Home care & property checks
Someone you'd trust with your keys — and proof they turned up.
We look after Oxfordshire homes while their owners are away. Plants watered, pets fed, post cleared, security checked. After every visit you get a timestamped report with photos, so you know exactly what happened and when.
Free home visit before your first booking · No obligation
- All doors and windows secureFront, rear, side gate
- Plants watered — 14 potsConservatory and rear terrace
- Cats fed, litter changedBoth eating well, no concerns
- Heating on, taps runBoiler 1.4 bar · 12°C hallway
- Post collected, bins outLeft on kitchen table
Why this matters
Most home insurance quietly stops covering you after 30 days.
Leave a property unoccupied for longer than your policy allows and cover for escape of water, theft and malicious damage can fall away — often exactly when the risk is highest. Nearly every policy will keep you covered if the house is inspected and recorded at set intervals.
That's the job. We visit on the schedule your insurer asks for, run the checks, and send you a dated record you can forward straight to them if you ever need to claim.
NOTE: these ranges match published industry guidance (standard policies commonly restrict cover at 30/60/90 days; specialist unoccupied cover typically requires documented inspection every 7–14 days). Keep the wording as "typically". Never tell a client their own policy is satisfied — you're not an insurance intermediary.
How it works
Four steps, and the first two are free.
We come and meet you
At your home, no charge. We walk round together, you show us what matters, we note the quirks — the window that sticks, the neighbour with the spare key.
You get a written plan
A fixed price per visit and a checklist of exactly what we'll do each time. Nothing vague, nothing added later.
We visit while you're away
On the agreed days, within the agreed window. Keys held securely and never labelled with your address.
The report lands the same day
Photos, timings and anything we noticed. If something's wrong you hear from us within the hour, not on your return.
What we do
Book one thing, or the lot.
Every plan is built around one house. These are the parts people ask for most.
Plants & garden
Indoor and outdoor watering to your schedule, greenhouse ventilation, a quick tidy of anything the wind's brought down.
Pet feeding & company
Cats, rabbits, chickens, fish. Feeding, fresh water, litter, and proper time spent with them — plus a photo so you can see they're fine.
Security checks
Doors, windows, gates and outbuildings. Lights and curtains varied so the house looks lived in. Anything odd reported straight away.
Insurance inspections
The full unoccupied-property routine: taps run, heating verified, meters read, water and stopcock checked, everything dated and recorded.
Post, bins & deliveries
Post cleared off the mat, bins out and back in on the right day, parcels taken in and stored out of sight.
Coming-home prep
Heating on, beds aired, milk and bread in, lights on for your arrival. The difference between a cold house and a welcome.
The difference
You shouldn't have to take our word for it.
Plenty of people will offer to pop in on your house. Almost none of them will show you what they did. We borrowed the idea from good garages: you get the video, you see the problem, you decide.
- Photos are timestamped and location-stamped at the moment they're taken
- Every checklist item marked done, with the time it was done
- Anything unusual flagged with a photo before we leave the property
- The full history kept for your records — useful if you ever claim
What clients say
Placeholder — replace with a real quote from your pilot clients, with their permission, first name and village.Name — Village, Oxfordshire
Questions
The things people ask before they hand over a key.
Both of us hold Enhanced DBS certificates and you're welcome to see them. We're not a faceless agency — you'll meet us before you book and you'll get the same two people every visit. Keys are stored in a locked safe, tagged with a reference number only, never with your name or address.
Yes. We carry public liability cover and separate cover for care, custody and control — which is the one that matters, because it covers your belongings while they're in our hands. We'll send the certificates with your quote. EDIT: state your actual limits, e.g. £2m/£5m, once your policy is issued.
Usually, but check your own wording — the interval and the checks required vary between policies. Send us the relevant page and we'll build the schedule around it, then give you dated reports you can produce if you ever need to claim. We can't confirm cover on your insurer's behalf.
Oxford and the surrounding villages, out towards Witney, Woodstock, Bicester, Thame, Abingdon and Wallingford. Further afield is often still fine — travel is priced into the quote, so you'll see it clearly before you commit.
You hear from us within the hour, with photos. If it's urgent and you've asked us to, we'll call your nominated tradesperson or ours and stay until it's dealt with. Callout and waiting time is charged at an hourly rate agreed up front.
Dogs generally shouldn't be left alone overnight, so we don't offer dog sitting by visit — but we're happy to recommend local boarders we trust. Daytime visits for dogs while you're at work are something we can look at. EDIT: confirm your position and any licensing implications before publishing.
Two weeks is comfortable, and we'll always try to help at shorter notice. Christmas and August book up first — if you know your dates, tell us early and we'll hold them.
Ready when you are
Tell us about your house.
A few questions, an indicative price, and a free visit to confirm it. Takes about two minutes.
Services
Everything we can take off your hands.
Priced per visit and built into one plan for your house. Mix them however you like — most people combine a security check with two or three of the others.
Home security & presence checks
A full external and internal walk-round. Doors, windows, gates, sheds and garages. We vary curtains, blinds and lights so the house reads as lived in, move parcels out of sight and clear the drive of anything that signals an empty house. Photographed each time.
Unoccupied property inspections
Built to whatever interval your insurer specifies. Taps and toilets run to keep traps sealed, stopcock and visible pipework checked, heating confirmed running, meter readings recorded, damp and leak signs looked for. Delivered as a dated report you can hand to an insurer.
Plant & garden care
Indoor pots, greenhouse, containers and beds. Watering to a schedule you set, greenhouse vents opened and closed, hanging baskets fed, storm debris cleared. For longer absences we can arrange mowing through a gardener we work with.
Pet feeding & welfare visits
Cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, fish and reptiles. Feeding, fresh water, litter trays, hutch cleaning, medication if you show us how. Time spent with them, not just food put down — and a photo of your animal every single visit.
Post, bins & deliveries
Post lifted off the mat and stacked out of sight, junk mail binned, bins presented and brought back on collection day, parcels received and stored. Small things that make an empty house look occupied.
Key holding & access for trades
We hold a key so a boiler engineer, cleaner or delivery can get in while you're away. We stay for the appointment, note what was done and photograph the work. EDIT: check whether your intended service triggers SIA keyholding licensing before advertising this.
Light housekeeping
A tidy and air-out before you're back, beds made up, dust knocked off, fridge cleared of anything that turned. Not a full clean — that's a different trade and we'll recommend someone if you want one.
Arrival & departure prep
Heating on and house warm for your return, milk, bread and basics in the fridge, a lamp on so you're not walking into a dark hallway. Before you go: bins done, plants soaked, everything switched off and checked.
How we price
One rate per visit. You see it before you book.
Every quote is built from four things, and we show you all four: the checks you want done, how long they take, how far we travel to you, and how often we come. There's no membership, no minimum term and no charge for the first visit where we meet you and work it out.
- Fixed price per visit, agreed in writing before we start
- Travel included in the rate — no surprise mileage on the invoice
- Regular and long-absence bookings priced lower per visit
- Emergency callouts charged hourly at a rate you agree up front
Book a visit
Tell us about your house.
Five short steps. You'll see an indicative price as you go, and we'll confirm it properly at a free visit before anything is booked.
About us
Two people, not an agency.
You'll meet us both before you book, and it'll be one of us at your door every time. That's the whole point.
EDIT: Write your real story here — three short paragraphs. It's the most-read page on a service website after the homepage, and it's what turns a price comparison into a decision.
Cover these, in your own voice: why you started, what you did before and why it makes you good at this, and one specific, slightly awkward detail that proves you're a real person from round here. Where you live. What made you realise this was needed. The neighbour whose burst pipe went unnoticed for nine days.
Don't write "we are passionate about delivering exceptional customer service". Write "we live in the village, we've both got keys to half the street already, and we got tired of doing it as a favour and doing it badly."
Aron
Co-founder
EDIT: two or three sentences. Background, what you're responsible for day to day, and something human. Add a real photograph — a proper one, outdoors, no suit.
Partner name
Co-founder
EDIT: same again. Named founders with faces are the single strongest trust signal on a site like this — worth more than any badge.
Where we work
Oxford and the villages around it. If you're outside this and want to ask anyway, please do — we'd rather tell you honestly than have you not ask.
Our promises
Four things we won't bend on.
You get the same faces
No rota of strangers. If we ever need cover, you'll know who and why before it happens.
Every visit is documented
Timestamped, photographed, sent the same day. Even the visits where nothing happened.
Bad news travels fast
If something's wrong you hear it within the hour, with a photo. Never saved up for your return.
The price is the price
Agreed in writing before we start. Nothing added afterwards without you saying yes first.
Contact
Ask us anything.
Including the awkward questions. We'd rather answer them now than have you wondering.
Get in touch directly
Village, Oxfordshire
Mon–Sat, 8am–7pm. Sundays for existing clients and anything urgent.
Thinking of working with us?
If you're a gardener, cleaner, vet, letting agent or holiday-let manager in Oxfordshire, we'd like to talk. We pass work out constantly and we'd rather send it to someone we've met.
Coverage
Oxford and surrounding villages. Beyond that, just ask.