Cash rich, time poor and stressed? Solution - pay someone else to organise your day

You know you've finally become a victim of our unbalanced work culture when you realise that you're so time poor and cash rich that you would happily pay someone to remember your sister's birthday or to water your busy lizzie. What you need of course is a cross between a 1950s style housewife and that cranky butler in Upstair Downstairs, but failing that what you can get is your own concierge. Once only a feature of swanky American apartment blocks, the idea of a concierge has spawned a new Irish service.

Concierge Ireland is the brainchild of Emma Filgas who returned to Ireland a little over a year ago from San Francisco where she had worked as a software trainer for a stockbroking firm. Lured back to Ireland by the upturn in the economy she was surprised to find that the level of service on offer had dropped and that standards had fallen compared to her experience in the States, so there was an obvious niche in the market. Her idea earned her a place on the shorlist for this year's Shell Livewire Entrepreneur of the Year.

Hugely popular in the US and growing steadily in the UK, a concierge service offers you several options, which include hiring someone to do your grocery shopping, mind your house, wait for tradesmen, water the plants, feed the cat, fill the fridge, buy presents, book holidays or arrange a party.

Divided into three distinct areas: home management, personal assistant and errand running, there is something to cater for all your needs.

"Our range is so vast that as long as it's legal and decent we'll consider it," says Filgas.

The company operates with two business partners, Maurice Deverell who looks after the finances and Aphria O'Brien who oversees the operational aspect of it. Filgas herself looks after the sales end of things.

With a staff of 65 on call to carry out the various errands, the 72 hour turn around guideline is often ahead of schedule.

"Anything is possible, we can call to your office, collect the keys, go to your house and let the tradesmen in, then lock up and return your keys back to the office which means you don't have to take valuable time off from work" she explains. "What we're trying to do is give people back some time."

Number one on their list of demands at the moment is for cleaners, in particular window cleaners, and if they can't provide what you want they don't charge you for the service, within reason of course. "The most unusual request so far was when we received an e-mail to appear as witnesses at a wedding in Limerick for complete strangers, which was fun," she laughs.

Another unusual request was from a best man who phoned at 10:30 p.m. one night when he suddenly realised he needed someone to video a wedding the following day.

Initial contact is either through e-mail or phone and takes about 10 minutes, as people are quite definite about their requirements, thereafter the company charges by the hour "you can get a lot of work done in one hour - make phone calls, research, get brochures, whatever the client requires. There's no stereotype, it's not just a couple of busy professionals with one child in a crΦche.

"I know how I like to be treated," Filgas says, "so we push ourselves to go that extra length to make the job as professional as we can so that our clients will think that it's money well spent when they use our service."

Time, Filgas believes, is the ultimate gift, so Concierge Ireland also offers gifts whereby you can buy time, such as a babysitting package, for someone as a gift.

This is an idea which has caught on in many of the bigger companies abroad, where in addition to cash incentives, the perks of the job also include a concierge service as part of an employee's bonus.

The cost for the service is £18.00 (22.86) per hour plus VAT at 20%. or info@conciergeireland.com