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Bringing Together -
Local Businesses & Your Neighbors in SWFL
Good Neighbor Podcast Estero
EP # 231 Securing Homes and Peace: Bryan Braley's Journey from Insurance to Home Watch Expertise
Discover the fascinating world of home watch services with our guest, Bryan Braley, from ProWatch Home Services. Drawing from his extensive background in property and casualty insurance, Bryan takes us through his unique journey from a DIY handyman to a certified home watch professional in Southwest Florida. You'll learn about the essential role these services play, especially during hurricane season, where proactive measures can mean the difference between safety and disaster. Bryan also clears up common myths—like the idea that new homes are problem-free—and highlights the often-misunderstood business of home watch services.
In our chat, we also get a glimpse into Bryan's life in sunny Southwest Florida, where he juggles his home watch business with an auto concierge service. Originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Bryan now thrives in the vibrant Florida lifestyle, connecting with his community through a shared passion for cars. He shares crucial tips about often-overlooked aspects of homeowners insurance, such as moisture-related claims and the importance of timely documentation for successful claims. Whether you're a Florida homeowner or just curious, get ready to uncover how Brian helps keep homes safe while their owners enjoy peace of mind.
ProWatch Home Services LLC
Bryan Braley
Naples & Marco Island, FL
239-238-6734
Info@prowatchhomeservices.com
prowatchhomeservices.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, cabo, jim Schaller.
Speaker 2:Welcome Good Neighbors to episode number 231 of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today we have Good Neighbor Bryan Braley from ProWatch Home Services. Welcome Hi how's? It going. It is going awesome. I cannot complain, living the life down here in Southwest Florida, so we love it. But let's start off. Obviously, you're in the home services, but let's share with our listeners a little bit more about what you do.
Speaker 3:Sure a pro-watch, a home watch business where I come in and take care of people's homes when they're away whether they're a secondary homeowner and they're snowbirds, or whether they're going on long, extended vacations. I basically come in and take care of their property better than I would my own.
Speaker 2:Very nice, very nice. So let's back up that story a little bit. How did you get involved in this in the first place?
Speaker 3:Well, actually I've been a property and casualty insurance agent now for 15 years. That's my primary job. I started this business because when I moved down here to Naples, florida, five years ago, I was helping my friends, neighbors and family take care of their properties when they were gone. I'm a do-it-yourself handyman and I was able to fix a lot of issues and problems and I have an eye for details, so I would see these issues and problems and get them taken care of. I was what you would call a hobby homewatch person. I wasn't official and then, um a year and a half ago, I decided to make it official and I went and got training over 300 hours of training. I got certified, I got the correct insurance and I launched the ProWatch Home Services LLC so that I could do it at a more professional level.
Speaker 2:I love that. We all have friends or meet people down here that have a house. Come down here for the winter and then head back up north, so a lot of homes are vacant for the winter and then head back up north, so a lot of homes are vacant throughout the year. Let's talk about challenges, whether personally or maybe professionally. We've all had something we've gone through, but come out better on the other side of it. Is there something that's happened along your journey?
Speaker 3:I guess me personally you're talking about personal, not professional, right?
Speaker 2:Well, it could be professional. I mean, you know, we've all been through a lot of obstacles down here in Southwest Florida, for sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I guess I don't want to say that I have because I feel like everything that's kind of happened, kind of happens for a reason and points me down the right path, and whether it's something that's negative or positive, I usually learn something from it and move on. So I can't really point to one thing that I would say did that.
Speaker 2:Well, let's talk about the hurricanes Ian, helene, milton that came through here. How did that affect what you did?
Speaker 3:So it's a lot of work. Think about this how much work is it to get your own piece of property ready? Now imagine doing that for 20 to 30 homes. It's a lot of work and I try to prep my clients as much ahead of time so that it's not so much when there's an actual storm coming. You know, when they leave their house for the season I tell them you know, bring all your furniture in, not just the cushions, bring their furniture in, unless of course they have the automated shutters, then it's okay to leave them out in the lini.
Speaker 3:But a lot of the work has to do with me is moving furniture inside from outside. Planters, welcome mats, those all go airborne. Anything that's going to that could be moved around. I've got to move or secure any food left in the refrigerator, you know, because if that, if the power goes out for a week, that refrigerator, the food's going to go bad and then the refrigerator is going to be professionally cleaned by me or somebody else and that's an added expense. So I try and do as much ahead of time, before they leave, so that they don't have as much expense when these storms do come.
Speaker 3:Um, but I'm always. There's always tons of work for me to do between trying to orchestrate manual shutters being put up by a professional shutter person, which is really hard to find, or by um you or by emptying out their fridge or bringing stuff inside, and then, at the same time, communicating with all of them and trying to get to all of them in a quick fashion. The other thing that happens is a lot of times we don't go into a hurricane watch or hurricane warning to maybe three days before, so you really don't have a lot of time to get all that stuff ready. I ended up getting my own house ready like a week before a storm is going to hit, because I know once we get the notice I'm not going to have time to do it for my own self, so I have to do it mine ahead of time.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Getting a lot of that preventative maintenance done ahead of time is important. So let's talk about the myths or misconceptions surrounding the home watch industry. Maybe we can clear up a couple.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's a lot of them. So I would say one of the number one things I hear all the time is my house is new, nothing's going to happen to it. That's a terrible misconception. I find that a lot of times newer homes have just as many issues, if not more, than older homes, especially when it comes to roof leaks. I have a client that I just picked up, right before Hurricane Milton, who had a brand new $2 million home and thought it's new, it's not a big deal. I went in there were roof leaks. I found three roof leaks that I got addressed very quickly. So that's a misconception.
Speaker 3:Another misconception with our business is that it's a licensed business. A lot of times you'll hear people say that they're licensed and insured. There is no licensing for HomeWatch and the unfortunate thing is when people say that people make the assumption when someone's licensed, that they've gone through the appropriate training and have been somewhat vetted by some kind of entity to get that license and so by them saying that is a big, gross misrepresentation. If you're certified, like me, that does mean that typically, depending on who your certification is from, but some certifications are just, you know, check your insurance and do a quick background check. Some of them require training, along with the background check and insurance as well, and that's what I have actually both of them.
Speaker 2:Very good, very important to have and very important for people to understand the difference between that as well. Let's talk about anything trending or changing in the industry over the last year or so.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would say one of the trends that I see is that people are staying longer and coming back earlier. So you know, our season used to be January to maybe mid April, and now people are. I have clients that stay till middle of June and come back middle to end of October, so and then I also have people who don't even come at all. I have some people that have houses in other countries in Asia and Europe where they're completely. Their staying time here is completely randomized. They may come for a month and then leave for four months. I have one client who comes back here in August because it's too hot where he is in Thailand. He comes here because it's cooler.
Speaker 2:A lot of people would argue about that, but I love the heat so I'm not going to complain. So are you from Southwest Florida originally?
Speaker 3:No, I'm originally from Massachusetts. I grew up on a vacation land called Cape Cod, Massachusetts. So it is a tourist high tourism area, seasonal, just like this, just opposite seasons. You know, our tourist season up there is from June to end of August, so it's pretty short and it's nothing like it is here.
Speaker 2:The weather is much better here pretty short and it's nothing like it is here. The weather is much better here. Yeah, myself I'm from the Midwest, so I can understand People that had boats get out in the summer and use their boats, because there's only a short little window that you can use them Exactly. Talking about outside your job is probably very demanding with managing that many homes, but when you get a moment of free time time, what do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Speaker 3:so another part of my business is I do an auto concierge service and so I'm a very big, very big into the automotive scene. Uh, I know a lot of people in naples as far as getting work done on cars. I have a lot of connections in that industry. I was in that industry in a long, for a long time up in Massachusetts. So I have a lot of connections from whether it's auto body shops, repair service, helping selling a car, transporting a car, detailing a car. I have connections for all that stuff. So one of the things that I also offer to my clients that use me for their home watch is I also can take care of their cars. So anyone that has a house and then they have maybe a couple of cars that they leave in the garage, I help them by taking care of those cars.
Speaker 3:But on the free time I go to a lot of car shows. I was just at cars on fifth um with a car of one of my friends is a multiple cars. He has a collection of cars. You can't drive them all there at the same time. So, um, I was there with his car in the morning. We were there at 6.30 and didn't leave until, you know 4 o'clock, wow. And when I go to these car shows I'm meeting a lot of people and making a lot of connections, not just for myself but for my clients too. So I'm always on the lookout on what would benefit me with my cars, but also what would benefit my clients and their cars.
Speaker 2:Absolutely being involved in the community Very big, very important, especially for what you do. So is there one thing you wish our listeners knew about, what you do that maybe they wouldn't be so familiar with? You mentioned the concierge with the autos or anything else.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I want to say one of the biggest things that a lot of people don't know about is it has to do with their homeowner's insurance and there's a clause in there that has to do with any moisture related claims. And as an insurance agent my other job, as an insurance agent I also have a really good understanding of these policies, how they're written and how. Not necessarily every little thing that is true about a policy will actually be listed in your policy. These things can be very hard to find. They're written by attorneys, but the Cliff Notes version of this is that basically, if you have any kind of a moisture or water claim so that could be, whether it's water damage, mold, mildew, anything like that it has to be discovered within 14 days of its starting. So if you don't have a way of proving to the insurance company it wasn't here on this day, but on day 13 we found it they can deny the claim, and if you don't have a way of proving it, they're going to use their people to determine and they don't want to pay the claim. So of course, they're not going to be on your side.
Speaker 3:So much as to, when did that start? Did that start? So by using a service like mine whether it's mine or anybody else that uses software like I do. It shows the date, the time GPS stamp of when I was in that house, and I use tools and photographs to prove that the air conditioning was working and that the humidity was at the correct levels. And then, when I come back to that house 10 days later or 13 days later, I can then say well, there wasn't a problem here and there is a problem now, and that helps when you're trying to get that insurance claim covered from your insurance company.
Speaker 2:Wow, great, great information. A lot of people aren't aware of that, especially with the insurance companies now. They've been hit hard the last couple of years, so they don't want to pay out anything. They don't. So how would our listeners go about contacting you if they wanted to learn more?
Speaker 3:Well, they can go to visit my website, which is www. prowatchhomeservices. com, or they can call my office line, which is 239-238-6734.
Speaker 2:Perfect, perfect, any last words for our listeners?
Speaker 3:I'd say enjoy the sunshine, absolutely Get outside and enjoy the sun.
Speaker 2:So, hey, bryan, it's been a pleasure getting to know you. Thank you for being such a good neighbor and we hope to see you on the community soon.
Speaker 3:Great Thanks, Jim.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Estero. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Estero. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPEstero. com. That's GNPEstero. com, no-transcript.