FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

• Home watch isn’t a security service or a house sitting service. Home watch is a visual inspection of a home or property, looking for obvious issues. We provide home watch inspections using a check list and a reporting system, bringing you a professional solution to your vacant or unoccupied home. 

• A home watch inspection is defined by the National Home Watch Association as: "A visual inspection of a home or property, looking for obvious issues." 
• A home inspection is provided by home inspectors that are members of the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors(CAHPI).  It is defined in the business dictionary as: "A complete, professional inspection of a property intended to check and evaluate the safety of the structure and mechanical condition. An adequate home inspection is often a condition set forth by the purchaser."

• We do a full walk around outside and inside your home, inspecting for anything unusual on your property as well as additional buildings and vehicles. We’ll customize and apply our checklists specific to your home and property. Things that are high on our priority of checks are storm damages, forced entry, power outages, floods and mold. We’ll install monitoring equipment to keep an eye on your appliances, plumbing, HVAC systems, temperature fluctuations, humidity levels and leaks. Safety is also equally important and we have a few tricks up our sleeves that will help to deter any breaking and entering, we will help you make your home appear lived in. It’s not uncommon to have an older appliance fail, frozen pipes in the middle of winter or a septic back up during a quick winter thaw. It’s important to have your home checked regularly by a home watch professional that knows what to look for. We will also monitor that your lawn and snow removal is maintained while you are away. In case of emergencies, if the need arises, we have access to a network of vetted and insured contractors and tradesmen at our disposal.

• Whenever your home is empty for a certain period of time, your insurance policy could be at risk by not having a professional check in, on your home. Here are examples where a client would leave a home empty. It could be as simple as going away on a short vacation, or snowbirds traveling south, a home transition, a hospital stay, home renovations, a job transfer or an estate settlement that needs attention. While you're away, we can be there to provide your home with the care it deserves.

• How often depends on you and your home insurance policy. We can visit as often as you’d like. Your insurance could require a home watch visit as often as once a day and a little as once a week. We recommend that you check with your home insurance policy to find out how often they would require your home to be checked when you are leaving for a period of time. 

• The term vacant means an empty home without furniture, appliances or utilities hooked up for 30 days or longer. An unoccupied home is a furnished home that is empty for 30 days or longer with the utilities left on in anticipation for a return. Rental property investors should consider that having a unit vacant for 30 days or more also leaves them susceptible to denied claims and higher insurance premiums. Insurance companies offer vacant or unoccupied policies that could cost between 50% to 150% more than your regular premium. A home watch company could reduce that premium drastically. Check with your provider.

• We provide our home watch services to all customers that need their homes regularly checked. It could be for as little as a weekend get away, a week long vacation, a 4 months safari or a job transfer overseas. Check with your home insurance policy to find out how often your home should be check on while you’re away.

We have a network of contractors and can facilitate finding the right service provider to cater to your home or property.  We will monitor and ensure the work is completed in a satisfactory manner.

• Yes, and not many people are aware of that fact. If you have a situation in your home that requires you to submit an insurance claim but you were away for some time during the incident with no professional reports claiming regular checks, your claim may be denied. When going away you need to take the steps and have a home watch professional come in and check regularly on your home. We provide our clients with date stamped and documented home watch reports for any insurance claims you may have. Check with your home insurance policy to confirm how many days you can leave your home unattended before you need a home watch company to step in and look after things while you are away.

• We can offer random daily home watch inspections to your home and property, providing you with a customized checklist specific to your home. In our network of trades, we have contact information for businesses that can install home security systems.

• We think it’s a great idea to have this level of security and peace of mind in place, as long as you have someone nearby to answer to the possible emergencies that could arise. You’ll want a professional that’s available and trustworthy with the experience to deal with different situations as they arise. We recommend that you have a professional do visual home watch inspections regularly providing you with home watch inspection reports for insurance purposes. Wifi systems are convenient and easy, especially if you realize you forgot to lock your door and you are hours away from home.  But beware, hackers nowadays are wily and more efficient at intercepting the radio frequencies of wifi security systems. They can set off false alarms or open doors by intercepting your radio frequency codes. Relying simply on a security system may not be enough to protect your home. Wifi operating systems require internet connections which could be a problem if the power goes out and no back up plans are in place. Unfortunately electrical and mechanical failures can also happen such as battery failure, wiring issues or a disconnected phone line. Other issues can occur such as squirrels or raccoons moving into your attic, a broken tree limb falling on the house, a blocked venting pipe that causes your furnace to shut down or a leaky or frozen pipe. You should also consider the other buildings and vehicles on site, if your lawn and snow removal is maintained, if your house appears lived in or are the mail and flyers collected. Talk with your home insurance provider to find out all the requirements of leaving your home unattended for a period of time.

• The convenience of a trusted neighbour or a family member is fantastic when things are going well. But what if an emergency occurs? It could happen at all hours of the night, during holiday periods or even while they are at work. Are your neighbours or family members going to drop what they are doing to attend to your home emergency? It would put them in an uneasy situation. What happens if suddenly they are not available? Sometimes life can happen and well meaning friends can become suddenly unavailable. Are you having someone that is of age looking after you home? Does this friend know what to look for when checking your home or do they just take a quick peek around and decide that nothing has moved so everything must be fine. Do they do a thorough check of your home including the basement? Attention to detail is our specialty. Keeping an eye on your home, reacting to emergencies and doing regular home watch inspections is our job.

• Our owners and staff have had carefully screened criminal back ground checks performed on them. We are vetted and accredited by the National Home Watch Association, we are also bound to uphold the NHWA’s code of ethics and their set of standards. Our company is insured and bonded for your protection. Our team has been serving your community since 2008 working for our sister company at AG Secure Property Management Inc. When we enter your house we respectfully wear protective shoe covers and use the utmost care doing our home watch inspections while being careful not to disturb anything in the house.

• Our company is an accredited and vetted member of the National Home Watch Association which means that they hold the authority to give us a certification of competency to operate as a viable home watch company and binds us to uphold to their Code of Ethics and their set of standards.

• Carolle and Sophie are two of the Certified Home Watch Professionals. They have undergone a training and a vetting process that assures the very highest standards of excellence in the industry by following and meeting the National Home Watch Association guidelines and requirements by passing an online examination of 90% or higher. A Certified Home Watch Professional sets “The Gold Standard for the Home Watch Industry”.

• It’s an assurance that you will receive the highest standard of excellence in the home watch industry!

Carolle and Sophie both have a background in property management and rental unit inspections. Carolle is familiar with interior and exterior unit inspections, fire safety inspections, the coordination of contractors and licensed professionals as well as creating work orders and reports. Carolle aims to exceed her customers' expectations with her care and attention to detail. Carolle’s dedication to her local community is outstanding, this year alone Carolle has been part of several local charities, sponsorships and the fostering of cats.  Sophie has experience delivering customer care in high stress environments. She has familiarity with medical issues, fire fighting, travel safety, security and emergency response. She has a keen eye for noticing threats and ever changing circumstances and it makes her quick and efficient decision making skills an asset to this industry. Sophie is looking forward to working with Habitat for Humanity on the next build site.

• At every visit you will receive a date stamped report that will be emailed to you with the details of the inspection and any additional details that may require your attention.