Your cottage should be the place you relax — not the thing you worry about from two hours away. Openings, closings, lawn and shoreline care, storm checks and winter access, with photos to your phone after every visit.
A cottage opening is more than turning the water on: docks in, furniture out, eaves and screens checked, the yard cleared of what winter dropped, systems walked and photographed. Closings run the same list in reverse before freeze-up. Both come as fixed-price packages scoped to your property on the first visit, so every spring and fall after that is one text message.
Most of our seasonal-property clients see their place a dozen weekends a year. Between visits we mow, trim and keep the shoreline tidy on a schedule, check after major storms, and send photos when the work is done — so you know the state of your property from your phone, and your insurer knows someone responsible is on site regularly.
An unplowed laneway is a property nobody can reach — not you, not a contractor, not emergency services, and many insurers take a dim view of that. Our length-priced laneway contracts keep seasonal properties reachable all winter, whether or not anyone is up that weekend.
A lot of cottages belong to three siblings and a group chat. We’re used to it. One person is our contact, everyone can get the photo updates, and the property gets consistent care no matter whose weekend it is. When the cottage has been in the family for decades, keeping it cared for is how it stays in the family for a few more — and having one steady local crew beats renegotiating chores at Thanksgiving.
Waterfront work follows different rules — literally. We keep fertilization and weed programs runoff-aware near the water, respect naturalized buffers rather than mowing them into lawn, and tell you straight when the right answer at the shoreline is to leave it alone.
We scope the property together — or from your photos if you're away — and price the packages.
Opening, visit cadence, storm checks and closing, all agreed up front.
Every visit ends with photos to your phone. No wondering.
Laneway cleared all season so the property is never cut off.
Yes — storm checks are part of our seasonal-care packages: we walk the property after significant wind, rain or snow events and send you photos of anything that needs attention, with a quote if it's something we can fix.
We're happy to let in the dock installer or meet the septic pumper — being the local set of keys is half the value of a property-care arrangement.
It depends on the property and cadence, which is why it's scoped on a walk-through — but most clients land on a monthly rate for the season plus fixed opening/closing packages. You'll have exact numbers in writing after one visit.
The laneway contract is the piece we'd push even for summer-only owners: an unreachable property in February is a risk to the building and often to your coverage. The rest is genuinely optional.
That's one of the most common calls we get, and there's no shame in it anywhere. We take exactly as much as the family wants to hand off — maybe just the opening and closing, maybe the mowing, maybe everything. Your folks stay in charge of their place; the heavy work stops being theirs. We'll set it up in one conversation with whoever the family wants us talking to.
