How Much Should You Set Aside for Your Home Maintenance Budget?

Most homeowners will carve out a considerable chunk of their budgets for upgrades and renovations. Unfortunately, they often don’t put much stock in setting aside a portion for repairs and maintenance. As far as practicality is concerned, it takes much less money to keep your home in good shape than to repair anything that has broken down due to regular wear and neglect.

Caring for your home and the systems within it saves you more money in the long run but it’s not always clear how much of your budget this should take. Here are a few tips from our team of craftsmen at Handyman Connection of Winter Park on how much you should allocate for the upkeep of your home.

Age Matters

It’s impossible to predict just how much maintenance and what kind of repairs your home will need in the future. However, one factor that can be a big influence is age. Newer homes or homes built within the last five to 10 years will have almost zero maintenance needs. This changes slightly for every decade your house gets under its belt. Homes 30 years or older will certainly need more frequent repairs and so will need a bigger allocation in a budget.

The 1% Rule

Of course, knowing the age of your home is not always a guaranteed way to determine how much you should shell out for maintenance. As such, experts recommend a tried-and-tested method: the 1% rule. The idea is simple: determine the value of your home and set aside 1% of this value every year for upkeep. This is a good rule to help you get started, but it can be prone to changes in the market price.

Square-Foot Rule

This one is a variation of the 1% rule but the main concept is generally similar. For every square-foot of your home, set aside $1 per year. For example, a 2,000 square-foot home would need approximately about $2,000 in maintenance costs for that one year. Of course this has the same drawbacks as the 1% rule in that it’s vulnerable to market price fluctuations. However, for the most part, you can expect the ups and downs to average out.

Find everything you need to keep your home in great shape every year at Handyman Connection of Winter Park, your number one resource for general home maintenance and repair services. Give us a call at (407) 618-5550 or fill out our contact form to request an estimate today.