Work Wanted Resume: Dennis R. Manz

by Dennis Manz
(Fort Wayne, Indiana USA)

Experienced remote location property caretaker.

Objectives: My first objective is to always provide the best services I can leaving a positive impact and footprint wherever caretaker opportunities take me. This means always being reliable, conscientious, and sensitive to the property owner’s standards and requirements. A second objective is to find a long-term recurring seasonal or permanent property caretaker position working for a generous, kind, and respectful property owner that recognizes the value and worth of an exemplary caretaker. A third objective is to find a full-time property caretaker position which includes clean and comfortable housing plus a monthly salary or stipend.

Education: Completed 2.5 years of college credits at the University of Wisconsin. Most credits were earned in physical education and social sciences courses. Have a lot of computer training and certificates earned through on the job training requirements. Self-taught with publishing credits as writer and author.

Caretaker Work History:

Organization: Camelot Adventure Lodge
Duration: July 2006 to December 2006
Position: Lodge Caretaker
Duties: Provided property security for 50 acre adventure lodge. Responsible for animal care for camels, chickens, and dogs. Assisted owner with minor-repairs. Monitored Solar System when owner was away. Helped with guest room cleaning on occasion. Assisted owner with Camel walks leading 1 camel with a rider. Ran errands to pick-up supplies in town and provided security and care of property in owner’s absence.

Organization: Private Property Owners; Dayna and Alan Fisk-Williams
Duration: January 2007 through June 2008
Position: Property Caretaker
Duties: Hired mainly to assure property had ongoing daily security. Owners wanted someone to be here in their absence to oversee minor repairs around the house for instance; minor maintenance for water treatment system (were on a well), clean out shower heads due to rust build-up, clean out faucet tip filters that get clogged with rust and grime, rinse and clean septic filter, caulking, wood damage with wood putty, and painting. I am pretty flexible and performed pretty much any light handyman repairs that crop up. If something more major or complicated happens I would call a local contractor for those repairs.

Organization: Laguna Vista Fire Dept
Duration: March 2007 through March 2008
Position: Volunteer Fire Fighter
Duties: Dispatched on several occasions to either be on standby, to man the fire station and/or operate 2 way radio from the station, and also went out a couple of times to fire incident sites under the supervision of Lieutenant Fire Chief.

Organization: Rocky Mountain Biological Lab (RMBL)
Duration: July 2008 to May 2009
Position: Crew Maintenance/Winter Caretaker
Duties: Provided security for 70 building research facility. Worked on building improvements, new fence installation, old fence repair, propane delivery, minor cabin repairs, and errands to pick-up supplies in town. I assisted in the opening and closing of 70 buildings in late spring and early fall.

Organization: Ecosystems
Duration: May 2009 through August 2009 (summer job only)
Position: Handyman for construction projects and solar energy business assistant
Duties: Preparing and shipping of solar components, pick-up of large incoming inventory at local warehouse, fix damaged solar panels, delivery of solar panels and components to clients, property improvements like some minor carpentry, finishing deck, building shelves for office storage, and painting exterior of office.

Organization: Private owned ranch property of William Van Dyke (Rancho Recluso).
Duration: September 2009 through October 7, 2009
Position: Property Caretaker
Duties: Provided property security for this large and remote ranch, repaired an insulation box connected to water storage tank – replaced insulation and sealed (caulked) to water tower to keep out rodents, cleaned 1,400 square foot house, kept gates locked to prevent trespassers, and ran errands to pick-up supplies for repairs and for house.

Organization: Independent Contractor
Duration: October 23, 2009 to January 3, 2010
Position: Handyman – Maintenance - Security
Duties: Provided daily labor to fix up damaged rental house, responsible for materials and labor budget, and reported weekly status to owner of property.

Life and Caretaker Experiences Worthy of Acknowledgement:

Caregiver for mother who was recovering from heart bypass surgery during period Oct 2001 through May 2003.

Lived at 9,500 feet elevation for 9 months in a location that receives 400 plus inches of annual snowfall.

Snow shoed back and forth to town 5 times during the course of the winter. Trips were 8-mile roundtrip and the path crossed avalanche danger.

Snow shoe up 100 foot incline to weather station in 4-5 feet of new snow, occasionally in low to no visibility conditions and on occasion with high winds of up to 60 miles per hour.

Lived in older cabin for 9 months with only small wood burning stove for heat and infested with a large family of mice.

Experienced and reacted to numerous emergencies including septic failure and water lines freezing.

Cut firewood every few days by hand with an axe to fit in small wood burning stove. Cut wood in a small dug out area outside cabin with 8-foot snow base and occasional 25-35 mile an hour winds bearing down on me.

Bridled 1,500-pound camels in preparation of leading them out of their pens to pasture for exercise.

Repaired the first and second floors of a student rental house that was misused and badly damaged by previous renters. This was a huge project and I basically did 80% of the work myself.

Skills: Administrative, handyman repairs, guest services, basic carpentry, cleaning, yard work, property maintenance, painting, animal-pet care, oversight of contractor repairs-renovations including doing research, bidding, hiring and supervision of third party contractors, splitting firewood, snow removal, errands, computer, customer service and great people skills. Have a very good aptitude for learning and the motivation to continually improve my skills. I like variety and enjoy a mix of duties-responsibilities.

Resume for:

Dennis R Manz
9914 Sawtooth Court
Fort Wayne IN 46804-3981
260-436-3046 (home)
503-701-4843 (cell)
dennismanz@gmail.com or drmsitter@yahoo.com