Every Pakistani operator hits the same ceiling. Two properties you can run yourself. Three is uncomfortable. Four and you are the bottleneck for every check-in, every complaint, every 11pm phone call — and the business stops growing because you have run out of hours.
The way through is a caretaker. The reason most owners resist is not cost — it's cash. Handing someone else your money without a record is how the arrangement usually goes wrong. So this guide covers both halves: finding the person, and structuring the arrangement so it holds.
Part 1 — Finding the right person
Where owners actually find caretakers
- Referral from another operator. By far the most common and the most reliable. Someone who has already done this job for a property like yours, vouched for by someone who paid them.
- Existing building staff. For apartments, the building's chowkidar or maintenance staff often already know the property and the neighbours. Cheaper, faster, and they are already accountable to someone.
- Local to the property, not to you. A caretaker who lives twenty minutes from the property beats a better candidate who lives across the city. Check-ins happen at inconvenient hours.
What actually predicts success
Not education, and not English. In order:
- Reachability. Do they answer their phone? A caretaker you cannot reach at 9pm is not a caretaker.
- Proximity. How fast can they physically get to the property?
- Comfort with a phone. They need to send a photo on WhatsApp. That is genuinely the bar — anyone who uses WhatsApp daily can do this job.
- Judgment about people. They will meet your guests before you do.
Notice what is missing: bookkeeping skill. Do not hire for that. Build a system that does not require it.
Part 2 — Structuring the arrangement
Write down the scope before day one
Ambiguity here is what turns into resentment later. Be explicit about who handles: guest check-in and handover, cleaning (them, or a cleaner they manage?), laundry, restocking consumables, minor repairs, and what happens when something breaks at 2am. Write it down and give them a copy.
Decide the pay structure deliberately
Three structures are common in Pakistan, and each creates different incentives:
- Fixed monthly salary. Predictable for both sides. The caretaker is indifferent to occupancy — fine if your occupancy is steady, weak if you need them hustling.
- Per-booking or per-turnover fee. Aligns them with volume. Watch that it doesn't create pressure to rush a changeover.
- Base plus per-booking. The most common arrangement among multi-property operators we've spoken to, because it covers their time in quiet months without making busy months feel unpaid.
Whichever you choose, agree it in writing, and agree the payment date. Late or inconsistent payment is the fastest way to lose a good caretaker.
The float — where it usually breaks
Your caretaker needs cash on hand: gas cylinders, a plumber, cleaning supplies, a replacement bulb before a guest arrives. So you hand over a float. And then, most months, the float and the receipts do not reconcile — not usually because anyone is stealing, but because nobody wrote anything down at the moment it happened.
This is a record-keeping problem wearing the costume of a trust problem. The fix is structural, and it has three parts:
- Every expense gets a photo at the moment it is spent — not reconstructed at month-end.
- The caretaker cannot approve their own spending. They log it; you approve or reject it.
- The running balance is visible to both of you, so nobody is reconstructing it from memory.
Get those three right and the monthly argument disappears. We go deeper on this in the caretaker cash-control guide.
Give them scoped access, not your whole business
A caretaker needs today's check-ins for the properties they cover. They do not need your revenue, your other properties, or your guest list. This is not about suspicion — it is about not handing someone a decision they were never hired to make. Scoped access also makes the job simpler, which makes it easier to do well.
The first month
- Shadow one full changeover. Do a checkout and a check-in with them, in person, once.
- Over-communicate for two weeks. Expect more messages than you want. It settles.
- Reconcile the float weekly at first, then monthly. Catching a mismatch in week one is a conversation; catching it in month three is an accusation.
- Ask them what is annoying. They see the property more than you do. The first month is when they will tell you honestly.
The point
A caretaker is not an expense you accept to buy back time. Structured properly, they are the reason you can hold four properties instead of two — and the structure, not the person, is what usually determines whether it works.