Sensors and scheduled guard visits for flats left empty for months
TL;DR Doorfast watches homes that stand empty: flats owned by people living abroad or in another city, second homes, and flats between tenants. Battery sensors flag doors, movement and leaks, and a licensed security agency visits on a schedule and on alert. The owner pays a monthly plan for proof the home is fine.
India has a lot of empty homes. The 2011 Census counted 1.1 crore vacant houses in urban areas[1]. Many belong to people working in another city or abroad, or sit locked between tenants because only a small share of lettings use formal agreements[1].
An empty flat fails quietly. A burst pipe floods the floor below for a week, or a forced door goes unnoticed until a neighbour calls. Owners lean on relatives, a watchman or a broker who drops by whenever it suits him, and there's no record of who went in or when. I couldn't fetch NCRB burglary data this round, so I make no claim about crime rates. The pain you can see is simpler - owners just don't know what's happening inside.
What it does, in regulatory terms: sensing and alerting, with physical checks done by a security agency licensed under the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act 2005. Doorfast does not employ guards itself.
Each home gets a cellular hub that works through power cuts, contact sensors on the main door and balcony, a motion sensor, and leak sensors under sinks and near the washing machine. There are no indoor cameras by default. When the home is set to empty, any opening or movement alerts a desk, which calls the owner and, if asked, sends the partner agency's guard. Once a month the guard visits on schedule, checks taps, mains and locks against a list, and uploads geotagged photos.
I reframed the seed. Predicting burglary risk home by home needs incident data that no startup holds. Watching homes that are known to be empty is a narrower job, easy to explain and easy to prove.
The payer is the owner who lives elsewhere - an NRI, a family that moved for work, or a retiree with a second home. My planned price is ₹1,500–3,000 a month including one scheduled visit, plus a fee per alert visit (assumption, untested). Brokers and property managers who look after empty flats for owners are a second channel, since a visit log helps them justify their fee.
The private security trade is formalised now, and the MHA's licensing portal shows 31,301 active agency licences under the 2005 Act[2], so there is a licensed partner in every city. Radio approval for Wi-Fi and Zigbee sensors is a ₹10,000 self-declaration per model[3]. And mainstream smart-home brands now sell door locks and cameras in India[4], so owners know the devices.
No public figure exists for spending on vacant-home monitoring in India. The base is the 1.1 crore vacant urban houses counted in 2011[1], a dated figure that you should treat as an order of magnitude, not a customer count. On the adjacent side, 31,301 active security agency licences[2] show how large the guarding trade already is.
Indian smart-home brands sell cameras, smart locks and doorbells to Indian homes, but shows no monitored plan or scheduled visits[4]. Broker-free portals offer inspections and repairs for owners letting their flats[5]. Security agencies guard societies, not individual empty flats. I found no Indian service combining empty-home sensors with scheduled licensed visits, though search was limited this round.
| Difficulty | Moderate (44/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹60 L–1.2 Cr |
| Time to launch | 6–9 months |
The hardware is off-the-shelf. The hard parts are the people - a partner agency whose guards turn up on time and follow a checklist, keys held safely, and society rules on who may enter. A desk that answers at night adds cost before revenue arrives.
Yes, this one is regulated, because guards are involved. Partnering with a licensed agency is the simplest route.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI decide on its own that an alert is false and skip a visit. A person makes that call, and AI shouldn't predict crime risk for a home.
Want to work out the AI layer for Doorfast? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I think this is a sensible bet for a founder with security-services or property-management experience in one large city with lots of absentee owners. If you want a pure device business then it's not for you. Prove first that 30 owners will pay for three months and that alert visits arrive within an hour.
Plan for roughly ₹60 L–1.2 Cr, spread across sensors, a night desk and the partner agency's visits.
Whoever supplies the guards needs a licence under the Private Security Agencies Act 2005, so partner with a licensed agency. Sensors also need WPC approval.
Yes, wherever owners leave homes empty for months. Check your local rules on security guards, radio devices and data protection first.
The free Doorfast validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the security-licence and data-protection checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for owners and agencies, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Doorfast or something close to it? The make-or-break work is a licensed agency partner you can trust with keys and fast night visits, and I can help you work out how to pick one. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.