What a House Check Includes and What It Costs

A house check is a visit from someone who goes through your home while you're away, looks for problems and tells you what they found. At Peggy's, a visit every two weeks costs $129 a month, and one visit on its own costs $69. This article goes through what you get for that money and what common trips work out to. If your house is in Regina, our page on house checks in Regina has more about local winters and insurance.

What happens on a visit

Here is a typical visit, in the order it usually goes.

1. Outside first. We walk around the house looking for damage, including after a storm or high wind, and check the windows, doors and gates.
2. Then inside. We go through the rooms looking for leaks, damage, pests and anything that looks different from how you left it.
3. The systems. We check the heating, cooling and plumbing. A furnace that has stopped is the problem an empty house can least afford in winter.
4. Keeping things running. We can flush toilets, run faucets, air the house out, check the fridge and freezer, and adjust the light timers.
5. The door and the curb. We bring in mail, flyers and deliveries at no extra cost, and we can put garbage and recycling out on collection day.
6. The report. You get a report after every visit. If something is wrong, we contact you with photos and details, and with your approval we can coordinate repairs.

You decide what's on the list. Bringing in the mail is included. Plant care is an add-on, so ask what it would add to your price. Nobody stays overnight, and we need a key or an access code to get inside. If you're not sure this is the right kind of help, our article on choosing between a house sitter and home watch sets the two side by side.

What it costs

The price depends on how often we come. All of these are in Canadian dollars, before GST, and there is no setup fee.

Package	Schedule	Price
Small	Every 2 weeks	$129 a month
Medium	Weekly	$219 a month
Large	Twice a week	$349 a month
One-time	A single visit	$69
Extra	Extra or emergency visit	$45
Daily	Every day	By quote

Large or unusual properties may need a quote. The full list, including add-ons such as plant care and vehicle start-ups, is on our pricing page.

How much is that per visit?

People do search for how much to pay someone to check on a house once a week, so here is the arithmetic. A year has 52 weeks, which works out to about 4.3 weeks a month. On that basis the weekly package comes to about $51 a visit. A visit every two weeks comes to about $60, and two visits a week come to about $40.

Three trips, worked out

A week or two in the summer

One visit in the middle of the trip costs $69 before GST. That may be all you need if you want someone to look around and bring in the mail. It may not be enough if your insurer has a rule, so ask first.

A month away

The Small package is $129 and covers a visit every two weeks. Medium is $219 and covers one every week. In winter, or if you're worried about an older furnace, the extra visits are what you're paying for.

Four months over the winter

Before GST, four months comes to $516 on Small, $876 on Medium and $1,396 on Large. Our snowbird guide covers the rest of what to arrange for a trip that long.

Ask your insurer before you pick

If your home insurance has a rule about how often someone must check the house, that rule should set your schedule. A price comparison comes second. Rules differ between insurers, and some ask for a daily check. We can't tell you that any schedule of ours meets your policy, so confirm it with your insurer before you book. Our article on how often someone should check an empty house has the questions to ask.

Where we do this

We do house checks in Regina and in Saskatoon. The prices above are the same in both, and you can read about home watch in Saskatoon on its own page. To see what's involved locally, or to give us your dates, start with home watch in Regina.