For around 20 years I have been providing professional pet minding services in south London and north Surrey caring for cats and small pets when their owners are away. A few owners, travelling with their pets or once their pets had passed away, still asked me to visit their homes when they were on holiday, as they had come to value the service visiting their homes as much as that caring for their
pets. I have given this much thought, and realise that while many of us are lucky enough to have neighbours, or local friends and family we can rely on to pop in regularly to our houses and check all is well when we are away, some people do not have such a luxury. They may have recently moved to the area, or perhaps their long term neighbours have moved away, are out all day long, or may be too old/infirm/busy/unwilling to take on the responsibility of caring for another property - albeit temporarily. Such a responsibility is huge, I know - I do it all the time! I have had all sorts of household emergencies to deal with over the years...security, electrical, plumbing etc. but we have managed to cope with them all. Before I had pets myself, I lived in a flat where the upstairs tenant regularly flooded his kitchen, which flooded my kitchen....so I used to ask my Mum to pop in a couple of times a week just to check all was in order, and I still do the same for her now. But what would happen if you assumed the same sort of regular arrangement with a neighbour would be fine....only to find that they had also planned to be away at the same time, or worse - have to leave at short notice themselves once you have already gone away....
We can visit as often as you wish, although twice a week probably suits most circumstances adequately. We charge per visit, a fee which has been set at £13.00. If you live in an area which has permit only parking and no nearby pay and display option, it may be necessary for you to provide us with some parking permits, please discuss this separately with us. What we can offer for the set price of £13.00 per visit is a service tailored to your needs, which can include the following;
Post retrieval from the front door area, to somewhere not able to be seen through the letterbox/any front windows. Putting the dustbins/recycling boxes in or out on bin collection day as required. A general check around the property that all is in order. Houseplant watering, according to your instructions. We can adjust lights/curtains/blinds to create an impression of occupancy. Garden watering, according to your instructions (there may be further charges to cover extra parking time for gardens which take a lot of time to water, again to be discussed in advance). General 'lived-in' maintenance - for example removal of build up of leaves etc by the front door that makes the house appear unoccupied. Switiching heating/hot water back on the day before you return, so your home is cosy, and there is enough water for bath etc after your journey. A text/email update after each visit, should you wish, to reassure you all is well at home. Essential grocery stock up - fresh milk, bread, fruit etc - you will need to pay extra for this service. If you have other requirements please discuss this separately with us, it may be possible to include these within the set visit charge. We do not use signwritten vehicles, and are very discreet when we visit, we do not compromise your security in pursuit of free advertising. We make every effort to ensure it is not obvious to a casual observer that you are not at home, and will not disclose details of your absence to any third parties without your permission. Currently, we cover the following post code areas...SW4, SW11, SW12, SW17, SW18, SW19, SW20, parts of SW16, SM4 and CR4
What we do not offer;
A cleaning service - this is a different job altogether! If you leave a mess, we will work around it :0)
A 'wait-in' for parcels/deliveries/engineers service - we work in our own time, around our other commitments. An evening visiting service - as above, we have other commitments and work together with those, one of which is young children, who require us home after school!
