Your options for getting the house ready
A checklist doesn’t know your rooms, and a childproofer’s visit covers the stage your baby is in that day.
The short version
- You can read a free checklist, buy a box of supplies, or pay a childproofer to visit. Each one leaves part of the job to you.
- Goosery works from photos of your rooms and lists what to fix in each, in the order your baby will reach it. Starting is free, and the full plan is a one-time fee.
You’ll look around your house before the due date and wonder what needs dealing with. You’ll wonder again each time your baby starts moving a new way. A baby pulling up on the coffee table reaches things a baby who only rolls can’t.
Your options
A free checklist costs nothing, and you can read one at 2am. Some come straight from federal agencies, and the good ones are solid. A checklist can’t see your rooms, though. It hands you a long list and leaves you to sort out which are in your house and which matter this month.
You can also buy a box of supplies. Gates, latches, anchors and covers run $252–$780 for a two-bedroom home (SafeWise, April 2026)[1], and SafeWise says it could cost much more, depending on your home. You need the hardware whichever way you go. The box won’t tell you where each piece goes, or which one to put in tonight.
Or you can pay a childproofer to visit your home. Most homeowners pay a professional $250–$1,200 per job, ~$500 average (Angi, May 2026)[2]. They walk through your own rooms and do the installing, the part most parents put off. You get one appointment, which covers the stage your baby is in that day. When your baby reaches the next stage, you book another visit and pay again.
Where Goosery fits
Goosery is an iPhone app. You photograph each room and get a list of what to fix in it, with what to do first at the top. The plan follows your baby through rolling, crawling, pulling up and walking. When your baby moves into the next stage, the plan moves with them, at no second charge.
A camera can’t check everything. A photo can’t show whether a dresser is bolted to the wall, because the bolt is behind the dresser. How hot the tap runs is a measurement, and a photo can’t take one. Items like these go on a separate list you check by hand, explained in What a photo can and can't show.
You still buy the supplies and fit them, or pay someone to. Goosery tells you what to fit, room by room. The full plan is a one-time fee. Every standard behind the plan is reviewed and signed by a practicing pediatrician.
| Free checklists | Goosery | Professional childproofer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $0 | Free to start, then a one-time fee | $250–$1,200. About $500 |
| Built around your home | No | Yes | Yes |
| Available at 11pm | Yes | Yes | No |
| Updates as your baby grows | No | Yes | Each visit billed again |
| Standards reviewed by a pediatrician | Sometimes | Yes | Varies |
| Free checklists | Goosery | Professional childproofer |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | ||
| $0 | Free to start, then a one-time fee | $250–$1,200. About $500 |
| Built around your home | ||
| No | Yes | Yes |
| Available at 11pm | ||
| Yes | Yes | No |
| Updates as your baby grows | ||
| No | Yes | Each visit billed again |
| Standards reviewed by a pediatrician | ||
| Sometimes | Yes | Varies |
You mark items done as you fit them. Goosery never rates a room or gives your home a percentage.
Goosery doesn’t sell personal data. The privacy page covers what happens to the photos you take in the app.
Sources
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