Service
Emergency Coordination
Water is running in your basement and you are asleep in another hemisphere.
Serious findings need a procedure that does not depend on someone improvising. When a representative finds active water, a heating failure in cold weather, evidence of forced entry, storm damage, or an unsafe condition, a defined escalation runs.
The property is documented immediately. Severity is classified. Protective steps within an attendant's scope are taken where they are safe and authorised — closing a shut-off valve is in scope; anything requiring a trade is not. You are contacted through every channel on file. If you cannot be reached within the window you have set, your named secondary and local contacts are called in the order you specified. Appropriate licensed professionals are dispatched under your standing authorisation, and every step is recorded with times.
Two things this is not, both important. It is not an emergency service — for fire, gas odour, medical emergency or crime in progress, the answer is 911, and a representative on site will call them. And it is not 24/7 guaranteed response; attendance is scheduled and depends on availability, distance and conditions. Anyone promising guaranteed emergency response on a vacant home watch plan should be asked exactly what they mean.
Who performs this work
Alberta regulates this work, or it carries risk that belongs with an insured specialist. VacantHomes sources the provider, attends for access, verifies completion and records it against your property — but does not perform the work and does not warrant it.
Common questions
What happens if you find something wrong?
It gets documented, classified, and reported to you, and then it stays open until it is actually resolved.
Every issue found is photographed and recorded with what was observed and where, and given a severity: no concern, monitor, attention recommended, or urgent. The severity determines how fast you hear about it — urgent items are communicated immediately through every channel on file, rather than appearing in a report you read on Thursday.
From there: a recommendation is attached, you decide, any work is coordinated with an appropriately licensed contractor under your authorisation, completion is documented with photographs, and a follow-up visit confirms resolution before the issue closes. Nothing is marked resolved because a contractor said so.
For genuinely serious findings — active water, heating failure in cold weather, evidence of forced entry — a defined escalation runs, including protective steps within an attendant's scope where they are safe and authorised, and escalation to your named secondary contacts if you cannot be reached.
For fire, gas odour, medical emergency or a crime in progress, the answer is 911. That is not a property-care matter and a representative on site will call them.
Can you authorise repairs on my behalf?
Only within limits you set in writing, in advance.
You choose a standing authorisation level: contact me for everything, or authorise urgent protective work up to a stated amount without waiting for a reply. The reason to set one is straightforward — a leak discovered at 2 AM on a Sunday should not wait for an email across time zones before anyone can act.
Standing authorisation covers urgent protective work only: stopping damage from getting worse. It is not a general spending authority, and it does not cover elective repairs, improvements or anything non-urgent, which always come back to you for a decision.
Every authorised expenditure is documented with the reason, the contractor engaged, the work performed and the invoice, attached to the property record.
You can change or withdraw the authorisation at any time.
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