Piha is a different job.
Full management for holiday homes at Piha — pricing, listing, guest messaging, changeovers, linen, maintenance and the things a city manager has never had to think about: the water tank, the septic system, the salt, and one road in over the ranges. 15% + GST of accommodation revenue, and the changeovers are done by our own employed team on this side of the Waitākeres.
The Cleaning Company provides full holiday home and short-term rental management at Piha for 15% + GST of accommodation revenue — the booking total after the cleaning fee. The guest-paid cleaning fee comes to us and covers the changeover, the linen and the guest amenities. Changeovers are performed by our own employed team based west of the ranges, not subcontracted. The fee covers nightly pricing and calendar, listing and photography, guest messaging answered around the clock, linen supply and commercial laundering, consumable restocking, maintenance coordination, water tank and wastewater monitoring, keys and access, and monthly owner reporting. No setup fee, no retainer, no minimum term. Cleaning in Auckland since 2012.
- Management fee
- 15% + GST of accommodation revenue
- Changeovers
- Our own employed team, based west of the ranges
- Guest contact
- Answered around the clock, every day
- Channels
- Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO and Bookabach
- Water and wastewater
- Tank levels and septic load checked every changeover
- Term
- Month to month, no minimum, no setup fee
- Area
- Piha and North Piha
- Operating since
- 2012
What Piha does to a house
A managed apartment in the city has town water, a rubbish collection, a supermarket round the corner and a lift. A bach at Piha has none of those, and the environment works on the building every day of the year. Anyone quoting to manage a Piha property who has not raised the following has not thought about it.
Salt, damp and bush
Tasman salt corrodes fixings, hardware, joinery and anything metal on an exposed deck, and it works fastest on the beachfront and the exposed ridgelines. Driving rain off the west finds cladding and window seals. Bush shade and high rainfall keep surfaces damp long after the weather clears, which is how mould starts in a closed-up house between bookings — and mould is the single fastest way to lose a review.
What that means for management: a property that sits empty for three weeks in winter needs airing and checking, not just cleaning the day before a guest arrives.
Water and wastewater are yours, not the council’s
Most Piha properties run on rainwater collection and an on-site wastewater system. A family of eight on a summer weekend will use a tank at a rate the owner never does, and a septic system has a daily load it cannot exceed. Guests do not know this, and nothing on a listing tells them.
This is the most common way a Piha booking goes wrong, and it is almost entirely preventable: tank level read at every changeover, load matched to the size of the booking, guest instructions that actually explain it, and a refill arranged before it becomes an emergency rather than after.
Steep sites and one road
Long accessways, retaining, suspended floors and hillside drainage all need watching, and heavy rain is when you find out. Piha Road through the ranges is the only way in, and slips, storms and road works close it. A manager on the wrong side of that road is a manager who cannot get to your property on the day it matters.
Baches built in pieces
Much of Piha’s housing started as a 1950s to 1980s bach and was extended over decades, so one house can hold several construction eras at once — modern work beside old wiring, plumbing or insulation. Knowing which part of a house is which is worth more than a tidy photograph when something fails mid-booking.
What a Piha changeover actually involves
The same standard as a city turnover, with four things added that the city never needs.
Everything arrives with the team
There is no supermarket at Piha and the village store is not a restock run. Linen, consumables and guest amenities come in with the team, to a par list agreed for your property. A forgotten item is not a five-minute errand out here, so it does not get forgotten.
Tank and septic checked, every time
Level read and recorded, load matched against the next booking, and a refill arranged ahead of the guest rather than during their stay. You get the reading in the changeover report.
Guest-ready photo sign-off
Photographs after every changeover so you can confirm the property is ready without driving over the ranges. Damage and maintenance reported with timestamped photos the same day.
Guest information kept current
Which Waitākere Ranges tracks are open changes — a large number remain closed for kauri protection and others have reopened. Guests ask, and a listing that tells them the wrong thing produces a disappointed review about something that was never the property’s fault. We keep that, the surf and safety information, and the drive time honest and up to date.
15% + GST, and the maths is the same as everywhere else
No Piha surcharge and no travel loading. The fee is the same one we charge in the city.
Every booking has two parts: the accommodation and a cleaning fee. The cleaning fee comes to us and covers the changeover, the linen and the guest amenities. Of the accommodation revenue we take 15% + GST, and that single figure covers everything else — pricing, listing, messaging, maintenance coordination, reporting and the seasonal work. Nothing is billed on top. Platform payouts go straight to your account; we invoice monthly with a statement showing every booking and how the fee was calculated. GST is recoverable if you are registered.
The full breakdown, the worked example and the nine questions worth asking any manager are on our management page and in how to choose a short-stay manager. Both apply here unchanged.
Which Piha properties we take
We run a small number of managed properties, and Piha is a deliberate second area rather than a line on a coverage map. That means we are honest about which houses we can run properly.
What works
A property at Piha or North Piha whose owner wants it to be one of the better places to stay on the coast, and who will back that: real linen rather than the cheapest set, maintenance fixed rather than deferred, a water and wastewater setup that is sound, and a realistic view of what the market pays in winter as well as January.
Piha is strongly seasonal. A property priced for summer all year sits empty; one priced honestly earns through the shoulder months as well. We would rather tell you that before you sign.
When we say no
When the access or the site puts a reliable changeover out of reach. When the tank or the wastewater system cannot carry the guest numbers the listing advertises — that is a problem no manager can clean their way out of. When repairs are treated as optional, because guests review the broken thing rather than the excuse. And when we are full: we would rather hold the standard than take the revenue.
What we will not do is advise on tax, on Auckland Council’s rules for short-term accommodation, or on resource consent. All three matter at Piha and all three deserve someone qualified. Sort those out and we will handle the rest.
Piha management questions
Do you manage holiday homes at Piha?
Yes — full management at Piha and North Piha for 15% + GST of accommodation revenue, with changeovers performed by our own employed team based west of the ranges. Piha is a deliberate second area alongside central Auckland, not a coverage claim, so we take a small number of properties there.
How do you do a changeover at Piha when there are no shops?
Everything arrives with the team. Linen, consumables and guest amenities come in to a par list agreed for the property, because the village store is not a restock run and the nearest real shopping is back over the ranges at Titirangi or Glen Eden. It is the reason a Piha changeover has to be planned rather than improvised.
What happens with the water tank and septic system when guests stay?
Most Piha properties run on rainwater collection and an on-site wastewater system, and a full house of guests will draw on both at a rate the owner never does. We read and record the tank level at every changeover, match the load against the next booking, give guests instructions that actually explain the setup, and arrange a refill before it becomes urgent. It is the most common way a Piha booking goes wrong and it is almost entirely preventable.
Can you get to Piha for a same-day changeover?
Yes, because the team is already on that side of the Waitākere Ranges rather than driving out from the city. Piha Road is the only way in and slips, storms and road works do close it; being based west of the ranges is what makes a same-day changeover a plan rather than a hope.
Which platforms will my Piha bach be listed on?
Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO and Bookabach, managed from one calendar so a double booking is not possible. Bookabach matters more at Piha than it does in the city — it is often the first place a New Zealand family looks for a coastal holiday home.
Is there a Piha surcharge?
No. The fee is 15% + GST of accommodation revenue, the same as in the city, with no travel loading and no setup fee. The changeover is paid for by the guest cleaning fee, as it is everywhere else we manage.
What do you do about mould in a bach that sits empty?
A closed-up house in a damp, bush-shaded, high-rainfall place is where mould starts, and it is the fastest way to lose a review. A managed property gets aired and checked between bookings rather than only cleaned the day before a guest arrives, and anything developing is reported with photos while it is still small.
Find out what your Piha property should be earning
Tell us the address and the number of bedrooms. We will come back with what we think it should be doing across the year rather than just in January, what we would change to get it there, and what it costs to hand the whole thing over.