Thanks, appreciate that, sounds like the sensbel approach to me.
Thank you, appreciate the feedback.
Going back to the OP, if the homeowners don’t bring it up, you should. We’re all learning how to best navigate the site and using our experiences. Your bringing it up, might prompt them next time to bring it up.
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Sure, thanks. The first two sits have been a bit of a learning curve, hopefully we’ll be more clued up on the next one.
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Thank you! I tried to change it but couldn’t see how to edit it.
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@ScottMich No worries at all, I’m glad it helped. You only have a certain time to edit your posts after they go live, so the forum team are always happy to jump in and help, feel free to tag us or DM us anytime 
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I have found that most Owners have not given this much thought until I start asking about their flight times and zeroing in on their exact preferences and logistics.
The majority are happy that we leave an hour or two before they arrive home. Only a couple of Owners (out of about 20) wanted us to be there to chat about our experience with their dog.
It is good to understand these things even before you agree to do a Sit. Recently we uncovered an error in the listing dates as the Owner reviewed their travel plans, as we asked about their wishes on the final day. They needed us for 2 days longer than initially indicated! Whoops! Crisis averted!
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One of the sits I did abroad (in the U.K.) was for first-time hosts who were lovely.
They’d clearly hosted guests before and were very enjoyable to chat with. We had tea and scones and later they took me to dinner at a village pub. They even introduced me to friends/neighbors, who separately invited me out for afternoon tea and a lecture during my sit.
When the hosts returned, they generously expected me to stay overnight. Instead, we had a terrific time discussing their trip and how their pets did. Then I asked them to drive me to my hotel, so I could check in and get cleaned up and they could decompress from their trip. And a couple of hours later, they came back to my hotel and we went to dinner nearby, my treat. Personally, I loved that. We still keep in touch.
Another set of hosts, in London, kindly invited me back for dinner at the weekend, because I’d checked into a hotel so I could do sightseeing without pet responsibilities. One of those hosts and I overlapped on her return and we hung out, discussing her trip and her cat’s adventures. It was very pleasant and we still keep in touch.
My most recent sit, my hosts kindly invited me to stay overnight after their return to Seattle. We chatted a lot about our travels and such.
Most of my hosts, I’d happily hang out with. The others, I didn’t meet in person, but seemed plenty nice, too.
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You answered your question at the start so why didn’t you bring it up with the owners? Every sit is different, every owner is different, it depends on the animals (cats can be left easier than dogs for instance) and depends on your travel plans and the owners’. Again, we have to use our initiative and common sense but, whatever you do it must be agreed between you and the owners and you must leave the home as clean and tidy as it was when you arrived. I wish you good luck in the future, I see you’re fairly new at this. If you have any questions do search them on forum because you may find the answer there.
@Carla interesting that you say that. I have edited posts hours or a day or two after posting. I have been wondering about this. I’m glad that I can though! As we can’t delete posts, it’s good that we can actually edit them to comment we are deleting our comment 
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@ScottMich It’s a good question and varies so much. I’d say that it’s not just what the HO wants, it’s what works for you as well. I can’t wait for 12a HO return or show up at 5a for a hand-off. That’s the type of request I encountered the first few times and I think it’s completely unreasonable. I can’t be on-call, both due to work and safety. So I put some terms in my profile, including estimated arrival and departure, negotiation needs to be discussed and agreed to. It hasn’t been an issue: the HO’s know that we need to work together and it’s not just about their wants, my schedule factors in as well.
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@ScottMich we have learned as we’ve gone along about the kind of questions we need to ask ( if the homeowner(HO) hasn’t already covered them ) in our discussions before agreeing to the sit .
*What time do you want us to arrive/ will you be leaving ? What time will you be returning/ want us to stay until ?
OR when we are applying for a sit we say “we can arrive after xx(time) we have to leave by xx(time) will that work for you “?
Other questions that we have learned are important to ask about are:
*What arrangements have you made to pay for any emergency vet treatment required during the sit?
*Will you be providing a welcome guide ? When ?
*What is your address ? Most HOs have been surprised that we asked this as they assumed that THS give their address to sitters when a sit is confirmed and it’s not always been included in the welcome guide .
*How often do you want updates from home ?
We also insist on exchanging mobile phone numbers as soon as the sit is confirmed (or sooner)
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I’m surprised to hear that HOs don’t think about this. I discuss my travel times during the video call. This is mostly because I almost always have a very early departure and need the sitter in my city by the previous night for a handoff, but I include my return times as well. Maybe if HOs are driving somewhere it is less defined.
I’ve never had a sitter still at my home when I return - generally due to travel plans (both theirs and mine). If a sitter was going to be there, I’d probably bring something from my trip, and most of them I would have welcomed the opportunity to thank them in person - but also, I live in a tiny apartment and it’s always a relief to come home and not be “on” after a long day of travel.
I did appreciate that my first sitter asked about the timing of her flight before she made the purchase - she wanted to depart on an early flight to get significant cost savings, and I would not be home until the afternoon. I have one cat, so it was more than fine.
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Every sit we’ve been on, we were gone by the time homeowners came home. It was discussed during the application process. Their return time is the biggest things I need to know upfront due to our family needing to get to our next location
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Our 2nd ever sit, (not on THS) HO flight landing at 2am and wanted to come home, we lived about 30mins away, we had not double checked and I very naively assumed if they were arriving at 2am they would go to one of the many airport hotels, no, they didn’t want to pay for a hotel and were coming straight home, so when I got the text that they had landed and were in the Car, I got the Kids up, stripped all the beds, remade their Bed, we had already packed the Car so it was just our personal items, I left the Kids in their PJ’s, and we headed home, they said to just put the keys through the letter box. I learned to always ask about flight times, are they staying in a hotel? do they want us to vacate at 3.30am? after this, we have never got caught out again.
I always check at the start of the communication process, if the flights were delayed or they ran into car trouble etc and were delayed and we had already left who would be able to check on the Pets (we were doing back to back full time sits, leave one sit and go to the next sit up until lockdown)
If we are there for a handover, it’s very quick, I make sure we are packed up and everything is ready for hand over even if later in the evening, we are usually in the car in 10mins, that works for us, we get offered to stay prior and when the HO get home if want to, being ASD this is way outside our comfort zone, we struggle with staying with Family and Friends, HO are very understanding about it.
We have had sits where we have never seen the HO’s, mostly emphasised textit’s a short time before and after, we keep in touch with most HO’s and they WhatsApp me before listing their dates to see if we available.
It depends on the HO and sitter’s travel plans too, if you have to use Public Transport etc, all discussed up front.
We have been caught out where to HO’s flight’s got changed they didn’t call and arrived home 6hrs earlier than we had expected them, I was still washing bedding, I had my Breakfast on the kitchen table, the bins had not been emptied, however they did drive past their pack being walked out in the fields with the Teens, they were not bothered, I was very stressed as I like everything on my checklist done, there was nothing I could do about it. We have had a few sits where things have happened illness and they have come home earlier and message me, we had a sit where they got an earlier ferry back and we still had washing on the line, in the dryer and were eating brunch, they were all good about it, we always end up having a cuppa and chat about their Holiday and what we got up to also.
Each to their own.
Happy Sitting
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I’ve found there’s a huge variation in what home owners want as far as this matter goes. I’m going to be doing two sits in April. When I asked the first HO their preference on this, they said they’d much prefer to come back home with me not there and have the place back to themselves.
As this person is getting back super early in the morning, I said this wouldn’t work for me. Leaving around lunchtime gives me a chance to fully clean everywhere thoroughly and get the dogs walked, fed and make sure I haven’t left anything behind etc. We’ve agreed that I’ll be away by 1 pm so we’ve reached an agreement that works for both of us. I was willing to lose the sit over this as I find for me, leaving too early in the morning causes me angst and spikes my stress levels. The owner understood and we’ve come to a return time that works for us both.
With the second sit I’ll be doing, the owner said they’d prefer to have a bit of overlap when I get back. They said they’d find that more reassuring. I’m quite happy to oblige.
I never used to ask this question at the pre-sit stage but I’ve found that most HOs I’ve dealt with forget to mention this ahead of time so therefore we need to be proactive and ask for this information in the beginning.
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I as a sitter prefer to leave before they come back .but it depends on type of animal .also who has keys to step in for unforeseen delays.i think ho likes to get back their home without me.
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When friends living near us have sat for us for a weekend, they always left a few hours before we arrived. When sitters from a platform like THS have been here we have always overlapped a night because we have the room and are far from anything. The only time we regretted overlapping was when we had a solo sitter who was starved for company by the end and talked our jet-lagged ears off as we sorted through the pile of mail. Otherwise we’ve been happy to share tales of travels and visits. So I think the sitter needs to read the room if they’re overlapping at the end and be ready to give the HO a bit of space when they arrive.
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