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Great Handyman looking for work


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My husband met Luis Andres Nunez last week as he was in Ajijic searching for work. He had 2 letters of recommendation written by local Expats who both seemed quite pleased with his work.

We hired him Friday and Saturday to put Polycarbonate over a huge skylight on our roof and he did a great job. Very polite, pleasant and hard working.

He lived in FL for 5 years and has construction, landscaping and restaurant experience. We were happy with his personality and work ethic.

If anyone is looking for someone to do some projects around the house, please contact Luis at: 331-752-1759.

Thanks!

Valerie :)

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  • 1 month later...

Andres has worked for us this past week to help getting settled in our new house. He has unpacked boxes, organized the kitchen, washed all the windows, diagnosed and repaired a vacuum cleaner, the hot water heater, and a lamp. He is extremely dependable and hard working. I cannot recommend him highly enough. He charges 50 pesos an hour and is glad for any work. His phone number is 331-752-1759. (He says it doesn't always ring, so do keep trying.)

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Also, he and his wife are donating blood for my husband's upcoming operation! Really nice and trustworthy people!!!!

By the way he knows his way around Guadalajara and can drive your car wherever you want to go and translate for you!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have now hired Andres to remove and replace plaster on the walls of my aviary. He stated he had worked construction in the States for six years and could do the work. I've bought the tools and materials and will be assisting in the hopes I will learn as we go. This will allow me to do small repairs as needed. He's also going to install two new faucets and trim some cabinet doors that won't open and close properly.

I'll report back on his work. He's trying very hard to support his family and very elderly mother.

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He has a car, but he comes by bus and leaves the car for his wife. I have bought all the tools and cement we will need, I hope. I am paying him by the hour and that's fine with me. I even bought a second ladder so we can make a scaffolding. The ladder we have is pretty old and rickety. I'm glad to have a better one as I'm up on it often to hang bird toys.

I was hiring someone else, but he always wanted money for materials up front and I never saw the change or a receipt. He left supposedly to get the supplies and didn't return for two or more hours. The final bill was always too much and I would ask for an itemized account which would result in a reduction. I finally decided to not to hire him anymore, but he's our housecleaners nephew and she's definitely not happy with me. Who knows what he told her. So I'm anxious to see what this man will accomplish. His English is good, he's prompt and we'll see if he's dependable and knows his stuff.

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Thanks, Sunny. He came to my door when he first got in town with letters of recommendation from local people and shared his story with me. He seemed very sincere and my heart went out to him, but I had no work for him at that time. I had forgotten about him, but when this post started My thoughts went back to him and now I have found some things that might keep him busy for a few days, at least. Anxious to hear your final report.

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How are his Guad driving skills? I have a very dear Mexican friend who drives me to my many doc appointments, but while he means well, I'm always on the verge of a heart attack. Last time he ran a red light (he didn't notice it despite me saying "red red RED RED RED AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!") and he always fails to release my parking brake and drives around with it on unless I notice it and release it for him. I need a driver who is confident, safe and very aware of Guad driving as compared to driving locally here in Ajijic (to drive me in my fully insured car).

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I'm sorry that Andres isn't going to work out. I am now asking for a recommendation for a crew to remove the old plaster and redo the concrete and then paint. My birds are eating the old plaster and it's killing them. Now they are all inside the small sleeping room until the work is completed so it needs to be done right away. I've wasted too many days waiting for Andres to show and I can't wait any longer. Please answer with the name and phone number of someone you know that can do the work and is reliable.

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I talked to Andres tonight and told him what I read on this board. He was very upset. It had to do with taken his sick child to the hospital. When he finally got back to the job he was told he was needed. He had left his shirt and cell phone on the job and when it was returned to him it was soaked from the rain. So now he is without a cell phone. All I can say my experience with Andres has been nothing but positive. He is a good guy.

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I wish Andres no harm. I bought all the tools and materials for the job, even an additional ladder to make scaffolding as he requested. He was supposed to start on Friday at 7:30, on the previous Tuesday he came to ask for a loan and I gave him 300 pesos on the word that he would return. On Friday he didn't show so I called him two hours later and he said he needed more time to finish another job. So he was to come on Mon. at 7:30. He finally showed at 9. We worked together all day. I kept him supplied with water and also lunch. He said he had to leave at 4 and I paid him more than he asked for and only deducted 100 pesos on the loan for that day. He promised to return the next day at 8, but finally came at 11 to tell me he couldn't work that day because he had to sign his kids up for school. Yes, he left his shirt and phone and it rained. I'm sorry I didn't see it. Yesterday he never showed up at all. I had to search desperately for a crew to continue and finish the work.

I got up at 4am each morning to have all the animals fed and be ready to work at 8 with him. I hauled all the broken concrete out to the street with a small bucket that I could manage the first day. The second day I used the chisel and small sledge hammer to break away another half of a wall while I waited for him to show. The third day I was again ready to work, but when he didn't appear, I started asking for recommendations and then got on the phone. Thankfully the work will now be completed without me.

Andres still owes me 200 pesos on the loan and I don't care about it, but I am upset at being abandoned when I went out of my way to be accommodating to him. I refrained from writing all this, but you brought it up so here it is.

He didn't say anything about taking a sick child to the hospital. He told me he had to sign his kid up for school. I never told him he wasn't needed, I asked him if he was coming back to work and he said he would. Then he never returned. He had a ready excuse for everything, even to ask for a loan without even starting the job. I don't blame him when I was the fool. Now aren't you glad you asked for this.

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I know you don't mean Andreas any harm. And yes I didn't want to go into a long story either. But you made it sound like he never showed up for work. I don't blame you because he should have told you when he could have start the job. And yes he had told me the story about the money that he borrowed and the money for the day he worked. This is where the culture difference comes in to play. We gringos think the whole world revolves around us. And Mexicans think everything is family. A person that Andreas has worked for or is going to work for is sponsoring his children for school and wants to remain anonymous. So with his child being sick had then having to register
for school and then taking this child to the hospital he was very busy for a few days. I know he would rather be working and making money . And his phone that was soaked by rain is probably still not working. Living here for 15 years I learned how this cultural works and will not change soon. This is where us gringos should step up and show a little bit of compassion and understanding. I look at this man who is trying to keep his family together. When he makes 500 pesos a day 300 goes food and 200 pesos for rent. He has absolutely nothing. (How come I was born so lucky.) Here's a man that willing to work and needs a break. sunnyvmx I wish you lots of luck in finding somebody that meets your standards.

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I understand the cultural thing, as you put it. However, a simple phone call to sunnyvmx would probably have made everything OK.

Cultural expectations work both ways.

Workers also have a responsibility to the people who employ them for the money that they need to take care of their family and children.

As I see it, sunnyvmx would probably have been sympathetic and understanding if she had known the situation.

In the absence of knowing, what should she have assumed ?

Even if his cell phone was ruined, I bet he knows someone, somewhere who could have called her for him. That would have been enough for her to understand the situation and cut him some slack.

I have had workers who called the night before or the morning they were expected to come to work and say they would be unable to make it that day. No problem.

If Sunny were not able to have had him work the next day because she was ill and needed to go to the dcotor, she has a responsibilty to her worker to call and let them know, as well.

Two way street.

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I don't live in the Chapala area, so don't know this man, but I have to agree with other posters who said that workers need to learn to be responsible, call when they can't make it, etc.They also need to realize that clients are not interested in their sad stories about why they didn't show up when they said they would. If they want to work for gringoes, there is a trade-off, they can't just play the cultural difference card, nor should people be accepting that as an excuse.

I have heard the sick kid story (that one is used a lot), the had to take my mother to the doctor story, the lost my cell phone, or was out of saldo story, etc, etc, ad nauseaum. Mexicans have huge families, so there is bound to always be someone who is sick or needs a ride to the doctor, or just died, or is getting married, or having a quinceanos, or whatever. I have family, too, but I don't use them as an excuse for being irresponsible. Yes, things happen. It takes 30 seconds to make a phone call, and unless you have just died, or been in a serious accident, there is no valid excuse for not doing so.

Also realize that there is seldom such a thing as a "loan" in this country. If your worker asks to borrow money, either give it to him without expecting it to ever be repaid, or don't "loan", even if the guy is working for you and you figure you'll just take it out of his pay. More often than not, they spend the money and then never show up again. In fact, it is a really good way to ensure that they won't show up again. If you can find a full day's work somewhere else for full pay, why would you show up for someone who is going to deduct what you borrowed?

And gringoes maybe should wait until they have built up a long-term relationship with workers and know them to be consistently reliable before recommending them, rather than being so impressed with someone the first time they use them- people are usually on their best behavior while they feel they are being tried out. Consider that being so anxious to find work for some guy you just met and who did one job for you, might result in someone else getting screwed.

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