Spring Fever Hits iWatchLife Offering Annual Savings Until the End of March
Ottawa, Ontario (PRWEB) March 14, 2014 -- iWatchLife, a leader in do-it-yourself home video monitoring, today announced the beginning of its annual “Spring Fever” sale, which runs to March 31st. For two weeks, consumers can take advantage of a $20 price reduction on selected premium DIY video monitoring service plans.
“Our service is both a DIY project in itself, and a great way to protect your other renos,” says Tom Leger, VP of Business Development at iWatchLife, “so spring is the perfect time for this sale.”
As the weather gets warmer and the days get longer, homeowners' thoughts do indeed turn to renovations. Repairs are the main reason for renovating, according to a survey conducted this year by Zillow Real Estate, but 29 percent of respondents said their motive was modernization for comfort and functionality, followed by 21 percent who said they wanted to increase their home's value.1
The two areas of the home most frequently targeted for renovation are the kitchen (61%) and bathroom (58%).2
Return on investment for home renovations has risen over the past two years, according to the 2014 Cost Vs. Value Report by Remodelling Magazine, currently at 66.1 percent, up from 57.7 percent two years ago.3 Smaller renos tend to yield the best ROI; some estimates indicate that a minor kitchen renovation can result in an ROI as high as 71 percent.3
Stats like these are not lost on the DIY crowd, who find that the opportunity to take care of nagging repairs, increase their home's value, and get out into the warm weather is an irresistible combination, if it can be done at a reasonable cost.
Last spring, according to a survey by GfK for mainstreet.com, 70% of respondents said their home reno projects would involve some DIY and/or help from family and friends.4 This spring the trend may continue, because there are some indications that homeowners plan to spend less on their renos than in previous seasons.1 If that holds true, DIY will surely form at least a part of many renovation strategies.
iWatchLife hopes to take advantage of a market that is increasingly embracing DIY, and sensitive to price. If your spring project list includes setting up a home surveillance system, take note: “iWatchLife is perfect for the budget-conscious,” says Mr. Leger, “and at the same time the set up is easy enough for even the most inexperienced do-it-yourselfer.” The service costs far less than any other residential home monitoring service on the market, and takes only a few minutes to set up. “Pretty much anyone with a drill can install the camera.”
For those who choose to hire a contractor, there are a variety of risks. Many homeowners hire contractors to do major renovations while they are away on holiday or out all day at work, and can't be there to supervise. Nearly everyone has heard a horror story about dishonest or incompetent contractors who don't show up, damage property, or cut corners. While the vast majority of contractors are competent and honest, hiring the wrong one can be a disaster. This is where home monitoring systems like iWatchLife can be extremely useful, says Maureen Campbell, Director of Marketing & Communication at iWatchLife.
“One of our users installed a camera to watch over contractors when he was having his kitchen remodelled,” recounts Ms. Campbell. “When two of the workers dropped his brand new range on the floor during installation, damaging it, he had the whole thing recorded. That meant the contractor had to take responsibility for the damage, and our customer didn't have to deal with the expense and hassle of going back to the manufacturer himself.”
The average kitchen renovation is now running in the tens of thousands of dollars, around $18,500 for a minor renovation and $54,000 for a major overhaul.5 “If you're going to spend $30,000 on a major renovation,” asks Ms. Campbell, “why wouldn't you spend an extra $170 to protect your investment?”
Spring is also a time when people are opening up their vacation properties for the summer season, often weeks before they will be fully occupied. Vacant properties are sitting ducks for thieves and other unwanted intruders. Installing video surveillance at cottages, vacation properties, and rentals is one of the recommended ways to cut down on break-ins while the property is unoccupied.6
Campbell says this is another ideal application for their product. “iWatchLife records only when something happens in zones that you specify,” she explains. “Unlike many other systems that record continuously and use up storage space in a few days, our advanced algorithms combined with motion detection means that the system only records events that matter. That puts a lot less strain on bandwidth, which is often very basic at the cottage.”
However people choose to use iWatchLife's versatile service, Campbell says she hopes people will act quickly and take advantage of the Spring Fever sale. “This really is an opportune time for people to get the security they need at a price they can afford.”
Sources:
1. “Survey: Homeowners Plan to Spend Less on Remodeling Projects This Winter.” Cynthia Nowak, December11, 2013. http://www.zillow.com/blog/winter-home-improvement-survey-140578/
2. Data from Hanley Wood and Remodeling Magazine, as quoted in 2013 Real Estate Review. http://www.realtor.com/news/2014-remodeling-trends/
3. “Survey: Smaller, less expensive renovations still yield best return on investment.” Jim Weiker, The Columbus Dispatch, February 2, 2014. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/home_and_garden/2014/02/02/project-payoffs.html
4. “Why More People Are Performing DIY Home Renovations.” Ross Kenneth Urken, May 28, 2013. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-more-people-performing-diy-155500378.html
5. “5 Ways to Keep Kitchen-Remodeling Costs Down.” Michele Dawson, Popular Mechanics, July 25, 2013. http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/interior/5-ways-to-keep-kitchen-remodeling-costs-down-15731874
6. “How to Protect Your Vacation Home From Break-ins.” Money Crashers, October 19, 2011. http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2011/10/19/how-to-protect-your-vacation-rental-from-break-ins
About iWatchLife
iWatchLife is a do-it-yourself, video monitoring system that lets the user remotely watch over all aspects of life—home, vacation property, family, contractors, even pets—from any computer, tablet or handheld device. Our unique, cloud-based, smart technology understands context, importance and relevance of images and sounds and notifies the user anytime, anywhere when events that have been specified as being important are detected. See, monitor and share what matters from anywhere. iWatchLife brings Internet cloud-based video monitoring technology to the consumer market, making it affordable and easy to use. Our service uses advanced video analytics and artificial intelligence to provide unparalleled functionality for our users.
Maureen Campbell, iWatchLife, http://www.iwatchlife.com, +1 (613) 567-8900 Ext: 299, [email protected]
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