balivillacareWhat villa staff actually cost in Bali
Key takeaways
- A year of one worker costs 14.23 to 14.41 months of the bare wage, not twelve. The gap is the employer’s social insurance plus an obligatory thirteenth month.
- At the 2026 statutory floor that is roughly USD 236–239 a month, or USD 3,040–3,078 a year, per worker in Badung.
- The religious holiday allowance is wajib — obligatory under PP No. 36 Tahun 2021 — due 7 days before the holiday, with a 5% of the total fine for lateness.
- The minimum is set per regency, so the same team costs measurably less in Gianyar than in Badung. It is the same boundary that decides which office taxes the villa.
- Every figure here is a statutory floor. None of it is market pay, and this page does not have a sourced figure for market pay.
The wage is the number everybody quotes. It is also, by regulation, a little under three quarters of what a year of somebody’s work costs.
How to read the numbers on this page. A figure with no marker is quoted from a primary source and linked at the foot of the page. reported means the company that charges it publishes no public rate card, so the range comes from trade reporting rather than from the charging party. modelled means it came out of the model set out on the methodology page, which you can disagree with line by line.
The wage is not the cost
Ten things between the quote and the year
Ten things sit between the figure in a conversation and the figure in a year’s accounts. Each row below names the instrument it comes from, because in this subject almost everything written for foreign owners is somebody’s recollection.
| What it is | Where it comes from | What it adds to the wage |
|---|---|---|
| The wage itself | Set per regency by the provincial governor. IDR 3,791,002.57 per month in Badung for 2026; Gianyar and Denpasar are lower. | This is the number people quote, and it is the floor rather than the market. |
| Work accident cover — JKK | BPJS Ketenagakerjaan, banded by how risky the work is. | +0.24–1.74% of wage. Employer pays all of it. |
| Death cover — JKM | BPJS Ketenagakerjaan. | +0.3% of wage. Employer pays all of it. |
| Old-age savings — JHT | BPJS Ketenagakerjaan. | +3.7% of wage from the employer, and 2% deducted from the worker on top of that. |
| Pension — JP | BPJS Ketenagakerjaan, on wage up to a stated ceiling. | +2% from the employer, 1% from the worker. |
| Health cover | Perpres No. 64 Tahun 2020, Pasal 30 ayat (1). The calculation base starts at the regency minimum wage. | +4% from the employer, 1% from the worker. Five per cent total. |
| Religious holiday allowance — THR | PP No. 36 Tahun 2021, Pasal 9 ayat (1). The word in the regulation is wajib — obligatory. | +one month's wagereported a year at twelve months' service. A thirteenth month, and it is not inside any monthly payroll figure. |
| When the allowance is due | PP No. 36 Tahun 2021, Pasal 9 ayat (2). | At the latest 7 days before the holiday — each worker's own holiday, which in a mixed-faith household is not one date. |
| Paying that allowance late | PP No. 36 Tahun 2021, Pasal 62 ayat (1). | A fine of 5% of the total, and the same article says the fine does not cancel the obligation. |
| Annual leave | UU No. 13 Tahun 2003, Pasal 79 ayat (2) huruf c. | at least 12 working days after twelve continuous months. Paid — so on a single-cover role it is twelve days of cover or twelve days without. |
What it comes to
Worked through, that is 14.23 to 14.41 months of wage per year per worker. The spread is the work-accident band, which is set by how risky the job is. Nothing in that calculation is a negotiation — it is what the instruments say.
What the floor is, where your villa is
Minimum wages in Bali are set per regency by the provincial governor, and the boundary matters twice: it sets the wage floor and it decides which revenue office the villa answers to. The three that carry the villa market are three different numbers.
| Where the villa is | 2026 minimum wage | Loaded, per month | All-in, per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Badung RegencySeminyak, Canggu, Uluwatu | IDR 3,791,002.57 | USD 236–239 | USD 3,040–3,078 |
| Gianyar RegencyUbud | IDR 3,316,798.48 | USD 206–209 | USD 2,660–2,693 |
| Denpasar CitySanur | IDR 3,499,878.78 | USD 217–220 | USD 2,806–2,842 |
The all-in column is twelve loaded months plus one month’s wage for the holiday allowance, converted at IDR 17,745 per USD. Read the areas alongside it: Seminyak and Canggu are Badung, Ubud is Gianyar, Sanur is Denpasar City.
The thirteenth month
This is the line that surprises owners, and it is the one most likely to be missing from a budget built by somebody used to another country.
Why it hides
PP No. 36 Tahun 2021 Pasal 8 classifies the religious holiday allowance as non-wage income, and Pasal 9 ayat (1) then makes it obligatory in one word: wajib. Being non-wage is exactly why it hides — it is not in a monthly payroll figure, not in a wage slip, and not in the number anyone quotes you.
When it is due, and against whose holiday
It is due 7 days before the holiday, and the holiday in question is each worker’s own. In a household with staff of different faiths that is several dates in the year, not one line in a calendar — which is the practical reason it gets missed rather than refused.
The fine for paying late
Pasal 62 ayat (1) fines an employer 5% of the total of the total for paying late, running from the end of the deadline, and states in the same article that the fine does not extinguish the obligation. It is a penalty on top, not an alternative.
Where the amount comes from
The amount itself — one month’s wage at twelve months’ service, pro-rated below that — sits in a ministerial regulation rather than in PP 36/2021, and is marked one month's wagereported here for the reason given at the foot of this page.
Twelve days that somebody has to cover
What the Act says
UU No. 13 Tahun 2003 Pasal 79 ayat (2) huruf c gives at least 12 working days of annual leave after twelve continuous months. It is paid leave, which on a villa is not a payroll question but a rota question: a single housekeeper taking her entitlement is twelve days of somebody else’s wage, or twelve days of a villa that is not being cleaned between guests.
Why it is a rota problem, not a payroll one
A management company absorbs that, which is a real part of what the percentage buys and is rarely itemized as such. How the fee models compare works through where that sits in each shape.
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What a villa actually carries
At the floor, by headcount
Villas need different teams and there is no standard headcount, so the honest version is a range rather than a figure. At the Badung floor:
| Per month | Per year | |
|---|---|---|
| One person — a housekeeper, part of the week elsewhere | USD 236–239 | USD 3,040–3,078 |
| Two — housekeeper and a gardener or pool hand | USD 472–478 | USD 6,080–6,156 |
| Three — the two above plus somebody running the villa | USD 708–717 | USD 9,120–9,234 |
| Four — adding night security | USD 944–956 | USD 12,160–12,312 |
Held against a management fee
On the model this site publishes, a villa grossing USD 6,000 a month nets USD 1,932 where staffing sits inside the commission, and USD 1,215 where a three-person team sits outside it — and the second figure uses the floor, so a real payroll widens the gap. The full walk, line by line, and the two rate cards that differ on exactly this.
Who is the employer — and why it is not a formality
Everything above lands on whoever the employer is. Three arrangements are common and they are not the same thing.
You employ directly
The obligations above are yours, and so is the administration of them — enrollment, monthly contributions, the holiday allowance on the right date, and the records that show it happened. This is the cheapest per hour and the most exposed.
A management company employs and rebills you
Then the question is not whether the cost exists but what you are charged for it: what the company paid, or what the company paid plus a margin. The clause to look for is whether third-party costs come back at cost or cost plus — and a contract that is silent on the point permits cost plus.
An agency supplies the staff
The agency is the employer and you are buying a service. Usually the most expensive per hour and the least exposed, which for an owner who is rarely in Bali is often the right trade rather than the lazy one.
Which of the three you are actually in is a contract question, not a preference, and getting it wrong is the kind of thing that surfaces at exit. The clauses that decide it and why a caretaker is not a service contract.
What this page deliberately does not tell you
Three things, each left out for the same reason — we could not source them, and a confident figure would be worth less than an admission:
- Market pay by role. What a villa manager, a cook or a driver is actually paid in Seminyak. There is no published dataset we could read, and the floor is not an answer to that question.
- Termination entitlements. Indonesian law provides for them, and the provisions were substantially rewritten by the 2020 and 2023 employment reforms. We did not read the consolidated current text, so this page states nothing about severance beyond the fact that it exists and is not zero.
- Overtime and public-holiday rates. Set by regulation; not read for this round.
If you need any of the three, that is a conversation with an Indonesian employment adviser, and the figures on this page are a reasonable way to start it with a specific question rather than an open one.
Common questions
How much does villa staff cost in Bali?
At the statutory floor, one worker is roughly USD 236–239 a month in Badung once the employer's social insurance is added, and USD 3,040–3,078 for a full year once the religious holiday allowance is included. Those are floors set by regulation, not market pay — an experienced villa manager is paid well above the minimum and this page has no sourced figure for what that is.
Why is a year more than twelve times the month?
Because Indonesian law adds a thirteenth month. The religious holiday allowance under PP No. 36 Tahun 2021 is obligatory and is classified as non-wage income, so it never appears inside a monthly payroll line. Add the employer's social insurance and a year of one worker costs 14.23 to 14.41 months of the bare wage.
Do I have to pay BPJS for a housekeeper?
An employer is obliged to enrol workers. Whether a particular arrangement makes you the employer — rather than a management company, or an agency that supplies staff — depends on the contract and is a question for an Indonesian adviser who has read it. What is not in doubt is that somebody is the employer and the contributions are owed by somebody.
What is THR and when is it due?
The religious holiday allowance. PP No. 36 Tahun 2021 Pasal 9 makes it obligatory and requires payment at the latest 7 days before the holiday. It is paid against each worker's own religious holiday, so in a household with staff of different faiths it is not a single date in the calendar. Pasal 62 sets a fine of 5% of the total for paying late, and states that the fine does not remove the obligation.
Does the minimum wage differ between Seminyak and Ubud?
Yes, and it is the same split that decides which office taxes the villa. Seminyak, Canggu and Uluwatu are in Badung, which has the highest figure on the island for 2026. Ubud is in Gianyar and Sanur is in Denpasar City, both lower. At the floor, the same three-person team costs roughly USD 1,155 a year less in Gianyar than in Badung.
Is it cheaper to employ staff directly than to use a management company?
Only if you compare the same scope, and most owners do not. A management company that includes housekeeping is selling you the work plus the supervision plus the cover when somebody is on leave. Employing directly buys you the work and leaves you the other two. Whether that is cheaper depends on what your time is worth and on whether you are in Bali to do it.
What happens when a staff member leaves?
There are statutory entitlements on termination in Indonesian employment law. This page does not state them, because the provisions were substantially rewritten by the 2020 and 2023 employment reforms and we did not read the consolidated current text. Treat termination as a real and unquantified cost, and take advice before you need it rather than after.
Does any of this apply if the villa sits empty?
The employment obligations do. A wage, its social insurance and the holiday allowance are owed for the period worked regardless of whether guests arrived, which is the structural reason a pure-commission management fee and a directly employed team behave so differently in a thin month.
Sources cited on this page
- PP No. 36 Tahun 2021 — Pengupahan (Pasal 8, 9, 62)
- PP No. 36 Tahun 2021 — official text (Lembaran Negara 2021 No. 46)
- UU No. 13 Tahun 2003 — Ketenagakerjaan (Pasal 79)
- Permenaker No. 6 Tahun 2016 — Tunjangan Hari Raya Keagamaan
- BPJS Ketenagakerjaan — contribution rates for wage earners
- Perpres No. 64 Tahun 2020, Pasal 30 — health contribution split
- Keputusan Gubernur Bali No. 1021/03-M/HK/2025 — 2026 minimum wages, as reported
- Bali provincial manpower office — UMP/UMK documents
- Bank Indonesia — JISDOR USD/IDR reference rate
- BPS — KBLI 2020, class 68200 (real estate on a fee or contract basis)
Every figure above was read from the source it is attributed to on 20 September 2026. How we check this.