Snowbird Property Care
Handis snowbird property care is the October-to-April program for Seattle-area owners who leave for the winter — Palm Springs, Phoenix, Tucson, Naples, Sarasota, Maui — and need someone to walk the empty primary residence every week through the cold months — from $900 a year for the basic biweekly program to $2,400 for weekly visits with full winterize, storm-response priority, spring restart, and a punch-list day. The work runs as one program across seven months. October — winterize the house (hose bibs insulated, irrigation drained, sump pump tested, thermostat held above 55, water shut at the main if you choose). November through April — weekly or biweekly walkthroughs with the same plumbing-first attention. Late April or early May — spring restart the week before you fly home: heat back on, water back on, fridge cold, mail sorted on the counter.
Service
What Does Snowbird Property Care Include?
Snowbird property care runs as one continuous program from October to April — the seven months your Seattle primary residence sits empty while you are in the desert, in Florida, or in Hawaii. The program has three phases: a full winterization the week you leave, weekly or biweekly walkthroughs through the cold months, and a spring restart the week before you return. Each phase has its own checklist and the deferred-maintenance log carries across all of them, so the spring landing is not a list of surprises.
Full October Winterization
One scheduled visit the week you leave (or the day after, on your standing schedule). Hose bibs uncapped, drained, and insulated — every Pacific Northwest hose bib that froze and split last winter was uncapped on the first hard freeze. Outdoor irrigation drained and the timer set to off. Sump pump tested with a bucket — pumps that have not run in months are the ones that fail in December. Thermostat set to 55 (low enough to save fuel, high enough to keep pipes safe). Smoke and CO detectors tested and battery-swapped if dim. Water heater set to vacation mode. Refrigerator either left running with a thermometer or emptied and propped open per your preference. Main water shut-off either left on (we monitor weekly) or shut down (we open and bleed the lines on the spring restart). Photo report covers each completed task.
Weekly or Biweekly Walkthrough
The same walkthrough as the vacation-home program — exterior perimeter, interior room-by-room, plumbing visual under every fixture, water heater pan, sump pump indicator, thermostat reading, smoke-detector indicator, mail and package retrieval, curb-appeal reset (bins pulled, packages in). Dated same-day photo report. The cadence is weekly on the premium program; biweekly on the basic. We recommend weekly for snowbird programs across the board — a slow leak found in the second week is a wet rug; the same leak in the fourth week is a subfloor replacement.
Storm Response
Every weekly snowbird program includes storm response within 24 hours of a National Weather Service alert hitting the property's ZIP — windstorm, atmospheric river, ice event, winter weather advisory, occasional snow event. PNW winter regulars — branch on the roof, downed gutter section, flooded crawl space, power outage that knocks the freezer offline and the sump pump (we check both), a tree limb across the driveway. Common in the Hood Canal corridor and the Snoqualmie Pass corridor. Photo report of the post-storm walk lands the same day.
Deferred Maintenance Log
The walkthroughs build a deferred-maintenance log across the winter — the deck board that loosened in a January storm, the bathroom caulk seam that pulled in February, the gutter section that started sagging in March. Nothing urgent, nothing the tech tries to fix mid-winter (the wrong weather window). The log lands with the spring restart and the punch-list day on the premium program tackles it before you arrive — or quotes it for a member-rate visit in your first week home.
Spring Restart
One scheduled visit the week before you land — usually late April or early May. Thermostat back to comfort temperature. Water back on at the main (we open the valve slowly, bleed each fixture, check for any leaks in the supply lines, run every faucet and every toilet through a cycle). Hose bibs un-insulated and pressure-tested. Sump pump test with a bucket again. Outdoor irrigation re-programmed for the spring schedule. Smoke and CO detectors re-checked. Refrigerator powered up to cold if it had been off. Mail sorted on the counter. Beds aired, towels out if you want — your standing instructions. The house is ready when you walk in.
Punch-List Day (Premium Program)
The premium program adds a full day of handyman work after the spring restart — the deferred-maintenance log gets tackled. Re-screwed deck boards, re-caulked seams, the loose gutter bracket, the dryer-vent screen replacement, the squeaky door hinge, the sticky deadbolt. Anything inside the handyman scope; anything outside it gets quoted with a contractor recommendation. Most snowbird owners say the punch-list day is the difference between landing into a list and landing into a finished house.
How Snowbird Property Care Works
Five phases every Handis snowbird program runs through — October winterization the week you leave, weekly or biweekly walkthroughs through the cold months, post-storm response visits within 24 hours, a deferred-maintenance log built across the winter, and a spring restart the week before you fly home.
October Winterization Visit
One scheduled visit the week you leave — hose bibs drained and insulated, irrigation drained, sump pump tested, thermostat set to 55, water heater on vacation mode, detectors tested and batteries swapped. Main water shutoff either left on (we monitor) or shut down (we restart in spring). Photo report covers every completed task.
Weekly or Biweekly Walkthroughs
Same walkthrough as the vacation-home program — exterior perimeter, interior room-by-room, plumbing visual under every fixture, water heater pan, sump pump indicator, thermostat reading, mail retrieval, curb-appeal reset. Same-day photo report. Weekly is the default for snowbird programs; biweekly works only for owners with a robust water shutoff and a low-risk profile.
Storm Response Within 24 Hours
Weekly programs include post-storm visits within 24 hours of any National Weather Service alert that hits the property's ZIP — windstorm, atmospheric river, ice event, snow event. Crawl space, freezer status, downed gutters, branches on roof, tree across the driveway. Photos and damage assessment land that same day.
Deferred-Maintenance Log Builds Across the Winter
The walkthroughs build a single rolling log of stuff that loosened, sagged, or pulled across the winter. Nothing is mid-winter fixed (the wrong weather window for caulk, paint, deck work). The log lands with the spring restart so you know what is coming before you land.
Spring Restart and Punch-List Day
One spring restart visit the week before your return — thermostat back, water back on at the main with a careful bleed and leak check, irrigation re-programmed, sump test, hose bibs un-insulated, fridge to cold, mail sorted on the counter. Premium program adds a full punch-list day — the deferred-maintenance log gets tackled in the handyman scope, anything beyond it quoted with a contractor recommendation.
Snowbird Property Care Pricing
Pricing depends on the cadence (weekly vs biweekly), the property size, and any add-ons (pool drain-down, well system shutoff, multi-building property). The October winterization and the spring restart are included in every snowbird program. Properties past the standard Seattle metro radius carry a travel premium quoted before the program starts. Request a free estimate for an accurate quote.
Tell us where you are wintering and what the house leaves looking like — we will quote the seven-month program.
Why Pacific Northwest Snowbirds Book Handis
A snowbird program is one continuous job that runs from the week you leave to the week you fly home, not seven months of disconnected drive-bys. The winterization in October sets up everything the walkthroughs check across the winter — the hose bibs we insulated, the sump pump we tested, the thermostat we set. Each weekly walkthrough confirms the prior week is still holding (the sump still cycles, the heat is still at 55, no slow leak under any sink), flags new stuff for the log, and runs the storm response when a windstorm comes through. The spring restart undoes the winterize and tackles the log. The owners land into a working house, not a list. The same handyman runs all seven months — the notes from October are in his head every walkthrough through April.
One program, October to April, same handyman across all seven months
The tech who winterized the house in October is the tech who walks it every week through April and the tech who runs the spring restart. He knows where the hose bibs are, where the sump pump sits, which toilet has the slow flapper, which gutter sags. Continuity across the winter is the entire reason the program works.
Weekly walkthrough is the default — biweekly only on a low-risk profile
Most snowbird programs default to weekly. A slow plumbing leak in the second week is a wet rug; the same leak in the fourth week is a subfloor replacement. Biweekly works for owners who keep the main water shutoff closed across the winter and have a sump pump on a battery backup (the risk profile drops); even then, weekly is safer.
Storm response included in weekly, post-storm photos same day
Weekly programs include post-storm visits within 24 hours of NWS alerts hitting the property's ZIP. We track the alerts; the visit just happens. PNW winter regulars — windstorm tree-fall, atmospheric river crawl-space flood, an occasional snow event that knocks out power and stalls the freezer. Photos and damage assessment land the same evening.
Spring restart so you land into a working house
Water on at the main with a slow valve bleed, every fixture and every toilet cycled, hose bibs un-insulated and pressure-tested, irrigation programmed, sump tested, fridge cold, thermostat to comfort, mail sorted. Premium adds the punch-list day — the deferred maintenance from the winter handled before you walk in. Most owners say the day they fly home is the first day they actually unpack instead of working through a list.
Handyman scope, contractor handoff when needed
Anything inside a wall on a supply or drain line, gas appliances, hardwired electrical, roof replacement, structural — we name the issue in the report and route to a Washington L&I-licensed contractor. We do not pretend a handyman is a plumber. We do come back for the finish work after the contractor's rough-in.
Insured, background-checked, chain-of-custody on every entry
Every Handis tech carries liability insurance and has cleared a background screening. Keys held in a locked vehicle safe between visits and never duplicated. Smart-lock single-use codes per visit on Yale, Schlage Encode, August, and most other brands. Alarm codes entered on arrival, re-armed on exit, logged in the visit report. Owners get a chain-of-custody log alongside the photo reports — when each entry happened, who entered, what condition the house was in.
Estimate
Tell us where the Seattle-area house is, where you are wintering (Palm Springs, Arizona, Florida, Hawaii), the rough size and age of the house, what cadence you want (weekly or biweekly), what is on the property (pool, well, irrigation, sump pump, multi-building), and how the access works (key, lockbox, smart lock, alarm code). We send a clear seven-month estimate.
Customer Reviews
Snowbird property care reviews from real Handis customers across Seattle and the Eastside.
We are in Arizona October to April. Handis winterized in October, sent weekly photo reports through the winter, caught a slow toilet leak in January from the basement walk, scheduled a plumber, and did the spring restart visit the week before we landed. House was exactly how we left it.
Palm Springs every winter for the last seven years. Switched to Handis three winters ago after the prior service drive-by'd the same driveway for half a season and never caught a slow drip in the crawl space. Handis' tech caught a similar one in their second walkthrough. Different game entirely.
First winter in Maui. The October winterize visit included a checklist neither I nor my husband would have remembered — irrigation lines drained, sump pump tested with a bucket of water, fridge set to vacation. Photos of each task. Through the winter the weekly reports came in on schedule. Spring restart had the heat on and the fridge cold the day we landed.
Bellevue house, Florida from November to April. The premium program with the punch-list day was the upgrade. The deferred-maintenance log accumulated through the winter — three caulk seams, a deck board, a sticky deadbolt, a dryer-vent screen — and on the punch-list day after the restart the tech tackled all of it. We landed into a finished house, not a list.
Mercer Island, third winter on the program. December atmospheric river dropped four inches in 24 hours, crawl space hit the sump pump hard. Storm-response visit caught the pump cycling continuously, breaker flipped from the load. Photo report had a picture of the pump float and the breaker panel. Electrician booked the next morning. The basement stayed dry.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Handis snowbird property care.