FAQ

What is a home watch service?

A home watch service consists of regularly-scheduled inspections of both the interior and exterior of unoccupied homes. Shield Home Watch’s primary emphasis is ensuring their clients’ homes are secure and there are no issues with vandalism, water leaks, animal or bug infestations, rain or storm damage, plumbing, electrical, air conditioning and heating, mold or various other concerns.

Why not have a neighbor watch my home?

Neighbors are great and usually free of charge, but most of them do not have the expertise to properly inspect your home, which is a very large investment on your part. In most cases, neighbors will pick up the mail and newspaper, maybe take a quick look inside the home, and then watch the home from across the street. We use an extensive checklist to ensure that each potential issue can be detected before it becomes a major problem. We are available at all times, not only for regular inspections, but also for an emergency.

Contrastingly, a homeowner never knows if their neighbor is going to be in town or on vacation. Our fees are a small price to pay for our clients to know their homes are being taken care of by experienced and insured professionals.

Who conducts the home watch inspections?

Currently, all of your home watch inspections will be done by Shield Home Watch owner, Nicholas Lemmon. In the event that we are not available, as we occasionally do take time off, we will have one of our highly-qualified staff perform the inspections.

How often do I need someone to inspect my home?

This is both a personal and an insurance decision. It is difficult to determine exactly how often someone should have their home inspected. If an issue arises, it is always best if it can be identified before it becomes a large problem. For safety reasons, once a week would be best. However, many clients feel every two weeks is sufficient. We believe that less frequent inspections do not provide the level of security needed to ensure that our clients’ homes are properly taken care of while they are away.

Also, some insurance companies require someone to inspect an unoccupied home once or twice a month. Other insurance companies do not seem to have an issue with this, so there are no requirements. In order to see what requirements the insurance companies may have, please contact them before making a decision on the frequency of inspections.

Are you available 24/7?

Yes, we will take calls at any time for emergency issues.

Can you provide me with your fee schedule?

It is almost impossible to provide a quote over the phone without first seeing the property. Without seeing the size and nature of the home, it is difficult to determine which services would best serve our clients’ needs. Basic properties, such as a condo, start as low as $40 per visit. Depending on the complexity of the property, prices increase from there. Details of our fees will be discussed after examining the home and discovering what specific needs may exist.

Is Shield Home Watch bonded and insured?

Yes we are bonded and insured to offer our services in Florida.

Is Shield Home Watch a security company?

No, we are not a security company, nor do we take the place of one. Our scheduled inspections do offer some security because we are at the property regularly. We will obviously discover if the home has been broken into or if something has been vandalized, but we do not conduct daily patrols of the home like security companies.

We have established an ongoing relationship with public safety officers in the Manatee and Sarasota counties to help address any ongoing security concerns with the local community which allows us to keep homeowners informed.

Do you inspect my home after severe weather?

In Florida, especially during the summer, wind, rain, and hurricanes can cause extensive damage to homes. As a part of our service, we inspect all homes after severe storms / hurricanes. These inspections are conducted at half our normal rate and are just to ensure that there are no leaks or property damage. We do not perform a complete inspection after storms because we have many homes to check in a short period of time. However, if a regular inspection is scheduled a day or two after a storm, we will perform the full inspection for the regular price and not charge our clients for the storm inspection.

How do I pay for your services?

We will email, or if you request, mail you an invoice at regular intervals. You can mail us a check at that time or make other arrangements if necessary.

Is your service designed with a long term commitment for service?

Our service is considered to be month to month, we do ask for minimum of a 30 day notice of cancellation in order to adjust our scheduling. Based on this policy the shortest period of service with us would be 60 day to begin with and 30 days there after.

What are next steps?

Upon contacting us, we will set up a free initial consultation as soon as possible to discuss what your needs and wants are. Every property and client is unique, and we will work with you to give you a quote on exactly what you want.

Upon acceptance of a quote, we prepare an agreement for your protection and ours, to make sure we capture the exact spirit and terms of the relationship. (See sample agreement.) If your plans change, the agreement can be amended and any prepaid visits will be refunded back to you if you wish to terminate the agreement. No long-term contracts are necessary, as this is totally a pay as you go service (subscription).

You hand over the keys to us, along with any alarm access codes, and we start our service to you. We have a detailed process to insure your keys and codes are secure with us! We then perform our onsite inspections at the predetermined intervals using our software via smartphones / tablets. The software provides the customized checklist of items for inspection, a time and date stamp, geotagged position and the capability to add high definition photos as part of your report.

The inspection report is uploaded to your customer portal online for you to access at your leisure as well as a copy being sent directly to you via email for immediate viewing. If anything is out of the ordinary that needs attention, we will make sure we will let you know via email, text, and/or telephone.

Any follow up with our inspections or addition or amendment of services can be done via email or telephone. An invoice is prepared for our services and your payment is applied.