The anchor engagement
The Stewardship Retainer
One retainer, one point of accountability, and a written record that accumulates into the most complete description of your property in existence.
Cadence
- Weekly, November through April
- Bi-weekly in season
- Automatic additional visits after any storm, hard freeze, or power outage
- Written report after every visit, without exception
Property oversight
A visit is a protocol, not a drive-by. The interior walkthrough covers leak and moisture inspection at ceilings and under fixtures, appliance status, pest evidence, mail and package retrieval, and light timers. The systems check covers interior temperature held at or above 55°F, water supply status, HVAC and hot water operation, sump and drainage function, generator readiness, and fuel and propane levels.
The exterior covers roof and gutter condition, drainage, storm debris, pool and spa status, landscape condition, driveway and access, and every outbuilding — which is where problems most often begin, because outbuildings are what other scopes leave out.
Each visit produces a dated, timestamped, photographed report. Over a season these compound into a continuous condition record. Over years, into an asset.
Insurance and risk documentation
The part of this engagement that no other firm in the market sells. Written notice to your carrier of extended unoccupancy. Continuous documentation of the reasonable care that the freeze exclusion turns on. Specification and monitoring of shut-off hardware. Certificates of insurance collected from every vendor who enters the property. Incident documentation assembled and ready if a claim is ever filed.
Vendor management
One point of coordination across landscape, pool, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, housekeeping, pest, alarm, propane and irrigation. We hold the calendar, manage access, and are present when the truck arrives.
Work is verified complete and to standard before payment is approved. Bids are solicited and compared on your behalf. Vendor performance is reviewed annually.
We take no compensation from any vendor, ever. If your property manager is paid by the trades, the trades are their client. We are paid by you, which means when a contractor quotes forty thousand dollars for twenty-five thousand dollars of work, we are on your side of that conversation. There is no version of our compensation that improves when you spend more.
Household operations
Supervision, scheduling and standards for staff employed by the household. Inventory records for keys, codes, equipment, wine, art, seasonal furnishings and linens. Monthly budget tracking against plan by category, with variance notes. Invoice review with a recommendation to approve.
On that last point, a deliberate limit: we never hold your funds. We review, we recommend, you pay. Pooled client money is a regulated activity and an unnecessary risk to take with someone else’s household.
The house manual
Built in the first month, maintained continuously. Systems and their quirks, shut-off locations, vendor history, access protocols, service schedules, standards, preferences — the accumulated operational knowledge of a property, which normally lives in one person’s head and leaves when they do.
It is yours. If our engagement ever ends, it goes with you.
Seasonal transitions
Closing: winterization, heat protocol or full drain-down, pool closing, textile and furniture protection, carrier notification, staff wind-down.
Opening: systems startup, deep-clean coordination, provisioning, landscape and pool activation, staff recall, full readiness inspection.
Storm: pre-storm securing of furniture and equipment, generator and fuel check, post-storm assessment report.
Arrival: full house preparation ahead of any owner or guest visit.
What it costs
Pricing follows the property assessment, and it depends on scale, property count, staff, systems and siting. We discuss it directly rather than publishing a rate card, because a number without a walkthrough behind it is guesswork.
What is useful to know in advance is the frame. A full-time estate manager for a household of this kind costs between $185,000 and $280,000 a year before benefits, which add a further twenty to thirty percent. Stewardship delivers the governance function at a fraction of a full-time hire — for a household that needs the judgement but not the headcount.
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