The Old Folks At Home

 

"If chicken can have Colonel Sanders," says Al Sutherland, "house-sitting can have me." Indeed, house-sitting does have him. At 77, Sutherland is the founder and chairman of Home Sitting Service Inc., a thriving Denver concern with independently owned offices in more than a dozen other U.S. cities. Home Sitting provides vacationers with live-in caretakers to feed the pets, water the plants, and keep an eye on the front door. It also offers round-the-clock telephone backup to help the sitters cope with emergencies. And it does all this for about $20 a day.

The secret to Sutherland's operation -- and to his low price -- is the people who work for him. Home Sitting's caretakers are all retirees.

"The biggest problem with retirement is boredom," says Sutherland, who retired from the insurance business in 1970, at age 65. "It's depressing to get up every day and have nothing to do." This is, indeed, a selling point for his business It gives retirees something to do -- or, at least, gives them nothing to do at somebody else's house. For that, they receive a modest income (about $8 a day) that does not jeopardize their Social Security benefits. They also get free lodging, food, and utilities during their stay. Because they work on a contract basis, moreover, they are not subject to the minimum wage laws. As a result, Home Sitting has an advantage over its competitors, few of which can afford to provide live-in house-sitters.

Sutherland is establishing a nationwide network of affiliated Home Sitting offices, which he insists are different from franchises. "We take no percentage of sales, and there aren't any products you have to buy from us," he says. In return for a management fee, a local Home Sitting owner-operator receives exclusive territorial rights to the name, as well as a week of training and extensive marketing help. The owner -- who is usually not a retiree -- must agree to screen, insure, and bond the retirees he or she hires, and provide replacements if necessary.

Of course, unexpected problems may arise. Farol Clark, the owner of the Washington, D.C., office, sent one 68-year-old sitter to a home with three dogs and a cat. "None of the dogs was house-trained," says Clark. "Nobody told me that."