I wish I could have seen your faces 
Yes. And I feel that being a caretaker of sorts, and not the regular resident/homeowner makes one more vulnerable.
I had a homeowner schedule non-routine yard work while she was away. She let me know the fellow would be coming once for a few hours on a saturday. He came a day early and then came two more times. Using gasoline powered trimmers weed wackers and blowers. The yard tightly surrounded the house so the sound was loud and the exhaust from the equipment so strong I had to close all of the windows. It was definitely work that could have waited until after the sit. Certainly made me think she scheduled it when she did on purpose.
I find it really weird when homeowners schedule work to do be done while they’re away. Don’t they want to oversee it goes smoothly and be there is the contractor needs something?
I’ve had this before, and I pulled out of the sit.
It’s just downright selfish and rude.
Hey everybody, thanks for all the comments. It was a 19-day sit at a house the homeowners had recently purchased. They had a crew of 2–6 people working around the house four days a week, usually about 10 hours a day, on all sides of the property.
There was essentially no privacy, and there were no curtains in the living room. They were installing a new irrigation system, laying cement, drilling holes into masonry for lighting and irrigation, and using electric saws and other equipment. Dust was everywhere, and the workers were not following what appeared to me to be basic OSHA safety practices.
They also didn’t bother to let me know when they were going to be doing particularly dusty or noisy work. On one occasion, they were drilling and dust got all over my car and even inside the car because I had the windows cracked due to the hot weather.
The biggest issue is that this project had apparently been ongoing since the homeowners moved into the house, so I believe it should have been disclosed during the interview. When they finally did disclose the construction, the homeowner made it sound like it would be relatively minor and told me the workers would be done by 4:30 p.m. They weren’t. On some days, they were still working past 6 p.m.
I complained about the hours, and the homeowner said he would speak to the person in charge and have them leave on time. That didn’t happen.
When I told him I was considering contacting TrustedHousesitters about possibly leaving the sit early because of the ongoing construction, he preempted me and gave me only 13 hours to leave. I had to scramble to pack, find a hotel, and deal with all the logistics of leaving on such short notice. I also had to throw away a significant amount of food I had brought for the sit.
The construction itself was bad enough, but what really made this the worst sit I’ve had was how I was treated when I raised legitimate concerns. I found the whole situation extremely callous and disrespectful. Trusted Housesitters said that the homeowner was in violation of the rules. However, they have not banned the homeowner from Trusted Housesitters platform.
Exactly, I think you’re right. I think the guy I was sitting for is using housesitters to travel so that he and his wife do not have to be there during the new home renovations! So wrong.
Yes, as a female I do not think the construction people listen to me as they would a male. Moreover, they did whatever they wanted regardless of what I said. I was stuck in a bad situation as I had no control over what the did on the property or how long they stayed.
I always ask about third-parties. I have found that homeowners tell you one thing and do another. It has happened at multiple properties where third parties show up that were not disclosed even though I asked specifically during the lengthy interview.
Not all urgent. New homeowners putting in new landscaping, irrigation, recessed lighting in walkways. It was an ongoing project since they moved in and the guy in charge told me they would be there another month. So at least two months of laying cement, lighting, irrigation, planting plants trees etc.
They had moved in to the house and barely been home (that is what they told me when I arrived). The construction was ongoing and started before my interview for the sit. They had a guy in charge who watched over the crew. The days that the guy in charge didn’t show up I would see the workers would be hiding in the bushes on their phones and taking very long lunches in the yard.
This is really unfair what happened to you especially to an unpaid sitter!
I would write a very honest review about this, including the fact that they made you leave early once you had complained. They do not deserve to get other sitters.
I have put in an update below. This was the worst experience I have had as a sitter.
I have updated in this chain with more info. I did give a fair factual review afterwards- 1 star experience. The construction was not urgent - it was a major renovation of the outdoor areas of a home the homeowners bought. Kelly
Sounds like the HO didn’t want to be home for all the construction crap, so they went with THS. You were their sacrificial lamb. Sorry you had to deal with all that
They got rheir moneys worth out of THS, so they probably won’t care if they get booted.
Takes only a few to spoil it for the many. Hope your next sit is awesome.
I have had plenty of sits where people refuse to ever fill out the Welcome Guide and provide a google doc instead and not often in a timely manner. Now that we have the ability to cancel sits on our own, I am going to start doing this if I don’t get information right away after giving the HO notice that I need it or will cancel.
I pretty sure one of them came in the house undisclosed when I was out for a few hours as I found large dusty foot prints inside!!! I think it was the guy in charge of the crew based on the size of his foot being really large and appeared to match the size of the prints. Since I had no proof, I didn’t raise this issue.
Was not normal gardening/landscaping. It was a whole outdoor renovation of a fancy property that was 4 days a week 8-10 hours a day.
If you’ve not already done so I’d encourage you to raise a member dispute if you want THS to investigate this issue and potentially remove this host from THS.