"Hurricane-proofing your Punta Cana Airbnb: a pre-season checklist"

On the Dominican east coast, the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June through November, and the real danger months for Punta Cana are usually August to October. The mistake most remote owners make is treating preparation as something you do when a storm is named. By then it is too late — every crew is booked, every hardware store is out of plywood and sealant, and you are competing with the whole coast for the same hands. Hurricane-proofing is a pre-season job. Here is the checklist.

Why water, not wind, is the real threat

Most of the storm damage we are dispatched to repair is not roofs torn off — it is water finding its way in through joints, seals and drains that were already tired before the season started. Understand that and your priorities become obvious: the cheapest, highest-impact work you can do is make sure water stays outside and drains away fast. Everything else on this list supports that.

The pre-season checklist

Work through this in the calm months, ideally in the spring before June:

• Roof and terrace joints. Inspect every seam, flashing and expansion joint on the roof and terrace for cracks and lifted sealant. Flat and terraced roofs here pool water, and a hairline gap becomes an interior leak under storm rain. Reseal anything questionable.
• Drainage. Clear every roof drain, scupper, gutter and ground drain. A blocked drain during a hurricane turns a terrace into a pool and forces water under doors and through walls. This is the single most-skipped and most-important item.
• Shutters and windows. Check that storm shutters close and lock, and that window and door frames seal. Replace failed weatherstripping. If the property has no shutters, know your plan for covering large glass.
• Loose outdoor items. Anything not bolted down is a projectile: patio furniture, umbrellas, planters, pool equipment, signage. Have a plan and a storage space to bring them in fast.
• Generator or inverter. Test it under load, not just that it starts. Power cuts during and after a storm are near-certain here, and a rental with a dead fridge and no A/C after a storm is a cancelled booking. Check fuel, oil and battery.
• Water reserves. Confirm the cistern and tank are full and the pressure pump works. Municipal water often drops for days after a storm.
• Document the condition. Take dated photos of the roof, terrace, exterior walls, seals and major systems. This is your before/after evidence for an insurance claim, and it costs you nothing but ten minutes.

Tie the sealing and roof work to a real mason

Resealing a terrace joint or patching roof flashing is not a handyman touch-up — done wrong it fails at the worst possible moment. This is masonry and waterproofing work, and it is worth having a proper crew do it before the season rather than an emergency patch during the storm. Masonry work starts at RD$6,000 (~US$105) and a diagnostic visit is RD$2,000 (~US$35), credited to the job. If your roof, terrace or exterior walls need attention before the rains, our masonry and repairs in Punta Cana crew handles the sealing, rendering and structural patching that keeps water out.

What to do before a storm is announced

When a system is actually forming and heading this way, run the fast list: bring in all loose outdoor items, close and secure shutters, fill water reserves and fuel the generator, unplug and elevate electronics where flooding is possible, and photograph the property one more time. Confirm with your guests or property manager who is on site and what the plan is if the booking overlaps the storm.

During the storm

Nobody should be doing repairs during a hurricane. The job during the storm is monitoring and safety: stay in contact with whoever is on site, keep them away from windows and flooding, and let the preparation do its work. This is exactly why the pre-season checklist matters — there is nothing useful to do in the middle of it except wait.

After it passes

Once it is safe, the after-storm routine protects both the house and any claim you need to file:

• Photograph everything before you touch it — the same angles as your pre-season shots.
• Check for water intrusion first: ceilings, wall bases, around windows and under the roof. Catch wet drywall before it becomes mold.
• Clear drains again; storm debris blocks them and the rain often continues for days.
• Test systems — power, water, A/C, pump — and get any failures quoted fast, before the whole coast floods the same crews with the same calls.

Make it a system, not a scramble

The owners who come through hurricane season cleanest are the ones who never treat it as an event. A villa maintenance plan at US$59 or US$129 a month builds the pre-season inspection, the drainage clearing and the priority dispatch into a routine, so your seals are checked in spring, your drains are clear before August, and you are near the front of the line — not the back — when a storm does hit. In our experience, the properties on a plan lose bookings to storms far less often than the ones calling around for a crew the day a hurricane is named.

The short version

Season runs June to November; prepare in the spring. Seal the roof and terrace, clear the drains, secure shutters and loose items, test the generator, fill the water, and document the condition. Do the sealing with a real mason before the rains, not after. If you want us to run your pre-season check, message us on WhatsApp and we will tell you exactly where your property is exposed.