Getting Started: Your First Week with HomeWatchTools

Welcome to HomeWatchTools. This guide walks you through everything you need to do to go from a fresh account to a fully operational business — adding your first clients, running your first visit, and sending your first invoice. Each step is short. None of them are permanent — you can change anything later. If you ever get stuck, the Help menu inside the app links straight to support.

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Step 1: Set Up Your Business Profile (5 minutes)

Your business profile is what appears on reports, invoices, and communications. Do this first so everything you send looks professional from day one.

1. Sign in at app.homewatchtools.com and open Settings → Business Profile.
2. Enter your Business Name — this appears on every report and invoice.
3. Upload your Logo (optional but strongly recommended — clients notice branded reports).
4. Set your Business Timezone to match where your properties are. This affects timestamps on reports.
5. Set your default Payment Terms (e.g., Net 7, Net 15, Net 30). These pre-fill on every invoice.
6. Add your Business Address and Phone Number.
7. Click Save.

Tip: If you work with a team, do this before inviting anyone — they'll see your completed profile right away.

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Step 2: Add Your First Client and Property (5 minutes)

Every visit, report, and invoice connects to a property owned by a client. Start here.

Add the client

1. Open Clients in the left sidebar and click Add New Client.
2. Fill in the Client Name, Primary Contact Name, Email, and Phone Number.
3. Click Add Client and Property — this skips back to a form with the client already selected, so you can add their home right away.

Add the property

1. Enter the Street Address, City, State, and Zip Code.
2. (Optional) Set a Property Type (Residential, Condo, Vacation Rental, etc.) and Square Footage — these appear on reports.
3. Add Access Notes: the gate code, alarm code, where the key is. This is what your tech reads before they knock.
4. Click Save Property.

One client can have multiple properties. A snowbird with a beach house and a mountain cabin is a single client with two properties — you manage them all from one record.

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Step 3: Build a Checklist Template (10 minutes)

A checklist template is the blueprint for your inspection. You build it once; every visit you schedule uses it automatically.

The fastest start: HomeWatchTools includes built-in system templates you can use right away. Go to Checklists, open a system template, and look it over. If it fits how you work, you can use it as-is for now and customize it later.

To build your own:

1. Open Checklists and click New Template.
2. Give it a name (e.g., "Standard Residential Visit").
3. Add Categories (Interior, Exterior), Sub-Categories inside each (Kitchen, Living Room, Roof, Pool), and Items inside each sub-category ("Check under sink for leaks", "Inspect roof for visible damage").
4. Set the response type for each item — Pass/Fail/N/A for yes-or-no checks, Yes/No/N/A for simple confirmations.
5. Drag items up or down to match how a tech physically walks the property.
6. Click Save Changes.

Tip: Start simple. Five well-chosen categories with 6–8 items each is better than a 100-item list that your tech rushes through. You can always add more.

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Step 4: Create Your First Schedule (5 minutes)

A schedule tells HomeWatchTools how often to visit a property and generates the individual visit records automatically.

1. Open Schedules and click New Schedule.
2. Select the Property you just added and the Checklist Template you just built.
3. Set the Start Date and End Date for the season (for example, May 1 through October 31).
4. Enter the Number of Visits you're contracted for (e.g., 26 for bi-weekly visits over six months).
5. Click Save — HomeWatchTools creates all the visits, spread evenly across your date range.

Back on the Schedules list, you'll see your new schedule with a progress counter (0 / 26, for example). Your visits are ready.

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Step 5: Set the Billing Rate on the Property (2 minutes)

Before you create any invoices, tell HomeWatchTools what to charge for this property so invoices get drafted with the right numbers.

1. Open the property you created and go to its Billing tab.
2. Set the Base Rate (your per-visit fee).
3. Add any Additional Line Items that always appear on this property's invoices (e.g., "Pool check — $15").
4. Choose the Billing Model:
   • Invoice each visit — a draft invoice is created automatically each time a visit is completed.
   • Monthly roll-up — visits accumulate through the month; you bill them all at once from Ready to Bill.
   • Manual — you create invoices yourself whenever you want.
5. Save.

See the Billing Models guide for a full explanation of each option.

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Step 6: Install the App on Your Phone (2 minutes)

HomeWatchTools runs in any browser, but it works best when installed as an app on your phone — especially for field work, where you need offline access and a quick tap to start a visit.

1. Open HomeWatchTools in your phone's browser and sign in.
2. Tap your browser's Share or Menu button and choose Add to Home Screen.
3. It appears on your home screen like any other app and opens full screen.

Once installed, your upcoming visits are pre-loaded on the device so the checklist, photos, and sign-off all work even without a cell signal. Everything syncs the moment you reconnect.

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Step 7: Complete Your First Visit (10 minutes)

Now let's actually run a visit. You can do this on your own home as a practice run before your first real client visit.

1. Open Visits. Your generated visits are listed here. Find the one you want to run and tap Start Visit.
2. Check in — tap Check In & Start Visit to capture your GPS location and timestamp, or Skip Check-In if you prefer. Either way, you move into the checklist.
3. Work through the checklist. For each item, tap Pass, Fail, or N/A. Add a note or photo to anything worth documenting — especially anything you'd flag.
4. When every item is marked, tap Review Visit.
5. In the review screen, add any Final Notes and an optional Digital Signature.
6. Tap Complete Visit.

The visit is now complete. A visit report is created automatically.

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Step 8: Send the Report (1 minute)

1. Open Visit Reports and find the report you just created.
2. Click Send Report.
3. Choose which contacts to send it to (the primary contact, secondary contact, or both).
4. Add an optional personal note.
5. Click Send.

Your client receives an email with a link to their PDF report. You can see when it was delivered, opened, and clicked from the Email Activity section on the report page.

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Step 9: Create and Send Your First Invoice (5 minutes)

If you set the property to Invoice each visit, a draft invoice was already created when you completed the visit — go to Invoices to find it and send it.

If you're creating it manually:

1. Open Invoices and click New Invoice.
2. Select the Client and Property.
3. Click Pull in visits to add the completed visit as a line item automatically.
4. Add any extra charges if needed.
5. Click Create Invoice. It saves as a draft.
6. Open the draft and click Send to Client. Your client receives the invoice by email with a secure payment link.

If you've connected Stripe (Settings → Billing → Connect with Stripe), your client can pay the invoice by card in a couple of clicks. See Accepting Online Payments with Stripe for setup instructions.

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You're Up and Running

Here's what you've done:

• Set up your business profile
• Added a client and their property
• Built an inspection checklist
• Scheduled recurring visits
• Completed a visit
• Sent a report
• Sent an invoice

From here, you can scale this to every client and property in your roster. The pattern is always the same: client → property → checklist template → schedule → visit → report → invoice.

What to explore next

• Organizing Properties with Service Areas — group properties by neighborhood for easier scheduling
• Offering Concierge Services — track and bill add-on work like storm prep and vendor meetings
• Inviting Your Team and Setting Roles — bring your field techs on board
• Giving Homeowners a Client Portal — let clients view reports and pay invoices themselves
• Understanding Your Dashboard — your daily command center