Hamptons Nest/Home watch

Home watch for houses that are often empty.

A second home spends most of the year waiting. We make sure that while it waits, someone who knows it walks through it regularly and notices what has changed.

WeeklyOr fortnightly
Same dayPhoto report
One contactWho knows the house

I

The house file

We start by learning the house.

On the first walkthrough we record where the water and gas shutoffs are, the alarm and its codes, the age of the boiler, which trees hang over the roof and who services what. Every later visit is compared against it.

That record is the difference between noticing that a ceiling stain is new and walking straight past it.

II

On each visit

Inside, outside and everything between.

  • Every room, including closets, attic and basement
  • Ceilings and walls for new marks or damp
  • Plumbing fixtures, water heater and visible pipes
  • Heating or cooling holding its setting
  • Alarm, cameras and wifi still connected
  • Doors, windows and skylights secure
  • Roofline and gutters from the ground
  • Trees, fences, gates and the drive
  • Pool house, guest house and garage
  • Post and deliveries brought inside

III

After each visit

You see what we saw.

Photographs and a few lines on anything worth knowing, by text or email the same day. When something needs a decision from you, we call instead, with what we'd recommend.

Insurance

Some policies ask for a vacant house to be checked at set intervals. Ask your broker what yours requires, and keep our dated reports as your record.

Is the house closed for now?

Tell us where it is and we'll arrange a walkthrough this week.

Also useful

Winter watch

Heat, pipes and storms through the closed months.

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Trades & keys

Someone at the door for every contractor.

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Water Mill & Bridgehampton

Large houses on open ground.

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