Straight answers.
The questions we hear most often, about what Anchor is, what it costs, what it will and won't do, and what happens when something changes. If yours isn't here, call the Anchor office at (216) 390-3600 or send a note.
The company.
What is Anchor, exactly?
Anchor is a monthly home-maintenance subscription. Every month, a team that knows your property attends to the house inside and out, handles a standard set of routine maintenance tasks, documents the condition in full, and files a written report to your record. When something bigger is required, Anchor coordinates the right licensed specialist on your behalf. Your entire property record, findings, reports, systems data, specialist history, is kept for you, month over month, and it belongs to you.
How is Anchor different from a handyman?
A handyman comes when you call, does the task, and leaves. Anchor attends to the property on a schedule, catches things before you would have called anyone, documents the house, and coordinates the trades you do need. A handyman is transactional. Anchor is relational and longitudinal, the value compounds month over month because the record compounds month over month.
How is Anchor different from a property manager?
A property manager handles tenants, rent collection, leasing, and accounting. Anchor handles the physical property, the walk, the report, the maintenance, the specialist coordination. The two roles are complementary, not redundant. The Rental Program is specifically designed to sit alongside a property manager or a self-managing landlord, not replace them.
What Anchor does and doesn't do on a visit.
What tasks are included in the monthly subscription?
Routine in-scope tasks include exterior and interior reviews, caulk and sealant touch-ups, HVAC filter replacement, smoke and carbon-monoxide detector tests and battery replacement, gutter check and minor clearing, plumbing fixture and shutoff checks, water heater visual and nameplate documentation, faucet aerator cleaning, weather-stripping checks, hose bib winterization, seasonal transitions, and a full dated record of everything observed. The full catalog is on the Anchor Plan page.
What does Anchor not do on a visit?
Anchor does not perform work that requires a trade license, roofing, panel-level electrical work, plumbing beyond a shutoff turn, HVAC repair, structural work, or any work that requires a permit Anchor does not hold. Anchor does not perform lawn care, tree removal, or cleaning services. When those are required, Anchor recommends a vetted specialist from its network at a pre-negotiated rate, is on site for the first visit when appropriate, documents the work from start to finish, and files it to your Home Anchor.
What happens when you find something outside your scope?
It is filed into your monthly report with a clear note: what was found, what Anchor recommends, and whether it is urgent. If you'd like Anchor to coordinate a specialist, we recommend a vetted one at a pre-negotiated rate, review the scope with you, schedule the work, document it from start to finish, and verify it when complete. You pay the specialist directly. Anchor earns nothing on the project itself, see Specialist Referral Credit for how the specialist's referral fee to Anchor is credited back to your account.
Do I need to be home for the visit?
No. Most subscribers are not home during the visit. You provide a lockbox code, garage code, or smart-lock PIN, and Anchor stores it in an encrypted credential manager. Every entry is logged with a date and time. If you'd prefer to be home, that is fine too, a window is coordinated.
Money questions.
What does the Anchor Plan cost?
The Anchor Plan is offered in three tiers, scoped by the size and complexity of the property. Current tier pricing, Specialist Referral Credit mechanics, and what's included at each tier live on the pricing page.
Is there an annual option or a multi-month prepay?
No. Month-to-month is the only subscription cadence Anchor offers. Every subscriber pays the same monthly price on the same schedule. The reasoning is on the pricing page: prepay creates hidden price classes and hides the retention signal. Anchor would rather earn next month than bank it in advance.
Will you discount? My neighbor got X, can I get Y?
No. Anchor does not discount, negotiate, match competitor pricing, or offer trade-for-services arrangements. A discount given to one customer is a price floor for every customer, and trust depends on everyone getting the same deal.
What is the Specialist Referral Credit?
When a project requires a licensed specialist, Anchor recommends a vetted one at a pre-negotiated rate. You pay the specialist directly for labor and materials. Separately, the specialist pays Anchor a referral fee, and 100% of that fee is credited to your Anchor account on the next month's invoice. Anchor earns nothing on the project itself. The subscription is Anchor's only revenue, and the credit is disclosed in advance, every time.
How do I pay?
A card on file, processed monthly. The Entry Visit is billed at the time of the visit by chip reader on-site, or by invoice link sent to your email after the visit. If a card fails, the processor retries for seven days and notifies you. If the charge is still unresolved after that, a member of the Anchor team calls directly before anything else happens. Service is not paused, and the record is not held hostage.
Is there a diagnostic fee or trip charge?
No. The subscription covers the trip and the looking. If something is found on a visit, telling you about it is part of the subscription.
What happens if you leave.
How do I cancel?
Cancel anytime with thirty days written notice. No termination fees. Email the Anchor office, call, or write a note, there are no retention screens to click through. A prorated refund of the unused portion of the current billing month is issued, and your full Home Anchor record is delivered automatically as an export.
What happens to my data if I cancel?
On cancellation, the full archive, visit imagery, monthly reports, systems inventory, specialist records, is delivered to you in a standard format, to Google Drive, Dropbox, email, or a hard drive, at your preference. You don't have to ask, and you don't have to negotiate. The customer owns their data is one of Anchor's values, not a policy.
Will Anchor sell or share my data?
No. Anchor does not sell, share, aggregate, or repackage customer data, not to insurers, not to home-service marketplaces, not anonymized, not aggregated, not ever. The Home Anchor is a product for its owner, not a dataset for anyone else.
If I sell my house, can the buyer keep the record?
Only if you say so. The record is yours. You can transfer it to the buyer at closing, which many sellers find useful in negotiation, keep it for your own files, or ask Anchor to hand it to a designated party.
The practical questions.
Where does Anchor operate?
The full current service-area list is on the service areas page. If you're close to the edge of the area, call, Anchor sometimes extends for the right property.
How does the Entry Visit work?
You book online or by phone. On the scheduled day, a senior member of the Anchor team conducts a complete on-site baseline of the property, the exterior envelope and the interior systems are documented in full, and the conversation covers anything you want to flag. A written report follows within the week. There is no subscription commitment either way. Full details on the Entry Visit page.
What days and times does Anchor operate?
Monday through Saturday, roughly 7 AM to 6 PM. Monthly visits are scheduled on the same week of each month for a given property, for example, always the second Thursday, so they are predictable. Storm response for Guardian subscribers is on the storm's timetable, not the calendar's.
What if I have pets?
Tell us about them. Pets are noted at the Entry Visit and added to the property file, the dog that barks but is friendly, the cat that can't go outside, the fish that needs to not be startled. Anchor is careful with doors and gates. Pets being home during a visit is normal and fine.
Is Anchor insured?
Yes. Anchor carries commercial general liability insurance on every visit. A certificate of insurance is available on request.
Who attends to my house?
A small, stable team that knows your property. Team members are assigned to a route long-term, trained in the same sequence, and carry the same property record with them. The house gets continuity of knowledge, and the record of the house stays with the property regardless of who is on it.
Didn't see your question?
Email the Anchor office at logan@alwaysanchor.com or call (216) 390-3600. Or book an Entry Visit, most questions answer themselves once you see what a visit looks like.