You land at four. The house has been open since Tuesday.
Bay House Concierge opens and closes winter homes in St. Petersburg, Florida and on the Gulf beaches. Rates as of August 2026, published in full.
Air on the night before. Water on and metered. The report in your inbox before you land.
When is snowbird season in St. Petersburg, and how far ahead should you book?
Snowbird season in St. Petersburg, Florida runs October through April. Arrivals run from early October through the holidays and departures run March into May. Book in the spring before the season: Bay House Concierge takes Seasonal agreements from the first of May, and sets your exact opening date once it falls inside our three-month booking window.
| Months | The house | What Bay House Concierge does |
|---|---|---|
| May through Sep | Empty. | Standby: a photographed visit every two weeks. |
| Jun through Nov | Hurricane season. | Storm-prep checklist, at closing and before a storm. |
| Aug through Sep | You book flights. | Opening date set; file and vendors reviewed. |
| Oct through Dec | You arrive. | Season Opening, $260. |
| Nov through Mar | Peak. | Fourteen hours a month: provisioning, mail, let-ins. |
| Mar through May | You leave. | Season Closing, $155. |
The standard lead time on any single visit is five days, and short notice inside that window costs nothing extra. A moved flight is a rescheduled visit: free with 24 hours’ notice, as often as you need. If we miss a booked window, that visit is free.
What does a Season Opening include?
A Season Opening from Bay House Concierge is a flat $260 covering seven things: pantry and freezer purged and restocked, paper goods, cleaning and laundry supplies, filters and batteries checked, air and water on with your vendors, welcome provisions, a written inventory report.
The purge first. A summer-closed house ages a pantry faster than the dates suggest. What stays is listed.
Freezer and refrigerator emptied, wiped, restocked to your household file. The ice maker’s first two batches go down the sink.
Paper goods, cleaning and laundry supplies to a par level you set once: full on day one, not day four.
Filters and batteries checked: HVAC, refrigerator, smoke and carbon monoxide. Anything needing a ladder goes to your vendor, photographed.
Air on the night before you arrive, not the hour. A house shut since May needs a night to lose the humidity.
Water on, then watched. Ten minutes at the meter with every tap off: a turning meter means a leak your plumber hears about that morning.
Welcome provisions and a written report before you land: coffee on the counter, the first dinner, what the meter did.
The $260 is the whole fee; groceries are separate, at shelf price against a card ceiling you set: how money works, or pay online.
What does a Season Closing include?
A Season Closing from Bay House Concierge is a flat $155 in the week you leave: perishables cleared to a food bank you name or thrown out, the pantry inventoried, appliances and water shut down, the storm-prep checklist run, a photo report of every room.
Perishables cleared your way. Two weeks out we shop your pantry, not the store; the rest goes to a food bank you name.
The pantry inventoried with dates and filed, so October’s restock starts from a document, not a guess in an aisle.
Water and appliances down. Main off, water heater off, ice maker off and the bin emptied: a running ice maker is how an empty house loses a floor.
A cup of ice with a coin on top goes in the freezer. If the coin is at the bottom in October, the power failed and everything thawed.
A photo report of every room the day we lock up: settings, thermostat, shutoffs, the meter, kept beside October’s.
The $155 is the whole fee: pay online.
What does the Seasonal retainer cost, and what does it include?
The Seasonal retainer is $600 a month, October through April (a seven-month term of $4,200) and includes the Season Opening and Season Closing, $415 on the rate card. It carries 14 hours a month, an effective $42.86 an hour.
- Season Opening and Closing included
- Weekly provisioning shop, put away, cold first
- Mail in, packages inside, nothing on the step
- Unlimited vendor let-in, drawing nothing from your hours
- Additional hours at $44
or subscribe directly
| Bought separately | Cost |
|---|---|
| Season Opening | $260 |
| Season Closing | $155 |
| 98 hours at $50 | $4,900 |
| Total | $5,315 |
| Seasonal retainer | $4,200 |
Seven months is a real commitment, said here rather than in a clause you find in April; every other retainer ends on 30 days’ notice. If fourteen hours is more than your house needs, take the Opening and Closing alone.
What happens to the house while you are north?
Off-season standby is $90 a month, May through September: a visit to your empty St. Petersburg house every two weeks with a photographed report. Bay House Concierge sells it only to Seasonal retainer clients, never on its own.
- Ceilings and floors under every wet room and every sink.
- The water heater pan, the condensate line and its drip pan: where a slow flood starts.
- Thermostat, humidity and the freezer marker photographed, so the numbers make a run of dates.
- The mail, the doors, and anything taped to them.
We will not pretend to be a bargain in a trade that is not ours. A dedicated home watch company does this as its whole business and prices it accordingly. Get a quote from one and set it beside ours before you buy either.
Standby exists so that the person who opens your house in October has been inside it every fortnight since May. If what you want is a home watch contract, buy one.
What do you do about hurricane season?
Hurricane season runs June 1 through November 30, overlapping both ends of the snowbird year. Bay House Concierge runs a written storm-prep checklist at your Season Closing, and again before any named storm we can reach the house ahead of. We do not board windows or climb roofs.
- Loose objects in: furniture, planters, the grill, the hose reel, photographed where they ended up.
- Shutters and panels arranged with your vendor and association. We make the call and meet them; we do not install them.
- Freezer contents photographed and dated beside the ice-and-coin cup, so a claim starts with a picture.
- Documents and anything irreplaceable moved above the flood line, and the condensate line cleared by your vendor.
- Shutoffs photographed into your file, the wrench beside them, and a contact tree: insurer, adjuster, roofer, plumber.
After a storm we go when the county says the bridges are open, and not before. Access to Pass-a-Grille, St. Pete Beach and Tierra Verde is governed by county re-entry procedures after a landfall, not by us. You get photographs the day we get in, and a call first if the news is bad.
Are you a home watch company or a home inspector?
No. Bay House Concierge is a household concierge and personal shopping company in St. Petersburg, Florida. We are not a home watch company, not home inspectors, not property managers and not contractors. None of our reports is an inspection report.
- We do not inspect. A photo report says what a camera saw on a date; it certifies nothing.
- We do not diagnose. If a ceiling is stained you know within the hour. We will not tell you why.
- We do not repair, or touch a breaker panel, a roof, or a water heater beyond its vacation switch.
- We do not manage the property. We do not sign for you, hold money, or decide things in your absence.
- We cannot satisfy a requirement for documented inspections from an insurer, lender or association. Hire a firm whose business that is.
What we do instead is work alongside them: give us the home watch company’s name and we hold the key, let them in, and file their reports with ours.
Key protocol and insurance: how it works. Letting the house out: arrival stocking, hosts and property managers.
Snowbird questions, answered plainly.
When should I book snowbird service in St. Petersburg?
Bay House Concierge takes Seasonal agreements from the first of May for the October-to-April season, so spring and summer is the honest window. A single Season Opening can be booked up to three months out.
How much does it cost to open a winter home in Florida?
A Season Opening from Bay House Concierge is a flat $260 in St. Petersburg and on the Gulf beaches, as of August 2026, covering the purge and restock, supplies, filters and batteries, air and water coordination, welcome provisions and a written report. Groceries and supplies are separate, at shelf price. Season Closing is $155.
Can you open the house if I am not there to let you in?
Yes. Opening the house before you land is the point of the service. Bay House Concierge holds a key tagged with a number rather than your name or your street, or uses a smart-lock code issued to nobody else and rotated on your schedule. Every removal of a key is logged, and you can ask for it back on any day.
Do I have to take the seven-month term to get a Season Opening?
No. Season Opening at $260 (pay online) and Season Closing at $155 (pay online) are sold on their own, with no retainer and no account. The $600-a-month Seasonal retainer includes both and adds 14 hours a month; the same work bought piece by piece across seven months comes to about $5,315 against $4,200 on the term.
What happens if a hurricane hits while I am north?
The storm-prep checklist was already run at your Season Closing. Afterwards Bay House Concierge goes when county re-entry procedures reopen access to the barrier islands, and not before. You get photographs the day we get in, and a telephone call first if the news is bad. We are not adjusters and we do not assess damage.
Is off-season standby the same as home watch?
No. Off-season standby is $90 a month for a photographed visit every two weeks, sold only to Seasonal retainer clients of Bay House Concierge and never on its own. It is not a home watch contract and we are not home inspectors. If an insurer or association requires documented inspections, hire a home watch firm; we will hold the key and let them in.
Zones and cancellations: the rate card, the questions page. In season we also run the weekly grocery run and errands across the service area. Who we are.
Book a walkthrough
We will walk the house before you close it, or before you next open it, and tell you which of these (if any) your season needs.
Book a walkthroughForty-five minutes, at your house or on a call while you are north. Nothing follows unless you ask.