What a Home Watch Report Includes
What does a home watch report include? A good one has the date and the time of the visit at the top. It has the thermostat reading. It has one line for each point on the checklist, and a photo for each line. Anything wrong is flagged first, with what was done about it. A bad report says "all good" and nothing else. Both arrive by email. Only one of them is any use to you in March.
On our home watch service for cottage owners each visit runs a 30-point checklist with a photo report. This post is about reading any report, ours or anyone else's, before you pay for a season of them.
A Tuesday in January, two emails about one chalet
This example is made up. A chalet sits under the escarpment. It's a Tuesday in January, mid-morning. The owner is at a desk in the city. Somebody checked the place an hour ago.
Email one says: "Visited today. All good." No photo. No time. No reading.
Email two opens with the time of the visit. Then the thermostat setting and the reading. Then the water heater, the sump pit and the supply line under the kitchen sink, each with a photo. Then the roof line, shot from the laneway. One line is flagged in red: frost on the inside of a north bedroom window.
Which one tells you anything? The second. The first tells you someone says they were there. It doesn't say when, and it doesn't show you the window.
That frost line is the whole point of a visit. It isn't an emergency on Tuesday. It might be a failing window seal, or humidity with nowhere to go. You decide what to do about it from the city, because the report told you.
The lines a good report carries
The National Home Watch Association, an industry group for these services, says accredited providers send a detailed report, often with photos, timestamps, and notes. In our judgment, its list of what a visit covers makes a fair test for any report. Hold yours against it, line by line.
- The date and the time. A report with no time on it can't be checked against anything. Not against a storm, not against an alert, not against last week.
- The heat. The setting and the actual reading, every visit. It's the one number that says the furnace is running.
- The water. The association lists visual checks for signs of water leaks, mould, storm damage or pest activity. Look for the water heater, the sump and the supply lines you can see.
- The systems. Its list asks for confirmation that heating, appliances and plumbing are working as expected. A photo of a thermostat is not the same as a furnace that was heard running.
- The outside. The roof line and the eaves. After a storm, the snow load on them.
- The doors and windows. The list includes a lookout for signs of forced entry or unauthorized access. Each door should get its own line.
- A photo per line. Not one shot of the front porch for the whole visit.
- The flag. Anything wrong goes at the top. What was found, what was done, and what you need to decide.
How long should a report be? Long enough for one line per checklist point. Ours has 30 points. A one-sentence email can't show you 30 of anything.
This week's report against last week's
One report tells you about one morning. The value is in the run of them. Same checklist, same order, same photo angles, every visit. Then two reports can sit side by side.
What moves from one Tuesday to the next? The thermostat reading slips a degree. A ceiling stain under the bathroom gets a little wider. The snow on the north side of the roof hasn't shifted since the last storm. None of these is a call on the day. Each one only shows up across a series.
Ask the company you're hiring three things. Is it the same checklist every visit? Are the photos taken from the same spot? Can I see last month's reports in one place? If the answer to any of them is no, the reports can't be compared, and a report you can't compare is a postcard.
Can't a neighbour just text me a photo?
Can't a neighbour just text you a photo? Yes, and for a summer weekend away that may be enough. The exception is winter. A text has no checklist, no reading and no record you can hand anyone in spring.
There's a second problem with the neighbour. When the text says something is wrong, who fixes it? The association's page says the provider will immediately notify the owner, and the owner then tells the service how to proceed. A report is a record. It doesn't call a plumber.
Ask who makes that call before you sign. On our Watch + Care plan, trades coordination and scheduling are part of the plan. If you want one team to run all of it, that's cottage property management and it's a bigger job than a report.
What a visit report can't see
A visit is one morning. The furnace can quit that night. Our ChaletGuard page says that in a Georgian Bay winter, pipes can freeze in under 6 hours without heat. Two weeks between visits is a long time against six hours.
That gap is what a cottage monitoring system is for. Its freeze alert is set at 5°C. When it goes off, we call you within 15 minutes. Then we call our local contractors. With monitoring, Tuesday's reading is one point on a continuous temperature record. It isn't the only number anyone wrote down.
Who reads the report after a claim
Will a home watch report satisfy your insurer? That's not ours to say. KBD Insurance, a broker, tells owners to keep records of the steps they take to safeguard an empty home. Its page calls those records invaluable in a claim or an inspection by your insurer.
Keep every report, in one folder, in date order. What we hand over is the dated photo report and, with monitoring, the temperature record. The clause is your broker's to read. How often the visits need to happen is in our guide on how often to check your cottage in winter for insurance and in your own policy. We are not insurance advisors.
What our reports come with, and what they cost
Each of our plans lists the following on our pricing page. Prices are in Canadian dollars, with 13% HST on top.
| Plan | Per month | Visits | What you get back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Watch | $59 | None listed | Monthly property status report |
| Watch + Care | $349 | Every two weeks | 30-point checklist with photo report |
| Full Service | $599 | Weekly | Everything in Watch + Care, with weekly inspections |
A caveat on our own table. The Watch plan is monitoring. It lists a monthly property status report and no inspections. If you want a person walking through the building, it's Watch + Care or Full Service. Watch and Watch + Care add a $599 sensor installation. Commit to 12 months and that fee is waived.
Every plan is on our cottage care pricing page. Before you hire anyone, ask for a sample report and hold it against the list above. Ours included. Not sure what your place needs? Call (437) 595-6275 and ask.
Frequently asked questions
What does a home watch report include?
The date and time of the visit, the thermostat setting and reading, a line for each checklist point covering the water, the systems, the outside and every door and window, a photo for each line, and any problem flagged at the top with what was done. Ours runs a 30-point checklist.
How long is a home watch report?
Long enough for one line per point on the checklist, each with a photo. Length is not the test. Ask whether this week's report can be laid next to last week's and compared line by line.
Is home watch a security service?
The National Home Watch Association says it usually isn't one, though a visible presence in an empty home may act as a crime deterrent. A good report checks doors and windows for forced entry. It is not an alarm.
What happens if a home watch visit finds a problem?
The provider tells you, and you decide what happens next. Ask before you sign who calls the trades. On our Watch + Care plan, trades coordination and scheduling are included.