We all are very busy. Whether it is a house manager trying to keep up with the demands of a busy estate or a homeowner trying to maintain the amenities they have worked so hard to put into place...and then find the time to actually enjoy them...life is busy in a well run residence!
Without a proper home walk through with an established checklist of items to inspect, things get missed and maintenance items fall through the cracks. This was the case in one client's home when I discovered there was not a walk through checklist in place. I explained the importance of having this practice so maintenance issues were properly kept up, as well as discovering potential issues and avoiding bigger mishaps. The client agreed, and I started the detailed process of creating a checklist for their staff to implement.
When walking this particular property, one of the most prominent features was the indoor pool courtyard, that opened on all sides the the living areas on the downstairs floor. Because it was so beautiful and the architecture was build around this feature, the homeowner's preference was that the pool cover remain off except for in the evening. The automatic pool cover was on a timer that closed well after the staff went home and opened each morning before anyone had arrived. Thus the pool in the "open" position became the norm and no one, not even the homeowners, thought to check the cover as part of a routine inspection of the home mechanical systems.
When Luxury Lifestyle Logistics was tasked with creating this checklist for the first time, we opened and closed the pool cover manually to insure proper function, and discovered a problem. Bits of the surrounding stone wall had interacted with the pool chemicals in the roller mechanism and created ugly stains on the pool cover. The natural minerals in the stone caused rust-like spots to appear on the cover and were causing stains that were difficult to remove. No one had ever noticed this, because the pool cover was most often always off of the pool. The homeowners were upset that such an expensive automatic cover was damaged and no one had noticed.
We worked with the pool cover company to find what could be used safely to remove the rust stains, but the marks had been left too long and we were unable to fully restore the pool cover. The homeowners were very appreciative that we had discovered the issue and gotten most of the stains out, but it only strengthened our position for a proper home walk through to avoid mishaps like this in the future. Under our direction, we created systems and practices for each mechanical system with a walk through checklist for weekly, monthly, and semi-annually sections as appropriate to each system.
If you would like Luxury Lifestyle Logistics to create a household walkthrough checklist for your residence, please contact us today to schedule a complementary consultation.