Caretaking · Hua Hin, Cha-Am, Pranburi
A closed home in a tropical climate is not a neutral state. Damp gets into wardrobes. Seals perish. Pool water turns. A small roof leak in July becomes a ceiling in September.
We find the local caretaking company that turns up, checks, fixes small things before they become big things — and tells you the truth about the rest.
Free for owners. Our partners pay us — you pay their normal rate.
What a closed home actually does
Owners often arrive in November to find problems that started small in May. None of these are exotic. All of them are predictable — and all of them are much cheaper to prevent than to repair.
The part owners rarely say out loud: it is not the cost of the repair that hurts. It is arriving for three weeks of holiday and spending them supervising a contractor you have never met, in a language you do not speak, paying whatever he asks.
A caretaking arrangement is not a luxury. It is what stops your holiday turning into a building site.
Who this is for
You live somewhere else — often Europe or Australia — and come to Hua Hin for the cool months. Your home is shut from roughly April to October.
What you need is not a hotel service. You need someone who turns up, checks, fixes the small things, and photographs what he saw.
You want the tenant taken care of, the contract held up, and someone to take the call when the air conditioning fails at the wrong moment.
Above all you want to know that repairs are priced honestly — because the most common complaint about management in Thailand is invoices that quietly grew by thirty percent.
What's included
You will not need all eight every month. But this is the list to compare companies against — and the list we use when we vet them.
Scheduled visits, inside and out, with a dated photo report. Nothing is reported second-hand.
Units run and serviced so they do not seize; fridge, pumps and electrics tested before you arrive.
Windows and doors opened, rooms aired, mould prevented before it starts.
Electricity, water, internet and common-area fees paid on time — and reconciled, so you see what was actually spent.
Chemistry checked, pumps and filters run, water balanced through the closed season.
Keys held securely, property checked after storms and long absences.
Lawn kept down, palms and hedges trimmed, irrigation checked, storm damage spotted early.
Water leaks, power failures, storm damage — someone local who takes the call and deals with it.
What a visit looks like
Consistency is the point. A caretaker who follows a written list catches things; one who "has a look around" does not.
| Step | What happens | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Arrive and air | Windows and doors opened, rooms aired, curtains checked for damp | Mould is cheapest to prevent in the first hour |
| 2. Walk the exterior | Roof line, gutters, walls, gates, carport, boundary | Storm damage is invisible from inside |
| 3. Pool and pumps | Chemistry tested, filters run, water level and clarity checked | A neglected pool costs more to recover than to run |
| 4. Garden | Lawn, palms, hedges, irrigation, debris after storms | Overgrowth hides damage and invites pests |
| 5. Inside sweep | Water under sinks, marks on ceilings, signs of insects, aircon filters | Small leaks announce themselves early if someone is looking |
| 6. Run the systems | Aircon on briefly, taps and pumps, check meter readings | Machinery that never runs is machinery that seizes |
| 7. Photograph | Dated photos of anything notable — and of the normal state | You see the property, not a summary of it |
| 8. Report | Short written note: what was done, what needs attention, what it will cost | You can decide with facts, not urgency |
What it costs
A two-bedroom condo in town and a pool villa on a thousand square metres are not the same job. Anyone quoting you a flat monthly number before seeing the property is guessing.
| Service | How it is usually priced |
|---|---|
| Caretaking, empty homeScheduled visits, airing, checks, photo report | Fixed fee per month, based on size, plot and visit frequency |
| Pool careChemistry, pumps, filters | Usually charged separately from caretaking |
| Garden careLawn, palms, hedges, irrigation | Separately, by plot size and frequency |
| Additional visitsBefore arrival, after a storm | Per visit |
| Rental managementIf the property is let out | Typically one month's rent, or a percentage of rental income |
| Contractor repairsElectrician, plumber, aircon, builder | At cost — you see the contractor's invoice |
Rather than guess, tell us about the property and we will come back with a real number from two or three vetted companies — a plain answer, not a range.
Questions owners ask
Most owners choose weekly or fortnightly while the house is closed, and monthly when it is in use. You agree the schedule in writing before anything starts, and you can change it — for example adding visits before you arrive.
Every visit ends with dated photographs and a short written note. If nothing needed attention, that is what the report says. You are never told "we checked everything is fine" without evidence.
You do, as the owner — and you see the contractor's invoice, not a marked-up version of it. We agree a small spending limit with you in advance: below it, small fixes are handled straight away; above it, you are asked first. That way a broken pump on a Saturday does not need a phone call to Europe, but a new roof does.
They should not be, and we check. The most common complaint about property management in Thailand is invoices that quietly grew by thirty percent — through mark-ups nobody agreed to. We ask each company directly how they price contractor work, and companies that mark up do not reach our clients.
Yes. Rental management is about finding tenants, holding the contract and collecting rent. Caretaking is about the property itself — whether it is rented or sitting empty. Many owners need both, at different times of year.
Hua Hin, Cha-Am, Pranburi and the areas between them — broadly anywhere within about half an hour of Hua Hin. If your property is further out, ask anyway: we will either cover it properly or tell you honestly that we cannot.
Yes, and owners do. If the company stops performing, come back to us and we will re-run the shortlist. We also review every partnership annually, so a company whose quality drops comes off our list.
Tell us about your villa
Send us the basics — where the villa is, how long it sits closed, and what has gone wrong before. We come back with a plain answer and two or three vetted local companies that fit.