The Property Screen

The Property Screen is the one place where everything related to a particular property is located. Start by selecting Properties from the left-hand menu to see a list of all of the properties in your company.

The list shows your Active properties by default; use the status filter to switch to Non-Home-Watch or Inactive properties. The search box matches on the property name, address or route, and you can also filter by tag.

To add a new property, click Add Property at the top of the Properties list. To open an existing property, click its row.

When adding a new property, fill in the basics — the property name, the address and the initial homeowner contact (first name, last name, phone and email) — and click Create Property. As you type the address, matching addresses from Google Maps are suggested; pick the correct one so the property geocodes properly. You are then taken to the full Property Screen described below.

Once in the Property Screen you will notice twelve tabs across the top. We’ll cover each tab in turn.

The Overview Tab

Property Name doesn’t have to be the customer’s actual name — it can be a property name or identifier you wish to use throughout the system. It must be unique within your company.

Address is the full street, city, state and postal code address. As you type, addresses are looked up for you; select one from the list to populate the field. If you do not enter or select a valid address the property cannot sync to your reporting system and will not show accurately on maps or in route planning, so please make sure to select an address from the list provided. The Location card shows the map position that was found; you can adjust the latitude and longitude if the pin is wrong.

Mailing Address is used when the customer’s billing address differs from the property address. Route groups properties you visit together, like “North Loop”. Pick one from the list or create a new one; a property can have more than one. The Properties list shows each property’s route and can show one route at a time, and the Route calendar uses routes to group your visits. See Routes and the Route Calendar.

The Home Watch customer switch is on for properties you service. Turn it off to mark a property Non-Home-Watch — it stays active, but no longer receives Home Watch service and is kept off your day-to-day lists. Use this for clients from other lines of business that synced in from your accounting system but should not appear in HWIT.

The Property Status card is where you make a property Inactive (which also marks the customer inactive in your accounting software) or Reactivate it later. Making a property inactive permanently removes its schedules and incomplete reports; completed reports and the rest of the history remain.

You can also add a property photo and apply Tags to the property from this tab (see Using Tags).

The Contacts Tab

The Contacts tab lists everyone associated with the property. Click Add Contact to add one, or click a contact’s row to edit it.

Each contact has a first name, last name, display name, email address, phone numbers and a relationship/role. The switches on the contact control what they receive:

• Property Contact — someone associated with the property itself. This can be an owner or a service provider. Property Contacts are the people offered when you use Send Email to Contacts.
• Receive Reports — turn this on so that this contact receives reports once completed. You can send your reports to as many different contacts for the property as needed.
• Accounting Contact — whatever information is on this contact is what syncs to/from your accounting system for this property/customer. You can only have one accounting contact per property.
• Receive Invoices — this person receives the invoices when generated (this is for QuickBooks only and has no effect with Zoho, as Zoho manages multiple addresses in its own system).
• Access Customer App — this contact may log into the Customer App (HWIT Access) for this property, once the Customer App is turned on for your company (see Set up Customer App access).

The Security Tab

Here you will enter any information related to the security and alarm of the property — gate codes, alarm codes, key locations and similar.

The Notes Tab

This tab lets you view or edit any notes pertaining to this property, grouped by category. Click Add / Edit Notes to fill them in. You can change the categories and descriptions offered here from Lists → Notes Prompts — please see the Notes documentation for more information.

The Attachments Tab

Store files (photos, contracts, invoice PDFs, etc.) against the property, organized into folders. See Attaching Files to Properties.

The Reports Tab

This is where you set up anything related to reports for this property. Start with the Default Report Template: select the base template to use when doing a report on this property. Note that you can also set a template on each Schedule for the property, which takes priority.

The Send reports by email and Send reports by text switches control whether completed reports go out to this property’s Receive Reports contacts. You will also see the history of reports for the property, and Create New Report lets you add a one-off report or task without a schedule. Opening a report from here and closing it brings you back to this tab. Each report’s own Billing list shows the charges it produced and which invoice they went on (Tracing Billing Between Reports and Invoices).

Note that reports are only sent automatically if Auto email reports on completion is turned on in Settings → Report Options (see Report Email Settings).

Attributes

The Attributes card, under Report Defaults, describes the property — Elevator, Pool, Wine Cellar, Generator. Templates show or hide sections and questions based on these, so one template can fit many different homes: a property tagged Pool gets the pool section, the rest never see it.

Click in the box and type. Pick a name from the list, or type a new one and choose Create to add it. Click the × on a name to remove it. Changes save straight away.

The list of names is shared across your company and includes names already used in your templates. Capitals don’t matter — pool and Pool are the same attribute — but spelling does, so pick from the list where you can.

To set up the template side, see Showing Questions by Property Attributes.

The Schedules Tab

Lists the recurring schedules for this property and lets you add, edit or delete them without leaving the property. See Adding a Schedule.

The Billing Tab

You can set up the billing information for the property here — the Rates & Terms card (Visit Rate, Concierge Rate and Emergency Rate on the first row; Terms and Home Watch Billing Item on the second; then the default vendor markup and the Add Surcharge switch), the Automatic payment card when your company uses it (Automatic Payment (Autopay)) and the Subscription card for a fixed monthly fee. These are covered in more detail in the Invoicing documentation and Managing Subscription Billing.

The Actions Tab

Follow-up items raised for this property — from reports, from the Customer App, or added by hand. See Intro to Actions.

The Vendors Tab

The vendors linked to this property and any markup overrides. See Adding and Editing Vendors.

The Assets Tab

The equipment and systems tracked at this property. See Introduction to Home Assets.

The Forms/Agreements Tab

Forms and agreements sent to this property’s contacts, their status, and the completed PDFs. See Forms and Agreements.

Frequently asked questions

Should I add a new customer in HWIT or in QuickBooks / Zoho Books first?

Either order works, because customer data syncs both ways between HWIT and your accounting system. Starting in HWIT is usually the simpler path: you enter the property once — address, contacts, security and notes — and the customer record in QuickBooks or Zoho Books is created by the sync. If you start in the accounting system, the customer syncs into HWIT, but you then still open the property in HWIT to finish the details the accounting system does not hold. So the recommendation is: create new customers in HWIT and let the accounting system follow.

Other things to note

• Once a property is entered it cannot be deleted, it can only be made inactive. This is due to rules from the accounting software and to be able to retain the historical reports, invoices, etc. for that customer. If you feel you want to COMPLETELY remove the property from HWIT send an email to support. We will evaluate if it is possible, depending on the accounting rules in place.
• A property that is not linked to your reporting system (for example because it has no valid address) cannot be scheduled or reported on — the schedule and report forms will tell you to choose a different property. Fix the address on the Overview tab first.