Franklin County · Lake Hartwell
Guest turnovers, Tuesday trash runs, freeze checks and eyes on your dock — done by somebody who is already ten minutes away. Ten timestamped photos land on your phone after every single visit.
The 4 p.m. problem
Your cleaner just cancelled. Check-in is at four. You are ninety minutes down I-85 with no one closer in your phone.
That is the whole reason this company exists. Most owners on this shoreline live somewhere else — Atlanta, Greenville, Charlotte — and every problem at the lake is a four-hour round trip until somebody local picks up.
The Corps set Hartwell’s guide curve four feet below old full pool, year-round, on 26 August 2026. Shallow docks are sitting on dry ground.
Sunday and Monday the county center is closed — exactly the days your guests check out and leave their trash behind.
From Lavonia to most Gumlog and Martin shoreline addresses. Not a dispatch queue in another city.
The 656 problem
On 26 August 2026 the Army Corps lowered Hartwell’s operating guide curve to 656 ft above sea level year-round — four feet under the old 660 summer full pool — because of seepage eroding the foundation of the Clemson Lower Diversion Dam saddle dike. It holds until a permanent fix is studied, funded and built.
The Corps lets owners adjust a dock during low water to keep it floating, as long as it doesn’t block a neighbour or a cove. When levels come back, repositioning it onto its permitted footprint and pulling the temporary anchor pins is the owner’s responsibility. That is not a job you do from a desk in Buckhead.
Every walk-through includes the dock, the flotation, the gangway and the shoreline, shot and timestamped. I am not a dock contractor — when it needs a licensed trade, you get the photos and a name, and you make the call.
What I do
Flat fees, month to month, cancel with fourteen days’ notice. Rates for the first two depend on square footage, bed count and how far down the shoreline you are — so I quote them after I see the property, not before.
Monthly retainer · quoted per property
Flat rate per checkout · quoted per property
Fixed prices · approved before I start
Hourly work is billed at cost for materials, with the receipt attached.
Why Tuesday
Franklin County’s center at 4542 Harrison Bridge Road, Carnesville takes bagged household trash for about a dollar a bag — but not on the two days that matter most to a short-term rental. So I pull the bags off your property on the checkout day and the dump run happens Tuesday. Your guest never sees a full can, and nothing rots on the deck until Saturday.
| Day | Open |
|---|---|
| Sunday | Closed |
| Monday | Closed |
| Tue – Fri | 8:00 – 4:30 · closed 12–1 |
| Saturday | 8:00 – 12:00 noon |
Hours as published by Franklin County, November 2026. Confirm before you plan around them.
The ten-photo report
I drive by, walk the lot, and send you photos of what is actually there today. No charge, no pitch deck.
One page, plain English, month to month. Fourteen days’ notice to cancel, by text if you like.
Smart-lock or lockbox code, plus calendar access — or add me as a co-host so turnovers land on my phone the moment they book.
Front door, living room, kitchen, inside the fridge, every bed, the baths, the thermostat, the bins, and the dock. Timestamped, so the record is yours if a guest disputes anything.
What’s coming
Oak and pine load up the gutters, the roof valleys and the deck boards. Thanksgiving is one of the heaviest booking weeks on the lake, and a slick leaf-covered deck is the thing guests actually complain about.
The first hard freeze finds every exterior faucet and crawlspace pipe nobody checked. An empty house between bookings is where a burst line becomes a five-figure claim instead of a $95 visit.
With the guide curve held at 656, the shoreline in your listing photos is not the shoreline your guests are going to find. Owners who get ahead of that — honest photos, a note in the listing, a plan for the dock — keep their reviews. The ones who don’t, don’t.
Where I stop
I’m an independent contractor doing property care and turnovers. I don’t lease your property, advertise it, or collect guest rent on your behalf — which is exactly why none of this requires a Georgia real estate licence. You keep control of your listing and your money.
Dock structure, HVAC, plumbing, electrical and roofing get inspected, photographed and flagged — not repaired. You get the photo and a recommendation, and you hire whoever you want.
The elevations on this page are the Corps’ published operating guide curve as of November 2026, not a live gauge reading, and this business has no affiliation with the USACE. Check the Savannah District for the live number before you plan a weekend around it.
Hartwell Turnkey Operations is new, so there is no wall of reviews here and I’m not going to invent one. Here is the offer instead: text me your address and I’ll drive out and send you photographs of your own property, free, this week. Judge the work, not the marketing.
Start here