Enid Yearwood
Owner and household manager
Holds the key list, writes every house card and makes the Friday walk of each house herself.
Estate housekeeping in Greenwich
A large house needs a standing week
Chatelaine keeps large and second homes in Greenwich by the week: the same people on the same days, one lead who holds your key, and a house that is ready when you walk in.
The standing week
One house, one week, written down
A sample week for a house of about 9,000 square feet with a crew of two. Yours is written at the walk-through and sent to you to change before the first visit.
| Afternoon, 12:30 to 4 | Morning, 8 to 12 | |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Afternoon, 12:30 to 4The weekend's laundry, sorted by your fabric rules. | Morning, 8 to 12Kitchen, pantry and refrigerator. The breakfast room and back stairs. |
| Tuesday | Afternoon, 12:30 to 4Guest bedrooms and baths, checked, dusted and aired. | Morning, 8 to 12Primary suite: bed linen changed, bath and dressing room. |
| Wednesday | Afternoon, 12:30 to 4Entry, stairs and mudroom, with coats and shoes put back. | Morning, 8 to 12Main floors: hardwood and stone washed, rugs vacuumed. |
| Thursday | Afternoon, 12:30 to 4Ironing, and the linen closet counted against your list. | Morning, 8 to 12Bathrooms top to bottom; mirrors, glass and brass. |
| Friday | Afternoon, 12:30 to 4Trash and recycling out, and a written note left on the kitchen counter. | Morning, 8 to 12A walk of every room with Enid, and touch-ups from her list. |
Keys and alarms
A key is signed for, every time
A house key is the one thing we carry that can never go missing. It is tagged with a number, never your address, kept in a locked box at our office and signed out on a card by the person who carries it.
Tags carry a number, never an address
Keys go out in the morning and come back at night, signed both ways
Alarm codes are given by voice or in person, never by text or email
If an alarm sounds during a visit, Enid calls you first
What the week is made of
Four services, each written to the house
Weekly housekeeping
The standing week: kitchens, bedrooms, baths and floors, by day, in the same order.
The standing week
Linens and wardrobe
Beds changed, laundry done by your rules, the linen closet kept counted.
Linens and wardrobe
Holiday and house-party resets
A house made ready before guests and put back after them.
Holiday resets
From the household manager
What I say at every first walk-through
A chatelaine was the person who held the keys to a great house and answered for how it was kept. That is the job we took the name for.
“I walk the whole house with you first and I write down what you tell me: which rug never meets a vacuum, whose drawer is whose, what the dog does when the door opens. Then it goes on a card that stays in the house, and everyone who works there follows it.”
Enid Yearwood
Owner and household manager
The household team
Six people, and you will know their names
Ginette
Senior housekeeper, linens and wardrobe
Counts the linen closet against your list, irons, and knows which drawer is whose.
Ketly
Housekeeper, kitchens and pantries
Takes care of kitchens, refrigerators and pantries, and keeps the list of what to ask about before anything is thrown out.
Karina
Housekeeper, floors and stone
Works the hardwood, stone and rugs, and knows which ones never see a vacuum.
Ivo
Housekeeper, glass, brass and silver
Looks after interior glass, mirrors, brass and the pieces that are polished by hand.
Tania
Second homes, openings and closings
Opens a house before you arrive and closes it behind you, with the checklist signed.
Your first month
From walk-through to the first review
- 01
Step 1: The walk-through
Enid walks every room with you and writes down what to leave alone.
- 02
Step 2: The house card
A written card for the house, sent to you in draft so you can change it.
- 03
Step 3: The key handover
Your key is tagged, logged and signed for, and any code is given by voice.
- 04
Step 4: The first visit
Enid works beside the crew, so the first week is done the way the card says.
- 05
Step 5: The review
At the end of the fourth week she calls to adjust the days, the rooms and the hours.
Pricing
How pricing works
No price per room. A number for the week as written, given to you in writing before a first visit.
What decides the price
A house is priced by the hours its standing week takes, so the number follows what is in it and how it is used.
Square footage, rooms and floors, and how many bathrooms
How many people live in it and how often it is entertained in
The surfaces: stone, wood, rugs, glass, silver and brass
Pets, and whether a staff member is in the house during our visit
How many days a week we come, and how long since the house was last done properly
What the estimate covers
It lists every task in the standing week by day, the crew size, the hours, and the products we bring.
Included: the week as written, the crew, supplies and equipment
Not included: repairs, moving heavy furniture, pest or mold work, exterior and pool areas
Anything outside the estimate is quoted separately before it is done
What happens at the walk-through
Enid walks every room with you, writes down what to leave alone, and measures the work against the week you want. There is no charge for the walk-through.
About an hour and a half for a house of this size
She asks about keys, alarms and who else is in the house
You see the house card in draft before anything is booked
When you get the number
In writing, within two working days of the walk-through, before a first visit is booked. It is a fixed figure per week for the week as written, not a range.
If the week changes, the figure changes only after you agree in writing
Nothing is billed until the first visit has been done
How and when you pay
We invoice at the end of each month for the visits made. Each line is a visit, with its date and crew.
Pay by bank transfer or card
A visit you cancel inside the notice period is on the invoice; the policies page says when
No deposit and no sign-up charge
If the house changes
A new guest wing, a long stay, a party, a new dog: tell Enid, and she writes a revised week for you to approve.
The revised week replaces the old one only when you say yes
A one-off extra is priced before it is booked
You can pause the week for travel with notice
From households
What they notice first
“The Friday note on the kitchen counter is the thing I would keep if I could keep only one. It says what was done and what Enid wants me to look at.”
Mary A.Cos Cob
“We were away for the whole of last winter. Tania opened the house the day before we flew in: beds made, refrigerator stocked from my list, heat set where I leave it.”
Milton Z.Riverside
“I give the alarm code once, in person, to the person who will use it. Nobody has ever asked me to text it.”
Pat A.Rye
“Ginette keeps the linen closet counted against my list. For the first time I know what we own.”
Kin H.Greenwich
Sample reviews.
Where the crews live
Greenwich, and the towns a crew can reach by eight
Every house has a crew that lives within a short drive, so a Friday walk or an early opening never waits on a long commute.
Fairfield County
- Greenwich
- Byram
- Ridgefield
Westchester County
- Rye
- Rye Brook
- Port Chester
- Harrison
- Larchmont
- Mamaroneck
- Armonk
- Bedford
- Pound Ridge
We do not work east of Fairfield, north of Bedford, or in New York City. If you are near a line, ask.
Ask for a walk-through
Tell us about the house
Say where it is and how many people are in it, and whether it is lived in all year or opened in the season. Enid answers every request herself.
Call(203) 555-0101
Text(203) 555-0102
Office hours
- Monday – FridayToday
- 7:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
- SaturdayToday
- 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
- SundayToday
- Closed