Guide
What a home watch service includes
A home watch visit is a walk through an empty house looking for what has changed. Here is what that walk should cover.
We do not house sit and we do not do a home inspection. Both are different services.
The short answer
What home watch means
A home watch service is a scheduled visual inspection of an unoccupied home, inside and out, looking for obvious problems and reporting them to the owner. It is not house sitting, where someone lives in the home, and it does not replace a home inspection, which is a different service and one ABODE does not offer.
The National Home Watch Association, which accredits firms in this field, defines home watch as a visual inspection of a home or property, looking for obvious issues. It draws a hard line between that and house sitting, where a person actually lives in the home while the owner is away. The two get confused constantly and they are not the same purchase.
We do not perform a home inspection either. An inspector assesses a house for a buyer before a sale. A home watch visit is a comparison: what is different since last time. The value is in the repetition, because one visit tells you the state of the house and a run of them tells you what is changing in it.
Accreditation through the National Home Watch Association is the nearest thing the field has to a standard, and it is voluntary. The association requires criminal background checks on company principals, general and professional liability insurance, and bonding before it will grant one. We do not hold it today.
Guide
What a visit should cover
Water first, because water is what turns a small problem into a claim. The Environmental Protection Agency advises drying wet or damp materials within 24 to 48 hours and says that in most cases mold will not grow if that happens. A supply line found six weeks late is a different building than one found in three days.
Then the things that keep water out and the things that keep the house in range. Roof and ceilings from underneath, doors and windows, humidity against what an empty house should hold, and the mechanical room where the quiet failures live.
- Ceilings, under sinks, water heater base and any visible supply line
- The sump pit and the pump, tested
- Temperature and relative humidity against a set range
- Doors, windows, glazing and the exterior after weather
- Mail, deliveries and anything accumulating at the door
- Anything else the owner asks to have watched
In practice
What it costs
Of the nine home watch and home management firms in this market we could check, not one publishes a rate. One discloses the shape of its pricing, hourly or package or plan, without a number attached. Everybody else asks you to make contact first.
ABODE includes home watch inside a plan that runs $175 to $350 a month. The figure moves with the size of the house, how often it is visited and what else is on the plan. It is printed because an owner comparing options should be able to do that before making a phone call.
One structural point worth knowing: a firm that also performs repairs has a reason to find them. We do not perform the technical work, which removes that incentive from the visit entirely.
Questions
Common questions
What does a home watch service include?
A scheduled walk through the property, inside and out, checking water, heat and humidity, doors and windows, the sump, the mechanical room, the mail and the grounds. Anything we find gets a vendor called.
How much does a home watch service cost?
None of the nine readable firms in this market says. We charge $175 to $350 a month for a plan that the check-in sits inside, and the figure moves with the size of the house and how often somebody is there.
Is home watch just for vacant homes?
No. It applies to any home nobody is in right now, including one that is fully furnished and lived in for most of the year. Three weeks away is enough for a supply line to do real damage.
How do I choose a home watch service?
Ask four things. Does the walk-through cover the interior as well as the exterior? How often will somebody be there? Does the firm also sell the repairs it finds? And is it accredited by the National Home Watch Association?
What does home watch accreditation mean?
The National Home Watch Association accredits firms in this field and requires criminal background checks on company principals, general and professional liability insurance, and bonding. Accreditation is voluntary. We do not hold it today, and any firm that claims it can be checked against the association's own member list.
Get started
Put the empty house on a schedule
A check-in is a full interior and exterior walk-through of the property, to make sure everything is functioning properly.
Tell us where the house is and how long it stands empty.
- We walk the property with you and record what is in it
- Check-ins go on a schedule that matches your absences
- Anything that needs a vendor becomes our call, not yours
Request your walkthrough
Both Ned and Luke get an email and a text, and they follow up with you.