When you have a home maintenance project, going over budget is the easiest thing in the world. Naturally, you want the best of the best for your home, but the cost of materials, labor, and delays quickly adds up. Some financial institutions recommend budgeting 1-4% of your home’s total price after a purchase.
Making sure that you stick to your budget on a home maintenance project is easier when you know what to prioritize. There are certain expenses that require top dollar, while for others, you can easily find a cheaper alternative.
Here are a few tips that can help you set your budget for home maintenance and stick to it.
Quality Plumbing Services
In home maintenance, you never want to skimp on good workmanship. Building a relationship with a handyman that you can trust and who performs quality work is worth the weight of the service in gold. Cheap professionals who do a bad job cost more money because you have to hire someone else to fix their mistakes.
The area where you really can’t afford to cut costs is plumbing. Finding a good plumber with head office in Christchurch that provides efficient, effective service is no easy task. Once you find a plumber who does a good job and responds quickly when you need their services, make sure that you continue working with them.
If you have to choose between different services, always prioritize plumbing. Plumbing is one of the more difficult home maintenance projects to DIY because one wrong turn of the wrench can flood the bathroom. The consequences of a poorly done plumbing job are also the most unpleasant.
Roofing
A good rule of thumb is that anything that could cause structural damage to your home is not an area of home maintenance where you should cut corners. If the safety and structural integrity of your house is at stake, you should prioritize that task in your home maintenance budget.
One of these tasks is roofing. Suppose there is an issue with your roof, which will cause structural damage to the support beams that later on will be very expensive to repair. A leaking roof will damage the beams, windows, and support structures in your house, cause mold to grow, and damage your possessions.
When putting together your home maintenance budget, prioritize the best care you can give your roof. This includes service from top local professionals, good materials, and regular inspections. You want to invest in your roof before there is a problem, so that you can prevent major damage.
Tasks You Can’t Do Yourself
When looking at the different home maintenance tasks you have to perform, think about which tasks require a professional and which ones you can do on your own. If you have some experience with DIY and a willingness to spend time on home maintenance, then you can save significant amounts of money.
Regular maintenance tasks such as landscaping, cleaning the gutters, and painting are all tasks that you can do yourself. By doing what you can yourself when it comes to repairs, you can save significant amounts of money on your overall home maintenance costs.
There are a few tasks that you shouldn’t do yourself, and for which it is better to pay a professional. For anything involving complex systems or where you could endanger yourself by attempting to make a repair yourself, such as electrical wiring, you should hire a professional. You should also hire professionals for inspections or home maintenance audits, where you need an expert eye to catch any potential damage to your house on time.
You should also evaluate the cost of doing repairs yourself or hiring a professional. If you have to go out and buy a whole set of tools for the DIY project you want to do, spend hours teaching yourself a skill, and potentially hire a professional anyway to fix your mistakes, it is not worth the supposed savings. If you have considerable home repair skills, then you can save money on home maintenance costs with DIY.
Prioritizing the Right Expenses for Home Maintenance
There are two important factors that can help you determine your priorities when drawing up your budget for home maintenance. The first is severity. If not addressing a problem or addressing it poorly will cause lasting consequences for your family’s well-being, then it is a top priority for maintenance. For example, plumbing and roofing should always be the priority for repairs.
The second factor is how much you need a professional. If a task can be done by yourself, then it is lower in the priority list than one that requires a professional. Breaking down your tasks this way can help you save significant money on home maintenance.
Mariah