Of course. I did notice you were Asia kids too and we came from KL to Thailand to here. I’ll DM you now 
Definitely red flags @Cuttlefish, especially if future sitters not as experienced and strong like the two of you. Why isn’t their caretaker dealing with contractors etc and sitter only the dogs, house and perhaps the gardeners? But too many others which, unless, for an emergency, would be impacting the Third Party Policy.
Yes it’s always good to discuss any extra responsibilities in advance. I always make sure that sitters know exactly what to expect.
Karin
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Hello @Karin1 and a very warm welcome to the Community Forum and it’s lovely to see you joining in with this thread 
For reference as a member, you can also add your TrustedHousesitters profile on to your Forum profile by following the attached link, should you wish. This will then enable others to offer you helpful advice and feedback.
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Also, remember you can use the spyglass symbol at the top of the page next to the TrustedHousesitters logo and search for any questions that you may have as they have most likely already been answered on here and of course if not then please just ask! 
@Cuttlefish, about a year ago I came across a very similar listing (the same?), in addition to all the responsibilities you mention the knowledge of local language was also required so that a sitter could easily communicate with contractors. This little detail was not stated in the listing.
Wow!! I won’t give the game away @RadarInc but suffice it to say I have zero of the local lingo required. French, Spanish, German or Turkish it is not 
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He’s very young @temba and culturally the contractors ignore him hence being pulled in. We’ve put our foot down and said not our job, advertise and pay for a property manager and stop asking for so much. Watch this space 
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Good on you @Cuttlefish 
I’ve set up a template for longer sits that I ask owners to fill in. The welcome guide is good, but there’s no room to ask sitter-related questions in written form.
In my template, as well as asking about required pet care, I define that I will return the house in the condition it was provided - not cleaner than… I also personally clean my sheets too prior to leaving.
I also define what I am not: a free cleaner or pool/garden maintenance person. My responsibility extends only to pet care and basic collecting mail from the letterbox, dog walks, watering house plants. That’s it. I don’t do anything else outside of that.
The point of sitting is for you to not feel like it’s an unpaid full time job. And to be honest, some pets can already feel like that. So extra chores beyond the above is an absolute no no for me.
I also recommend that they have their payment method with their vet, as I don’t prepay for any vets bills / food and pet food must be pre-purchased and available for the entire sit.
I also ask if food can be eaten from their cupboards or not as many owners who understand the cost savings are happy to oblige. One couple supplied our food for the whole week.
This keeps it simple. If I smell more work than the above and the place isn’t something spectacular, I am not interested.
Yesterday, I saw a listing and checked previous sitter reviews. One of them said they were treated like a personal assistant and had never felt as used before. And this sitter otherwise had dozens of rave reviews. She said the HO had asked her to contact an agency and handle parking issues that the HO had (not the sitter); open her mail; go through personal documents; get things from the house for a friend to take to her; sent her without asking to pick up pet meds; wasn’t ready when the sitter first showed up, so sent her to the store to pick things up and had her waiting for an hour.
To me, it’s always important to set boundaries for what you think is reasonable. And those boundaries are agnostic of the sit or the HOs — they’re about how you want to be treated. And setting boundaries is a life skill, not just for sitting.
Upholding boundaries can be done matter of factly, politely, even humorously. However you do it, it’s what you owe yourself.
No HO has asked me for anything unreasonable so far. If anyone did, I’d just say, that’s beyond the role I signed up for.
And BTW, generally, people who are unreasonable / exploitative tend to sniff out whom they can take advantage of. Get an inch, take a mile.
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FWIW, in the U.S. you can have mail held almost instantly — like sign up online and it starts the next business day or such. I’ve done that for myself when my husband and I’ve traveled. I mention that, because even if a HO has left the home, they can still start the service and pick up their mail on return. I wouldn’t drive to pick up their mail.
This discussion brings up an interesting point: how many minutes/hours of work daily/weekly should the chores of a house-sit take, in order to feel like a fair exchange?
Some Owners might say, “Based on AirBnB prices in my area, it would cost a Sitter at least $200 USD per night to stay here, so they should put in X hours daily to earn that.”
Other Owners might say, “The Sitter is SAVING me $50-200+ USD per night, and my pets remain comfortable in their own home, and I don’t like my home to be vacant, so…”
Anyway, it seems to me that one should be able to work full-time and still easily be able to get the chores done. Maybe they should take about one hour per day maximum? Two hours?
I am curious to hear others’ thoughts.
@Cuttlefish aren’t those Tasks against the THS terms and conditions? No personal assistant duties
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People that expect me to “earn” the sit by providing something more than loving care for their pets and responsible care for their home are probably not folks I want to sit for. I’ve passed over sits that sounded like the HO thought the monetary value of the sit should equal the monetary value of the lodging. Other than cleaning up after myself and tending to the animals, I don’t expect to be doing chores.
I’m in a hotel right now waiting to fly for an overseas sit. I’m still thinking about the dogs I left a couple of days ago - where are they, is it time to feed, do they need to go out, thunderstorm coming so one will need comforting, etc. What’s the value of care and concern that a sitter can provide around-the-clock, compared to a kennel or daily drop-in?
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@jcvbva Clearly that is priceless! It is not surprising to hear that while you are literally on your way to the next Sit adventure, you are still thinking about the Sit which you recently left. We are all human, after all.
I completely agree with you. Additional “chores” which I think are pretty normal include putting the garbage and recycling bins out on garbage day, bringing in mail and packages, and watering a few indoor plants and a few outdoor plants. Pet care plus these tasks (which should not take much time at all) are the limit for us.
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This conversation has got me wondering if my ‘asks’ are unrealistic. I think not because thus far I haven’t had a problem getting sitters. But, I’m curious what this group thinks.
I go away for 2-3 months a couple times a year, and or a week or two also several times a year. When its a longer sit, I do ask the following:
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if in the summer, cut the grass in the back yard every other week or so because my grass grows about 2” a week. I have a new easy to use gas mower. I’m 70 years old. And it takes me 30 minutes to cut the grass. I have a lawn service for the front and side of my house, which are much larger than the back yard.
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With mail, I ask them to toss the junk mail, and then photograph and email me non-junk mail envelopes. If its important communication, I’ll ask they open it and send me a photo. While I was gone for 3 months this spring, my sitter ended up sending me about a dozen photos on 4 different days (in a 90 day period).
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I have a pool. And have it serviced every week. I do ask the sitter to clean out the skimmer every other day or so (just taking a small basket and dumping the debris).
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I only have two indoor/outdoor cats, with no litter box. They feed freely with dry food. And have water fountains, the cat care is fairly minimal.
Do you think the grass cutting and mail editing are ‘excessive’?
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Hi @Cleeflang in answer to your question, no I do not think this is excessive, we have done all of these things and more whilst sitting. Of course a good thing to remember is to check all of these things that you would like done with any potential sitters, (just incase they are not happy to do these things), preferably when you have a video call and certainly before the sit is confirmed.
Communication is key.
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@Cleeflang I do not find any of the requests to be excessive, but please make sure you have them in your listing and then reiterate during a video call (maybe even show them the backyard and pool) so there are no surprises.
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Thanks for the feedback. I do indeed have them mentioned in my listing and talk about it on a video call.
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@Cleeflang you are very welcome and that’s great, you are certainly doing the right thing in listing the additional requests and discussing this during a video call.