Did video interview to arrange this sit. Was in frequent communication with HO to arrange a visit prior to sit, meet animal, see feeding routine, understand house etc.
During this pre-sit visit 24 hours before sit began, HO mentioned they were going to have their interior staircase between two floors replaced during their time away. It sounds like this is going to be happening 4 out of the 7 sit days, and that they have known about this for a while.
HO did say “I hope it’s not going to be an issue and please let me know if it is”. I think the noise and the inconvenience is an issue, and I feel a little taken advantage of. I think it would be good to let HO know that it feels a bit uncomfortable rather than wait until they are back, but not sure how to do so without inflaming the situation.
To pre-empt questions, there is an exterior staircase me and animal can take to get out of the house. Yes, they have had 3 sitters before, two of whom left 5 star reviews and one who didn’t leave a review.
The only time I’ve had anything similar was when a home owner gave me plenty of advance warning that they would be having their garden landscaped whilst I was there - would I be ok with this? I gave it some thought, but came to the conclusion that, for me, a sit is an opportunity to get away from it all - a break from all the boring but necessary stuff that life throws at you. Why leave my own stuff behind, only to deal with someone else’s?
In your situation, the work will be noisy, dusty and intrusive. It will also involve a third party (or several!) being on the premises during the sit, which contravenes THS terms. It sounds as though they have deliberately timed the work to happen whilst they are away, and given you minimal warning. Unless you are doing the sit because you need somewhere to stay, I would decline, as it doesn’t really sound like a fair exchange.
They’re having a laugh. They want you to supervise the works and put up with the noise, dust and general inconvenience. Of course they knew about it before now. Get in touch with membership services asap.
This is going to be very disruptive, I would probably pull out. They must have known about this for ages, but have only just told you, doesn’t bode well for the future.
@ThrowMeABoneHere Let the owners know that you’ve had time to think about it and this will be an issue , ask them to reschedule the work for when they are back home or find another sitter .
If you wait until the review they can say we did ask if the sitter had an issue with it and the sitter said they didn’t . Or they may say we would have rescheduled the work if the sitter had said it was a problem .
This is a well known ploy, schedule work - go away on holiday and leave someone else to take care of the pets. And deal with the noise, the dirt, the endless cups of tea, the trail they leave using the toilet etc. Then they expect the house to be in a show house condition when they come back.
This happened a number of times to us when we first started then we realised how much we were taken advantage of. It’s one of questions when we do the video call now. Even work done in the garden is an inconvenience. The dogs can’t use it when there are so many strange people in it. A weekly gardener is totally different!
I would grin and bear it. It’s a lesson you have learnt and will never ever repeat. These people are avoiding the inconvenience, extra work, noise and dirt by using THS.
Edit. Any questions? Give them the hosts cellphone number and let them disturb their break. If the hosts ask how it’s going or any other technical questions tell them to contact the contractors. If they were so concerned about such major work being done to their property they would have stayed.
This is a link to the THS third party policy . The potential for any third parties to be present during a sit ( regular cleaners / gardeners ) must be shared with a sitter before confirming the sit - and should be stipulated in the listing
I had this come up one time. The construction wasn’t originally scheduled for the sit dates but the contractor had a change in schedule. I told the HOs I thought it would be disruptive and I didn’t want to be responsible for overseeing the work. I was also worried about the indoor cats getting out with workmen coming and going. The HO understood and rescheduled it for later. It was an excellent sit and I’ve been back for a repeat sit since then (with the construction all complete).
They are certainly taking advantage of you as they will have known for some time this work was happening. As a home owner I’d want to be there monitoring the work so it’s surprising they’ve scheduled it while they’re away.
You’re within your rights to ask the owner to cancel you but I appreciate the sit is about to start. She should reschedule or has the sit already started? It’s a little unclear
Thank you everyone for your input! The sit has already started.
I am aware that they will feel tense as soon as this issue is brought up. For the sake of both parties feeling somewhat relaxed while away from home, myself included, I think I will simply put something in the review as their pet is sweet and needs someone to look after him. It’s not his fault!
The workmen seemingly work incredibly fast and there is a fuctioning staircase again after one day of work. It’s possible that because it’s wood the remaining days work are just sanding/sealing/painting and I can deal with it.
I appreciate the insight from everyone though! I was caught off guard by the whole thing and wasn’t aware of the TOC aspect of having third parties come. This will be good to know going forward. Have a great holiday period all!
A staircase needs to be ordered a long time in advance, this is not a shelf item.
This is really bad behavior, against the ethos of this site to spring on you. To be honest - there are so many hosts that are absolute desperate to get a sitter for their pets now these two weeks - all over the place - why should these hosts get one instead of the nice ones? It really is unfair. I would pull out, even if the sit has started.
This was exactly how they planned it. Not telling you so that you should be too nice to pull out. These are not nice people - they trick others in to a situation that they themselves didn’t want to live in. They left their pet and you to deal with it while they have a nice holiday at XYZ.
Please mention in your review so that the next nice sitter like you can make an informed decision.
We had this a few times and first time we haven’t addressed it. It wasn’t a problem though, but we learned that we do not accept this. We have it in our profile now and we even managed to get rid of a cleaner who was there the whole day, trying to boss us around. It was her last day in 6 weeks.
@ThrowMeABoneHere As others have said, the timing of this reveal was clearly scheduled to limit any likelihood of your cancelling the sit. My own feelings are that, entitled - and cheeky - hosts like this should be left in no doubt that we are sitters, not project managers, and in agreeing to continue the sit you have simply enabled their poor behaviours. I do understand though that cancelling may have put you in a tight spot, and you might have felt it was a compromise you were prepared to accept rather than potentially searching for an alternative sit. Please do leave a clear and honest review of the facts, so that future sitters know what to possibly expect.
@ThrowMeABoneHere, plenty great advice by others. It seems that housesit is in progress and you have determined to continue sit and resolve through review.
Unrelated to review, I’d encourage you to flag this also with THS Member Services. This appears a premeditated breach of THS terms by Pet Parent. Poor conduct. I am not aware of any THS MS practices to monitor such matters but I’d hope that there would be some form of warning and watch list.
It would make me uncomfortable having to “manage” the workers…even if it’s just lettign them in and out of the home. Can they use the restroom? Do you offer them water? What happens if something goes missing? Or is broken?
