@Audreychloe it sounds as though you are both a HO and HS, that’s great to befinit on both ends. I was wondering if the HS you had were the same ones that you previous said this about:
They left our home spotless and gave us daily updates on our dogs. The problem was that apparently they booked their next sit too close to the end of our stay and we’re unable to wait for us to get home before leaving. They ended up leaving our dogs locked in our bedroom for six hours and never checked to make sure that our airplane landed and that we got home safely to the state not heard back from them cents even though I myself reached out to them. This is very disconcerting to me and I had expressed I need to ensure that they would be there before we got home and she assured that “things would work out”.
It sounds as though a lot of things were not discussed in a “just in case manner” and they may have been concerned if you came back to find a slew of towels and other items destroyed from potentially hazardous water being mopped up with your linens.
Some people do not operate well under pressure in situations like that and they may be of the type that prefer to overshare than assume you think minimal communication is find works and figure it out of which would pose no determent to their finances of the safety of them or your animals.
I know I was once at a home where the ac system went out and the temperatures were quickly rising, summer in Central Florida. Of course constant communication is required when a new install costs upwards of $1000 and no animal or human should be subjected to those temperatures or be made to try to pay for or purchase a new system.
Sometimes people are better versed at dealing with emergencies, but I would prefer communication if I ever needed a sitter rather than coming home to find drywall, flooring or furniture damage.
Hopefully your future sitters will be better prepped and not pepper you with inquiries and not leave your lovely pets alone for hours.
I’m both a sitter and a host. As a host, I get my place professionally cleaned before I leave, then expect and communicate to maintain a relative level of cleanliness. They don’t need to do the sheets or re-make the bed or anything that would involve any level of deep cleaning, but my general rule as both a sitter and a host is to leave the place as I found it.
As a sitter, I’ve sat at a few places that were filthy. One place in particular I left cleaner than I found it (including completely cleaning my own mess) but didn’t dive deep into extra cleaning. Later, during my review, I was docked points on cleanliness despite the deep grime being theirs to begin with. Similarly I stayed at a place where the mold was so bad that I thought they mold markings on the drapes were part of a pattern. I slept in the living room and again, maintained my own cleanliness, but had the owner express disappointment that I hadn’t cleaned their house like a cleaner would (full deep clean) upon my departure.
Am I in the wrong here? To me this is a petsitting service first - is the expectation that sitter also be a cleaner (above and beyond cleaning their own mess and leaving the place as they found it)?
This is why I take photos upon arrival, as well as on departure.
And no, cleaning up after yourself is one thing, dealing with someone else’s layers of filthy crud or (gasp) moldy drapes is completely another.
I’ve cleaned multiple containers of moldy food out of a fridge, because I was so grossed out by it, but that was nothing that is required as part of “my job” as a housesitter or petsitter.
Absolutely not! Your job is to care for the pets and to leave the home as clean or cleaner than when you arrive. You are NOT a cleaner, nor should you be expected to clean an excessive level of mess. I would have complained about that review to THS to see if they could do something about it because it’s unfair. Or go back and see if you can respond to it to explain the rating.
Even if my house was filthy, which it definitely isn’t, I would never expect the sitters to deep clean everything, just to leave it reasonably tidy.
They don’t have to bother with washing the sheets or putting new ones back on the bed, because we have our own bedding stowed away and blankets and pillows for guests only.
Our kitchen takes hours to clean (look at my listing pictures in my profile and you know why ) and we tell all sitters to please not bother to clean all the shelves and spice pots!
We have a cleaning lady coming once a week, and she takes care of the kitchen once a month.
As she doesn’t speak any English and German not too well, she isn’t coming during a sit, but we will schedule her for afterwards.
Our last sitters vacuumed everything but didn’t wipe the floors…no big deal as it wasn’t a 4 weeks sit.
Otherwise everything was good, not as thoroughly cleaned as I had it done before we left but that was ok. My husband always says they are here to take care of the cats and not for cleaning the house.
Hi, this was the first post I read on the Forum and I found it to be highly informative. You brought out the good, bad & ugly and offered straight forward information.
I’m just getting started but know who I can seek out for advice.
Thank you !!! SadieMarie
Hello @SadieMarie and a very warm welcome to the Community Forum
Are you already a member? Will you be sitting or a homeowner or perhaps both?
For reference if you are a member, once your listing is completed 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 and will also give your listing extra exposure!
I have also attached a video for you to explain how it all works
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!
Hi ElsieDownie, I feel like I resonate with you in being a busy person and retired from my 12 hour days in a school. I am happy that you mentioned that you still feel productive, isn’t that what all humans thrive to be?
Hi Amparo, first time I am learning more about initial video chatting. What an awesome aspect about this program and that you can actually get to know the owners before the job. Thanks for this information.
SadieMarie
Hi all, reading all the posts about the work that goes into the sit. Liz, you mentioned challenging, can you describe what that may look like? Thank you in advance.
Hi SadieMarie, I guess that by “challenging” I should have put “dealing with the unexpected”. Challenging things that you know before the sit starts, i.e, injecting an animal, dealing with an elderly animal are more ‘demanding’ than ‘challenging’. Dealing with the unexpected are things like electrical fire, water damage, escaped pet, natural events (forest fire, floods, hurricanes), illness on the part of the sitter, homeowner or pet. Basically anything you didn’t actually sign up for but had to deal with
Our sitters at the moment are living with occationally flooding streets (was to be expected and was discussed before the sit confirmed) and a broken water pump (not expected), all without the local language. They are dealing with all very well, keeping us updated as needed.
We ended up with these sitters, as they seemed to have realistic expectations of what living in Thailand might include. So happy to have them looking after our home and dog!
) and we tell all sitters to please not bother to clean all the shelves and spice pots!
