Most "how to start renting out X" guides describe Day 1 in detail and then skip to "the money rolls in." This one walks through the actual 30 days. What you do, what you don't, what the platform does for you, what the renter expects, and what the first cheque looks like.
By the end of this you'll know exactly what to expect — both the easy parts and the bit on day 18 when you'll wonder if you're doing it wrong (you're not).
Day 1 — listing setup (90 minutes total)
Walk into the garage at 11am on a sunny Saturday. Empty the floor — boxes, lawnmower, paint cans, all out (the photos will look better and you'll hate yourself for waiting until day 38 to do it).
Take 5 photos: wide interior with floor visible, back wall, closed door from outside, lock close-up, ceiling. Default phone camera. No filters. No HDR.
Open the listing form. Fill in title (suburb + space type + one feature), 3-sentence description (suburb + dimensions + access + one good thing), the price (median for your area), the dimensions in metres, and the access window. Upload the 5 photos. Save.
Verify your identity through Stripe Connect. ~2 minutes. Phone-camera photo of your photo ID. Bank account for payouts. Approved automatically for most accounts within minutes; some banks take overnight.
Days 2–4 — listing live, no inquiries yet
Your listing is now searchable. Don't refresh your dashboard every hour. Demand cycles work in days, not minutes. Most listings get their first impression view within 2 days, their first inquiry within 5–10 days.
Use this time to do the boring admin: phone your home insurer (the 2-minute call from the insurance post), set yourself a tax-folder reminder for next October, save a copy of your 5 photos somewhere durable.
Days 5–10 — first inquiry messages
Most Dublin hosts get their first inquiry message in this window. Cork, Galway, Limerick: a few days later. The message will usually be short: "is this still available? when can I move in? is there 24/7 access?"
Reply within an hour during waking hours. Renters message 3–5 listings simultaneously and book the first one that responds clearly. A 6-hour reply gap is the difference between a booked listing and a stale one.
Keep replies factual and warm. "Yes, available from [date], 24/7 access via the side gate, would you like to book it?" wins. Long replies that re-explain what's already in the listing don't help.
Days 8–14 — first booking request
One of the inquiry messages will become a formal booking request. You get an email + in-app notification: "you have 48 hours to accept or decline." If it's a fit (the renter has identity verified, their dates work for you, the price they're booking at matches your listing) — accept. The platform handles the rest: payment authorization, confirmation emails, contact-detail exchange.
If you decline, you don't have to explain. Most decline reasons are about timing rather than the renter (you decided to keep using the garage yourself, the dates clash with a holiday, etc.). The platform routes the renter to other listings.
Day of move-in — the only physical task
The day they move in is the only day with any actual work, and even that's mild. Be there to hand over the key (or share the access code), show them where the lock is, walk them through the basics ("this is the light switch, here's how the side door latch works, my number is in the chat"), and take 5 dated photos of the space with their items in it.
Total time: 15 minutes. Most renters move in on a Saturday morning and you're done by 11.30am.
Days 15–28 — the silent middle
This is the part nobody describes. You won't hear from the renter for 2–3 weeks. The booking is just running. You'll wonder if you're forgetting something. You're not.
Around day 25–28 you'll see the first transfer to your bank account. Packhood pays out monthly on a fixed cycle; the email subject is "Payout sent: €X". This is the moment a lot of hosts realise it actually works.
Day 30 — first payout received
The first month's payout lands. For a €130/mo Dublin garage, that's roughly €120 net of platform fee. It looks small. It's not — annualise it and it's €1,440 of nothing-to-zero income for a space that earned €0 last year.
From here, the runway is mostly automatic. You'll get monthly payouts until either you or the renter ends the booking. Median IE booking length is 8–11 months. Many run past 18.
What can go wrong in the first 30 days (and how often)
The renter no-shows on move-in day: ~3% of first bookings. They didn't get the chat message, or their plans changed and they didn't tell you. Re-message them; if no response in 24h, file a Packhood support ticket and the booking is auto-cancelled.
The renter wants to negotiate the price after accepting: rare, but happens. Politely refer them to the booking they already accepted. The platform doesn't allow mid-booking price changes.
The renter brings something they didn't tell you about (a motorbike with a dripping fuel tank, a stack of solvents, a dog crate that's been used by a dog): your call. You can ask them to remove it or treat it as a dispute. Most things resolve in a 5-message chat thread.
Get to Day 1
Open the form. The 90-minute investment on Day 1 is by far the biggest single chunk of effort the whole year. The other 364 days are mostly nothing.