Your home watch service agreement decides who pays when things go wrong

Home watch runs on trust. Clients hand you keys, alarm codes, and months of unsupervised access to their most valuable asset. That's why the relationship should never run on a handshake. A written service agreement isn't about expecting things to go wrong. It's about deciding, calmly and in advance, what happens when they do. It protects the client, protects you, and signals that you run a professional operation, not a favor economy.

Define the scope precisely

Most home watch disputes trace back to a mismatch between what the client imagined and what you actually sold. The fix: a scope section that says plainly what a visit is. A visual inspection of the home, looking for obvious issues, on an agreed schedule. Then say what it is not:

• Not a security or guard service. You visit on a schedule; you don't monitor the home continuously.
• Not property management. You don't handle tenants, rent, or leases. (Fuzzy on that line yourself? See our guide to home watch vs. property management.)
• Not a repair service. You find and report issues; fixing them is a separate, authorized decision.
• Not a guarantee against loss. A visual inspection catches only what's visible when you're there.

List what a standard visit covers (interior walk-through, exterior check, systems you look at) and name the add-ons that cost extra, so nothing billable hides inside 'while you're there, could you…'.

Schedule, access, and keys

Put the visit cadence in writing (weekly, biweekly, monthly) along with how schedule changes work and what a missed or rescheduled visit looks like. Then cover access: how keys and codes are stored, who is authorized to enter, and what happens to keys when the agreement ends. Have employees, or plan to? Authorize your company's personnel to enter, not just you personally. That detail matters the day you make your first hire.

Emergencies and authorization

The most valuable clause in the document answers one question: what may you do when something is actively going wrong and the owner isn't answering the phone? Spell out the default: notify the owner and await instructions. Then add an emergency authorization: a pre-approved spending cap and permission to take reasonable action, like shutting off water at the main or dispatching a plumber, when waiting would make the damage worse. Settle this before an emergency. Nobody negotiates well during a flood.

Liability, insurance, and honest limits

State that you carry general liability insurance, and bonding if you have it. Professional clients will ask anyway. Then limit your liability honestly: you're paid for scheduled visual inspections, not for everything that can happen to a house between visits. A reasonable limitation of liability clause, a force majeure provision for storms and events beyond your control, and clear language that the owner maintains their own homeowners insurance keep the risk where it belongs.

Money terms

Rates, billing cadence, payment methods, and what happens when an invoice goes unpaid: all of it goes in the agreement. Price the add-ons up front too: post-storm checks, vendor meetings, extra visits. Clear money terms up front make clean invoicing possible later. Our guide to home watch invoicing and getting paid covers the operational side of the same coin.

Term, termination, and housekeeping

Give the agreement a start date and a term (seasonal or annual, matching how your clients actually engage), a renewal mechanism, and a termination clause with reasonable notice on both sides. Say what happens to keys, codes, and any prepaid visits. Use electronic signatures so snowbird clients can sign from anywhere.