moving to kauai from san diego (Wailua, Poipu: apartments, condo, motel)

[cfg]

hi! my husband and i are planning to move to kauai at the end of august. we are going with 2 other friends. we are not going into this blind or with un-realistic expectations. we have been to the island many times. each time for at least a month. i lived on the island for 3 months a few years before we got married. but our questions have to do with work. my husband is a painting contractor. he has his own business here in san diego with a few employees. my husband is bringing his truck over and his tools. so i guess our question is....does anyone have any contacts for us? (work wise) i would also like to get some type of job. nothing to crazy. maybe a coffee house or something along those lines. if you have any information let me know!! thanks!

[Shari808]

Just a fair bit of warning, I actually was born and raised on Kauai and recently moved TO San Diego FROM there. The job market is very slow there...and housing and other costs remain high. However, don't be completely discouraged because there are still positions available if you're willing to be flexible and don't require too high of an income. Can you be a bit more specific on what area of the island you'll be moving to?

[scorpy01]

I don't know about painting contractors but when we looked into masonry contracting, we discovered a few hoops we'd need to jump through. Not impossible or terribly difficult, but it takes more than just moving your stuff over and submitting a change of address for the business. I believe a bond is required, possibly testing but I'm not sure about that. It's been several years since we looked into it.

[Mar0]

I don't know much about that line of work...although my friend moved here from Georgia and her husband got a job as a contractor fairly easily..

Unemployment is around 2.5% here, and generally the unemployed are unemployable. What part of the island are you hoping to move to? You might want to look at the classified ads for jobs at kauaiworld.com....

[cfg]

thanks so much for the responses. i have been looking at the kauai world newspaper pretty much everyday. we have some friends who live in kapaa and they said that it wont be a problem for my husband to get a job. we are looking at houses or apartments in kapaa just because it seems to be the middle....we love to north shore but doubt my husband will find work there. and i think i might be working at a coffee house in kapaa. we are both very flexible and just will go with the flow. we arent moving to kauai to be some super rich business...we are moving there to basically get away from that. we are sick of the materialistic mindset of so many people here in california. and we are done with working our butts off just to pay the bills. we are totally willing to live simpler (is that even a word) to get out of the rat race. we know kauai isnt some perfect place with perfect people but it is more of a lifestyle closer to our hearts.

[Sweetbeet]

We are on our way to Kauai right now (driving cross-country, then shipping car and flying). We will be arriving on 8/12. We have a house in Wailua and may need some painting done. Also carpentry. PM me for more details.

[raisun]

Not being a Kauai resident (but knowing enough to be dangerous), have you looked down in Poipu for new construction work? I know there are a couple of new condo communities going in the ground down there as we speak, one of them is by Brookfield. If I had to guess, that might be a good spot for him to network and meet some of the other tradesmen on the island.

[treedonkey]

I have seen a lot of people move to the islands and return a short time later with bad experiences. The main reason is that the job situation there is simply horrible. The only ones I have seen stay successfully long-term are ones who were able to start their own successful business there in the Islands or make their money from elsewhere (not counted retirees).: for example - dive charter (drawback: very competitive biz), window coverings (drawback: boring), coffee-farmer (drawback: high cost of entry, low return, lots of work), working remotely (drawback: job security risk)

All four of those examples are real people who I know well. They have all been very happily living their with families for many years in HI.

So my advice for moving to Kauai, or elsewhere in the islands: Don't even consider getting jobs there long-term. Plan on making your own job and livelihood, or bring it with you.

[hotzcatz]

He will possibly be able to find work with a contracting crew or painting crew but I don't think he will be able to legally be in a contracting business until he has passed some tests, posted some bonds and done some internship, but this is just hearsay.

Two years ago someone bought the house next to ours and he is a contractor in California and planned on moving over here and being a contractor. The house is still empty. From what I've heard it was because he couldn't move his contracting license, but again, this is just hearsay.

[MickeyE]

Check Hawaii for some good info on contractor's licenses.

Mickey