Whoever is watching your house needs five kinds of information: how to reach you and who else to call, how access is arranged, how the house's systems work, how to care for anything living in it, and what you'd consider off-limits. Leaving one of those five out is a common, avoidable gap in a handoff — not a guarantee of disaster, just a reason to work through all five on purpose instead of relying on memory.
The Five Categories
Per house-sitting guidance from the Alberta Motor Association, Rover, and TrustedHousesitters:
- Contacts and emergency info. Your phone number, a backup emergency contact, and your address (sitters are sometimes surprised they don't have it written down).
- Access. How to get in, who else might reasonably show up (a landscaper, a cleaner), and the basic security habits local police departments keep repeating for a reason, like locking every door and window, every time. Keys and any alarm or door codes are arranged directly with the sitter in person (or over a call), tested before you leave — they don't belong on a written sheet that could be lost, photographed, or left behind.
- Household systems. Where the water shutoff is, breaker panel location, trash/recycling schedule, and who to call for a plumbing or electrical problem.
- Pet or plant care. Feeding schedule, vet contact, watering routine — specific enough that a stranger could follow it exactly.
- House rules. Guests, thermostat range, which rooms are off-limits — the things you'd be annoyed about later if you never mentioned them.
A Handoff Checklist You Can Copy
Before someone starts watching your house, walk through this in order:
- Write down your contact info and one backup emergency contact.
- Hand over keys and confirm any codes in person, and test that they actually work before you leave — not written on the same sheet as everything else.
- Show them the main water shutoff and breaker panel in person if you can, and who to call if either needs attention.
- Write out any pet/plant care as a specific routine, not a general description.
- Say out loud what you'd consider a problem worth calling you about, versus something they can just handle.
A FICTIONAL EXAMPLE
The Alvarez family leaves for two weeks and asks a neighbor, Priya, to check on the house. Before leaving, they walk her through the door lock and alarm in person and confirm she can get in and out — nothing about access goes on paper. The sheet they leave her covers everything else: their cell numbers, "water shutoff is in the garage, left wall, red handle — call Ferreira Plumbing, [number], if it needs to be touched," feeding instructions for the cat ("half a cup, twice a day, food is in the pantry left of the fridge"), and one house rule — "thermostat can go between 65–75, don't worry about it otherwise." Halfway through the trip, the water heater starts leaking. Priya doesn't touch it — she finds Ferreira Plumbing's number right where the sheet said it would be, calls them, and follows their instructions until someone arrives.
Turning This Into an Actual Handoff Packet
A single sheet works for a short trip. For anything longer, or for a sitter who isn't already familiar with your house, SUGADUMP / HOME's HANDOFF section is built as a separate, printable packet you hand off on its own — prepared in advance instead of scribbled the night before a trip. Its own overview page is explicit about the same boundary this guide keeps making: it has a line reading "no codes on this sheet — confirm access separately," and a later page in the same packet states plainly that it "is not an emergency-response guide" and isn't meant for diagnosing or repairing unfamiliar equipment.
FROM SUGADUMP
SUGADUMP / HOME
Includes a standalone HANDOFF packet you can print separately and leave for a house sitter, without handing over your entire workbook. $19, one-time.
Explore SUGADUMP / HOME $19Where to Go Next
A lot of what belongs in a handoff packet — shutoff locations, appliance quirks, contact info — is the same information that lives in a good home maintenance binder, just trimmed down to what a temporary visitor needs. And if the house sitter runs into an appliance issue specifically, having the manuals and warranty info organized ahead of time (see how to organize appliance manuals, receipts, and warranties) means they're not searching your kitchen drawers for a manual mid-emergency.