Steward & Stone crest

Steward & Stone

Private Residence Management

Luxury without the logistics.

Come home to a property that feels like the resort you just left.

Private residence management for homeowners across Michiana. One point of contact for every vendor, every service, and every detail of running a home.

Veteran owned Elkhart, Indiana By appointment
The situation

Owning the home was never the hard part.

Running a home is a standing management problem. Most people simply never get to hand it to anyone.

The physical work of a home can be hired out. The coordination cannot. Someone still has to know when the furnace was last serviced, which company actually shows up, whether the crew that came Tuesday did the work properly, and what needs to happen before the first hard freeze.

That responsibility does not schedule itself around a career, a family, or a month away. It arrives in fragments, on other people's timelines, and it never fully closes.

Steward & Stone takes it on. We coordinate the vendors, hold the standards, walk the property on a schedule, keep a written record of every system in the house, and send one consolidated statement at the end of the month. You keep the home. We keep the operation of it.

Whenever you have a problem or a task related to your home, Steward & Stone is there to provide the solution. Whether it appeared this morning or has been waiting for months, it goes to one place, and it gets handled.

Scope

What we manage

We are a management firm, not a labor company. We select, schedule, oversee, and hold accountable the trades and services your home depends on. Below are one hundred of them.

  • Lawn mowing and trimming
  • Lawn fertilization and weed control
  • Grub and insect treatment
  • Core aeration and overseeding
  • Sod repair
  • Landscape bed weeding and mulching
  • Shrub and hedge trimming
  • Perennial bed cutback
  • Seasonal flower and container planting
  • Landscape lighting service
  • Drainage and grading correction
  • Tree trimming
  • Tree removal
  • Stump grinding
  • Arborist health assessment and treatment
  • Storm damage limb removal
  • Irrigation system startup
  • Irrigation system winterization
  • Irrigation repair and zone adjustment
  • Backflow preventer testing
  • Outdoor hose bib winterization
  • Driveway snow plowing
  • Walkway shoveling and ice melt
  • Roof ice dam removal
  • Spring property cleanup
  • Fall property cleanup
  • Holiday lighting installation and removal
  • Patio furniture setup and storage
  • Power washing
  • Deck staining and sealing
  • Fence repair
  • Fence staining
  • Concrete driveway sealing
  • Asphalt driveway sealcoating
  • Concrete repair
  • Paver patio releveling
  • Retaining wall repair
  • Window washing
  • Roof inspection
  • Roof repair
  • Roof washing
  • Gutter cleaning
  • Chimney sweeping and inspection
  • Spring cooling tune-up
  • Fall heating tune-up
  • Furnace filter replacement
  • Air purifier filter replacement
  • Humidifier pad replacement
  • Air duct cleaning
  • Dryer vent cleaning
  • Boiler service
  • HVAC repair
  • Thermostat programming
  • Water heater service
  • Tankless water heater descaling
  • Water softener service
  • Water softener salt delivery
  • Drinking water filter replacement
  • Water quality testing
  • Well pump service
  • Septic tank pumping
  • Septic system inspection
  • Sump pump testing
  • Basement dehumidifier service
  • Drain cleaning
  • Plumbing services
  • Standby generator maintenance
  • Smoke and carbon monoxide detector testing and battery replacement
  • Radon testing and mitigation system check
  • Security system service
  • Smart lock and access management
  • Alarm monitoring coordination
  • Housekeeping and interior cleaning
  • Handyman services
  • Pest control
  • Attic insulation assessment
  • Crawl space inspection
  • Appliance repair
  • Appliance installation and removal
  • Refrigerator water filter replacement
  • Ice machine maintenance
  • Garage door service
  • Garage door opener programming
  • Pool service and maintenance
  • Hot tub and spa maintenance
  • Dock installation and removal
  • Boat lift installation, removal, and service
  • Seawall inspection
  • Shoreline maintenance
  • Boat winterization
  • Boat detailing
  • Watercraft storage coordination
  • Mail and package collection
  • Grocery staple stocking
  • Home readiness before arrival and departure
  • Home watch visits
  • Contractor bid solicitation
  • Bulk item disposal
  • Firewood delivery and stacking
  • Propane tank refill
100Tasks coordinated for our clients
A representative list
These hundred are a representative list rather than the full catalogue. We review the complete scope with you during the consultation, along with the vendors you already use and want kept.
Fees
Coordinated vendor services carry a 10 percent administration fee, and everything arrives on one monthly statement with the vendor invoices attached. The management fee itself depends heavily on the requirements and complexity of the property. Most homes should expect a fee between $500 and $1,200 per month, established following the consultation.
The agreement
Initial agreements run six months. A home is a complex thing to take over, and coordinated management needs a season of work behind it before its value is obvious, so the first term is set long enough for the results to speak for themselves. After those six months, a sunset clause takes effect and you may end the agreement at any time with thirty days' notice. And at any point in the engagement, if something does not meet your expectations or the level of service you were promised, tell us. We will make it right.
Being on site
Introducing each vendor to you and setting expectations in person is always included at no charge. If you would prefer we be present for every visit rather than the introduction, that standing on-site presence is billed hourly as a separate management service, as is delivery supervision.
Home watch
Home watch is part of the service we provide. Fees vary with frequency, since more frequent visits carry additional travel and time.
Special projects
Projects such as interior painting, flooring, electrical work, renovations, and major repairs are considerably more hands-on than routine upkeep, so they are managed as a separate engagement rather than under the monthly plan.
How an engagement works

Five steps, in order, every time.

The sequence below is the same for every client. It is written down, it is followed, and it does not depend on anyone remembering it.

1

Complimentary in-home assessment

We walk the property together and learn how the home is used, what already works, which vendors you want kept, and what has been falling through. What we learn there sets the scope of the plan and the monthly fee, which we present to you following the visit. There is no charge and no obligation.

2

Baseline walkthrough and home profile

Within a week of signing, we document the property in detail. Every major system is logged with make, model, year, and service history: furnaces, water heaters, sump pumps, softeners, appliances. This profile becomes the operating record for the home.

3

Vendor network and introductions

We introduce each recurring vendor to you and set expectations in person. Every schedule, quote, and approval runs through us. Recurring work is booked at least a week ahead, and no repair proceeds without your approval of the quote.

4

Recurring walkthroughs and oversight

We return on your schedule and inspect against your checklist, with particular attention to work vendors have already performed. Findings and recommendations are emailed to you after each visit, so you always know the current condition of the property without having to ask.

5

One consolidated statement

Vendor invoices come to us, not to you. At the close of each month you receive a single statement listing every service performed, with the underlying invoices attached. Vendors are paid after you are satisfied.

Service area

Close enough to be there the same day.

We are headquartered in Elkhart, Indiana, and we deliberately keep our coverage tight. Response time and route density are what make oversight real rather than theoretical, so we serve a radius rather than a set of county lines.

MICHIGAN INDIANA 20 miles 40 miles Bristol Goshen Granger Middlebury Mishawaka South Bend Cassopolis Edwardsburg Nappanee New Paris Niles Wakarusa Buchanan Dowagiac Plymouth Shipshewana Sturgis Syracuse Three Rivers Warsaw La Porte St. Joseph ELKHART HEADQUARTERS N

Core area, within about 20 miles

Standard scheduling, standard pricing, and same-day response for urgent situations. This includes Elkhart, Goshen, Bristol, Middlebury, Osceola, Mishawaka, South Bend, Granger, Wakarusa, New Paris, Nappanee, Edwardsburg, Niles, and Cassopolis.

Extended area, 20 to 40 miles

Available, with scheduling and pricing adjusted for travel. Plan availability may be limited. This reaches communities such as Dowagiac, Buchanan, Three Rivers, Sturgis, Shipshewana, Syracuse and the Wawasee lakes, Plymouth, and Warsaw.

Beyond 40 miles

The far edges of Elkhart, St. Joseph, Cass, and Berrien Counties fall outside our normal range. We consider these individually, and we will tell you plainly if we cannot serve your home to our own standard.

Clarity

What we do, and what we do not.

Clear boundaries protect the quality of the work and keep responsibility where it belongs. These are stated in writing in every agreement.

We do

  • Select, vet, and schedule vendors on your behalf
  • Supervise work and verify it was done correctly
  • Maintain a documented profile of the home and its systems
  • Conduct recurring interior and exterior walkthroughs
  • Plan seasonal work before the season arrives
  • Consolidate all vendor billing into one monthly statement
  • Watch the home while you travel, at a frequency you set
  • Answer an after-hours line for genuine emergencies

We do not

  • Perform repairs, inspections, or licensed trade work ourselves
  • Provide housekeeping or hands-on maintenance labor
  • Operate as a security or alarm company
  • Buy, sell, lease, list, or develop real property
  • Manage tenancies or rental properties
Dallas D. Bergl II, founder of Steward & Stone
Elkhart, Indiana
Who you are working with

Dallas D. Bergl II, Founder

Steward & Stone was founded and is run by an Air Force veteran who spent a decade maintaining fighter aircraft, work in which a missed step is not a small matter. That standard is the reason this company exists in its current form.

Since leaving the service he has been Six Sigma certified and has spent his career leading cost savings initiatives, managing projects, and running teams. That work comes down to the same discipline a well-run home needs: build the process, write it down, follow it, and improve it. He holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and an MBA from the Judd Leighton School of Business at Indiana University South Bend.

In practice that means your home is run on documented standard work rather than memory. The checklists are written, the records are kept, and the same process is followed in month eighteen as in week one. At this stage of the company, the person who assesses your home is the person who manages it.

Air Force veteran Six Sigma certified Project management Cost savings initiatives MBA, IU South Bend Insured
Begin

Request a consultation

The first conversation is a complimentary in-home assessment. Tell us a little about the property and we will follow up to arrange a time.

Whatever the home needs, you bring it to us and we provide the solution. We also take on a limited number of homes at a time, by design. If your property is outside our range or the fit is not right, we will say so directly rather than take the engagement.

We reply to every request, usually within one business day. Your details are used only to arrange the assessment.