Insurance, security, and a home warranty before the first night

Insurance, home security, and a home warranty are set up on the call with Utility Connect. They are not local utilities. Gas, water, trash, and regulated electric are the accounts you still open yourself, from the information we send. A lender who needs a binder, a first night that needs a lock, or a warranty that should start when you take the keys, should be handled while you are on the phone with us, not discovered from a brochure after move-in.

Insurance on the call

A policy is effective on the date the insurer agrees to. If you are buying, tell us what the lender needs and by when. We will shop the options with you and set up the policy you choose, in time for that deadline when you call early enough. The local-utility email is not a binder. Do not forward it to underwriting and call it coverage.

On the call, you should hear the effective date, the deductible, and whether the policy assumes the home will be occupied. Tell the truth about move-in timing. A vacant week and a house full of boxes are not always the same risk. You want coverage that matches the day you have keys, including a little overlap with the old policy so the drive between houses is not a gap.

Security on the call

Whether you want monitoring, equipment, or both
The term, and the fee if you cancel
Whether installation needs someone home, and which window you can keep
What is true on night one if the install is later

The setup is completed with you on the line. We do not leave you a link and hope you finish it. If the only professional install is after your first night, decide the gap while we are still talking: the locks, a device you already own, or a shorter-term option. "The builder included security" needs to be checked against an account in your name, not a sticker on the door.

Home warranty on the call

A home warranty is a service plan for repairs, not the same thing as homeowners insurance, and not a local utility. We shop the plans that can cover the new address and set up the one you choose on the call. You should hear what the plan covers, what it excludes, the service call fee, the term, and the date coverage starts. That date should match possession, or the day after closing, depending on what the warranty company will actually bind. A builder's one-year workmanship warranty is not this plan. If the builder already included a third-party home warranty, say so on the call so we do not set up a second one over it.

You agree to the plan while you are on the phone. We do not enroll you in a warranty after you hang up, and we do not treat it as something you have to finish alone the way you enroll water or regulated electric. Keep that confirmation with the insurance and security confirmations.

The first night, in order

Confirm the insurance effective date is today or earlier. Confirm whether monitoring is active or only ordered. Confirm the home warranty start date and the service-call fee. Test the locks, including the garage and the side door. Then confirm the local utilities you enrolled: water runs, regulated electric or the plan we set up is on, gas if the home has it. Those local confirmations are yours. The insurance, security, and home warranty confirmations are from the call.

If a technician we scheduled does not arrive, call us with that confirmation. If the city water is off, call the water provider with the confirmation from your enrollment. We do not have the city's work order.

Renters and owners

Renters are often covering contents and confirming what the building already monitors. Owners are insuring the structure. Say which you are on the call. Ask the landlord what the building already covers before a second policy is set up. Ask what the lender requires before the cheapest option is treated as done.

Common questions

Can you bind the policy if I pick one?

Yes, on the call, with you agreeing to that policy. We do not bind it after you hang up on a different set of answers. We also do not bind gas, water, or regulated electric. Those remain your enrollment.

Is a doorbell camera the same as monitoring?

No. If you want monitoring, it has to be set up as monitoring. A camera on the door is not an account.

When should this happen relative to water and electric?

Insurance deadlines can be earlier than move-in, so make the call as soon as the lender's date is known. Enroll the local utilities in the same week, from the notes. One conversation does not replace the other.

The split is spelled out in local utilities we research, and everything else we set up on the call.