About

Who Is Amy Howard

I am a licensed Alarm System contractor with the state of Florida and I have worked in the residential home security industry for more that 17 years. When I first got started back in 1992, I had just gotten out of the Army after having served my country for 8 years. It was after the first Gulf War that I decided that the Army wasn’t for me (actually I didn’t much care for the War we were involved in). I was married at the time and my husband was from Florida so that is where we moved to.

My father-in-law at the time owned a burglar alarm company (actually he still does) and he needed some help in the office. I went to work for him on a part-time basis. At the time I didn’t think I would be making a career change into the burglar alarm field but I found that I was good at helping people over the phone with their home security issues.

A few years later, 1997 in fact, I took the state test to become a Alarm System contractor. Frankly, I really didn’t want to do it but I was encouraged by my boss, who also was my father-in-law, to take the test. I have to tell you that that was probably the hardest test that I have ever taken in my life. It was only because of my experience with working with alarm systems that I was even able to pass the test, that and a whole lot of studying.

Anyway, it was around this time that I started to see a real change in the burglar alarm industry. There were an awful lot of alarm companies that were offering to put in burglar alarm system for free as long as the customer signed a ridiculously long and overpriced monitoring contract that you couldn’t break if your life depended on it. Okay, I may be exaggerating a little about not being able to get out of the monitoring contract but I heard, and continue to hear, from lots of folks that can’t get good service for their home security system but can’t switch their security company because they are locked into a contract that basically says they have to jump through some hoop on a particular day in order to get out of their contract without paying a bunch of money.

So anyway, I was sickened by all of these burglar alarm companies that were popping up claiming to give you a “Free” security system that frankly wouldn’t actually keep even the most simple minded burglar out of a house and charging outrageous amounts of money every month for the monitoring. What really got my blood to boil what that when you did the math, over the life of the contract, you actually end up spending more for the so called “Free” security system that wouldn’t keep out anyone than if you had actually hired a good alarm company and got a really good residential home security system that covered the whole house.

At the time, I didn’t know what to do about the whole mess, other than tell anyone that I came in contact with that was looking for a home security system what to look for in an alarm company. But now, here I am many years later and a whole lot smarter about technology and I want everyone to know how to; secure their families, secure their homes, secure their valuables and do it without having to spend a ton of money or put up with crappy service from burglar alarm companies.

This is how “Easy DIY Home Security” blog came to be.

What you can expect to get from this blog is all of the information that you will need to know to properly protect yourself from burglars. The best part is, at least I think it’s pretty cool, is that you will be able to do most of it yourself. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to install a burglar alarm (just take a look at what your alarm company is sending to your house if you don’t believe me). I will share with you everything that I know about home security how to.

This is my promise to you:

• I will never give you advice that I don’t truly believe in myself.
• I will always tell you the good and the bad about anything that I recommend.
• You can always contact me via email or telephone if you need assistance or advice.

Now for a little legal stuff. I am only licensed in the state of Florida to install alarm systems, therefore, I cannot install a system in your home or office if you live outside of Florida. But, since I don’t actually install the systems myself anymore anyway (I oversee employees now) that won’t be a problem because I actually plan on showing you how to install your own home security system. That being said there is no guarantee that if you install a security system in your home that a burglar won’t find a way to break in but there isn’t an alarm company out there, that I know of, that can give you a guarantee against a break in anyway.

Okay, that’s it for this post. I hope that you will keep coming back for more useful information about residential home security. If there is anything that I can do to help you secure your property, please let me know.