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The house is as you left it. The report lands in your inbox with the photographs and you never have to open it.
Home watch · Saratoga Springs to Lake George
Someone is at your house on Tuesday.
Home watch and property care for second homes. A named steward walks your property on a schedule, photographs what they find, and puts it somewhere you can read in five seconds.
Two hours at the house, at no charge. Nothing to sign.
- One named steward, not a rotating crew
- Every visit photographed and logged
- Month to month, cancel any time
The arithmetic
The cheapest thing about a burst pipe is the plumber.
$500
a month
A visit every week, photographed and written up, month to month, with no contract to sign.
6
gallons a minute
What a half-inch supply line runs at once it splits. Nothing shuts it off on its own and nobody is there to hear it.
80,000
gallons, in nine days
One Tuesday to the Tuesday after next, in a house nobody is checking. That is the whole difference between a plumber and a general contractor.
Many homeowner policies carry a vacancy or unoccupancy clause, and some insurers ask that an empty house be checked at a set interval. Read yours, or ask your agent what it requires — a claim is a poor time to find out.
01Why this exists
A house on the lake stands empty about three hundred days a year.
Every item alongside is cheap to catch in the first week and expensive to find in the eleventh.
February
A supply line lets go behind a wall
Water runs at roughly six gallons a minute. Nothing stops it and nobody is there to hear it. The difference between a Tuesday and the following Tuesday is the difference between a plumber and a general contractor.
March
Ice dams push water back under the roof edge
The cause is gone by the time the ceiling stain shows up in April. Someone standing in the driveway in March sees the icicles and calls for a roof rake.
July
A sump pump stops on a Thursday night
Nothing announces it. The storm that finds out about it arrives three weeks later, and what it finds is a finished basement.
02What we do
What we check on every visit.
A property check is only worth something if it is boring and identical. Ours is a written protocol of 24 lines, worked top to bottom, with a photograph attached to every line that matters.
The full protocolExterior
- Full perimeter walked
- Roofline, gutters and downspouts observed
- Siding, trim, windows and doors observed from outside
- Decks, railings, steps and walkways observed
- Grounds, trees and storm debris noted
- Dock, boathouse and shoreline observed
- Vehicles, outbuildings and exterior lighting checked
Security
- Every door and window confirmed secure
- Garage and outbuilding doors confirmed locked
- Alarm state verified and re-armed on departure
- Signs of entry or disturbance documented
- Deliveries, mail and packages retrieved
Water
- Basement and mechanical room walked for standing water
- Sump pump area observed and float tested per protocol
- Water heater and softener area observed for leaks
- Ceilings, walls and under-sink cabinets checked for staining
- Fixtures run and traps refilled
- Visible supply lines and shutoffs looked over
Interior
- Thermostats confirmed at your requested setting
- Interior temperature and humidity recorded
- Furnace or boiler confirmed running
- Electrical panel observed for tripped breakers
- Refrigerator and freezer confirmed operating
- Unusual odors, pests or animal signs documented
A visual property check is observation and documentation. It is not a home inspection and it is not an evaluation of the condition of any system. Where something calls for a licensed professional, we say so and arrange it.
03The report
Every report starts with one of three words.
You are not going to read a four-page report from your office on a Thursday. So the report answers the question first and keeps the detail underneath it.
YELLOW
Owner attention recommended
We found something that is not urgent but should not wait for spring. You get photographs, our read on it, and a recommendation with a number attached.
RED
Immediate response initiated
We are already on it. You get a phone call, not an email, and the dashboard shows what we did and who is on the way.
04The difference
Every visit, photograph and issue, kept in one place.
Open to you at any hour, without asking anyone.
- A five-second answer
- Open it from anywhere and the first line tells you whether your home is fine. Everything else is there if you want it.
- Every visit on the record
- Every visit since the day you started, not a text message thread.
- Issues you can approve from a phone
- A found problem becomes a tracked item with photographs, a vendor, an estimate and a timeline. You approve or decline. Nothing gets spent without you.
- The memory of the house
- Systems, model numbers, service dates, every trade who has ever worked on the place. It stays when the caretaker changes and it comes with you if you sell.
Open the sample dashboard
A real, working dashboard on a fictional property. No sign-up.
northwayhome.xyz/dashboardLive
Property status
Your home is good
Property secure and dry. Lake level down slightly. Dock in good order following last week’s board replacement.
- Visit
- Aug 27, 2026
- Steward
- John M.
- On file
- 17 photos
Standard checklist
- Full perimeter walked
- Roofline, gutters and downspouts observed
- Siding, trim, windows and doors observed from outside
- Decks, railings, steps and walkways observed
- Grounds, trees and storm debris noted
- Dock, boathouse and shoreline observed
- Vehicles, outbuildings and exterior lighting checked
- Every door and window confirmed secure
- Garage and outbuilding doors confirmed locked
- Alarm state verified and re-armed on departure
- Signs of entry or disturbance documented
- Deliveries, mail and packages retrieved
- Basement and mechanical room walked for standing water
- Sump pump area observed and float tested per protocol
- Water heater and softener area observed for leaks
- Ceilings, walls and under-sink cabinets checked for staining
- Fixtures run and traps refilled
- Visible supply lines and shutoffs looked over
- Thermostats confirmed at your requested setting
- Interior temperature and humidity recorded
- Furnace or boiler confirmed running
- Electrical panel observed for tripped breakers
- Refrigerator and freezer confirmed operating
- Unusual odors, pests or animal signs documented
- 69°F
- Temperature
- 44%
- Humidity
- Power
- On grid
- Water
- No intrusion
January
Year-round care, not summer care.
Anyone can look after a house in July.
05Beyond the walk-through
What we handle besides the property checks.
Vendor coordination is in every plan. Everything else here is billed by the hour, only when you ask for it.
Vendor coordination
In every plan
We find the trade, get the quote, book the work, check it was finished and pass the invoice through at cost. You stop taking calls from a plumber during a workday. Standing at the house for the appointment is trade escort, by the hour.
Arrival preparation
$95 an hour
Tell us you are coming. Heat up, water on and lines flushed, dock in, furniture out, refrigerator stocked, cleaner scheduled. You walk into a house that is awake.
Storm and freeze checks
$95 an hour
When the forecast turns, we go before it hits and again after it passes, or text you first if that is your standing instruction. You get the photographs either way.
Seasonal opening and closing
$95 an hour
Water down and lines blown, systems wintered, dock and furniture in, and the whole thing reversed in the spring on a date you pick.
06Plans
Three plans, one fixed monthly fee.
Compare in detailProperty Care
The essential watch.
$250/ month
Two visits a month
Right for: A well-built home you visit often, in a season you trust.
Book a free walk-through about Property Care
No charge, nothing to sign
Most chosen
Home Stewardship
A weekly presence.
$500/ month
Weekly visits
Right for: The house most owners have, used a dozen weekends a year and empty the rest.
Book a free walk-through about Home Stewardship
No charge, nothing to sign
Estate
A presence twice a week.
$1,000/ month
Twice-weekly visits
Right for: Waterfront, a boathouse, outbuildings, staff, or a house that simply cannot have a bad week.
Book a free walk-through about Estate
No charge, nothing to sign
In every plan
- Full standard checklist, every visit
- Photographed record and a written report
- Owner dashboard and property record
- Interior readings logged every visit
- One named steward with a direct line
- Vendor coordination: quotes, scheduling, invoices
These are the prices for a house up to 4,000 square feet under roof, outbuildings included. Larger than that, we quote after the onboarding walk-through. Anything outside the scheduled visits is $95 an hour, as used. What home watch costs, in full
07Service area
The towns we cover.
We do not take a house we cannot reach quickly, and we would rather turn away work than be an hour late to a burst pipe.
- Home watch in Lake George
- Home watch in Bolton Landing
- Home watch in Saratoga Springs
- Home watch in Queensbury and Glens Falls
- Home watch in Schroon Lake
- Home watch in Lake Luzerne
Not on the list?Ask anyway
New to the phrase? What home watch is, what it is not, and what it costs
08Questions
What owners ask before they hire us.
If yours is not here, ask it directly. We would rather answer an awkward question now than have it come up in February.
Home watch: scheduled visits to a house nobody is living in, documented every time. Property management means tenants and rentals, and we do not do that. Estate management means household staff and a much wider remit. We do the part that keeps the house safe and keeps you informed.
No. New York licenses compensated residential home inspectors, and we do not hold that license or offer that service. Home watch is caretaking: a visual property check, observation and documentation. We tell you what we saw and photograph it. We do not evaluate the condition of a system or certify that anything is safe. When something needs a professional opinion, we bring in a licensed one.
One named steward, assigned to your house, with a backup who also knows it. Not whoever happened to be free that morning. You will know their name, and after a season you will know their handwriting.
Access credentials never go into visit notes or the property record. They are held separately, known only to your steward and their backup, and we tell you if that ever changes. Key handling and alarm registration are set up during onboarding.
You get a phone call, not an email. Then we act to stop the loss: water off, a tarp on it, a call to the vendor who already knows your house. The dashboard shows what we did and when. Anything beyond stopping the bleeding waits for your approval.
Two hours at the house. We walk it with you, photograph everything, record the systems and model numbers, take down every vendor you already trust, and set your preferences: thermostat settings, who is allowed in, how you want to be reached, and whether we go after a storm without asking first. That becomes your property record on day one.
No. Every plan is month to month, billed monthly, with no long-term commitment. Cancel any time and you are not billed for the following month. The property record is yours. If you leave or sell, we export it and hand it over.
In plain terms
What this is, in plain terms.
Northway Home LLC is a home watch service for second homes along the Northway corridor of upstate New York, from Saratoga Springs to Lake George and Schroon Lake. A named steward visits the house on a fixed schedule, twice a month, weekly or twice a week, walks a written 24-line checklist, photographs what they find, records the interior temperature and humidity, and posts a same-day report to an owner dashboard. Plans are $250, $500 and $1,000 a month for a house up to 4,000 square feet; everything outside the scheduled visits is $95 an hour. Home watch is caretaking and documentation, not a home inspection.
- Service
- Home watch and private property care for second homes
- Based in
- Saratoga County, New York
- Service area
- The Northway corridor from Saratoga Springs to Lake George, north to Schroon Lake
- Visit frequency
- Two visits a month, weekly visits or twice-weekly visits
- Monthly fee
- $250, $500 or $1,000 a month, up to 4,000 sq ft
- Everything else
- $95 an hour, billed as used; trade invoices passed through at cost
- Every visit
- 24-line written checklist, photographs, interior readings, same-day report
- Who comes
- One named steward with a direct line, plus a backup who knows the house
- Agreement
- Month to month, billed monthly, cancel any time
- Not
- A home inspection, property management or estate management
Start with a walk around your property.
Two hours, at the house, at no charge. You will get a read on what your home needs, and a written scope and price before anyone asks you to sign anything.