Home Watch in San Miguel de Allende: What Gets Checked and How Often

What is home watch and how is it different from house sitting?

Home watch is a recurring documented inspection by a professional who does not live in your house. House sitting places a person inside it. Watch is cheaper, more systematic, and leaves a written record you can hand to an insurer. Sitting gives occupancy but rarely gives inspection discipline or reporting.

Most owners here want the record more than the occupancy. That is what our home watch service is built around.

What gets checked on a home watch visit?

Water first: cistern and tinaco levels, pump operation, pressure at taps, visible leaks, and toilet seals. Then roof and drains, breaker panel and visible wiring, gas line and tank, damp on walls and ceilings, window and door seals, security of gates and locks, and garden or pool condition.

Traps are run on unused drains so sewer gas does not enter the house. Faucets are opened so seals do not dry out. These two small habits prevent a surprising share of the complaints we hear from owners returning after a long absence.

How often should home watch visits happen?

Weekly year round is the baseline for an unoccupied home in San Miguel, moving to twice weekly from June through September when rain finds every weak point in a roof. Houses with pools, wells, or large gardens stay on the higher frequency permanently because those systems fail on their own schedule.

If you are comparing providers, compare visit counts per month and the written scope of each visit. Price differences almost always trace back to one of those two lines.

What does rainy season do to an empty house here?

Rain exposes every flat roof detail: blocked bajadas, failed sealant at parapets, cracked mortar, and clogged canales. Water then travels sideways through masonry and shows up as a stain in a room nowhere near the entry point. Two visits a week during rains is the difference between sealant and reconstruction.

Humidity also brings mold in closed rooms. Cross ventilation on each visit, and dehumidifiers where needed, keeps a shut house from smelling like one when you return.

Does home watch help with insurance claims?

It helps considerably. Insurers ask when damage began and what care the property received. Dated photo reports establish both. A house with a documented weekly inspection history is a far easier claim than a house nobody entered for five months.

Keep the reports. Our owner resources page covers what documentation to hold on to and for how long.

What is not included in home watch?

Watch is inspection and reporting, not labor. Cleaning, gardening, pool service, repairs, and guest turnover are separate. Many owners bundle watch with full property stewardship so one team both finds the problem and fixes it, which removes the coordination burden entirely.

If the house also earns income, coordinate watch with rental management so inspection weeks fall between bookings rather than during them.