Property maintenance and handyman services

What a winter check actually looks at

Not a walk-through. A defined list, in the order things fail.

• Terrace and roof outlets, gutters and downpipes. The most valuable five minutes of the visit. A blocked outlet turns a terrace into a pond and the pond finds the weakest point in the waterproofing.
• Signs of water ingress on ceilings, at junctions and around openings — before they become the stain you find in May.
• Humidity and ventilation. A sealed building through a damp winter grows mould. Controlled ventilation, or a dehumidifier where appropriate, prevents it.
• Water system. Leaks, stopcock condition, and — where a property is genuinely unused — whether it should be drained down.
• External hardware. Locks, hinges, handles, brackets and balustrade fixings, which corrode continuously here.
• Storm damage and loose items on terraces, which become projectiles and cause damage elsewhere.
• Pool. See pool maintenance — winter neglect is the expensive one.
• Pests. Rodents in particular find their way into unoccupied buildings, and cisterns, voids and roof spaces are where they get in.

Locks, keys and getting in

This is a genuine island problem rather than a trivial one. A lost key or a seized lock on a property nobody lives in means either a locksmith call-out at short notice or a guest standing outside.

• Salt seizes external locks and cylinders. Servicing and lubricating them is a two-minute job that prevents a call-out.
• Key holding locally, so somebody can get in without a flight.
• Lock changes between tenancies or after a key goes missing.
• Emergency lock opening where access is lost.
• Keyless entry is frequently the better long-term answer for rentals — see smart home.

Pest control

Unoccupied buildings attract what occupied ones do not, and on this island the specific routes in are worth knowing.

• Rodents entering through cistern openings, drainage and roof voids. Screening the cistern inlet is both a water-quality and a pest measure. See water cisterns.
• Insects establishing in a closed building over winter and being discovered by the first guests of the season.
• Birds nesting in flues, vents and under solar panels, which also blocks ventilation.
• Prevention through proofing — screening, sealing entry points, and dealing with the food and water sources — rather than repeated treatment.

The small jobs, done in one visit

Most maintenance work is a list of small items that individually do not justify a trade visit and collectively add up: a dripping tap, a door that will not close, a light that has stopped working, a cracked tile, a loose handle, a curtain track, a shelf, a blocked shower drain.

Sending a plumber, an electrician and a carpenter separately to an island property for three fifteen-minute jobs is absurd. They get done in one visit by one competent person, calling in the specific trade where the job genuinely needs one.

For owners who are here occasionally, the practical rhythm is a list kept through the year and a visit before you arrive, so the property is right when you walk in rather than three days later.