Behind every exceptional estate in Rhode Island is a cadre of largely unseen professionals who make sure the house and grounds keep looking like a million bucks.
As a cottage industry, property-management services cover a range of occupations, from the housekeepers who clean the interiors to the landscapers who protect the delicate greenery in all seasons. General contractors often are employed for routine maintenance and improvements, as well as renovations.
Overseeing the houses themselves are property managers.
Larger estates often will have someone in charge of the house, and another in charge of the grounds.
In summer enclaves, such as Newport, the jobs don’t end when the season comes to a close in October but continue through the winter and early spring.
In many cases, families who own the properties may have returned to their primary residences. But the houses and yards still need to be maintained. Sometimes the owner lives on the estate year-round.
Glenn Parker, owner of East Providence-based Parker Construction, builds and maintains custom homes. A separate division for property services and maintenance, run by his son, employs eight people year-round.
“People have to understand, houses are not a static thing,” he said. “You don’t just build it and then it stays like that forever. It’s exposed to the elements. It’s exposed to weather conditions. Systems have to be maintained.”
For Parker, his construction of fine homes led to the secondary business of home-maintenance services. The second includes both regular maintenance and emergency services available on a 24-7, 365-day basis.
In a winter storm, the crews will plow the driveways and walkways. It doesn’t matter if no one is living there, the property will be maintained.
The company manages homes and estates in Newport, South County and Providence, as well as in neighboring Massachusetts.
“We’re out in every storm,” Parker said. “We shovel and plow snow for clients. Any bad-weather condition, I’m usually not sleeping too well.”
The industry moves on word-of-mouth, including referrals from real estate professionals. Oftentimes, the individuals and companies overseeing the property remain intact through a succession of owners.
Ray Gomes, a retired firefighter, got his start when he was in high school, mowing the lawn of an estate in Newport. His grandfather had worked as a gardener on a large estate, and one of his friends gave Gomes his first job in property management.
Now Gomes works for himself. There was a time in Newport when many of the homes had firefighters and police officers working as property managers, he said, because the families trusted them to make sure everything was safe and sound.
Like other property managers, Gomes said a sense of trustworthiness and honesty is essential. The owners need to trust that their homes are in good hands.
For that reason, often when a property is sold, the new owner keeps the existing team.
“Quite honestly, most of them have had the same guy taking care of it for 10 to 15 years,” Gomes said, of the houses around Newport. “The property may have been sold three times.”
The work allows people who enjoy it to take pride in maintaining something that’s beautiful and one-of-a-kind.
The size of many of the estates requires a series of professionals. The pools must be maintained. The winds along the ocean, which are commonly 20 mph or more, will burn the landscaping in the winter, so plantings need to be wrapped in burlap.
The houses themselves need more maintenance because they are often on the coast. The elements eat away at paint and other exteriors. On a recent afternoon, David Plowden, who works for his father-in-law’s company, Middletown-based Jenkins Construction Inc., oversaw a small crew of workers who were reshingling an exterior wall.
As a general contractor, the company builds additions and completes renovations at the request of the homeowners. It also replaces kitchens and bathrooms and other smaller remodeling projects, as needed.
Often, when a house is sold, the new owner wants items switched out or rooms renovated and repainted.
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CLEANING UP: Brady Parker, director of client services for Parker Construction, cleans gutters on one of the residences the company maintains in Rhode Island. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
Jenkins recently replaced the windows on one of its houses, which, given the size of the house, easily exceeded $100,000.
About 20 houses in Rhode Island are maintained by the company. For Plowden, it’s an enjoyable and unique way to make a living. He takes pride in his work, and the result is often show-stopping.
Of one house, which was transformed into a roadside beauty through a series of improvements, he noted: “Anytime someone drives by … you can see them hit the brakes. There’s nothing regular about any of these houses.”
When he returns home, he gets a reality check: “When I go to do renovations on my own home, I kind of have to dial it back a bit.”
The houses themselves are what Plowden described as “living and breathing.” They have systems, appliances, security apparatus, generators, water-filtration systems, all of that must be maintained and serviced.
Right now, the winter, is the busy time for renovations and construction. “Everything has to be done by Memorial Day,” he said.
Parker describes the work as coordination of moving pieces. People often underestimate how much work is required to maintain a large home or estate.
Sometimes the families have multiple homes. They typically don’t stay away for the entire winter and spring but come and go. The houses must be maintained accordingly.
“The thing that nobody can buy is time,” Parker said, paraphrasing the gist of the industry.
“If you have a very good job and a life, do you really want to spend your time up on a ladder, cleaning gutters? I see part of our concierge service as providing people with services, so they can spend more time doing things that are more productive, and more interesting to them, than things that have to be done to keep their buildings in shape.”
A few years ago, when Rhode Island legislators briefly considered an extra tax on million-dollar properties, Gomes realized that many people didn’t appreciate how many are employed by these estates.
He estimated that a large home in Newport might result in the employment of as many as 50 people in the course of a year, from service companies to housekeepers and gardeners, to people such as him, who help to maintain it year-round.
The industry of maintaining properties is much larger than it was even 20 years ago, Gomes said.
“Now, caretaking has morphed into a full-time, year-round job,” he said.
