One of my father's friends has a wife, Dianne, who does home watch. She would take hours writing out all her notes and observations of the state of the house she was checking and then would type it out when got home so she could send email reports to her customers. She has been running this business for quite a while and it surprises me that she has not found a more efficient way of doing home watch. My dad ended up creating a software for her to use to create check list templates for each of her customers so that she doesn't have to spend so much time writing out all the notes of what she checked. It seems obvious that people should have check lists for each house that they can just print out instead of writing the same detailed notes every time, but many people may not be aware of their inefficiency such as Dianne. I know there are other home watchers who use a software called QRIDit to create templates so they don't have to spend so much time writing out reports to their customers, but I am about 60% sure that there is still room in the market because QRIDit is quite expensive.
Ask 3 different people (who are facing the problem) questions:
1. Middle aged man from Sebring, Florida
Do you often feel you spend too long writing down all the components of the house you are checking?
2. Woman in her 60s from Palm City, Florida- Certified with National Home Watch Association
Do you often feel you spend too long writing down all the components of the house you are checking?
3. Woman in her 60s from Hypoluxo, Florida- Certified with National Home Watch Association
Do you often feel you spend too long writing down all the components of the house you are checking?
It seems that home watchers only have the problem of of taking too long to record their notes as they are starting their businesses- a relatively short window of opportunity. Home watchers soon look online for a solution or hear about programs from customers and others in the National Home Watch Association. Each of the people I talked to had a different solution to the same problem- one creates his own checklists and two use software which format these lists for them. Software solutions include QRIDit and IAuditor. I was surprised to hear how kind and open one of the home watch ladies was to me, suggesting that she was open to new ways of organizing the information she has for each home she checks when doing home watch if I had a solution. After the first two interviews I was sure that there was no opportunity at all.
Summary:
1. Middle aged man from Sebring, Florida
Do you often feel you spend too long writing down all the components of the house you are checking?
- Not really, I have a checklist that I go through, fitted to each customer. If something goes wrong that’s not on the checklist I make notes.
- Each list customized- some want me to turn washer on, others to recharge their golf cart battery
- The first year I tumbled through, but after that I joined the National Home Watch Association- they taught me, once I was certified, all sorts of things. I used the questions they asked for the certification in creating my checklists
- Yes, I tweak it as I go along, if the list is missing anything or if a customer asks me to do something new, I add to the checklists
2. Woman in her 60s from Palm City, Florida- Certified with National Home Watch Association
Do you often feel you spend too long writing down all the components of the house you are checking?
- It usually takes about an hour but that varies depending on the size of the house- but writing down what I see is no problem.
- I didn't have I got QRIDit immediately upon starting my home watch business. I use that checklist and it has a GPS service as well
- I am very satisfied with QRIDit
3. Woman in her 60s from Hypoluxo, Florida- Certified with National Home Watch Association
Do you often feel you spend too long writing down all the components of the house you are checking?
- I work with a program, most of the time I spend at a house is actually just me looking around it
- When I started my home watch business, my first customer asked what program I used- to show everything I looked at you know- I didn't even know there were programs! So I looked online and found a program called Iauditor and created some check lists. When I got to my next customer I was so proud, I had my list all printed out
- With IAuditor I can just create a templates and I send pictures and add things
- I'm comfortable with I'm using but I am interested in seeing what is out there. I looked at QRIDit but it is pretty pricey. If you're creating anything, I'd be interested to see it.
It seems that home watchers only have the problem of of taking too long to record their notes as they are starting their businesses- a relatively short window of opportunity. Home watchers soon look online for a solution or hear about programs from customers and others in the National Home Watch Association. Each of the people I talked to had a different solution to the same problem- one creates his own checklists and two use software which format these lists for them. Software solutions include QRIDit and IAuditor. I was surprised to hear how kind and open one of the home watch ladies was to me, suggesting that she was open to new ways of organizing the information she has for each home she checks when doing home watch if I had a solution. After the first two interviews I was sure that there was no opportunity at all.
Summary:
I realize that the market I am shooting for is much smaller that I had originally thought. Only people who are just starting a home watch business will run into the problem of not having a checklist or software in to hasten the reporting stage of their work- this narrows the focus of my opportunity. I now would have a better idea of my target market if I were to be providing a good or service to remedy the problem.
I believe that often a product can stay true to its core purpose, and still be adjusted to a different market or to serve different purposes than was originally intended. If it is a trend that people want a certain product with features that are similar to or can branch off of the core idea of the thing, I see nothing wrong with adapting the product to the markets desires a little to make them more likely to buy it, it is necessary in fact if you want to sell at all.
I believe that often a product can stay true to its core purpose, and still be adjusted to a different market or to serve different purposes than was originally intended. If it is a trend that people want a certain product with features that are similar to or can branch off of the core idea of the thing, I see nothing wrong with adapting the product to the markets desires a little to make them more likely to buy it, it is necessary in fact if you want to sell at all.
Hi Jarred,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting business that I was unaware existed and was profitable. I am a bit confused as to how you found anyone who was in this business, but it seems that they have a good understanding currently of what software is available for them to use. From what I understand this business is about watching a house when the owners are away. If this is current, then often times there is no money to be made in this business considering that people will simply ask their neighbors to look after their home while they are out on vacation. Regardless of the alternatives to this business type if you believe that money can be made doing this then I see the biggest problem being that people do not know of this service. Consider how you would find customers and let them know how your business is better then the competition. I also, see pricing as extremely important because, I have no idea what this service would cost and a doubt very many people do.
This is the first I have ever heard of home watching. Honestly I was not sure what you meant until towards the bottom of the article. In my opinion there does not seem to be a profitable income for doing such things. I would much rather pay a neighbor or a family friend to physically live in or stop by the home on a frequent basis. I believe that if someone had a company strictly for this they would have to branch out to doing full security or home maintenance to even try to stay above water to run a company. I would have not even known there was software or anyone that actually did this line of work for a job until this article.
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