Bucharest - Post Report Question and Answers
What is the availability and cost of household help, and what types of help are typically employed by expatriates?
Be prepared for drama. Housekeepers usually come 1x week to clean for 4-8 hrs. Cost is 175-200 RON for 4 hours. Nannies (who often also clean) are more likely to be full-time. Household help either works in the suburbs or works downtown. You'll need to find someone who works in your area. Household help is not as cheap or drama-free as may seem at first glance. - Jun 2023
Household help is available, depending on what you need. From what I hear, many people hire someone to clean only one or two days per week. Nannies are more likely to be full-time. There's no need to hire a driver here. I tried a housekeeper one day per week, and she charged 25RON per hour. It cost about $40-$50US each time she came. - Mar 2019
Available and cheaper than other parts of Europe. - Jun 2018
As of 2013, Americans have been shelling out 20 RON/hour, about US$7 to keep house, or watch children. There are some nanny/housekeeping agencies to do the footwork, but demand 1 month payment as an application fee. It's pretty easy to find someone by word of mouth. I knew one particular expat who hopped into taxi cabs and asked them about family members who might be looking for work. She landed a full-time nanny at half the price of the going rate, and seemed to like her. - Feb 2014
Very, very cheap. - Jan 2013
Cheap and available.100 RON/week for one full day of cleaning. - May 2011
Available. There are two salary scales, one for locals and the other for expats. This is widely known. Shortly upon arrival we hired a nanny who left after a week without giving us advance notice for a family that offered to pay her more - not pleasant. But the person we hired after that has been excellent and has been with us for more than 2 years. - Jul 2010
Excellent! We pay around $40 for a day. - Dec 2009
We had a full-time nanny/housekeeper, whom we paid about $550 per month. - Dec 2009
You can find excellent household help although sometimes it takes a little bit of trial and error to find someone who's good. We've been very lucky with our maid and she does an amazing job with everything. We pay her about US$25 day and feel she's a bargain. - Dec 2008
Available at approximately US$300-$500 a month. - Feb 2008
It is widely available and relatively inexpensive. - Jan 2008
