Its not easy to find good folks to help around the house.  This is true in any setting, but especially in remote areas such as the Santa Cruz Mountains.  Its not as simple as opening up a yellow pages (or, in today's world - doing an internet search) and finding a list of companies that advertise to provide services in the area.

"Looking for help" is a common topic on the 95033Talk discussion forum and you can access some of the archived posts here.   Look at the tag cloud on the right or do a search using the search box on that site.

Day Labor

Day Labor to help with occasional yard work, work on a project etc.   Its not as easy as going to a local hardware store or corner where day laborers hang out.   Its best to ask around for recommendations - either on the 95033Talk forum or from your neighbors.   A list of folks is not published on this page since it changes frequently as people come and go.

Another excellent choice is the Santa Cruz Day Worker Center.  As someone noted recently, it's "great help at a fair price.  They will work with you to find the skill set that you need and they will vet the workers."   

Housecleaning

Housecleaning, including weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.  Again, a frequent topic on the 95033Talk discussion forum and you can access archived posts on that topic here.  The list of folks is not published on this page since it changes frequently as people come and go.

Contractors

Contractors to help work on [fill in the blank}.   Another one that changes.   Again suggest 95033Talk forum or from your neighbors.   Over the years, contractors have come and gone.  

Companies that provide service for basics

Companies that will service your well, septic service, water heater, appliances, do roofing etc.   Most people are looking for reputable companies for this work vs. individual contractors.   The issue we run into is finding companies that will travel into the remote areas where we live; and not charge an arm and a leg for the travel time.  Many times its cheaper to buy a new appliance than pay for the travel - especially if it takes a couple of trips to do the work; one trip to diagnose the problem and another to come back with the part and fix the problem.  A list of frequently recommended companies is on the 95033Talk archive site - we may move that list into this wiki at some point.

More Info:

Santa Cruz Day Worker Center:  dayworkercentersc.org or 831-465-9675.

Return to Mountain Living Basics page.