Travel & time away
Three weeks away is long enough for something to go wrong.
Short enough that most people do nothing. Long enough that a failure on day four runs for seventeen days.
Typical duration
Two to six weeks
Notice you get
Weeks
Contactable?
Usually, and able to decide quickly
Dominant risk
Undetected water, and time
This is the absence people under-prepare for most reliably, because three weeks does not feel like a long time. It is, however, roughly twenty times longer than a problem needs to go unnoticed to become expensive.
The maths is uncomfortable. A supply hose that lets go on day four runs for seventeen days at full pressure. A furnace that locks out in the second week means a house sitting below freezing for ten days. Neither is exotic; both are entirely survivable if somebody walks in on day seven.
The good news is that this length of absence needs very little. One or two visits, the water off, the appliance valves closed, and somebody with a key who is expecting to use it.
What makes this different
Every situation on this site is empty for a reason. These are the things specific to this one.
Short enough that preparation feels optional
Which is exactly why it is the absence where people most often skip the twenty minutes that would have mattered.
Belongings and food are still in the house
Unlike a longer vacancy, nobody empties the fridge for a three-week trip — which is a pest problem and a power-outage problem that a season-long absence does not have.
Usually contactable, usually in a workable time zone
Decisions can be made quickly. That makes a single mid-trip visit disproportionately valuable.
What typically goes wrong
- A failure early in the trip running for the whole trip
- Mail and parcels accumulating visibly at the door
- A full fridge and freezer through an unnoticed power interruption
- Nobody expecting to check, so nobody does
Services
What this situation usually involves
In roughly the order people add them.
Vacant Home Checks
Scheduled physical visits to an unoccupied property, with a timestamped photo record and a written report after every visit.
Property Drop-In
A short scheduled visit to walk the property, complete your task list and send you photos — booked as a one-off or on repeat.
Mail & Package Checks
Mail and parcels collected, brought inside and organised to your written instructions, with notification of anything that looks important.
Plant Watering
Indoor and outdoor plants watered to your written per-plant instructions, with a photo confirmation after each visit.
Need someone at the house?
Tell us what the property needs. Direct services throughout Greater Calgary.