to their living space, do they have to walk through your private terrace, for example? This might not be something you are comfortable with. Think about the fact you might be having garden parties, or private moments with your family in your indoor and outdoor space.
Are you ok with your gardener being there? It is important to set up clear rules of living too. Perhaps you do not want your gardener to smoke on the premises, for example. Or have parties in their accommodation. Can they use one of your cars? Or is their space for their own car? These are all things you have to consider, to make sure that you and your new live in gardener can live in the same area successfully.
If you have children, you will also want to make sure your new live in gardener has an up to date DBS – this might differ per country. But even if your gardener is not working directly around your children, it is another thing that can give you peace of mind.
How can Polo & Tweed help?
Do you need a live in gardener for your home or estate? Why not let Polo & Tweed help! We know domestic household gardeners inside out, and work with only the best candidates in the industry. So whatever your setup is, or your needs are, our experienced recruitment consultants can come up with the right solution for you and your household. Why not contact us now to see how we can help!