Is There Room for ...

I think anyone with an unbelievable work ethic and attention to detail will not have any problem finding employment here. I wish you were considering STX. I need a housekeeper and a nanny. Good luck to you.

Tammy

STX would be our preference, but I get the feeling that work is a bit harder to find there, but housing is a bit cheaper...

We have looked at living on STX, but the ferry ride to work on STT (where we assume work would be faster and easier to find), would not allow us to make it to and from work on time.

We can't afford a condo or house along with a boat!!!

Is there work to be found on STX? I want to stress again, that we are in the very beginning stages of our planning, still gathering information on all three islands, so my knowledge is limited today, but growing more and more by the day... This forum has been a great source of info so far, so that's why you see so many posts by me asking questions!

Thanks!

The only work STT has lots more of seems to be minimum wage with tips.

You're joking about ferrying between STX & STT, right? You could live on STT & commute to STJ to work although that gets old fast but many do it.

I have to disagree with aschultz about only being minimum wage jobs with tips on STT. Not so, in my experience.

It is this "Older Carbon Units" opinion that anyone with a good work ethic will be overwhelmed with work on both STX and STT! There are people that live on the islands that can't find "GOOD HELP" and when they do, they keep it a secret so someone doesn't offer a little more money and steal them. Be careful what you wish for, paradise could become a monster.

Duke,
Your wife will be in demand as soon as she gets the word out. If she contacts real estate offices and puts an ad in the Island Trader (or Crucian Trader), she will have more than she wants. Once she has proven herself, the sky's the limit. She will be able to put together a crew and really start a business, if that is her goal. If she wants to "stay under the radar", so to speak, she will need to keep it small, but if she is capable of running a business, as well as being a cleaning dynamo, she should have great success, in a relatively short time. The cleaning service I used on STX went out of business because the owner moved back to the states, but I always had to book them well in advance. Now I use just a lady I know, and I find myself cleaning behind her.

There are several construction projects on the books for St. Croix over the next few years. If they actually come to pass, STX will be able to keep you very busy as well. STX could probably keep you busy, even without the big projects.

I wouldn't let the employment options be all that determines which island, unless you would be interested in selling jewelry. Then it's definitely STT.

With a good work ethic, experience, common sense and good attitude, you will be Rock Stars!

Thanks for the encouraging words everyone!

Well, sounds like we need to add STX to our list of realistic places to live and work. I say that STT has more jobs (or seems to) because I'm monitoring just about EVERY job posting on STT, STX and STJ. STT certainly has a LOT of low hourly wage jobs open all the time, but they also seem to have more salaried positions available and I've got 4+ years experience in Marketing/Event Management/Event Planning and can build a house, top to bottom (and everything in between). I also build furniture and have all the tools to do the above. The tools are coming down with us before the cars!!!

I could be wrong on the whole "what jobs are available where" topic, but it seems like my wife Meli will be able to support ME for a while! (Maybe I could read the want ads while snorkeling in Trunk Bay for a week or two? He, he!

Thanks again everyone!

Now you're definitely thinking like a Crucian!

Just a joke....no offense meant.

Keep in mind the large amount of yachts here too. Many of them are in need of weekly cleanig people. Also if you can build a house, you can easily find work as a self employed handyman and earn $25 an hour if your work is good and you are dependable. I could certainly use your services...Good luck!!

I'll let you know as soon as I get down there!

It seems that dependability is hard to come by in construction and "handy man" services everywhere.

As I said, I do the "handy man" thing on the side and I have to turn down a LOT of work due to time constraints...

Heck: All I do is show up when I say I will, use my phone if I'm running late, do what I say I'll do and the checks just seem to ROLL IN!!!

Keep the comments coming!

I have probably a couple of days worth of "honey do" stuff. Reliable repair guys are like gold & their numbers get passed around a lot, especially among those with honey do lists with no honey to do them.

Or if you have honey do lists and honey does them...and then you need to get someone else's honey in to do them right!!!! Sigh!

I did not say that was all they had on STT. Just that there is lots more of those jobs in particular than on STX. As far as business goes I think opportunities are about the same. Hovensa equals out for the more hotel work on STT. Contractor,car sales, banker, insurance broker, house cleaner, about the same. or not

Fixing the "honeys" work has paid for a lot of fishing trips to the Gulf of Mexico!

No offense honey-doers!