home watch start-up

People go on vacation and some choose extended periods away from home, such as retirees who escape to a sunny and warm place each winter. This opens up the opportunity to provide a protective service for these “snowbirds” and vacationers in the form of a home watch business. As involved as that may sound, launching a home watch business as a part-time home-based business is extremely easy to do. Have some questions on how to make that happen? Here is my list of some of the most frequent questions I get asked about the home watch business industry and how to get into it.

1 – How much can you make with a home watch business?

This depends somewhat on your geographic location. While you will be using an hourly rate for your services, the size of your community, the local economic conditions and the demographics of your home market will all have an impact on this. On average, you could make $50 per hour and if you just work part-time to a maximum of 20 hours per week you could potentially make $1,000 per week or $4,000 per month.

2 – What does a home watch business do?

If you are away on vacation, a home watch service will provide regular checks of your property while you are gone. The extent of those regular checks can vary from conducting a thorough walkabout of the property and exterior of the home to having the service provider enter your home or outbuildings to conduct further visual observations of the condition of your property. Some home watch businesses will offer additional add-on services that may include collecting your mail to prevent the appearance of no one being home as well as other general duties to deter criminal activity and spot little things like a water leak before it becomes an expensive repair.

3 – Who would require the service of a home watch business?

Essentially, anyone who will be away from their property for any length of time. This can be from a week to several weeks or months depending on the vacation time chosen. As for actual demographics, semi-retired, retired and working individuals could all benefit from this type of home watch business. In other words, your customer base is a very wide net that encompasses virtually anyone. However, you may find that your more regular customers will be “snowbirds” who are away from their primary home for the winter. Of course, they also need someone to watch their sunbelt home when they head north in the spring.

4 – What has caused such a growth in this business industry?

There are probably a few answers to this question. One of them is related to the rapid increase in the number of Baby Boomers who are reaching retirement age. This means many more seniors are vacationing than ever before and taking longer holidays as a result. Another answer is that in today’s world of new technology, it is easier to work remotely which has permitted many working families to maintain their jobs and do so during extended holidays and family vacations.

5 – Do I need any special training to start this type of business?

Actually, you don’t. All you need is to be an honest, reliable person who wants to help others by providing peace of mind when they are away. The only real credentials you will require to go into the home watch business is your business license which will give you the right to operate your business where you live.

6 – Can I do this part-time?

Yes. In fact, I strongly suggest you launch your new home watch business as a part-time opportunity. That’s because you won’t have to work more than 20 hours a week and have the potential to earn hundreds of dollars weekly. If your business grows rapidly, you could extend it to become a full-time venture but that is entirely up to you. Ideally, if you set it up as a part-time job, you will earn full-time wages.

7 – Is it expensive to start a home watch business?

No, it isn’t. If you already have a vehicle, a smartphone, and a computer, you are already well on your way to starting an exciting career as a part-time home watch service provider. You will need a business license, business cards, and other related office supplies but essentially, you can be in business faster than almost any other type of start-up and it won’t cost you a bundle to get going.

8 – What if I have no experience in this type of business?

Well, do I have some good news for you! You are probably the best fit for a home watch business. Let me explain why that is. You’ve had other jobs, right? Even if you’ve worked at half a dozen different unrelated jobs in the past two years you will already have more experience than someone who has been in the same job throughout that same timeframe. The reason is that you will have picked up several different skills in those different jobs. They are referred to as transferrable skills and that is because they can be transferred – or used – in maybe different job settings.  Now looking at the home watch business, the jobs you had previously will have given you some skills you’ll be able to use instantly in this new venture.

9 – How do I go about finding customers for my home watch business?

That is an excellent question simply because, without customers, your business doesn’t stand a chance at being successful. But I have devised some methods that will bring your business in front of those people who could use your services most. For example, vacationers will require travel insurance and travel agencies for vacation planning. These are the two likely places you will be able to reach your target audience. Also, in popular snowbird locations in the sunbelt, real estate agents know which customers are buying a home as a part-time residence.  See if they will display your business cards, posters or brochures at their place of business. This will help you to start promoting your business. Then you can expand from there.

Depending on your budget, you can stick to inexpensive forms of advertising or go for some of the more expensive types. On the cheaper end of the scale is free online classified advertising, signage for your vehicle that turns it into a rolling billboard and flyers you can hand out. It really depends on what your overall business goals are and what you can afford to do. Don’t forget the power of a website, either. The internet is where most people go to find information and you can reach these people with social media pages and a simple website.

10 – Do I need any kind of special certification?

The short answer is: no. All you will require is a business license to do business in your community and insurance. Otherwise, you are good to go in the home watch business.

So, What Are You Waiting For?

 There you have it. The top ten questions I get asked most about starting a home watch business. As you can tell, it isn’t all that hard to launch a small home-based business. Hopefully, I’ve been able to inspire you to give this new business a try.

Not everyone has heard of a home watch business. In fact, you may discover that a lot of your new clients will be equally amazed and impressed that such a service exists. There is no shortage of demand when you consider how mobile our society is. With working people earning two, three and four weeks of vacation time added to the retired folks who like to spend up to six months a year away from home, a home watch business just makes sense as a new business venture. There is no doubt that you can make a solid income just by working part-time hours at this business. I’ll even show you how to do that. But before you start looking into that part of the process, there are a few things you need to know before you fling open the doors to your new home-based business.

1 – Qualifications

This is probably one of the things I like most about the opportunity that comes with launching your own home watch business. You need no formal training. If you are an honest person, reliable, have integrity, attention to detail and an interest in providing a service that will help others, you are already qualified.  As an entrepreneur, you will be working at something that will earn you a decent wage. However, your focus should be more on the delivery of your services than the paycheck at the end of the contract. Sure, the money part is important but I think that in order to be good at this type of business, you have to have a certain kind of personality. You just can’t start a business that requires regular contact with customers if you are not very personable. It just makes sense but if you are the type that enjoys meeting new people and watching their homes for them when they go on vacation, then the home watch business is a good fit for you.

2 – Covering Your Business

Insurance may sound like a costly expense but it isn’t. Think about this for a moment, if you are hiring a professional to do some kind of work for you, would you rather hire the person with insurance or the person without insurance? This is the same thing that your potential customers will be thinking about you and your business when they are considering whether or not to hire you. Plus, with the right insurance coverage, you protect yourself from a possible lawsuit or claim. Yes, it is unlikely that you will see either in your home watch business but as I’ve stated, being insured gives your potential clients something to base their opinion on related to the professionalism of your particular business.

3 – Your Office

Depending on your existing living arrangements and how serious you get with your home watch business, you are going to need a space somewhere to serve as an office. You could get away with just using a laptop in your vehicle but it may be better for you, in the long run, to consider setting up a small home office. If you do not have a spare room in your home, a desk and chair in the corner of a room will be all you will need. Add a computer with scheduling and bookkeeping software, a smartphone and you’ll have the office you need to run your business.

4 – The Legal Part

I consider this as one of the most important decisions you will ever make related to your home watch business. It has to do with the legal structure that you will use to operate your business. There are two different options available to you. You can operate your home watch business as a sole proprietor or as an LLC. Either way, it will mean that you won’t be running your business as a hobby and with the right legal structure in place, your business becomes a great deal more legitimate. However, both options have advantages and disadvantages. To make an informed decision on this important step, visit nolo.com, where you can read more about the pros and cons of each.

In Conclusion

I like to look at these four things in much the same way as I view a house or building. Do you know how any kind of structure requires a strong and firm foundation first before the walls can be added? Well, that is what I consider these four steps as being. They form the foundation of your business long before you launch it and start signing up customers. Plus, by ensuring that you have a firm foundation in place, your home watch business stands a far better chance at becoming successful.  The four items listed here I feel are necessary for any kind of business regardless of the type of service provided and the size of that business. With these four elements in place, you can move on to the rest of the steps that you will have to follow to properly launch your home watch business.

I enjoy sharing with others how easy it is to start a new home watch business. The best part is, when you go into business for yourself, you become your own boss. Plus, you don’t have to punch a clock. Being an entrepreneur with a home watch business also provides you with a ton of flexibility while earning a fair wage – even if you work your business as a part-timer. But how exactly do you start a home watch business? It may sound complicated at first, but if you follow my ten easy steps, you’ll be in the business earning your extra cash in no time.

1 – Determine Your Service Menu

What this is, is your ‘menu’ of services you intend to provide under the umbrella of your home watch business. It doesn’t have to be complicated but you do need to have an idea of what services you are prepared to offer to potential clients. Within your list, don’t forget to add possible add-ons that may compliment the established services on your list. Also, be flexible enough to add more based on your client’s request.

2 – Give Your Business A Name

This is often the most difficult of the tasks that face a new business owner. My tips for making this easy include naming it something easy to remember, pronounce and spell. Make your business name something that says what your business is and give it a name that sounds professional and friendly. Our guidebook has a list of over 40 proven home watch business names you can adapt for your own use.

3 – Keep A Handle On Spending

A home-based business is pretty easy to launch and doesn’t normally cost you much money because you will have most everything you need already in place. The only real expense at first will be your local business license. As for a vehicle and office space, you should already have wheels and you can easily set up an office in the corner of a room if you don’t have a spare room to dedicate to your new home watch business venture.

4 – Establish A Legal Structure

You can’t properly operate a home-based home watch business without a form of legal structure. This is primarily for tax purposes and it will be one of the smartest steps you take. Your choices will be to operate as a sole proprietor or as an LLC. There are advantages and disadvantages to both but you will need to figure out which is best for your long term goals. Visit nolo.com for a better understanding of both legal structures.

5 – Insurance Coverage

Another thing you will need that will turn your home-based business into a legitimate venture is insurance. You will want to have the right kind of coverage that will protect you in case of a lawsuit or claim. There is no guarantee that you won’t need it, but having the extra protection is wise. Your best bet is to discuss your needs with a local independent insurance broker who can give you a better idea of what that coverage is going to look like and cost in your state.

6 – Determine Your Rate Structure

This will be one of the most important steps you will take to launch your home watch business. I strongly urge you to consider using an hourly rate. That is because it is an easy way to quote prices to a potential client and gives that client a number to budget for. You can tack on extras but stick to a solid base hourly rate that is high enough to cover your costs and give you a profit but is not so high that it scares off business. Another popular option is to quote fixed rates, based on the size of the house. You’ll find complete guidelines in How to Start a Profitable Home Watch Business.

7 – Build Your Customer Base

Once your business is up and running, you will need customers to keep it up and running. There are many ways in which to promote your home watch business but your best return will come from target marketing. You can start this by getting some business cards printed and hand them out at such places as insurance offices, travel agents, real estate agents and anywhere else that your future clients will learn about your business. You can advertise online through free classified ads, put posters up in and around your community, have signage on your vehicle and park it in a high traffic area…the possibilities are endless on who to promote your business in the beginning. Eventually, if your clients are pleased with your home watch service, you will see business come your way from referrals.

8 – Speaking Of Referrals

Yes, one great spin-off to having happy customers is the fact that they will often tell others in their circle about your home watch business. To make this work in your favor, don’t be shy about suggesting to your customers that they do this. You can make it even easier for them by providing extra business cards, brochures about your business and services or whatever else you can provide. In a way, you end up with customers doing the promotion and advertising of your business for you at no cost to you and direct to your target market.You could provide a $10 gift certificate for future services to each client who provides you with a referral that converts to a customer.

9 – Focus On Providing Excellent Service

Sure, this could quite easily be considered a no-brainer but the reality is that to be successful in any kind of business, you need to be good at what you do and that what you do pleases your customers. This includes some of the small things that are often overlooked by bigger businesses. Because your home watch business will put you in direct contact with the majority of your clients, you have the opportunity to impress them with a personal and professional approach to doing business. Remembering names, doing the tasks correctly and not making a lot of huge mistakes will go a long way in keeping your clients happy with your service. You may even want to consider added incentives to enhance that user experience.

10 – Keep Your Business Orderly

One thing you are going to discover once your home watch business starts to take off is that you won’t be able to get away with hand-written invoices for very long. There are easy computer programs that will do the invoicing for you and keep track of your revenues and expenses so that you don’t have to have the added expense of hiring a bookkeeper. Even if you are not all that tech-savvy, there is bookkeeping software out there designed just for entrepreneurs like you who either don’t have the practical experience of bookkeeping or don’t have the time to spend learning a complicated program. When you can keep your books in order, it takes a great deal of stress away from you and lets you concentrate on your business. Our guidebook has detailed reviews of the best software to use for both bookkeeping and home checks.

In Conclusion

As I have stated, it isn’t all that difficult to launch a home-based home watch business. If you follow the ten steps listed here, you will be in business faster and building your business faster than most entrepreneurs are in today’s marketplace. Plus, you’ll be earning a solid wage working just part-time hours!

So you’ve gotten this far in the process of launching your new home watch business. For many, naming their business is the easiest thing on the average entrepreneur’s ‘to-do’ list. However, for others, this task can become an enormous hurdle. In reality, for your home watch business to be successful, the brand you create by naming it will have a great deal to do with the amount of success you experience. That is because the business name will be the identity that your service will be recognized by. This means you have to take serious consideration when choosing a business name.

But I can save you a lot of time on this. That’s because I have not only assisted many entrepreneurs over the years with tips on business names, I have devised a simple list that will guide you through this process. It isn’t that hard to come up with a name for any business if you follow my proven tips.

1 – Make It An Easy Name

There are several reasons why your business name has to be anything but complicated. That’s because if you keep it simple, it will be a lot easier to remember. You have to keep in mind that your customer base is going to very likely span all age demographics and because of this, you will help your business by having a name that everyone can remember. That also means that an easy business name can be spelled and pronounced with ease. Plus, with the internet being such a huge source of promotion and potential business, you will want your business name to be easy to find on the internet. For example, Fred’s Home Watch Service is easy to say, spell and remember. As a web domain name, it becomes www.fredshomewatchservice.com which works well.

2 – Don’t Be Trendy/Cute Or Goofy

Following trends is not always a bad thing but if you do this when naming your business you risk having an outdated name sometime in the future. This is why a timeless name works best as does a name that does not have cute or unusual spelling. For example, Fredz Home Watch Service may sound timeless but the spelling may cause it to become harder to find in online directories. You also have to keep your client demographic in mind. Will the unusual spelling be understood by senior customers? What about those who may not speak fluent English? Your business can suffer when the business name has a trendy or cute treatment done to it. Sure, it may seem like a good idea at the time but in five, ten, fifteen and twenty years from now, you will have to still live with that name.

3 – Emphasis What The Business Does

I know. That sounds far too obvious, doesn’t it? But you’d be surprised how many people name their business and don’t even include a hint about what that business does. Yes, if every one of your customers knows you and your business well you might get away with it. However, if you are seeking new clients and your business name is simply ‘Fred’s’ you are not going to get a lot of inquiries about your home watch business because your business name doesn’t even mention it. Imagine what older clients are thinking if they are trying to find you in the phone book and don’t know the name of your business but are pretty sure that you provide home watch service. These are just a couple of examples to help you to understand that as redundant as you may think to call your business Fred’s Home Watch Service may be, it does state what the business is in one short name.

4 – Think About Online Visitors

The internet is a pretty interesting resource tool. You can use it to be entertained, to learn things, to research and to search. If your home watch business is based in one small community but you provide services to the surrounding half dozen small towns within a certain radius, the internet can assist you in generating new business. However, for this to happen, you have to know a few things about websites and search engines. You can call your business Fred’s Home Watch Service because it says basically what you want it to say. But you can add to that to localize the traffic online. For example, if you live in Kelowna, British Columbia, your website is going to include several references to Kelowna. But if you provide service also to Peachland, Summerland, Lake Country and West Kelowna (all local communities around Kelowna) you can have webpages in your website that target just those specific communities. With proper SEO on those pages, someone in Summerland looking for a home watch business may land on your Summerland page which funnels extra business to you.

5 – Skip Abbreviations/Initials

So Fred’s full name happens to be Fred Alexander Taylor. He didn’t want to name his home watch business Fred’s Home Watch Service because he thought it didn’t sound professional enough. So, instead, he chose to just use his initials in the business name. That turned it into FAT Home Watch Service. Maybe that won’t be so bad in the long run and it is still kind of easy to remember. Fred could get away with that one. But if his name was Xavier Frederick Johnson, that would be a whole different story. Sure, XFJ Home Watch Service has a bit of a ring to it. But will you be able to remember it for six months or a year from now when you need Fred’s service? Again, this is why I strongly suggest putting a lot of thought into the naming of your home watch business.

6 – Naming It After Someone/Something

This is another one of those things that could actually go against you in so many ways. Sure, it may be fun to name your business after your hometown but if you live in Pittsburgh and your business is called Boston Home Watch Service, you are just going to confuse your potential clients. The same thing goes if you are Fred and you name your business after your wife. Yes, it may be a nice gesture but Candi’s Home Watch Service may not sound as legitimate as you’d hope especially if you keep getting phone calls with people asking to speak to Candi and she doesn’t even work with you.

7 – Changing The Name Frequently

One word of caution when you are naming your business. The idea behind picking the right name is to prevent you from eventually deciding to change the name once you have become established in the home watch business. It isn’t a very good plan. Once you settle on a name, you are not exactly stuck with it, but you should use it for the length of time you are in business. Customers who deal with businesses that seem to go through several name changes – even if those are the result of the business being bought and operated by a new owner – eventually take their business somewhere else. Even if your home watch business is stable and secure, name changes signal one thing to customers. They see a name change as a sign of further changes such as rates, services provided and more. With the right business name from the start, you will avoid any of this happening to you.

The Reality Of A Good Business Name

If you are still struggling with trying to come up with a good name for your home watch business all you have to do is look around you. Focus on the business names in your community that are home-based, one or two-person operated businesses. What are they calling themselves? Can you identify the type of business they provide? Is the name easy to remember? Does the name have an odd spelling or pronunciation to it? Does the name translate well to an internet domain name? All of these questions can be answered when you look at other start-up business names. Don’t let it bog you down and don’t let the process of naming your business become a huge issue. If you follow the guidelines I have provided, you should be able to come up with an effective business name for your home watch business. If you’d like more help, How To Start A Profitable Home Watch Business has a list of over 40 perfect names for your new home watch business.

It may sound like a fairly straightforward question but for your home watch business to succeed you need to have rates that will result in a profit for you. You also have to keep in mind that you can’t charge astronomical rates as you’ll spend most of your time not working. I have devised a series of points that will help you to arrive at the perfect rate for you to use when you charge your home watch business customers for your service. Here they are

1 – Find Out What The Competition Is Doing

There is a lot you can learn from the competition. If you have a home watch business near you or somewhere in your state that has been in business for any length of time, you can do some homework on them. Ultimately, your goal would be to find out what their current rates are. I like to encourage entrepreneurs who launch start-up businesses from home to charge an hourly rate (more on that in a moment). Whatever you do, don’t rely on the data you gather from competitors to be your complete guide. Use it for reference at the most so you have at least an idea where you should go with your rate structure long before you start to charge customers.

2- The Hourly Rate

I just mentioned that I am a huge supporter of charging an hourly rate for service. The reason for this is that it gives you a consistent figure to use and you can include a number of additional services within that hourly rate to demonstrate to potential customers that there is value in the rate you charge. Extra tasks that are outside of your normal list of services would require an additional add-on rate. An hourly rate is easy to quote and easy for clients to budget for so it keeps it simple for you and your customers. If your competition is charging flat rates per task, you may want to use that instead of hourly rates. Regardless, you will be charging somewhere around $50 per hour and if you work your business for just 20 hours per week, that equals $1,000 per week. So, this is one of the best things about using an hourly rate, it adds up quickly.

3 – Extras And Add-ons

There are only so many things you can charge out to your customers when you own and operate your own home watch business. However, if you build your service list correctly, you will find that you will have a few things that can be used as extra services that would require an additional fee.  An example of what I’m talking about comes from the fast-food industry. A burger will cost you one rate. Add cheese and it will cost a little more. Include fries with that cheeseburger and the cost is somewhat more. Add a drink and maybe the combo price will be less than purchasing all three of those items separately. You can do the same with your home watch business. Regular home checks would be the burger. Adding mail collection is the cheese added to the burger. Additional home checks can be the drink add-on. Doing all three could fall under a combo price. See what I mean?

4 – Surcharges And Other Fees

You could quite easily tack on additional rates that go beyond what has already been discussed here. I’m thinking more along the lines of extra fees for work done outside of your normal services. But I do have to stress something very important here…you must do everything in your power to not ‘nickel and dime’ your clients to death with a fee for this and a fee for that if some of those items you are charging out for can be incorporated into one of your already established rates. The idea of being a small business owner is to charge enough to make a decent profit and not to charge so much that you lose or have a great deal of difficulty getting business.

5 – Know Your Market

Here’s one more reason to just use the information from your competitor as only a guide when establishing your home watch business rates. Your community and the trading area will have a tremendous impact on what your final rates will be. Common sense should tell you that in bigger communities the rate will likely be higher due to the larger pool of potential clients and higher cost of doing business. This also means that in a smaller town, your rate would be less. These variables are key to your success and as a result, you may find that adjusting your rates to match the economic conditions of your community may make the difference between being successful or not.

They’re Only Numbers, Right?

I suppose you can find a little relief in the fact that your rate is just a number. However, it does have to be the right number that will allow you to make your home watch business a success. Even if you find that at one point you have to adjust your rate to address changes in the market, that’s okay. The idea here is to give you some key points on how to set that rate. Nothing is written in stone here. Plus, you may even find it useful to offer small discounts for regular customers, maybe a senior’s rate or possibly a repeat customer rate. The important thing to keep in mind here is that it is your business and you control everything related to it. That includes what you are going to charge your customers. I trust that my tips here have helped you to understand that you just can’t pull a number out of the sky and run with it. Good luck!