A closed house does not stand still
There is an owner on the Costa Smeralda who is not looking for a rental manager at all. They have a villa they use themselves, a few weeks a year, and for the rest of the time the house stands closed two hundred metres from the sea. What they need is not somebody to put it on Airbnb: it is somebody to keep it.
We do that, and we do it without any letting. We are asked for it often enough that it deserves its own page rather than sitting hidden inside a management package.
What happens to a villa left alone
People who have not lived by the sea find this hard to believe, but a closed house near the water deteriorates even if nobody goes in. Salt attacks handles, hinges, insect screens and outdoor ironwork. Winter damp marks the walls of rooms that are never opened. Fabrics smell shut within weeks.
Then there are the things that break quietly. A leak that starts in November and is found in June is a job to redo; found in November it is a morning's work. A pool pump that seizes in January, with the pool standing for months, costs far more than a check. And the garden of a villa in Gallura, left from October to May, does not come back in a week.
House care is not a luxury service: it is the maintenance that prevents the big jobs. Owners who have someone stop by in winter spend little and get no surprises in summer.
What we actually do
Seasonal opening and closing. At the start of the season the house needs properly reopening: aired, deep cleaned, systems switched back on and tested, outdoor areas put back in order. At the end the reverse, and done well it protects the property all winter.
Checks while the house is closed. Regular visits to open up, verify there are no leaks or damage, confirm the systems are holding, and act immediately if something is wrong. This is the part that matters most and the part almost nobody manages alone, because it requires being there.
Pool and garden. Handled with local suppliers we know and work with all year. In Gallura, with the wind and the sun, these are the two things that degrade fastest if neglected.
Routine maintenance and suppliers. We take care of the work and hold the relationships with plumbers, electricians and trades. The real advantage is not having the phone numbers: it is that in winter the trades are free and jobs close in days, whereas in July you cannot find anyone.
The house ready when you arrive. Whether you come down for a weekend or a fortnight, the villa is waiting open, clean, with the pool in order and whatever you asked for in place. That is the difference between arriving on holiday and arriving to do maintenance.
Where we operate
Porto Cervo and its hinterland, Porto Rotondo, San Pantaleo, Portisco, Baja Sardinia and Cannigione, plus the whole gulf of Olbia.
These are the areas where we have teams and suppliers on the ground, and that qualification matters: looking after a house cannot be done at a distance. If a villa sits in an area we do not cover, we would rather say so than take on a commitment we could not keep.
If one day you do want to let it
Letting is a separate choice, not a condition, and not a permanent one either. Plenty of owners start with house care alone and after a season decide to release a few weeks, the ones they would not be here for anyway.
It works precisely because you control the calendar: keep the periods you want, open the ones you choose to open. On the let weeks our usual model applies, no monthly fee and a percentage of the revenue. If you want to understand how we work on the letting side, the owners page explains it, and the guide on choosing a property manager sets out what to ask before signing with anyone, ourselves included.
What it costs
We do not publish a price list, and the reason is simple: two villas do not have the same needs. Size differs, so does whether there is a pool, so do the grounds, so does how long the house stands closed and what work it genuinely requires.
The serious way to do this is to come and see the house, understand what is needed, and agree the scope and terms together. From then on you know exactly what we do and how often, with no surprises.
How to start
Write to us with where the villa is, how much you use it and what worries you most. If letting does not interest you, say so straight away: we will not push, because these are two different services and this one works perfectly well on its own.
We will come back to you, visit the house and tell you what we would do and how often. If you then want to know what it might earn in the weeks you do not use, we will work that out too, but only if you ask.
