That’s what the pre sit interview is for. Due diligence.
Put yourself in the place, and when you return home, you will find that you do not find the state of the garden acceptable. Completely different from the effort and even passion you put into four your pet sitters to have a nice garden look, before you left. It is than much better to book a cheap holiday where everything is done for you and buy your ticket to the zoo.
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If the HO wants a good gardener, they would need to write that clearly in the listing, for example with the number of hours of work the sitter is expected to put in. There should also be enough photos of the garden. And it should be an important subject of the video chat.
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Personally I love playing in the dirt albeit it takes more effort now but I think that’s just because I don’t do it regularly anymore but I will always say yes to garden, mowing, pool care, anything outdoors except snow related activities 
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People must also take their own responsibility, it is and remains a domestic animal sitter. The abundance of rules in society will never make everything happen as it should be done in a human way, not even with lots of photos, text, online video chat in advance or on-the-spot explanations.
No but it certainty helps…and better than not.
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Strimmer=string trimmer
Thank you, my new word of the day! In the US, we have “Weed Whacker” but we cannot use it as a gerund.
I think they can ask whatever they want as far as chores. It is about whether you want to apply for the sit. Why does it matter?
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Yes i too have been seeing more and more HO’S listings with chores. I consider chores as weeding, mowing lawn, taking care of multiple farm animals including barn clean ups, working with staff that work on farms such as scheduling. Or some who have vegetable stands making sure to keep self serve vegetables stocked. These to me should be paid jobs. And since we are not paid , and our policies say THS is not a job or a career we dont have to do thies. Unless you get a sitter who really dont mind doing all this. I love farm animals and feeding a few chickens and maybe sweep out the pen is ok. But im not about to do chores that take advantage of my service in an even exchange. Some requests are way beyond an even exchange. Why would someone do these more labor taskes sits, when they can easily take a dog or cat sit with just poop pick up and litter box clean up. HO’S need to think about this. Do you think this is an even exchange? What could you do to make this more attractive to a sitter?
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Hosts can ask for what they want, but if it becomes laborious for sitters to search and find sits they’re interested in, then maybe they end up not renewing. There’s a balance that can be struck, say if THS adds more filtering tools, so sitters can find what they want more quickly.
Personally, I will quit THS if things tip too far when it comes to how much effort it takes to find sits I want. That would be easy for me, because I’d be OK with not sitting any more. I’ve already cut way back this year, for example. Sitting is only icing for me and some others.
For sitters whose lifestyle it is to sit, they’re more likely to stick, because THS has little strong competition.
Personally, I will never mow anyone’s grass, do gardening, etc. I don’t even do it at my own home. And for hosts who want telecommuters, if they already work a full day and then have to do mowing or yard work, take care of pets, clean, etc., then that further eats away at why they might want to sit. Many of us telecommuters have homes — we’re looking for variety, rather than needing shelter. So if sits become overloaded with chores, better to stay home.
I’m still able to find sits I want, meanwhile. Currently sitting two cats in an urban apartment near loads of amenities. Some plants to water, but nothing unreasonable to me. Next sit will be similar.
Many of my sits have regular cleaners. This current one, for instance, I’ve been told that there’s no need to clean a bunch, because they have a regular cleaner for the apartment.
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Everyone’s response are fab. Agree to sit requirements before hand, take a screenshot of the profile, get everything in writing in the Welcome Guide, and say ‘no’ to additional asks during the sit that you don’t want to do. This isn’t a job. This new gen of HO seems to think this is unpaid labour versus a holiday & lifestyle platform.
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I completely agree with @Maggie8K. I’m already finding it harder to find sits to apply to because I have to sort through so many listings that are either messy/cluttered, have a tone implying they are looking for staff, or have unreasonable expectations.
I’m a digital nomad and have been mostly sitting full-time for the last three years. I’ve done more sitting than I had planned to mostly because it was easy to find sits.
I work full-time while traveling which benefits the pets since I’m in the home most of the time. I very happily give lots of love and attention to the pets, maintain a clean home, and handle any issues that may arise, but I don’t have time for extra chores.
Over the last year or so it’s become much more time consuming to find sits, so I am cutting back on sitting, I’m shifting more to a mix of half sitting, half airbnbs/hotels. Fortunately, I’m not dependent on sitting to be able to travel full-time. I’m not sure if I will continue to renew if things on THS keep changing in very negative ways.
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It’s like anything, so long as the listing is transparent about what the responsibilities are then I see no problem. You can either apply or not. It’s no different than discovering the dogs need walking four times a day when you know you will only take sits if the dogs only require waking twice a day.
I look for sits that require gardening chores to be done, I scroll past sits that require hours of dog walking.
YOU SIR, are my twin!!
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@DavidZ081 that would be my ideal situation, I am rather envious.
There are some good sits and sometimes not so good. I found a wide variety over my travels - now in my 6th year as a sitter since Covid.
Driving around Canada, US and Mexico for 8 months in my van, I discovered it was very challenging to interleave house sits along my path. Only 3 sits booked in Las Vegas, Houston and Washington, DC in this time Oct/2024-Jun/2025.
I will try for some UK sits next as there are usually +3000 available sits there. Europe travel has been on my list for some time. I am finally ready to go this fall. Everyone takes a different path. To each his own. -DaveZ
I am surprised you didn’t see more sits in those areas. I did back to back sits in CA from May to mid july. And am pretty much booked through feb. In Toronto, detroit area, back in southern CA. I think there a bunch of sits. Particularly if you have a vehicle.
One can’t ask for whatever, as it is against the terms one sign up for as a member that you can’t use this platform for commercial / business use. That would very quickly be the case if you manage veggies for sale, have a role re. staff (you will then be a representative for the employer) , if you do farmwork or have tasks related to rentals, AirBnB and such. If you give or take on such tasks, you are in breach of terms no matter how willing you are to do so.
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They can ask but I won’t do it.
curious how it went? Did you get US sits or go to UK?