The wealthy residents of the East End are suffering. Their usually tidy hedges are untrimmed and wild. Their lawns are uncut, their beds unmade. And for those not savvy enough to book a recurring slot at the salon, their hair looks like shit. The cause? A lack of available labor, well before summer is even in full swing.

The seaside towns at the east end of Long Island, New York, are playgrounds for the rich in summer, but off-season life for permanent residents can be a struggle. By Rupert Neate.

Among the women paying $1,000 for a massage and the men lounging in $100m homes in the billionaires’ playground of the Hamptons is a largely unseen, mostly Latino, workforce toiling all summer in order to survive the winter