House Caretaker Tasks List

If you will be taking long trips, caretakers or house minders who can regularly check on your house while you are gone are an invaluable resource.  You want to treat these people well and not overburden them with too many tasks.  That being said, here is a house caretaker tasks list which includes many of the tasks you would commonly ask your house caretaker or minder to do for you.

1. Inspect the house for damage or signs of intruders.
2. If the water isn’t shut off, flush all the toilets and run water from all the faucets. If hot water is still on, could also run the dishwasher with no soap.
3. If you are still receiving mail, bring in the mail or take it away to store it.
4. Remove any doorknob ads, or any mail or packages that have been left at the front door.
5. Water plants.
6. Check security lights and lights on timers and and replace light bulbs that have burnt out.
7. Test the smoke alarms. Replace batteries if necessary.
8. Test the burglar alarm. Replace batteries on cameras or devices that use them.
9. Make sure dehumidifier\AC is working. Clean filters if needed.
10. Feed pets (if any).
11. Remove spiderwebs and spray insect repellant near motion detectors.
12. Unlock gates to allow access to gardeners\mowers you have hired.  If you trust your gardeners, give them a key instead.
13. Check pool chemical levels and add accordingly, or unlock gates to allow pool service access.  If you trust your pool service, give them a key instead.
14. Start cars and run them for 15 minutes to charge batteries once a month.
15. Any activities that will make the house look occupied, such as tramping around after new snow, and driving the cars in and out of the driveway or changing their positions in the parking lot.
16. Respond to emergency calls from alarm company and unlock house to allow police access if security system goes off.

This list is fairly long and you may not want to burden your house caretaker with everything on the list that applies to you.  If you have multiple people checking on your property you could split tasks up between them to keep their workload low.