Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Currently, all of your home watch inspections will be done by the Certified Homewatch owner, Richard Spangenberg. However, his assistant will accompany him and perform their own reports in the future.  In all cases where there appears to be an issue, Mr. Spangenberg will be called in to evaluate and certify the situation prior to you being contacted.

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. 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.  Insurance companies do not currently feel twice a month is sufficient and are specifying shorter periods between reports.  This results in Tri-Monthly at a minimum and weekly preferred.

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 $20 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.  But they mostly vary on the size of the home and the number of visits per month.  In addition, any custom services added to the Basics would have additional billing if they are required.

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

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.

If part of our normal scheduled service, there is no additional fee for this service.  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.

If the storm post inspection is in addition to our normal scheduled inspection, there is an additional charge.

Yes, we consider all of our clients to be long-term ones.  However, our service is technically  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 thereafter.

No.  We will inform you of what we observed. At your request, we will recommend a trusted professional who has the expertise in the area you’re having an issue with. We can also coordinate and schedule a professional to come out and fix your problem. For example, if a pipe bursts we can recommend a number of professional plumbers. If you direct us to get it repaired, we will let the vendor into your place to make the repairs and then lock up. Or if you desire, we can stay in your house for the duration it takes the vendor to make the necessary repairs.  It should be noted that the plumber works for you and is paid by you.  We do not pay them, we do not mark up their fees or receive any referral fee in the process. If we did, we would be liable for their work.  Our insurance would double.  And, it would complicate your relationship with the vendor and delay correction of any issues.

Only one person will be inside, sometimes accompanied by an assistant or trainee. In the event of an emergency and we are not able to perform the Home Watch visit, you will be notified. We have a network of resources of a trusted and trained Home Watch professional to perform the Home Watch visit.

If an irregularity is observed while performing a Home Watch visit at your home, you will be notified so the problem can be dealt with. We have the skills to detect damage in the early stages and the resources to remedy any situation that may arise.

Yes! Certified Homewatch is Insured and Bonded. Certified Homewatch is a registered business with the State of Florida and operates out of Venice.

Certified Homewatch’ experience and judgment will allow us to handle any situation with a calculated response. If the situation is an emergency, it will be handled in the fastest, safest, and most cost-effective way. In a non-emergency situation, you will be contacted to discuss and implement a course of action.

Absolutely, and any problems will be reported directly to you as it is discovered.

We offer  several levels of service. The choices of three times per month (Tri-Monthly) or Weekly.. For houses, we recommend every week.

In some cases our clients do save on their home owners insurance premium. More importantly, there are cases when a claim is denied due to the lack of a home watch service.

We Request Client Action Perferred Vendor List.  If a vendor is required and is not on the Client provided list, up to three options will be presented to the Client for selection.

• Cliient should provide a list of current Service Providers and what they are expected to do while you are away.  These should include lawn, pool, heating/cooling, pest, cleaning, and security service
• Provide the contact information of individuals that are allowed on the property and/or have an extra key
• Provide Certified Homewatch with alarm system instructions & the local alarm service contact person
• Notify all applicable entities (alarm service, condo association, resort management, neighbors, local family members) of your travel plans and inform them that Certified Homewatch will be providing home watch services. If necessary provide these applicable entities contact information for Certified Homewatch.In addition,
• Certified Homewatch recommends that A/C to be set between 78-80 degrees & your humidistat (if applicable) at 55%.
• Certified Homewatch recommends shutting water main off. Indicate location of outside water main, outside water faucets and washing machine faucets.
• Provide Certified Homewatch with your garage door code Garage Code and enter any other required/requested
• Gated community access code
• And, notify the gate house that Certified Homewatch will be entering your home during our agreed upon frequency if applicable

General Provisions:

Our agreement authorizes Certified Homewatch to enter said property to provide “Home Watch” services as described in our agreement. The Client has supplied a representative of Certified Homewatch with a key to the property and, if applicable, The Client has supplied this representative with a code to deactivate/activate any alarm system.

No additional obligations, duties or responsibilities will be required or performed by Certified Homewatch beyond what is listed in this agreement, unless and until same is amended in writing and executed by each party. All times listed herein shall be those in the Eastern Time Zone of the United States of America.

Faxed or emailed copies of the agreement or any amendments thereto, shall be deemed to be originals, and shall be enforceable by either party hereto.
Each of the parties hereto agrees that this agreement will not be construed more favorably for either party regardless of which party was responsible for its drafting.
This Agreement shall be constructed and enforced in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida.

The agreement contains the entire understanding of the parties and may not be amended without the specific written consent of both parties. Any notice given under this agreement shall be sufficient if it is in writing, sent by e-mail, certified or registered mail and written confirmation of receipt from the other party.

The agreement may be terminated by either party without cause with a 30 day written notice of cancellation to the other party. Services during the 30 day cancellation period are still due and payable to Certified Homewatch even if the customer refuses Home Watch Basics access to the inspection property during the 30 day cancellation period. Should Home Watch Basics cease service prior to the end of this contract or any time within the 30 day cancellation period all services rendered are to be prorated based on the to-date performed services.

The Client is to provide in writing a list of all parties who have been granted access by The Client to the inspection property including but not limited to: relatives, neighbors, friends, pool service, pest control service, local property/condo association personnel,

We have no long term contracts. Your service is considered to be month to month.  

We do require a signed easy to understand service agreement giving us access to the property and specifies the scope of work and fee schedule.  Although you signed up for a specified time period (start watch to end watch), you can change the dates or cancel at anytime without penalty.

Our home watch software allows for an unlimited number of photos. However, an average home watch visit will only include  photos to illustrate the subject or problem at hand. We only include photos illustrating any  significant findings. Not to flood you with photos that do not relate to our inspection.

Yes, absolutely, we are always happy to accommodate our clients.