When we purchased a vacation home in Lake Geneva, we were completely over-whelmed with how we would manage everything from Chicago. Since we had to furnish an entire house, we knew we wouldn’t be able to be in Lake Geneva enough to accept all the deliveries. We also needed a landscaper, snow removal service, carpenter, locksmith, electrician, cleaning service, security alarm, etc. etc. We didn’t know where to begin! A friend recommended Mike to us, and from the minute we met him, we knew he was exactly the person we needed.
Not only does he do his weekly checks at our house, but he has done SO much more in just the few months that we have known him! He accepted a washer/dryer delivery for us, and it turned out to be a tricky situation with the fit of the machines in the space. Mike rejected the delivery, advised me on what size machines to get, hired a service to move vents/pipes in the wall, accepted the new delivery. I would not have known how to navigate that situation without him. After one of our cars died in our driveway in a deep freeze, I contacted Mike to see if he knew someone I could call. Mike had the problem completely solved for me within an hour! After we had our security alarm installed, we didn’t know the code and couldn’t turn off the alarm. So, Mike (and the police!) were called and Mike arrived almost immediately. Luckily he had the alarm code, and was able to disarm the alarm.
These are just a few examples of the many wonderful things Mike has done for us! He is absolutely amazing to work with – so incredibly kind, warm and trustworthy! I know that whatever we need done, Mike will do it well and with smile on his face!
On May 1, 2013, I got a phone call from the realtor who had sold us our beautiful Lake Geneva home, with the awful news that a pipe had burst, and the house was flooded. He called Mike Sontag, who went inside, turned off the water, assessed the situation, and called me with the details. Unbeknownst to me, Mike already had a crew of men taking our furniture outside, ripping out carpeting, and doing whatever they could do to save items in our home. He also contacted a local water damage expert, who was onsite and working when my husband arrived two hours later.
We had never met Mike. We didn’t know Mike. But he literally dropped everything to come to our aid, and help wherever he could, with no thought or promise of renumeration.
When our home was put together again (6 months later – 2/3 of the home had been destroyed) the first call we made was to Mike Sontag, who has looked after our house ever since. He and his crew are great people; honest as the day is long. We sleep soundly at night because we know Mike and his team are watching over our lake home. We could not recommend him, and his services, enough. Trust us, you don’t want the “your house is flooded” phone call. Call Mike.
Sontag Home Services has been monitoring my property for several years now. What a great find! Completely trustworthy & reliable, they have helped stop small problems from becoming large ones, and have been “boots on the ground” for me for several large projects. They give me peace of mind.
Additionally, their network of referrals for everything is stellar. They are the best!
We feel so fortunate to be under the care and expertise of Mike Sontag and his service team. Mike has allowed our family to enjoy every minute of being at the lake by overseeing maintenance of our home. He knows just the person for any job needed and finds solutions quickly. Whether it be home repairs, grounds maintenance, pool servicing, boat and dock assistance, flagpoles problems, building a playground, installing a basketball hoop, needing a handyman, etc., he has always come through for us! We trust and appreciate Mike and his team and highly recommend him others.
I have know Mike Sontag for many years. He is and outstanding man , honest, kind, and helpful. You can always count on him. He has been taking care of lake home for many years. We can relax, and not worry about it.
I would happily recommend Michael Sontag and his Home Services . He is quick to respond to any request that I may have in connection with our house and property at Lake Geneva. We have used Sontag services for over 40 years.
We purchased our home outside of Lake Geneva almost 15 years ago. Our broker gave high marks to the Sontag brothers when it came to recommending a house checking service and rightly so. “Everyone depends on the Sontags” were her words. Since then, first Tim and now Mike have watched over our property during the winter months. Mike is professional, personable, thorough and conscientious. He looks after the home as if it was his own and keeps us updated. He offers a full menu of services which you can tailor to your needs and adapts quickly to special requests.
With all his experience troubleshooting, Mike has a full list of vendors to handle any task at hand so if anything unexpected happens, it’s usually fixed before you even hear about it. We highly recommend Mike’s services.
We are the Bollero family and have had the good fortune of knowing Sontag Home Services since 1985. Upon purchasing our home the previous owner, highly recommended we hire him. They were so right! We have been saved from many misfortunate disasters, broken furnaces, invasions from raccoons, UPS deliveries, and scheduling of repairs. Mike always responds immediately to any request. If you want piece-of-mind we suggest you employ Mike and his team!
We have been using Sontag Home Services since December 2014. We first met Mike Sontag soon after purchasing a farm property in Wisconsin in the dead of winter! We spend winters 1000 miles south of there. The property consists of a 2-story farmhouse and several outbuildings. Although we were outside Mike’s realm (at that time), he agreed to help us out through the winter. Wow! We didn’t realize at the time what a fantastic relationship we had just entered to. Mike is beyond professional, but retains a friendliness and sense of humor that is infectious. We leave our beloved farm in late Fall, knowing it is in great hands until Spring. A huge comforting feeling. Always willing to go the extra mile, Mike was a godsend. Our alarm system, assisted by various contractors and severe storm conditions, has managed to cut down on Mike’s sleep numerous nights. Thanks to his resilience – and good humor – we’re still clients. His list of subcontractor service suppliers seems endless. Need something done? Just ask Mike. We had our farmhouse painted inside, prior to our arrival in the Spring, using one of Mike’s subcontractors.
Mike is invaluable in keeping watch on our house. He knows all the local service people and can get a problem fixed quickly and efficiently. He handles much of the burden of keeping up another home.
I have know Mike Sontag for many years. He is and outstanding man , honest, kind, and helpful. You can always count
On him. He has been taking care of lake home for many years. We can relax, and not worry about it.
I have used Sontag Home Services for thirty years to oversee my home in Lake Geneva. Mike having lived in the area for a life time has unique insight into to what contractors to suggest you use if and when problems arise in your home. Example: who to suggest when oven doesn’t work, catching a water pipe that is about to freeze, closing garage door accidently left open, taking care of the mice that came in open garage door, putting salt into water softener, getting holding tank pumped, bringing the garbage & recycling cans up and back, turning on the heat or air conditioner when you are coming up, and checking to make sure you turned down/off the heat or air
conditioning, bringing in mail or packages. The list is endless of the things Mike has done to make owning my home in Lake Geneva run smoothly.
If you are looking for an honest and reliable person to check your home when you are not there Mike Sontag is the man to hire.
Since 1979, our family has relied on Sontag Home Services to take care of our homes. Knowing Mike – and his brothers Pat and Tim before him – were keeping careful watch for us while we were away for the season, on vacation or working in the city gave us priceless peace of mind.
The simple fact that we have had no major problems over those 39 years is thanks to the Sontag commitment to carefully checking our homes. The few issues that popped up were handled promptly and personally with expertise and a good sense of humor!
Whether it’s watering plants, sending mail, overseeing repairs, making an airport run, answering alarm calls, shipping all my husband’s shorts that I forgot to pack, etc. etc., Mike takes care of it for us with a smile.
There are days when Mike stops in at 7 am and others when he gets tied up and can’t get there until 10 pm, but he always manages to get the job done.
We wholeheartedly recommend Sontag Home Services!!! Nobody does it better!!!
We have been fortunate to work with Mike Sontag for a number of years as he monitored our home in Lake Geneva. We have found Mike to be conscientious in his inspection duties and very communicative in letting us know of any issues. Mike also has a wealth of knowledge in regards to “Mike-approved” vendors. He’s been super helpful in helping us manage our house!
We have been utilizing Sontag Home Services for 25 years at our summer home in Lake Geneva. They have provided outstanding and trustworthy service throughout this entire period. Mike is professional, pro-active and extremely resourceful. We find great comfort knowing he is our first set of eyes on our home throughout the year.
We would highly recommend him to homeowners. He is a real pro and always goes the extra mile.
I have been using Mike Sontag to watch my Lake Geneva home for several years during the months we are not using the home. Mike is organized, and thorough. Mike offers a lot more than just watching your home, he has a list of qualified trades professionals. I have used Mike’s recommendations for several needs at our home. In addition, he takes care of snow removal and gutter cleaning. I highly recommend Mike Sontag to watch your home.
We have been using sontag home services for several years and they have been extremely helpful including replacing a broken furnace in january and preventing burst pipes we recommend them without any reservation.
The Sontag family has watched my homes around the lake area for 31 years. Never a problem. Always more than willing to help. Always available.
I wouldn’t entrust my home to anyone else. They are great with meeting deliveries, their Home Check service or transportation to Mitchell or O’Hare Airports.
Sontag Home Services has provided to me the two most important things that I was looking for in a home watch/maintenance type service: trust and competence. I know that I can trust Mike Sontag without question to be honest, get the job done consistently on time and always a first class product. Mike has established a small group of trade associates that he manages and follows up with, to provide a broad array of services that make managing my property much easier. In a day and age of electronic thermostats, alarms, cell phone apps and so on, you still need a guy on the ground to follow up and get the situation back to normal. With Mike, I know that the job will get done, on time, well, and at a very fair price. I trust Mike is the bottom line.
Mike, it has been 13 years since we started our journey with Sontag Home Services when we had the pleasure of meeting and working with your brother, Tim. With this season coming to an end, it’s time for us to extend a large “thank you” to you both. You have been there day in and day out looking after the house and our systems, and you are always there to assist when a special need arises. Many thanks, Mike, much appreciated.
I have been a long time customer of Sontag Home Services for many good reasons. Mike and his team provide great peace of mind for me and my family knowing they are checking on all aspects of our summer home. During the winter when we are coming to the lake less often we know they are keeping a close eye on potential problems such as frozen pipes or a problem with our furnace. No matter what the season you can always count on the Sontag team.
The Sontag family has been watching over our home since the first day we purchased it more than ten years ago. They have been nothing less than fantastic! ALWAYS available (weekends and evenings too!), responsible and completely trustworthy, I cannot imagine anyone matching their level of attentiveness. I heartily recommend their team to anyone interested in first rate service!
Dear Mike, I am writing to let you know how pleased we have been with the service and care Sontag Homes has taken over the past 6 years managing our home and property. I could never manage the property alone and your stewardship has been outstanding. Best regards.
We have spent a total of seventeen summers now at three homes in Fontana, Linn and Lake Geneva (not all at the same time!) We started to employ Sontag Home Services during our second or third year. As we lived overseas during the school year, I can’t tell you how much of a relief it was to know that first Tim, then Mike, Sontag was visiting our house several times a week (and every day during the coldest parts of the winter) to check on things. Both Mike and Tim were and are incredibly responsible and reliable at getting the job done in a timely fashion, and were and are always very easy to get in touch with, even from overseas and from where we are now in California. Time differences notwithstanding!
Case in point: before we had Sontag Home Services taking care of our house we lived in a large association/community. After Christmas one year, we were sitting on the tarmac at O’Hare on the flight to Tokyo, my daughter (age 10 at the time) suddenly piped up, “Uh-oh…I forgot to turn off the little (electric) space heater in my room.” No problem, we thought, and we called the office of the association/community, who had an extra key…”No problem,” they said, “We’ll send someone over to turn it off.” So we forgot all about it.
Fast forward to June and the kids are out of school and we are back in the States at the Wisconsin house. “Mom,” my daughter informs me. “The little space heater is still on.”
And enter Sontag Home Services! Enough said! Have never had to worry about a thing since. On top of all of that, the Sontags offer house care for a very reasonable price. Sontag Home Services gets this family’s unreserved shout of approval!
We have used Sontag Home Services for about ten years and have found them to be exceptionally hard working, honest, reliable and knowledgeable about home repairs. Their “home check” service is invaluable as it gives us a sense of security when we are not in Lake Geneva. They are very quick to respond to problems and treat our home as if it were theirs. Additionally, they have very good connections with the trades- plumbers, electricians, etc., and get things fixed very rapidly. They offer a full range of home services and they have never failed to respond to an emergency or a request for help. They are also very nice people to work with!
Living in Chicago but having a summer home 60 miles north can be a recipe for ulcers. Not so for us. We have absolute confidence in Sontag Home Services as a result of years of good, capable service. They have always had the solutions to any mechanical issues that need repair and access to very qualified service people. We trust their judgement completely and never worry that anything in or around the house is left undone
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