The benefit of booking through us - meeting your homesitter prior to the assignment

Posted on 18 March, 2019

Homesitter meeting the dogs

We understand that having someone new, come and stay in your home and look after your pets can be a worry for those who haven’t used our services before. Often with other home and pet sitting agencies you don’t get the chance to meet the person face to face first, so they are essentially a stranger when they first come to your home.

We are different. When people book through us we take a full brief of what clients require, whether that’s just staying in the home or if there are pets to be looked after too. We then select the appropriate homesitter whose abilities, experience and attitudes match your requirements.

Part of our process is to organise an important preliminary meeting, before the assignment is due to happen, with the proposed homesitter. This meeting is reassuring for both clients and homesitters, ensuring both parties are happy to go ahead with the assignment.

Getting to know your prospective homesitter and having confidence in them gives clients’ real peace of mind. You are after all inviting someone to stay in your home. It’s also great for your pets so you can see how they all get along, plus pets will be familiar with the homesitter when the assignment starts.

As well as a ‘getting to know you’ exercise, the meeting is useful for showing the homesitter how things work and to discuss any arrangements, such as a cleaner or gardener coming in or paying the milkman.

Things to show them include how to turn the heating on, how kitchen appliances work, how the alarm system works and where the stop cock is for the water. It’s also the chance go through the pets’ usual routine in great detail, from what they eat to where they sleep, their favourite walks (if it’s a dog!) and whether they are allowed on the furniture.

Before the homesitter attends the preliminary meeting the client is always asked to fill out an assignment checklist. This includes such things as what to tell people who call by phone or in person, instructions for the home and plant care and pet feeding instructions.

They also fill in a home data card which lists useful numbers such as local plumbers, doctors and vets and how to operate the Wi-Fi and other equipment in the home.

Clients are encouraged to go through both these forms with the homesitter to make sure they fully understand everything. Both of these forms will be left in the home when the client goes away for homesitters to refer to.

Once this meeting has happened and everyone is happy then the assignment is booked in. It’s as easy as that!

If you are looking for a professional and reliable home and pet sitter this year then get in touch on 01296 630 730. We’ll start work to find someone for you straight away, so you can have the preliminary meeting in plenty of time before you head off on holiday.

Tags:

Share this: