Helpers.Hu is at hand!

Hungary might be a great place to be and do business but - as we all know - getting certain things done can be a real hassle for a busy expat. Do you really have the time and energy to see to all those mundane but necessary tasks that take that bit longer than they do at home – especially when someone else is prepared to do them for you?

Showing visitors around for overworked hosts who just can’t seem to get away from the office, finding reliable English-speaking cleaning ladies, babysitters or plumbers, convincing builders to deliver on deadlines and do what they are really supposed to, taking your children to school, your car to the garage, or your laundry to the drycleaner’s - no request is too unusual for the team at HELPERS.

Having served their time as expats themselves, the HELPERS team - Barbara Ürögdi, husband Nenad Ignjatović and Dániel Bodonyi - know just what it takes to get things done.

“We are small, flexible and personal, and we can deal with any of the numerous problematic matters that the busy expat encounters, and help make their life more enjoyable in Hungary” says Ürögdi. “We like coming up with solutions to seemingly impossible requests.”

Even if you feel you can master enough of the seemingly elusive local lingo to attend to things yourself; that’s just the beginning – it’s really all about who you know. “Our job is dealing with people, and that’s not just a question of language,” says Bodonyi.

Matt Foster, country manager for CV Online, spent an arduous month trying to find a company to mend his underwater lighting on his swimming pool, and met about half a dozen different companies whose collective verdict was unanimous: install a new system. “The one company helpers sent recommended I fix the underwater lighting myself, at a cost of about 1000 HUF, and the problem was solved,” he recalls. 

The second time he used their services was to find a company to build a fence and a gate. “The contractors turned up the next day, and came back one week later with the bespoke construction, which works perfectly.  Highly recommended,” said Foster.

The nightmare process of buying a dream home in Hungary is fraught with hazards - from liaising with the many intermediaries – estate agents, lawyers, builders, insurance brokers, utility providers, explains Timothy Waskett , another of the firm’s satisfied clients. "Then just to finish you off there’s purchasing furniture, finding competent carpenters, plumbers and electricians, installing kitchens, cleaning and so on," he adds. “What almost felt like an impossible task has actually been an enjoyable experience thanks to helpers,” says Waskett.

Like all good networkers, if helpers can’t do it themselves, they know someone who can. Despite being a small organization, to provide a diverse range of services HELPERS calls on an extensive network of contacts, as well as a team of mostly young, English-speaking locals, also known as helpers. “Whatever and whomever we find is through our personal contacts,” says Ignjatović. “We are not an ‘agency’ – we don’t normally advertise. It seems that a few phone calls work much better than an impersonal ad in a paper.”

HELPERS services carry prices determined either by the type of task, or by the hour. Most jobs are priced by the hour, where the hourly rates of the helpers (the team responsible for making your problems go away) range from €20 to €30, depending on the qualifications required. Examples of jobs priced by the task include referrals of English-speaking domestic help (cleaners, baby-sitters, tutors, drivers) at €30-40, the purchase and pick-up or delivery of furniture or household appliances at €40-80, or the registration and paperwork when buying or selling a car at around €200 .

Let’s face it, that’s a small price to pay for a stress-free life in Hungary!