Due diligence
How to Choose an Estate Manager in Palm Beach
Finding a reliable estate manager in Palm Beach is harder than it should be, because three different services are sold under the same words. Home watch is a scheduled inspection of an unoccupied home. Property management is rentals, leases, and tenants. Estate management is one accountable party running the residence itself — its calendar, its trades, its records, and its condition.
Read the proposals closely and the difference shows. If you want inspections, start with home watch in Palm Beach County. If you want the household run, read private estate management in Palm Beach County. The ten questions below separate the two quickly, whoever you are interviewing. If the open question is still whether to put a manager on your own payroll at all, start with what it costs to hire an estate manager in Palm Beach County.
By Nick Martinsen, Owner · Updated 2026-08-10
Scope
What full-service estate management should include.
Six things a serious firm already does before you ask. If any is missing from the proposal, it is missing from the service.
01
The operating calendar
Hurricane hardening finished before June 1, inspections tightened through storm season, and the residence reset — climate, water, linens, vehicles — before you land.
02
The vendor bench
Licensed, vetted trades who already know the house, access supervised in person rather than by lockbox, and billing you can read line by line.
03
The house record
Shutoff locations, equipment serials, filter sizes, warranty terms, and current insurance photography — held in one place and updated after every visit.
04
The waterfront
Seawall and cap monitored for movement, dock hardware and lifts serviced on schedule, vessels started, washed, and covered between uses.
05
The contents
Vehicles exercised, wine room temperature and humidity logged, art and finishes watched for condensation — with a written inventory measured against your policy riders.
06
Project oversight
Bids leveled side by side, permits tracked, weekly walks with photographs, and no final payment released without lien releases in hand.
Exposure changes the work. A barrier-island house needs corrosion and salt-air attention the mainland does not — see estate management on Palm Beach Island and oceanfront oversight on Singer Island. Inland enclaves have their own rhythm, as with equestrian estate management in Wellington.
The interview
The ten questions to ask any firm you interview.
Ask them in one sitting. The pauses tell you as much as the answers.
- 01
Who — by name — is accountable for my property, and do I have their direct number?
- 02
Do I reach an owner or a dispatcher when something goes wrong on a Sunday?
- 03
Is every visit documented with time-stamped photographs, delivered the same day?
- 04
Will you walk every room on every visit, or the main living areas only?
- 05
Do you record humidity readings, and check condensate lines by hand?
- 06
What is your named-storm protocol, and what authority do you hold when I am unreachable?
- 07
Are your people background-checked, licensed, and insured — and will you show me the certificates?
- 08
How are vendor invoices handled, and will you disclose any fee on them?
- 09
Where does my house file live, and can I read it tonight from where I am?
- 10
Will you tell me plainly if my residence does not need a service you sell?
What a good answer sounds like
Related reading
Before you hire
- What is home watch?
The plain definition: a scheduled inspection of an empty home, with a photo report after every visit.
- Choosing a home watch provider
What separates an accountable firm from a neighbor with a key and good intentions.
- Home watch rates, published
Real numbers rather than a quote form: what the service costs and why.
- Owner questions, answered
The answers we give most often about cadence, coverage, insurance, and cancellation.
Where we come in
We answer all ten in writing.
PBC Estate & Home Management is owner-operated, so the name on the agreement is the person who answers on a Sunday — and every report, invoice, warranty, and photograph lives in your EstateEase portal, readable tonight from wherever you are.
Put the ten questions to us and we will answer each one in writing before you decide. Call 561-351-6323 or book a consultation.