Average home maintenance costs per year

amother

Thu, Oct 21 2021, 12:57 pm

I bought a house because I thought I'd be saving money on rent. But instead of throwing away money to pay rent, there are thousands of dollars costs to keep the house going.
Plumbers and exterminators are thousands of dollars and it all adds up, not to mention all the other things needed to keep things running the house.

How much do you spend per year on home repairs or preventative maintenance?

amother

Milk

Thu, Oct 21 2021, 4:56 pm

Are you busy upgrading an old house?
As in, gradually replacing all the ancient windows, upgrading the plumbing, the shutoffs, the electrical? Or are you just maintaining a moderately new build.

Since I live ina 100 year old house that was well maintained but only moderately updated until 20 years ago, when I bought it, I spend about $10K a year on upgrades and maintenance.
Some years not as much, but some years more--just painting the exterior was more than that, but clearly doesn't need to be done every year.

Obviously you can spend a lot more in a year just by replacing a kitchen.

amother

cornflower

Thu, Oct 21 2021, 7:58 pm

A lot you can learn to do on your own. For example, you don't need an exterminator to come and spray your house. Just buy the spray yourself and wear a mask, and spray. It's not so hard, and they make easy canisters.
Plumbers definitely add up. Not gonna lie.
A lot you can DIY, but you need to research.

thunderstorm

Thu, Oct 21 2021, 8:22 pm

We are do it yourselfers. We B”H figure out most of the issues out on our own. We never used an exterminator in all of our years here.
And we never hired a plumber either . My DH has replaced toilets and parts of toilets on his own.
We are having issues with our heat and my DH worked on it himself first. He still couldn’t figure out what the issue was and had a plumber check it out , who is just as stumped as he is . So he’s still playing around with it on his own.

amother

Maple

Sun, Nov 14 2021, 11:10 am

There is no average. We bought approximately 7 years ago and spent very minimal on essential repairs and appliance replacements (ie new washer) over the years. But this year we've had some really big expenses that no diy could do. Like replacing the central AC, replacing concrete etc. Yes, it's an older home and at this point it's a money sinkhole.
I also want to add that for many diy is a great option but if you're not good at diy-ing you are taking a risk...

Amarante

Sun, Nov 14 2021, 11:25 am

As others have posted, there is no average since new construction (at least hopefully) will not require expense on major systems like roof and HVAC for many years. In older homes, people pay for inspections to determine whether major systems like roofs are in good condition and what the useful life of other stuff is

However the "general" rule of thumb is to expect that 3% of a home's cost would be needed for maintenance - this includes stuff like replacing appliances and other large expenses.

I don't understand how you are spending "thousands" for extermination services and plumbing. In my experience, single family homes don't generally need exterminators for the most part although my parents had an ant problem and hired a firm on an annual basis that would come whenever there was an infestation to deal with the ant homes outside the home but that wasn't thousands.

What is going on with plumbing that is costing so much? Everything has a useful life and sometimes it can be less expensive to replace an older fixture than to attempt to keep repairing it. For example, I had a very old toilet that was getting clogged often. The plumber explained to me that over time the "traps" in the toilet had become smaller because of a buildup from the sediment in the water that had coated the pipes and he recommended replacement. He was correct as I replaced with Toto toilets when I remodeled and I haven't had a single clog or needed a plumber since then and it has been three years since they were installed K/H. LOL