When Greg and Barbara leave their north shore home in November for their annual four-month visit to Florida, they close up their Long Island home with peace of mind.
That’s because once a week, for the weeks they’re away, Chuck Gottlieb, principal of House Doctor and a home inspector, visits their home and does an interior and exterior survey to make sure everything is in order.
Gottlieb is one of a growing number of “house watchers” on Long Island who provide homeowners with the assurance that any house-related problems that develop while they are away will be recognized and repaired as quickly as possible.
A leaky toilet, shingles blown off a roof, a broken window, an important package lying at the front door: these are among the developments a “house watcher” takes care of or calls to the attention of the traveling homeowner.
“I have the keys and the passwords to the client’s house,” says Gottlieb, who is licensed and insured. “I also have my clients’ cell phone numbers, and I’m given as a contact in case an alarm sounds in central station of their alarm company.”
Unlike house sitters, house watchers don’t live in the client’s home.
“I’m available to check up on a house to see that everything is functioning properly and there are no problems,” Gottlieb says. “I don’t want to spend my days and nights in someone else’s home.”
Another house-watcher is Judy Sontz, who serves homes in the Jericho/Syosset area.
“Most of my clients are most concerned about water damage, so I check for leaks in pipes or breaks in outside hoses,” she said. “I usually can fix these on the spot. If there’s a problem, I call the client and get their advice, or authorization to call a plumber or other contractor and oversee the repair.”
Sontz says house watchers have to remain calm in the face of unexpected developments.
“I once set off an alarm in a home and entered the code the client had given me. But it didn’t work,” she said. “I called the client in California and they told me they had changed the code but forgot to tell me.”
Depending on the arrangements made, house watchers may be called on to provide additional services, related to the client’s needs.
Sontz recalls one time a client asked her to send a pair of prescription sunglasses left on a night table, and a container of medication left on the bathroom vanity.
“The woman was more upset that she had forgotten her sunglasses than her meds,” Sontz says.
House watchers usually charge by the visit, which can take from 30 minutes to one hour, and is usually done once a week. On Long Island, the rate ranges from 30 dollars to 40 dollars a visit, usually depending on the extent of the services requested by the homeowner.
House watchers across the country say they are responsive to a wide variety of services that homeowners may request. In Sarasota, Florida, for example, Golden Badge House Watchers will start up vehicles (to assure the homeowner returns to a car with a functioning battery), oversee contractor work, whether interior or exterior, and provide e-mails with photos to document any damage they encounter. Staffed by personnel with law enforcement experience, Golden Badge watchers say “We care when you’re not there!”
