@Cleeflang Your particular Sit-uation (lol) is a perfect example of the fact that it is all a balancing act! Since your cat care is so simple, it is the other tasks that will take time for the Sitter. For other Owners, the dog care alone could take 2 hours per day with feeding and walking, and if that were the case, then I would say, “Yes, 2 hours of dog care PLUS all of these other tasks would be excessive.”
Hi @Cleeflang - I don’t think your asks are unreasonable and especially as these have been agreed with the sitter before the sit was confirmed .
We do long sits and accept that longer sits may come with some extra responsibilities ( such as mowing the grass - which wouldn’t be necessary on a short weekend stay for example )
We have done a sit where mowing the lawn weekly and watering the veggies daily is part of the responsibilities, along with a cat to feed. That’s a reasonable request and good balance for us . We wouldn’t have accepted if more gardening / weeding was required or if there had been several dogs to care for as we work remotely during sits and we would not have time to do more.
We have turned down sits where there were multiple dogs all of whom had to be fed and walked at separate times .
If the sitter has use of the pool then keeping it free of debris is not unreasonable. We expect that it’s our responsibility to keep clean the areas we use ( bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and any other rooms that we use ) . We don’t clean or dust any rooms that we haven’t used .
Your solution for dealing with mail sounds like a very practical solution for a long sit and as we have an 8 week sit coming up , I may even suggest it to the homeowners. Sorting through the mail is not as onerous as having to drive 25 miles to collect it . The latter I would see as excessive due to the time it would take and the expense of the fuel .
I notice that your mail sorting isn’t mentioned in the listing.
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I will not do lawncare, especially using a dangerous machine, having witnessed my mother getting injured by a lawn mower.
Things that you do regularly may take you little time or be no big deal.
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Yep, I’ll be adding that before I post again.
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My sitters are welcome to use the pool. And, when I came back from three months away I had A LOT of weeding to do, because I would never ask a sitter to be responsible for that. Thanks for your feedback.
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I see that you are in the USA. You might consider signing up for “Informed Delivery.” It is easy to sign up and you get an email daily showing you photos of your mail. We have found it very helpful when we are away from home.
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Seems like its a common issue.
When it happens to me, I’m kindly asking how much they are ready to pay me to achieve the extra tasks :))) in order to calm them down.
I would never accept any money, but it’s just to show that I have limits.
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I hear this argument all the time. 
So, I used to work at a gorgeous theatre. Could you imagine if my paying employer said, “Hey, Did you know the rent to be here at this theatre would cost you x dollars? So how about you work for free in exchange and pay me utilities bc I’m giving you a roof over your head while you’re here?” It would be bizarre, yes? Because ultimately, you need to be in the home to fulfill your duties as a sitter lol House sitting for free and being asked to work 24/7 based on the rental price of the home is similarly and absolutely ridiculous. The job cannot be done anywhere else. Literally, their pet needs you to be there to be served. So, no, the rental price of the home is irrelevant. How can you enjoy a mansion or whatever if you’re always working? The market price for pet care can be legitimately 100/day. In the US, my boyfriend was paid 75 USD daily to take care of one dog, in-house and it was a beautiful mansion. It’s only fair as a pro-bono exchange if the “work” part doesn’t interrupt your time as a sitter enjoying the house and area - that’s your exchange - the free time you have to enjoy yourself separate to your pet duties. I even invite owners to tip me if they enjoy my service. So, yeah, I don’t let myself get manipulated by the great house thing if I feel like the duties make me the hired help with little time to myself.
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Bravo @Starsitter I hope lots of Owners read this! Yes, yes, yes! We are providing excellent care for pets and homes, literally saving Owners buckets of money in kennel or sitter expenses. Most Owners are really grateful. Others need to improve in this department.
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IMHO the BIG thing is this: do you spell out your requirements in your post?
We’ve done all that (and more) on sits. And far, far less. So much of how people feel about their experiences has to do with if expectations are met.
We have done all kinds of crazy things - having been home owners, pet owners, and raised kids - we realize a home & pets take some care & time! MOST sitters I think are the same.
Also, maybe start off with the BIG positives for the sitter - then the “asks” will seem much more palitable - especially if presented in a friendly way.
For example, if your post read like this:
I have two indoor/outdoor cats, their dry food & their water fountain need to be topped up but otherwise they’re very low maintenance. You’re welcome to use my pool, which is serviced every week, all that needs to be done is dumping the little skimmer basket weekly.
This sit is for nine weeks and while a lawn service mows most of the property the back grass will need to be cut 4 to 5 times with my gas mower (it takes me no more than 30 minutes.)
I also need my “real” mail (not junk) photographed weekly & E-mailed to me so I can stay aware of anything important that comes in.
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Yeah, after doing so many sits I am passionate about this topic. When I consider the amount of hours I work for the pets I care take of (they don’t suddenly turn off unless I leave the property) and add even a basic legal minimum hourly wage to it, the owner is saving hundreds of dollars legitimately. It’s not okay to take further advantage and treat a sitter as the additional unpaid help. I wish THS would kindly note the actual real life savings to HO in receiving free sitters so it’s front of mind for them and they don’t use these bizarre arguments to justify financial abuse. Home security is also a huge saving; having the lights on and someone at home can prevent burglary. In Spain, squatters take over homes when people are away and the government can’t do anything about it. There’s so much value that our presence provides. It should be respected.
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Reality is: there are all kinds of people in the world and a few of them are oblivious to the win-win concept. We’ve been very lucky with the HOs we’ve encountered: considerate, thoughful, and genuinely intersting people. That said, the 2-3 experiences that weren’t optimal? Red flags either in the post or in the conversations leading up to the sit so we should have been forewarned. For us the character of the owner we sense is now a huge factor in where we choose to apply.
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As sitters, we look after a home as if we would if it was ours. I don’t like looking at long grass, so I mow it. I don’t want to look at a dirty pool, so I skim it. If a garden is beautifully maintained, then I will do weeding and dead-heading without being prompted, because I can’t bear to see weeds and dead flowers in a beautiful garden. Obviously I’m talking about longer sits. And animal care is always number one. But just saying.
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We think so @IHeartAnimals but when they are listed up front in the post then sitters know what they’re signing up for, hence the question. (We think it’s too much)
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Hi @Cleeflang - no I think your tasks and requests are totally fair for an HO 
The key thing is being transparent about what’s asked, because every sitter does their own rough calculating about what’s worthwhile or reasonable on a sit. For instance, I don’t even clean my own pool or mow my own grass at home. If I see such asks, I just won’t apply. I do however telecommute whenever I sit and love playing with animals, so pets get a great deal of attention from me. Some HOs might value that more.
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@TrustedHousesitters It would be rockstar if part of T & Cs included: all tasks expected to be performed by a sitter must be fully disclosed within your THS listing.
Any requests not disclosed in your listing are not considered the agreed responsibility of the sitter unless pre-agreed in writing within 1 week of a scheduled sit.
If this were the case, it would cut out pretty much all sitter complaints, which is good for sitters and cheaper for you in terms of having to manage disputes around surprise circumstances.
Additionally, if part of a post listing requires owners to disclose the level of training their pet has, behaviour and number of walks expected, this would also save sitters a lot of time deciding if a sit suits them or not.
In an ideal world, you would add the ability for owners to pay a tip and list the kinds of activities which should not be requested without offering payment. Eg. Not puppy trained dogs, activities requiring more than 1-3 hours work a day.
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Having read many of the responses to this thread I feel it is a very nuanced topic. What is over-demanding for some sitters will be perfectly acceptable to others and the context of each sit is very different. Having said that there are no doubt HO’s who try to take advantage and similarly there are sitters who also are more interested in exploring a new place than the house / pets in their care (another thread is devoted to this). Communication is the key and a video call before a sit is confirmed should tease out expectations on both sides.
What saddens me a great deal is that there is a danger of the concept of mutual exchange being undermined by people trying to work out what they are offering is “worth” either as owners or sitters and making sure it is of equal “value”. For me and I am sure many other sitters on this site the importance is in gaining new experiences, meeting new people, sharing their time with animals and perhaps just giving something of themselves without always expecting a totally"'fair" return. As for tipping… please don’t tip me, I think this changes the whole dynamic of the concept of exchange and I would be very embarrassed to be offered any money for a sit.
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No. You are not expecting too much. We would happily do those tasks for such long term sits. The grass and skimmer, you wouldn’t even need to ask. We’d see those as common sense. The mail we would need to have explicit instructions because otherwise, we wouldn’t dream of opening someone else’s mail.
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