As a shameless rule follower, I’ve been playing by the rules ever since I was consciously allocating funds for business cards.
The Watch Guard certification was for some time a little-known requirement and for the early pioneers and comparatively few that knew what was required to engage in there industry, there was a natural disdain for those who skirted the rules, didn’t qualify for the requirements and/or had little concern over the matter.
For those engaging in home watch, this requirement does not mean the applicant is in any way affiliated with the Massachusetts State Police for as cool as the certificate may be. That said, those who posses the credential, whether they represent themselves or legions of employees, rightly signal to the consumer that they have acquired three endorsements from the general public, cleared a personal interview with a representative of the Massachusetts State Police Certification Unit, passed a background check and by extension and as a condition of annual renewal, submit to a refreshed background check each year. While this should serve as a wonderful layer of comfort to the consumer, it is not a badge as anyone reading this with a clean record may obtain their own certificate today.
Way back when, I had these credentials wallpapered on my webpage to not only signal that I played by the rules but in retrospect I wanted to push back on the part time crowd that was entering the market in order to scoop up passive income. With the common areas remaining on those old pages, I would also flaunt the National Home Watch Association of which I was a board member back when the earth was cooling. This organization is invaluable to entry level home watch companies nationwide and membership, in part, is subject to vetting state requirements such as the watch certification. Jack Luber, founder and fearless leader, is a passionate leader with boundless energy. That said, travel, events and mentoring wasn’t my cup of tea and I graciously phased out of membership.
It wasn’t until recently that I noticed the annual influx of watch companies on the Cape who, just getting started, had reflexively highlighted these credentials as I had once done. While it has been well over a decade since building my base evolved into maintaining my base by backfilling a handful of openings that retired to the Cape full- time or sold, it struck me when reading through these sites that if I had to rebuild tomorrow, I would lean entirely on relative experience rather than certificates and memberships.
Among the two, one touted decades of experience running a company with over 400 employees while highlighting annual revenue and the other trumpeted a rather impressive resume related entirely to the hospitality business. Setting aside a glaring lack of relative experience when it comes to the functionality of a home, the trend transcends those playing by the rules. Twenty years ago, there were three watch companies working in open air and playing by the rules. Today, the consumer choice would be akin to picking a seagull having thrown a French fry on the beach.
Beyond the well-intended newcomers, there are dozens of landscapers, bartenders, housekeepers, painters, first responders… that have tapped into the market for passive or gap income and that is not entirely bad as the true essence of home watch is predicated on trust. Given the choice, I’m certain most would lean on their lawn guy of 10 years before turning the keys over to someone recently semi-retired after 30 years running a hotel chain properly licensed, bonded and insured or not. Having checked the trust box, the next criteria has to be resources as anyone can report three feet of water in your basement but who are they calling next? Anyone starting up in the home watch market will learn quickly that he or she is only as good as the people around them. A deep and diverse bench of time tested and responsive subcontractors and vendors is vital.
In terms of relative experience, could the water in the basement calamity have been avoided if someone had only caught the aging and oxidized fitting over the boiler? In this moment, a clean record and certification is rather arbitrary.
To be sure, if I were to spin up this perspective 10 or 15 years ago when still striving to hit my cap on customer volume, it could only be interpreted as self-serving but after 28 seasons while still maintaining my construction license, my +/- 10 available spots to backfill annually are usually gobbled up by those coming off of a bad experience elsewhere and so much as I don’t wish an avoidable issue on any unsuspecting homeowner, those moments of misfortune have a way of policing the industry through word-of-mouth.
