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OCTOBER 17, 2026

A Storm-Prep Checklist for the House You Are Watching

There is a moment in a home-watch business when the forecast turns serious and every client with an empty house starts thinking the same thing: is anyone watching it. Whether or not the house is actually at risk, the business that communicates well through a storm is the one that gets the renewal, the referral, and the review that follows.

The work is not glamorous and it does not scale without a system. What it does require is a short, repeatable list, a report that goes out the same way every time, and a record of the property's condition before and after. Those three things are the difference between "we were watching it" and something you can actually show.

Before the storm: the exterior sweep

Most damage that matters in a storm is preventable, and most of it is on the outside of the house. A pre-storm walk should be a short, fixed list rather than a judgement call, so it gets done the same way when the sky is dark and nobody wants to drive out.

• Gutters and downspouts. Clear of leaves and debris, and discharging away from the foundation.
• Water supply. If the house is vulnerable, shut off and drain the lines when the local guidance says to.
• Air conditioning and house fans. Off before the outage, not after.
• Loose property. Porch furniture, planters, grills, tools, bins, and anything decorative that could become a projectile.
• Doors and windows. Storm panels, shutters, and garage doors secured or closed.
• The house itself. Mail and trash in, hose bibs covered, exterior lights off.

Photograph the important items as you go. Not the whole property, but the specific things you are relying on, dated, so you can show the condition of the house before the weather arrived.

During: safety before service

The instinct to drive out during a storm is strong and usually wrong. High wind, downed lines, and flooding create more risk than most house-watch situations justify, and clients do not expect their watcher to be a hero about it.

Stay available, keep the phone on, and follow local guidance. If the power fails, the useful part of the plan happens after the worst of it passes: check for standing water, check for a burning smell near electrical panels, and check the basement, crawlspace, and attic if the weather allowed it. Photograph anything unusual immediately, because that photograph is worth a great deal later.

After: the damage walk, from the same angles

When it is safe to go back, walk the property again and take photos from roughly the same positions as the pre-storm sweep. Matching angles make the comparison obvious, and comparison is what turns a photograph into evidence. Note the date and time of every shot.

Then send a short report, in the same format as every other visit: what you checked, what you found, what you did, what happens next. Keep it factual. If something looks like it needs a professional, say so plainly and recommend the inspection, without speculating about what caused the damage.

When damage does happen, the photos and the dates are what a claim is built on. Insurers ask for evidence of condition before the event, not a description of it afterwards, and a dated pre-storm record is often the difference between a smooth claim and a slow one.

Report it the same way every time

The clients who remember you in a good way are usually not the ones you did something dramatic for. They are the ones who heard from you on schedule, every time, including the times when the honest answer was that nothing had changed.

So keep the storm report in the same shape as the routine report, with the extra detail folded in. A client should be able to read a storm update and a Tuesday update and know exactly what they are looking at. It also means your record stays consistent for the claim, the renewal conversation, and the next storm.

ClientSpine gives home-watch clients a branded portal where visit updates and photos live alongside their documents, their key dates, and a message thread, with each update delivered by email or push notification. Storm reports go out in the same format as every other visit, the photos stay attached to the property's own record, and the owner has a permanent, dated history of what was done and what was found.