Dave and Debbie Gatti found out about home-watch services the hard way. Driving into their Destin, Florida vacation home one Friday night, they discovered to their horror that their hot water heater had burst, flooding most of the house, and ruining their wood floors, carpets and furniture. Most of their vacation was spent doing just about everything except vacationing.

Friends told them about a home-monitoring service they’d used to do “walk-throughs” of the property, and report on any problems. How much cost and hassle might that have saved them? Plus, the company offered grocery shopping and home set-up prior to their arrival. From then on, they were vacationing from the moment they arrived!

Debbie and Dave lived in Marietta, Georgia for years raising a family—two kids, four grandkids—and yes, owning their own beach property in Destin. Debbie had grown up in Alabama, and spent many summers vacationing on the Gulf.

Dave owned a marketing company that, for many years, serviced Home Depot and Lowe’s with flooring and other building materials. Buying foreclosed homes to refurbish and resell provided him with invaluable experience identifying home “issues” and knowing how to fix them.

In November, 2013, Debbie retired as marketing director for a large Atlanta-area law firm after 17 years (David had retired two years earlier), and they made the move to Gulf Shores.

Like most active retirees, they decided they wanted to keep busy, and their own home-watch business, Gulf Getaway Guardians, was born.