Advice for a live-in couple

[Spocky]

It's somewhat complicated, but it works like this (correct me if I'm wrong, somebody). If you own a company, company carries insurance (not you personally) for all vehicles. You can elect designated drivers for the vans, and then their insurance history applies to company insurance (discounts or surcharges), but they have to drive it 51% of the time. If you have 5 or more vehicles, you can have fleet insurance at which point your drivers' history doesn't matter, but your company has history and it's applied to your insurance rates.

Now that makes a whole lot of sense. I'm sure that my client has at least 5 vehicles (if you include motorcycles that's a certainty) so he would get a fleet rate. OK... starting to settle in my head how this has to be structured.

That would sound fair to me, especially since I believe they would have to pay lower taxes with that kind of setup. If you want to be exact with the equivalent rent you could likely get a realtor or property manager through to let you know what it's worth rent-wise.

Yeah, I try not to even think about taxes as all I do is take my shoe box full of receipts to the accountant once a year and write a cheque stained with my tears. I'm sure that a property manager (I'm allergic to REALTORS®©™€£¢ since I have a hypersensitivity to aerosolized manure) would quote a place like that pretty close to my estimate. Sounds really nice.

[kgcayenne]

I'm curious about something. In your original post, you state that this family has meal tastes.
- Are these due to medical conditions or are they personal preferences?
- Do they prefer a more bland menu?
- Are they avid culinary adventurers?
- Do they like the idea of a very high-end presentation and menu?
- Do they participate in sports to the point where their caloric intake is monitored and accommodated for muscle recovery?

A requirement for expertise in one or more areas of the culinary spectrum may factor into what the pay rate should be. Having had to accommodate a grain-specific set of allergies in my household, I can say that the last four years of experience, gluten-free or wheat-free cooking has made it clear that it is definitely trial-and-error endeavour (regardless of recipes and online information), and someone with competence in that area should be compensated accordingly.

What are the requirements in regards to grounds maintenance? Does this fellow like some of the plant varieties that need special care? Does he expect some level of competence with all aspects of horticulture, or will he contract-out for certain things like tree and shrub pruning/shaping? Gardening isn’t as simple as some people would like to think.

[Spocky]

I'm curious about something. In your original post, you state that this family has meal tastes.
- Are these due to medical conditions or are they personal preferences?
- Do they prefer a more bland menu?
- Are they avid culinary adventurers?
- Do they like the idea of a very high-end presentation and menu?
- Do they participate in sports to the point where their caloric intake is monitored and accommodated for muscle recovery?

A requirement for expertise in one or more areas of the culinary spectrum may factor into what the pay rate should be. Having had to accommodate a grain-specific set of allergies in my household, I can say that the last four years of experience, gluten-free or wheat-free cooking has made it clear that it is definitely trial-and-error endeavour (regardless of recipes and online information), and someone with competence in that area should be compensated accordingly.

What are the requirements in regards to grounds maintenance? Does this fellow like some of the plant varieties that need special care? Does he expect some level of competence with all aspects of horticulture, or will he contract-out for certain things like tree and shrub pruning/shaping? Gardening isn’t as simple as some people would like to think.

Thanks for the incisive and indepth questions. I'll answer them as best I can.

Food:

No to #1 medical but yes to personal preferences.
No to #2.
Yes to #3: Their idea of a decent lunch has truffles and saffron in it.
Yes to #4: Definitely in the menu as they're not the KD & ketchup crowd, but they don't care much about presentation. They're not that snobby.
Yes to #5: He's just lost a lot of weight but has a lot to go and his wife ballooned up with the baby and didn't lose an ounce, so they have to get controlled portions of fairly low-cal foods so they can get down to size.

Grounds Maintenance:

They're getting a ranch that's just grass and most of it is going to be left wild. There will be some lawn around the house and very little in the way of fancy plants or shrubbery. They're not lovers of the English Garden type of lot as they prefer it wild and natural. Regardless it will still require basic maintenance.

Thanks again!