biscuit22

My husband has been offered a civil engineering job in Dubai and we are trying to work out the fine details before saying yes or no.

Basic salary is £50K per year.
The company are then providing a travel, school, health, accomadation etc package on top. They have asked us to provide figures for what we would like/expect.

Roughly what should we be aiming for - especially in terms of the accomadation budget. Do companies usually pay the full amount of accomadation? Do they pay utility bills etc?

We have three children - but only one is school age for the foreseeable future - other two are under one.

Thanks.

Hello.Kitty

aim for them to cover (generously) everything, because they will try to negotiate down.

Get a clause written in that'll cover schooling for your youngest too when the time comes.

Basically, aim high. Do your homework and back up your figures, but aim for them to pay for it all.

[rather envious!]

Millhouse

50k / year = 25AED / month. I would say you would want 35k AED / month (70k year) to start with.

Then on top...
housing - 180k AED / year for a 3-4bed villa with a garden for the ankle biters (yes rents really are that high - and they have come down 50%)
schools for all three kids (the two will be of school age at some time). so another 150k AED / year

total package: 65k AED / month or 130k GBP / year.

I don't see how it works with 3 kids for any less. You could probably get by on 45-50k AED / month but I wouldn't recommend it.

It's not really that normal to have utilities paid any more. In fact, many (like myself) do not have any benefits at all but simply get a monthly salary and fend for themselves. There are reasons for and against both pay structures (and people on here will have very strong views on what is 'best' normally based on their own package type). If you get the overall number right it essentially all amounts to the same anyway.

good luck - don't get screwed, it's expensive here.

Ethos83

You won't save money.

Do you have a nice life at home with a growing savings account? If yes, don't move.

Millhouse outlined what should be a standard package for a middle class expatriate family in Dubai. Standard but not fancy villa, standard but not fancy cars, eating out at standard but not fancy places and putting aside some money into savings accounts.

I have a slight feeling that if you have a low salary to begin with the company isn't going to be generous with the housing allowance. You can get a decent 3-bedroom villa in Mirdiff for under 100K a year but including utilities expect a minimum of 100K in rent. Some schools are cheaper than others but there seems to be a tandem between price and quality.

I'd tell the company I need a minimum of 150,000 AED for housing, 1 x flight tickets home (paid for by the company) for the entire family per year, and school fees completely covered by the company (if they require a minimum sum say 40,000 AED per child will be covered by the company. That will be fine for the primary years).

flares

I think you will accrue a wee End of Service benefit also (unless co based in a free zone)

gavnnik

Freezone companies aren't exempt from the need to pay gratuities as far as I'm aware although you don't have the immediate protection of the labour courts to get it is they are awkward.

To comment on the salary I'd need to know more about the role - for a Civils Supervisor type role it's probably on the money with the package.

For a Site Manager it would be out by AED10,000-15,000.

The package is important. We see some that offer schooling allowances that won't cover the actual costs.

As far as accomodation - I live in Dubai Silicon Oasis which costs AED165,000 per year, before this we were in Mirdif which was AED130,000 per year but the extra cost has been worth it.

biscuit22

Thanks everyone - very useful!

We have been in discussion with them and so far have this on the table..

Accomadation - they can provide a 4-bed villa in Arabian Ranches (is this a good family area?) or they can provide us with AED 150K per year to select our own - this would not cover utilities. Is the former option better or should we try to get them to up the allowance option?

Transport - they would provide a company car and pay petrol/running costs.

School fees - it is only a three year contract so the youngest children will not be going to school. They have offered to pay a total of AED 60,000 to allow us to pay school fees for number one child and also some childcare for the other two.

One family flight per year - they did initially offer just an allowance but we felt more happy having the flights paid for.

Health - a good package that covers pretty much everything including dentistry and maternity via Bupa International.

They will not budge on the basic salary though - although they have mentioned a lump sum payment at the end of the three years, which is worth three months salary.

Thoughts?

biscuit22

Oh and they have also offered language courses for me and H (although he can already speak basic Arabic).

Ethos83

Ooh la la, Arabian Ranches. Very popular expat community, quite nice, one of the nicest masterplanned communities. Its only downside is that its a bit of a trek to anywhere in Dubai - twenty minutes drive to Sheikh Zayed, but even then you're under 30 minutes from anywhere you want to go. However, keep in mind there's only one school on the Ranches and you aren't getting in.

Its better for the company to have the villa in their name so you aren't tied to a lease, so I'd take it. However you need to be careful with dewa. It can be unpredictable and some people have been slammed with huge bills of 4 to 5,000 aed in the summer months whilst others get away with only 1500.

The advantage of taking the money is that you can get a cheaper place and use the rest to cover dewa, just in case, or save as much. You can get a modest villa in Mirdiff for around 85,000, a three bed in the Springs (another very popular expat area) for 120k.

In general your package is looking much better and acceptable.

Millhouse

Interesting... Like Ethos says, it's a good enough package and you should be fine. One observation though - There are no real 4 bedroom houses in the Ranches. They are 3 or 5. The "forth" bedroom is downstairs and is normally called a study (or in the case of the Millhouse household - the play room) and it's off the lounge. These houses also have a another downstairs room (with onsuite shower room) which is small but big enough for a kid called the "Maids room" (or in case of the Millhouse household - the Pinoy's Palace)

The Ranches is the last centrally planned community that was made by Emaar and is by far the best in terms of quality (they learnt their lessons in the springs so avoid there). BUT, it is 20mins from most places you want to go. That said, for me it is 20mins to the school in the springs and 25mins to my office at the DIFC so very convenient.