Secondary home caretaking vs water damage: comparing the real costs

A caretaking plan is a certain cost, every year. Water damage is an uncertain one — maybe never, maybe this winter. Comparing the two takes a bit of method, and above all it means not trusting any single number.

What to do before you compare

1. Put the caretaking price on the table

The cost of caretaking is known upfront, and it should be published. At Mr. Lantern, it runs from one documented visit a month ($189 a month) to weekly visits year-round; the prepaid Annual plan ($1,945 a year) covers visits every two weeks the rest of the year and weekly in winter. Every plan and one-time service is on the Services page. Focus on the visit frequency you’d be paying for: that’s what matters in the comparison.

2. Pull out your insurance policy

Three things change the whole calculation:

• The deductible: what you still pay yourself, even when the loss is covered.
• Conditions when the house is empty: many policies set some, such as keeping the heat on, shutting the water off or having regular visits. Conditions vary from one insurer to the next.
• Exclusions: some kinds of water damage may be excluded or need added coverage.

If any of this isn’t clear, ask your broker what applies to your cottage. It’s the most valuable question in the whole exercise.

3. Estimate how often someone really stops by

Be honest. How many times did you drive up between November and March last winter? Does a neighbour really check, or only “if they think of it”? The longest damage can go unseen is the longest gap between two visits — not the average.

4. Try the calculator, knowing its limits

Our damage calculator shows how the cost of a loss climbs with every day nobody checks. Its ranges are estimates still being validated with local brokers: they’re for comparing orders of magnitude, not a substitute for a quote or your insurer’s opinion.

Why water damage costs more than it looks

Time multiplies the line items. A leak found quickly is often a plumbing repair and a bit of drying. The same leak found late reaches the drywall, insulation, floors and cabinets, then whatever is stored in the basement. Every day adds wet material.

Hidden water becomes lasting moisture. In a closed, poorly ventilated cottage, water soaked into walls dries slowly. Health Canada notes that excess moisture encourages mould, which then has to be cleaned or removed. That work comes on top of the original repair.

The bill isn’t only the repair. There’s the deductible, the drives up from Montréal, weekends spent managing contractors, a cottage you can’t use during the work, and sometimes furniture or keepsakes no payout replaces.

Coverage isn’t guaranteed. If your policy’s conditions weren’t met, a claim could be denied in whole or in part. Again, only your policy and your insurer can answer that.

The Townships add their own realities. Mountain outages that stop both the heat and the well pump, mild spells that thaw split pipes, three-season cottages added onto with plumbing in thinly insulated walls: in Sutton, Dunham or Brome Lake, there’s no shortage of ways for water to get loose.

Comparing fairly: what you can do, and what belongs to the pros

What an owner can do:

• Write down the yearly cost of the visit frequency that fits your needs.
• Write down your deductible and your policy’s conditions when the house is empty.
• Lower the baseline risk: main shut-off labelled, outdoor taps drained, a thermometer in the coldest room, heat at a setting your plumber or insurer recommends.
• Plan who stops by, and how often, when you can’t get up there.

What belongs to professionals:

• Your broker: confirming what your policy covers and on what terms.
• An RBQ-licensed plumber: assessing weak points in the plumbing and suggesting fixes, like rerouting a pipe out of an exterior wall.
• An RBQ-licensed contractor: pricing an actual repair. A written quote beats any average.

In an empty house, how long before anyone notices?

This is where the comparison is decided. A visit doesn’t make a pipe unbreakable. It changes how long water can run without anyone knowing. If nobody stops by before your next trip up, the damage lasts until your next trip up. If someone stops by every week, the damage can’t go much more than a week before it’s seen.

So the real question isn’t “does caretaking cost more than damage?” It’s: “what gap between visits am I willing to accept, and what does that mean for my deductible, my coverage and my time?”

For owners who come up every weekend, the answer may be that few extra visits are needed, or only a check after a storm. For owners away all winter, the answer is different. Both choices are reasonable when they’re made with eyes open.

What we look at on a visit

Every visit, we read the thermostat and compare it with the agreed setting, look at the incoming water line and its fittings, and log the water meter or well pressure gauge with every tap closed: a number that moved while nothing was running points to a leak somewhere. We open the cabinets under the sinks and run a flashlight over the basement floor and lower walls. Every finding is photographed and time-stamped in the report.

If something’s off, we call you the same day, with photos. If needed, we meet an RBQ-licensed plumber on site and document the work.