The underlying problem: you cannot check anything
Buying maintenance for a house fifteen hundred kilometres away has one uncomfortable feature: it is the only service you pay for without being able to verify it was delivered. If nobody goes one month, you find out in March.
So the useful question before signing is not what is included, but how you will know. Everything else comes after that.
What turns a promise into a service
A report after every visit, with dated photos of what was checked. Not a message saying everything is fine: images of the meter, the terrace, the consumer unit, the boiler. A log of every key entry and exit, with date and name.
With that, you can audit the service from home. Without it, you are buying trust, and trust does not get invoiced monthly.
What a serious visit should cover
A meter reading with the water off, which is the most reliable sign of a hidden leak. Traps, taps and cisterns. Consumer unit and lighting. Cylinder and air conditioning. Roof and terrace after rain. Damp and ventilation. And outside: irrigation, the pool if there is one, gate and letterbox.
That is a long hour of work. If somebody offers to do it in fifteen minutes, they are offering something else.
What nobody should promise you
A maintenance contract that includes all repairs for a low fixed fee does not exist, or exists with so many exclusions that it ends up not covering what breaks. The honest approach is to separate them: the fee covers the visits, the checks and the report; anything needing repair is quoted separately and carried out with your authorisation.
Be wary too of anyone who will not say what happens if they find something urgent while you are away. The right answer is that you get called, shown photos, and your decision is waited for, unless water is running.
What it costs and what to compare it with
As a guide, a monthly visit with report and photos runs between €45 and €80 a month depending on the size of the property and whether there is a pool or garden. A seasonal opening or closing, between €90 and €160 per visit.
The useful comparison is not with zero, it is with what it costs to discover in March a leak that started in November. That is the calculation that makes maintenance worth it, and the only argument we use to sell it.
Starting without an annual contract
If you are unsure, start with a single end-of-season visit and read the report. If it is useful, you will know straight away; if it tells you nothing you did not already know, sign nothing more.
That is what many owners do in the first year, and it seems fair to us: a report is easier to judge than a promise.
