The everyday, taken care of.

Mail, flyers and anything left at the door are collected on each visit and put somewhere you have chosen — usually the kitchen island, so you can see the whole pile when you walk back in.

Why it matters. An overflowing mailbox is the single most reliable public signal that a house is empty, and it is visible from the street to anyone walking past.

Blinds and lighting are changed between visits to whatever pattern you agree, rather than being left in one fixed position for six months.

Why it matters. A house with identical blinds and a single lamp on a timer for four months reads as empty to anyone paying attention.

Water is run through every fixture and every floor drain on each visit, which keeps the traps full.

Why it matters. A trap that dries out stops being a seal, and sewer gas comes back up the pipe into a closed house.

Door hangers, flyers and takeaway menus are cleared from the door and porch on every visit.

Why it matters. A door thick with flyers is the clearest possible sign that nobody has been home for weeks.

Indoor plants watered on each visit, following instructions you write down — which plants, how much, and which ones to leave alone. Anything struggling gets photographed rather than diagnosed.

• We follow your written schedule. We will not invent one, because the fastest way to kill a houseplant is watering it on somebody else’s guess.
• Outdoor beds and lawns in summer are a different job with different equipment — see lawn care.

Bins taken to the curb for your collection day and returned. Timed to the schedule for your address rather than to our visit pattern, which sometimes means an extra attendance.

Why it matters. Bins sitting at the curb for four days say the same thing an uncleared walk says. So does a bin that never goes out at all.

Parcels left at the door are brought inside and photographed where they are placed, so you can see what arrived and where it is.

Why it matters. A parcel on a step overnight is both a theft and a signal.

Seasonal lighting and decoration installed and removed, charged by the hour. Ground level and anything reachable from a step ladder.

• Roof lines, peaks and anything needing an extension ladder are a partner job. That is a liability decision, and it does not change because it is December.

Fridge and freezer emptied of perishables as part of departure preparation, with anything you want kept moved or noted.

Why it matters. A fridge full of food and a power cut in week three is a specific, avoidable, extremely unpleasant homecoming.

General yard tidying — rubbish blown in against fences, small fallen branches, tidying after wind. Charged hourly.

Surfaces wiped, things put back, dust knocked down before you return or before somebody views the property.

• This is tidying. A cleaning company does cleaning properly, with the right products and the right insurance, and we are not one — see cleaning.

After a trade has been in, the debris that gets left behind — packaging, offcuts, dust on surfaces — cleared so the house is usable again.

An additional visit outside your schedule, triggered by weather, looking specifically at what that weather does — hail on the roof line and siding, wind at the fence and shingles, rain at the foundation, cold at the vent terminations.

Why it matters. Calgary sits in one of the most hail-prone corridors in North America, and the difference between finding storm damage in June and finding it in October is the difference between a repair and a claim.

A methodical photographic record of visible damage, with dates, times and written description, provided to you in a form you can hand to whoever needs it.

• We photograph and describe what can be seen. We do not assess damage, estimate a cost, determine a cause, or deal with an insurer on your behalf. None of those are ours to do.

Scheduled clearing of the yard, bagged and removed. A standing service on its own schedule rather than something attached to a property check.

Why it matters. It is the household job people most reliably put off, and unlike most of what is on this page it has nothing to do with the house being empty — most customers for it are living there.

Walks of an agreed length, on leash, with the route and duration recorded and the dog returned, dried off and watered.

• On leash, in line with Calgary’s Responsible Pet Ownership bylaw.
• Walks stay on leash. Share handling needs, behaviour concerns and an emergency contact before the first walk.
• We will tell you honestly if your dog is more than a walker can safely manage, rather than finding out on a pathway.

Feeding and fresh water to the amounts and schedule you write down, with what was eaten noted on the report.

• Amounts come from your written instruction. We will not estimate a portion.

Trays emptied and refilled, with anything unusual about output noted on the report — which is often the first sign an animal is unwell.

A person in the house for an agreed block of play, attention and company, following your pet’s routine. Changes in appetite or behaviour are reported to you and handled under your agreed veterinary contact plan.

Why it matters. A twenty-minute visit is enough for a house and is not enough for a dog. This is the honest version of the difference.

A person at the property for a booked stretch — working at a desk, with the lights on, a car in the driveway and movement past the windows. Booked in hours with a two-hour minimum, or as a day.

Why it matters. Everything else on this page is somebody arriving, checking and leaving. This is the only one where the house is genuinely occupied for a while, which is a different thing to buy and worth being clear about.

• This does not change whether your insurer considers the property vacant or unoccupied. Those definitions turn on how long nobody is living there, not on whether somebody sat in it on Tuesday. Ask your broker; we cannot answer it for you.
• The person is working, not house-sitting. They are not there overnight.

The same as attended hours, booked as a full day and priced as one. Usually taken during a listing period, over a stretch of very cold weather, or while trades are coming and going.

• Same as attended hours: this does not change your insurer’s view of whether the property is vacant.

Attendance for the length of a contractor’s visit, so a trade can get in without a key going anywhere. Arrival and departure are recorded on the access log along with who attended.

• We provide access and we secure the property afterwards. We do not supervise the work, direct it, inspect it or sign it off — none of that is ours to do, and a contractor who wants a decision made should be calling you.

Attendance across a delivery window, with the item received, photographed and left where you asked.

Walks and driveway cleared to a schedule through the winter, by a contracted provider, with each clearing photographed on the next property check.

Why it matters. In Calgary an uncleared walk is both a public signal that nobody is home and a liability that sits with the owner.

Regular cutting through the growing season by a contracted provider, photographed on the next visit.

Why it matters. Long grass in July says exactly what an uncleared walk says in January.

Seasonal blowout arranged with a contractor, with the date confirmed and recorded on your property record.

Booked with a contractor who does this properly and is insured for it.

• Ladder and roof-edge work. This is a liability decision rather than a licensing one, and the answer is still no — our own people observe roof edges from the ground and nowhere else.

Choose regular housekeeping, a deep clean, move-in or move-out cleaning, or a freshen-up before you return. A cleaning partner confirms the rooms, tasks, products, time and price. Available as a standalone request whether you are home or away.

• Carpets, exterior windows and post-renovation cleaning are separately scoped. Mould, biohazards and hazardous debris need a suitable specialist.

Send your small-job list: furniture assembly, minor drywall patching, paint touch-ups, door adjustments or similar non-regulated repairs. A suitable handyman partner reviews the task, confirms insurance for it and quotes labour and materials before you approve. We can arrange access while you are away.

• Electrical, plumbing, gas and refrigeration work go to appropriately qualified trades. Structural alterations, hazardous materials and roof work need their own specialist; a handyman booking does not authorise them.

Arrange a qualified radon measurement provider and access for device placement and retrieval. Routine home visits can record whether the device remains undisturbed. The specialist chooses suitable testing conditions, interprets the results and provides the report.

• Health Canada recommends long-term testing; the professional sets the duration using current guidance. Vacancy, heating and ventilation can affect how representative a result is. Mitigation is a separate specialist service.

Read Health Canada’s measurement guidance or explore our radon guides.

Removal booked with a contractor, with somebody attending to let them in and secure the property afterwards.

Somebody sleeping at the property is a different business from somebody attending it. It has a different risk profile, needs different insurance, and raises occupancy questions that a property-care agreement does not answer.

• If overnight presence is what you need, you want a house-sitting service, and we will say so.

Medicating an animal is a veterinary decision, and getting a dose wrong on somebody else’s pet while they are on another continent is not a risk worth taking for a fee.

• We will transport an animal to its own vet, and we will call you before we do. We will not medicate.

Showing a property to a prospective buyer on an owner’s behalf is trading in real estate under the Alberta Real Estate Act. That is a licensed activity and this is not a brokerage.

• We will provide access to a licensed agent the same way we would to any other professional.

Showings, screening, leases, rent collection and deposits are property management, which is licensed under the Real Estate Act. A property between tenancies can be checked and cared for; the tenancy itself is somebody else’s job.