Pricing, in the open
What home watch costs in Lake George, Saratoga Springs and the Northway corridor.
Most home watch and property management companies in the Lake George region quote after a visit and do not publish a number. We publish ours. Here is what home watch costs, what each price buys, and what is billed separately.
In short
Home watch from Northway Home LLC costs $250 a month for two visits a month, $500 a month for weekly visits, or $1,000 a month for twice-weekly visits, for a house up to 4,000 square feet from Saratoga Springs to Lake George. Every plan includes the same written checklist, photographs, owner dashboard and named steward. Anything outside the scheduled visits, such as storm checks, seasonal opening and closing, or meeting a contractor, is $95 an hour, and trade invoices are passed through at cost.
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01The monthly fee
Three prices, set by how often we come.
| Plan | Visits | A month | Per visit | A year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Property Care | Two visits a month | $250 | about $125 | $3,000 |
| Home Stewardship | Weekly visits | $500 | about $115 | $6,000 |
| Estate | Twice-weekly visits | $1,000 | about $115 | $12,000 |
The per-visit figure is the honest way to compare plans: weekly and twice-weekly cost the same per visit, and the smallest plan carries a small premium for the lowest commitment. 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, and the quote is written down before you sign anything.
02What the fee buys
Every plan includes the same seven things.
- 01Scheduled property checks, at the frequency you chose
- 02Full standard checklist, every visit
- 03Photographed record and a written report
- 04Owner dashboard and property record
- 05Interior readings logged every visit
- 06One named steward with a direct line
- 07Vendor coordination: quotes, scheduling, invoices
The only thing that changes between plans is how often someone is standing in your house. The checklist, the photographs, the dashboard, the named steward and the vendor coordination are the same on every plan. What a visit checks
03Billed by the hour
Everything else is $95 an hour.
Anything that takes us to the house outside the scheduled visits is billed as used at one published rate, so an owner who visits twice a year is not subsidizing one who visits twenty times. Trade invoices are passed through at cost; we do not mark up other people’s work.
- Arrival and departure preparation$95 / hour
- The house opened, brought to temperature, run through and checked before you arrive. Secured, emptied and reset after you leave. Most visits run three to five hours across the pair.
- Trade escort at the house$95 / hour
- Meeting a contractor at the house and staying for the appointment. The hours on site are the only part you pay for. Finding the trade, getting the quote, booking it, checking the work and handling the invoice are in every plan.
- Storm and freeze checks$95 / hour
- An extra visit after weather that could have done damage: high wind, heavy snow load, an ice storm, a hard freeze, a long power cut. We watch the forecast for the corridor. Whether we go without asking or text you first is a standing instruction you set at onboarding. Either way, you get the photographs.
- Seasonal opening$95 / hour
- Water recharged, systems tested and the house brought back for the season. A licensed plumber does the water work and bills you at cost; we schedule, attend and document it.
- Seasonal closing$95 / hour
- Water shut and drained, traps protected, the house set for winter. Same arrangement: a licensed plumber at cost, us on site and on the record.
- Annual property review$95 / hour
- Once a year, on request, we go through the whole record and tell you what is coming: the roof with three winters left in it, the water heater at year eleven, what to budget and roughly when. Written down, not a conversation you have to remember.
04How it compares
What the alternatives cost, and what they are.
A neighbor or a caretaker who drives by. Free or nearly so, and worth exactly what it costs when something goes wrong inside the house. A drive-by does not open the door, run a fixture or read a thermostat, and there is no record afterwards.
Property management. Usually priced as a percentage of rental income, because the service is renting your house out and handling tenants. If you are not renting, you are paying for a service you do not use.
Estate management. Household staff, grounds crews and a single point of contact for everything, priced to match. Right for a large property with a full calendar; more than a lake house needs.
Doing nothing. A supply line lets go at roughly six gallons a minute. Over the week between one weekend and the next, that is more than sixty thousand gallons into a finished basement. The difference between a plumber and a general contractor is usually the number of days before someone noticed.
05Service area
Home watch, town by town.
- Lake George
about 30 minutes from our base
- Bolton Landing
about 45 minutes from our base
- Saratoga Springs
about 5 minutes from our base
- Queensbury and Glens Falls
about 20 minutes from our base
- Schroon Lake
about 55 minutes from our base
- Lake Luzerne
about 30 minutes from our base
06Questions
Questions about the price.
Asked by owners comparing us with a quote they were given verbally.
Home watch in Lake George from Northway Home LLC costs $250 a month for two visits a month, $500 a month for weekly visits, or $1,000 a month for twice-weekly visits. The same prices apply across the corridor from Saratoga Springs to Schroon Lake, for a house up to 4,000 square feet under roof, outbuildings included.
About $125 a visit on the two visits a month plan, and about $115 a visit on the weekly and twice-weekly plans. Weekly and twice-weekly cost the same per visit; the smallest plan carries a small premium for the lowest commitment.
No. The monthly fee covers the scheduled visits and everything listed on the plans page. Anything that takes us to the house outside the scheduled visits is $95 an hour, billed as used and shown on the dashboard with the hours and photographs attached. Trade invoices are passed through at cost and never marked up.
Usually, for a house that is not rented. Property management is priced as a percentage of rental income because the service is renting the house out and handling tenants. Home watch is a fixed monthly fee for scheduled checks of an empty house. If you are not renting, you are paying a property manager for a service you do not use.
Waterfront, docks and boathouses are on the standard checklist and do not change the price. The published prices hold for a house up to 4,000 square feet under roof, outbuildings included; above that, we quote in writing after the onboarding walk-through.
Get a written price for your house.
Two hours at the house, at no charge. You get the plan we would recommend, in writing, with the number on it.