House Watch Service in Toronto & the GTA
A house watch service sends a licensed guard to your home on a set schedule while you are away, to check the outside, doors and windows, signs of entry, heat and water, and anything that tells passers-by the house is empty. With Secure 24 Seven, every visit is logged with photos and sent to you, and anything wrong is reported the moment it is found.
Eight things we look at while you’re gone
An empty house rarely fails all at once. It drips, cools, collects flyers and gathers snow until someone notices, ideally us. Each tag below is a line on the visit checklist your guard completes.
Exterior & perimeter
A full walk around the house, garage, fences and gates, looking for damage, debris or anything moved since last time.
Doors, windows & locks
Every door handle tried, ground-floor and basement windows checked, garage and patio doors confirmed shut.
Signs of entry
Pry marks, broken glass, cut screens, footprints in fresh snow. If something looks forced, the guard does not go in alone.
Leaks & water
On interior visits: under sinks, around the water heater, laundry and basement floor drain, plus the sump pit after thaw or heavy rain.
Heating & cooling
Thermostat reading against the setting you left, furnace running, and in summer, air conditioning and humidity under control.
Mail & parcels
Flyers, door hangers and unexpected deliveries cleared from the step and brought in or stored where you’ve asked.
Signs of vacancy
Unshovelled driveway, untouched snow on the walk, long grass, dark windows. We flag them so your contractor or timers can fix the picture.
Your own list
Alarm panel status, a blind adjusted, lights rotated, a car started. If it’s written into your instructions, it’s on the report.
A visit report you can read from a beach chair
Guard’s note: House secure and dry. Lamp timer in the front room working. Next visit as scheduled.
Proof of the visit
Arrival and departure times with a location stamp from our GPS-tracked patrol vehicle. Useful if your insurer ever asks what was done and when.
Your checklist, not a generic one
The rows come from the instructions you give us before you leave, including which rooms to enter and which to leave alone.
Photos that answer the worry
The locked door, the thermostat, the dry floor. Pictures of the exact things you’d otherwise lie awake about.
Problems don’t wait for the report
A flagged item means a phone call or message to you or your emergency contact during the visit, not an email you find days later.
Every month has its own way of hurting an empty house
We shift the focus of each visit with the calendar. A February check is mostly about heat and pipes; a July check is about looking lived-in.
Winter
The costliest failures start quietly: a furnace that trips while you’re away, then pipes that freeze and split. Untouched snow on the driveway also advertises that nobody is home.
Spring
Frozen ground can’t absorb melting snow, so water heads for the foundation. Window wells, downspouts and the sump pit get extra attention after thaws and heavy rain.
Summer
Longer trips leave homes empty for weeks. Parcels on the step, long grass and a window left open are the details we look for, along with storm damage and outages.
Fall
Dark comes early, so unlit houses stand out. Clogged gutters and outdoor taps left on before the first hard frost set up winter’s problems.
A word about your home insurance
Many Canadian home policies limit coverage for freezing damage when a home is left unattended in the heating season, often once you are away more than about four consecutive days, unless someone competent checks it daily or the water is shut off and the lines drained. A home that has been moved out of, not just left for a holiday, is treated as vacant, and many policies limit or end coverage once it has been vacant for more than 30 consecutive days unless the insurer agrees otherwise. Wording differs between insurers, so read your own policy, ask your broker in writing, and we will build the visit schedule around the answer.
The homeowner’s pre-departure list
House watch works best when the house is set up for it. Work down this list in the week before you go.
A week out
The day before
On your way out
House watch FAQs
How often should someone check my home while I’m away?
Start with your insurance policy, because it may set the minimum. In the heating season, many policies expect a daily check or a drained water system; outside winter, homeowners often choose visits every few days. We build the schedule with you and can add extra visits after storms or cold snaps.
Will your visit reports satisfy my insurer?
Each visit is documented with times, a location stamp and photos, a clear record to share if your insurer asks what was done. Only your insurer can confirm that a schedule meets your policy, so get their requirement in writing and share it with us.
What happens if you find a problem?
You, or your emergency contact, hear from us during the visit. If there are signs of forced entry, the guard stays outside, calls police and keeps watch until they arrive. If your alarm goes off between visits, our alarm response team is dispatched immediately.
Do you need a key, and do you go inside?
Exterior-only checks need no key. Interior checks, which are what catch leaks and heating failures, need a key or code, handled under a written agreement that also lists which rooms we enter. Let your alarm company know we are an authorized visitor.
Can you watch a vacant house, not just one on vacation?
Yes. Estates, homes listed for sale, properties between tenants and renovation projects all benefit from scheduled checks. For several addresses, see our property management security; for more frequent drive-bys, add mobile patrol.
Book your watch
Tell us your dates, what your policy asks for and what worries you most. We’ll come by before you leave to walk the house, take your instructions and confirm the schedule, at no charge.
WhatsApp us or write to [email protected]
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