Guides
Burgundy second home: price the work during your absence
Compare caretaking proposals by what each visit includes, callout terms, exclusions and evidence of work, rather than by the headline fee.
Contents
Two property-care proposals can show similar fees while describing very different services. One provider visits, observes, and reports. Another attends only after you request assistance. If you use a Burgundy house for a few weeks a year while living in the United States, the key question is not simply how much the arrangement costs. You need to understand what happens between stays, who notices a problem, and what the quoted price actually allows that person to do.
Begin with the house rather than a standard package
Describe the spaces and equipment concerned: the interior, outbuildings, garden, access, and installations needing particular attention. Avoid requesting undefined technical supervision of “the whole property.” Identify what you want observed or maintained, then ask which tasks fall within the provider's competence. A visual visit does not become a full technical inspection merely because the proposal uses reassuring language or describes the service as comprehensive.
Define frequency in practical terms. A scheduled visit, attendance after a reported event, and opening the house before your arrival are different services. Show them separately. That lets you compare proposals on the same scope instead of discovering later that a lower price excludes additional travel or arrival preparation. Where you do not yet know your travel dates, identify the uncertainty and ask how changes would affect the arrangement.
Read each proposal as a sequence of events
Choose a concrete situation without assuming it will happen: you are away and something unusual is noticed during a visit. What does the provider do? Who receives the report? What photographs or explanations are supplied? May the provider only notify you, contact a named contractor, or authorize action within an agreed limit? Ask before accepting the proposal. “Follow-up included” does not sufficiently describe how responsibilities work when a decision is needed.
Repeat the exercise for your arrival and departure. Who checks access, who receives the instructions, and who reports an unresolved issue? Some tasks may belong under a separate agreement or require another professional. Ask for that allocation in writing. The objective is not a promise of unlimited availability. It is a clear understanding of what has been arranged and what remains for you to organize independently.
Separate fixed charges, unit prices, and spending authority
An annual fee, a per-visit charge, and an exceptional callout cost cannot be compared by looking only at the first line. Reconcile the planned quantities, chargeable travel, possible consumables, and excluded services. Leave an item marked “amount to confirm” when it is missing. Do not fill the gap with a figure for another house: access, size, and equipment may change the work involved and the suitability of the provider's proposal.
Your comparison can use a simple formula: confirmed fixed fee, additional planned visits, identified extra services, and unresolved items. The formula organizes information; it does not predict incidents. Also state who may authorize expenditure and within what limits. A person appointed to observe the property should not discover afterward that the owner expected an immediate financial decision. Emergency arrangements need to be discussed explicitly with the people involved.
Align the arrangement with the insurance contract
Describe the actual use of the house to the insurer before settling the plan. The Service Public guidance on taking out home insurance identifies the property's characteristics and use among the information requested. Ask which provisions of your particular contract concern absence periods. Do not turn generic advice into a technical requirement supposedly applying to every house or every policy, and do not assume that a caretaker contract automatically satisfies an insurance condition.
Where instructions concern installations, have the appropriate professional clarify them. A maintenance visitor does not replace a technician when selecting equipment settings or deciding an intervention. The insurance contract and the service proposal should be readable together. A useful task may remain your responsibility if nobody has actually accepted it within their scope. Mark that gap openly instead of treating it as covered because the documents mention similar words.
Request proportionate evidence and a clear handover
Ask what record follows each service: date, tasks completed, observations, and proposed next steps. Proving a visit does not require collecting photographs of every private room or possession. Choose evidence proportionate to the agreed work and keep it privately. Also clarify the return of keys, transfer of instructions, and handling of unfinished work if the arrangement ends or you appoint a different provider.
The existing guide to owning a Burgundy second home covers the broad organizational areas. This proposal comparison converts them into defined services for a particular property. Before buying, ask Shawez Ali, real estate agent, about available information on the house. Confirm prices, availability, and responsibilities directly with providers afterward, without assuming that a local service is already in place or included with the purchase.