Home Watch — Petoskey, Harbor Springs & Walloon Lake

A Closed-Up House

Your house sits empty most of the winter, and most of what goes wrong in a closed-up Northern Michigan home goes wrong slowly.

A line weeps behind a wall. The heat drops. Mice find a gap.

By the time anyone notices in May, it isn't a repair anymore.

Who Comes To The House

Dalton & Selena

We're Dalton and Selena McNeely, and we look after seasonal homes around Petoskey, Harbor Springs and Walloon through the winter. It's always the two of us who show up — never a stranger, never someone you haven't met.

What A Visit Is

The same walk-through every time, in the same order.

Weekly or every other week, depending on how long your home sits empty. Most seasonal policies up here have something to say about how long a house can go unchecked — worth a look at yours, and we'll set your schedule around it.

Water — supply lines, fixtures, the water heater, anywhere wet that shouldn't be
Heat and HVAC — running, and the house actually holding temperature
Electrical, security, doors and windows
Pests and odors — usually the first sign of something else
Thermal imaging — once a month through the cold season, which finds the wet wall and the hot breaker before either shows on the surface
Storm checks — whenever the weather gives us a reason
You'll get a dated report with photos after every visit, so you always know how your home is doing. And if you ever need to show your insurance company it was being looked after, it's already written down.

When Something's Wrong

You hear it from us the same day.

When it's urgent

Water where it shouldn't be, the heat down, anything that gets worse by the hour — we call you right then, standing in the house.

When it's smaller

A slow drip, a cracked seal, a branch that came down — you'll get a text from us the same day, and it goes in your report with photos and what we think it needs.

You'll never find out in May.

Just So You Know

This is home watch on its own.

We're there to look after your home and keep watch over it through the winter. Cleaning isn't part of this one — we'd rather tell you that plainly than have you wondering.

What It Costs

One monthly amount for the months you're gone — for most of the homes we watch, that's October until sometime in spring. It's priced to your home and how often we're there, and it doesn't change partway through the season.

We don't charge you for the months you're home.

We'd love to hear about your home.

We'll walk the home with you, get to know it, and put your number in writing the next morning. Feel free to call or text us anytime.

Dalton & Selena McNeely

231 881 6338

Our main program is the membership — cleaning and home watch on every visit, all year, kept to ten homes. Home watch on its own is for the home that just needs watching over. More about the membership.