Do you get to throw wild parties in someone else’s gaff where you can live beyond your means for the duration of the stay, or is the reality much more muted? One pro house-sitter tells all.
Would you let a stranger stay in your home?
Lots of people do. They rent their place on short-let portals or, if they have dogs that don’t like to go into kennels, they bring in a house sitter.
It’s a lifestyle that allows the sitter to enjoy creature comforts way above their own station.
Recently launched Irish site Mind My Home connects homeowners with reliable house sitters, pet minders, and home swappers across Ireland and abroad.
With about 300 members, demand is driven by the pet owners, says founder Tom Gilligan.
'Worldwide, several hundred thousand people are doing this.' For owners, it is a more affordable option than dog kennels or a cattery. It also means the house isn't empty for the duration of their travels.
As a side hustle, it can be lucrative, says one professional who would prefer not to be named and who makes a decent wage from not living in their own home.
How most people get into it is through dog walking.
The owners see how their dogs respond to you first and, once comfortable with that, ask you to mind the pets while they’re on holiday. As a job, it grew slowly through word-of-mouth recommendations.
But it comes with some caveats. During one of their first house-sits, they were left in charge of two big dogs who ate everything around them.
“They chewed private documents and even devoured a night retainer I had to stop me grinding my teeth. I had washed it in the morning and left it to dry in the bathroom, where it disappeared. I thought I had just misplaced it and went home to get my spare. These things cost €300 each. The second one also disappeared, and by the time I found the rubber top of my Vitamix, which I had naively left on the counter, it too was gnawed to pieces. I was €800 out of pocket, more than the job was worth, especially as the client had cheekily asked for a discount on the agreed rate.”
New to the house-sitting game, they paid for their own replacements and filed it under e for experience, on-the-job learning, if you will.
Surveillance culture
Many homes come equipped with doorbell cameras and security systems within. It does mean that the owners of the property can watch what you’re up to at any time.
“It can feel a bit disconcerting, like you’re in an episode of Big Brother. I always work on the assumption that there are cameras and that the place is being recorded. So, you have to be on your best behaviour. I remember a friend calling at one place I was staying, and he started talking ill of the owners and their wealth. I had to interrupt him and ask him to leave.”
Free gaff = party?
And what about the wild stories you hear about where house sitters are throwing mad parties, and chaos ensues? How real are they? “I’ve had clients say to me to treat the place like it was my own and even throw a party if I fancied it. But I didn't. I never go into the owner’s bedroom and err on the side of caution; I just watch TV, walk the dogs, have a shower and go to bed and repeat.”
Permission to snoop?
You can, but you might never work again. They also recommend asking if it’s OK to use certain facilities, the principal bathroom, for example.
What sort of dramas have you had to deal with?
“During one stay, I had run the bath. I had been taking nightly baths to soothe a back injury from playing sports, and filled the swanky tub with Epsom salts. It took a while to run, so while it was filling, I decided to go downstairs and put out the bins.
“I had left the back door ajar, but a freak gust of wind blew it shut. I was locked out. The bathroom window was open, but there was no way to get up there. Eventually, I had to call the clients, who were in the Caribbean, to ask where they kept their spare key. 'It’s with you,' they responded. They were renting this property and suggested I try the owner, a man who spends a lot of time overseas, who lived nearby. Luckily, he was in the country and came over. But it took about 20 minutes, during which time I was sweating buckets, imagining ceilings crashing down with the weight of the overflowing water. The stress it caused was enormous. By the time I scrambled up the stairs, the bath was literally only half-full.”
Another time, having just left a client’s premises in Wicklow, they got a call from them asking to turn around and go back. There had been an incident. A storm had blown windows open, a curtain had come down, and a table had fallen over. 'The dogs I had left happily padding about their home had leapt outside, into the garden. They were petrified, and the clients were afraid they would run out onto the road. Of course I turned the car round.'
You have to take the view that you work for the clients and have to be flexible with your time. It's an approach that can be worthwhile.
'The work has grown from a weekend hobby to a proper job, outpacing my current employment. I’m just back from 21 days on the trot in other people’s homes.
'As for my house rules, there are no hook-ups, and leave the bathroom as you found it. On one occasion, I blocked the toilet and had to fill the cistern with buckets of water to wash away the unwanted ‘gift’.
'You are only as good as your last overnight stay.'
