Using Home Assets on a Computer

Important: This is an early-release feature and is subject to change. You are free to use it now and provide your feedback to Home Watch IT, but there may still be small hidden bugs in the product. Once it is considered stable and “General Release,” this message will be removed.

See Introduction to Home Assets first if you haven’t already — it covers what Home Assets is and the one setting (Advanced Scheduling) it requires.

Finding Home Assets

There are two ways in, and they show the same Assets:

Home Assets, in the main menu — a company-wide list of every Asset across every property, with search and filters. Use this when you’re not sure which property an item belongs to, or you want to see everything at once.
A property’s Assets section — open the customer/property, then go to Assets. This shows only that property’s items, and is the natural place to work when you’re focused on one home.

Adding an Asset

From either entry point above, press + Add Asset.
If you started from the company-wide Home Assets page, pick the Property first.
Type an Asset Name — this is the only thing required.
Optionally add the Serial Number, Category, Location, Manufacturer and Model right away.
Press Save.

You’ll land on the Asset’s own page, where everything else below can be filled in — there’s no requirement to complete it all at once.

The Asset page

Each Asset has three tabs: Details, Maintenance, and History.

Details

This is where you edit the Asset and is also the main reference view. It’s organized into compact sections rather than one long form:

Asset Details — name, description, category, location, manufacturer, model, serial number, and status. Simple edits save automatically as you move to the next field.
Purchase & Warranty — purchase date, install date, purchase price, replacement cost, warranty start/end, and warranty notes.
Photos — a primary photo plus additional ones. Press + Add Photos to upload, Make Primary to change the main photo, and click a photo to view it larger.
Preferred Vendor — link the vendor who normally services this item, pulled from your existing Vendor list.
Notes — one open text field for anything that doesn’t fit elsewhere.
Documents (coming soon) — a place to attach manuals, receipts, warranty PDFs and other files to an Asset. This isn’t available yet; it’s a planned enhancement.
Asset Identification — shows the Asset’s unique HWIT QR code and any other identifiers (manufacturer barcodes, etc.) you’ve added. Press Print Label to print the HWIT QR for this Asset — see Printing QR labels below.
Customer Visibility — an on/off switch controlling whether this Asset is included if you later turn on customer-facing visibility. It’s on by default and safe to leave alone for now.

Maintenance

A place to describe recurring work an Asset needs — for example, “Replace HVAC filter” every 3 months.

Press + Add Maintenance.
Give it a name, a frequency, whether it should produce a Task or a Report, and (for a Report) which template.
Optionally set a Preferred Vendor and add instructions/notes.
Save. You’ll be offered Create Schedule — press it if you want this to become a real, recurring schedule right away, or Not Now if you just want the definition on file for later.

Adding a Maintenance item never creates work by itself — nothing is scheduled until you press Create Schedule. Once a schedule exists, editing the Maintenance details afterward won’t silently change it; you’ll see Edit Schedule if you need to adjust the actual schedule.

History

One combined, newest-first timeline of everything recorded against the Asset: manually entered service/repair history, and any linked Reports, Tasks, and Issues. Filter by type using the tabs at the top.

Each entry opens the real underlying record — a linked Report opens like any other report, a linked Issue opens the normal Issue screen. Nothing is duplicated here; the timeline just points to where the full detail already lives.

Press + Add Service/Repair to log work that doesn’t already have a Report or Task on file — for example, a repair a technician performed off the books, or history you want on record from before you started using Home Watch IT.

Printing QR labels

Every Asset has its own unique QR code (an “HWIT QR”), separate from any barcode the manufacturer put on it. Scanning it in the mobile app opens that exact Asset instantly.

Print one Asset’s label from its own page (Print Label, under Asset Identification).
Print labels for several Assets at once, or for every Asset at a property, from the Home Assets or property Assets list — select what you want and press Print Labels.

Labels print from your browser (no special label-printer software required) and include the QR code, the Asset name, and basic property/location info.

If a label is lost or damaged, just reprint the same one — there’s no need to generate a new code unless the Asset’s identity itself needs to change (see Regenerating a QR code below).

Generating a client report (PDF)

Home Assets can produce a polished, client-ready PDF report of a property’s equipment — the kind of document you hand to a homeowner. It’s branded as your Home Watch company (your logo, name, contact details and report colour), not as Home Watch IT. It’s a useful home-inventory reference for insurance or planning purposes, though it isn’t an insurance claim, appraisal, or valuation document.

Generating a report is read-only — it never changes an Asset or creates work.

To generate one:

From the Home Assets page or a property’s Assets section, press Generate Report.
If you started company-wide, choose the Property. (From a property’s Assets section it’s already selected for you.)
Give the report a Title (defaults to “Home Asset Report”) and, optionally, an Introduction — a short note printed under the summary, e.g. “This report documents the major systems, appliances and equipment currently recorded for your residence.”
Choose how to organise the report — by Location (default) or by Category.
Every active Asset is included by default. Narrow it with the Category, Location and Status filters if you only want part of the property, and untick any individual Assets you’d rather leave out.
Choose what to include using the switches:
- On by default: Photos, Purchase information, Warranty information, Preferred vendors, Notes, Identifiers.
- Off by default: Replacement costs and Maintenance & service history — turn these on when you want them.
Press Generate PDF. The report is prepared and downloads to your computer.

A property with many photos can take a few seconds — the button shows a progress state while it works, so wait for the download rather than pressing it again.

What’s in the report: a cover page with your logo and the property, an executive summary (how many Assets, categories and locations, plus — when you include them — the total replacement cost and any warranties expiring within the next 12 months), then each Asset laid out as a tidy record, grouped by location or category. Fields you didn’t include, or that an Asset simply doesn’t have, don’t appear — there are no empty “$0” figures or blank rows.

Setting your report colour

The report’s accent colour (headings, section bars and highlights) comes from your company’s report colour. By default it matches the colour on your report template, so most companies never need to change it. To set it explicitly, go to Settings → Company Info → Report colour and pick a colour; press Use template default to go back to matching your template. Your company logo and contact details come from the same Company Info screen.

Setting up Categories and Locations

Categories and Locations are simple, company-wide lists — flat, no folders or hierarchy. Manage them from Lists → Home Assets, where you can add, rename, and archive entries for both.

You don’t have to set these up in advance — as noted above, you can add a new Category or Location directly while editing an Asset.

Archiving, restoring, and moving an Asset

Archiving an Asset (from its overflow menu) hides it from the normal list but keeps its full history — nothing is deleted, and any Reports, Tasks, or Issues linked to it stay exactly as they are. Include archived Assets in a list by turning on the Show Archived filter, and restore one from there if needed.

Moving an Asset to a different property is a deliberate, separate action (also on the overflow menu) — an Asset’s property is not something you casually change by editing a field. Existing history keeps its original property association even after a move; only the Asset itself moves forward.

Frequently asked questions

How do I add an Asset to a property?

Open the property, go to Assets, press + Add Asset, and type a name. See Adding an Asset above.

How do I set up Asset Categories and Locations?

Lists → Home Assets, or add one on the fly while typing into the Category/Location field on any Asset.

How do I print a QR label for an Asset?

Open the Asset, go to Asset Identification on the Overview tab, and press Print Label. See Printing QR labels above for printing several at once.

How do I set up Maintenance for an Asset?

Open the Asset, go to the Maintenance tab, and press + Add Maintenance. It won’t create an actual schedule until you separately press Create Schedule.

How do I see an Asset’s history?

Open the Asset and go to the History tab. It combines manual entries with linked Reports, Tasks, and Issues in one timeline.

How do I archive or restore an Asset?

Archive from the Asset’s overflow menu. To restore one, turn on Show Archived in a list’s filters and restore it from there.

How do I move an Asset to a different property?

From the Asset’s overflow menu, choose Move to Another Property. This is deliberately separate from ordinary editing.

How do I generate a client report for a property’s Assets?

Open the property’s Assets section (or the company-wide Home Assets page) and press Generate Report. Choose what to include and press Generate PDF — see Generating a client report above.

How do I change the report’s colour and branding?

The report uses your company logo, contact details and report colour from Settings → Company Info. Set the accent under Report colour there; left unset, it matches your report template’s colour.

Can I leave prices out of the report?

Yes. Replacement costs are off by default, and purchase prices only appear when Purchase information is switched on. Turn either off before generating and no pricing appears in the PDF.

Can I regenerate an Asset’s QR code?

Yes, from the Asset Identification section — but only do this if the physical label is truly compromised and needs to be replaced, not just lost. Regenerating makes the old printed label stop working, so any copies of it out there will no longer scan to this Asset.

Who can manage Categories, Locations, and Maintenance definitions?

Renaming or archiving a Category or Location, and setting up Maintenance definitions, is Admin and Full Access only, in the web app. Adding a new Category or Location, though, is available to your technicians in the field too — see Using Home Assets on Mobile for how that works day-to-day.